Merita Ryan: Expect the unexpected

In 1980, Merita Ryan was considering several job offers. She chose to come work in human resources at McGill because she'd heard how progressive it was in its labour relations policies.

She got a rude shock when she began her job as an area personnel officer in physical plant and her boss told her, "I didn't ask for you and I don't want you here." She learned that the other managers in the department held regular meetings, to which she was never invited.

"Their attitude was, 'What could a woman possibly know about the nuts and bolts kind of work of physical plant?'" says Ryan. "One thing I did know was that I had to find a way to break the ice."

She says her chance came at a softball practice. "They needed women for the team and told me they would teach me how to play." She agreed  without mentioning that she had played softball for years, in fact all the way to the national level.

She acted dumb at first, holding the bat upside down and hitting limply. Finally, she stepped to the plate, drew laughter by waving the fielders back, and proceeded to "crack one" half a mile into centre field.

That swing of the bat changed her colleagues' attitudes. "They realized they were wrong to assume what I did or didn't know," says Ryan. "After that, I became one of the boys."

It's still wise not to make assumptions about the 50-something Ryan. As she talks about her leisure pursuits you might decide she's only interested in sports. Besides softball, she plays hockey, golf and tennis, coaches basketball, and loves to ski, rollerblade, cycle, scuba dive and horseback ride. Then she tells you about her interest in poetry and music ("I even scratch a little guitar"). Another sharp turn and she's discussing her enthusiasm for motorcycles and her purchase this summer of two horses.

Finally, she turns to woodworking ("I have a room full of power tools") and renovating houses. This last pastime tested her determination a few years ago.

"I was helping a friend work on his house when a wall collapsed. My legs were crushed and the doctors told me it was unlikely I would walk again. That was in April, and I told them I would be skating by the time the women's competitive hockey season started in September. By August, I still couldn't walk, but I was on the ice for the first game!"

Now a senior compensation officer in the Department of Human Resources, she works as part of a team on policies like pay equity and merit pay. Both policies have proved contentious in recent years and Ryan says the tough struggle to get back on her feet has helped her in her job.

"That kind of experience really keeps things in perspective."

Diana Grier Ayton








He reminds me in a sense of Franklin Roosevelt. This is a case of someone who can have a perfectly fine, average disorder and be a perfectly fine prime minister.


Linguistics professor Myrna Gopnik, quoted in Saturday Night magazine. Gopnik suspects that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, whose grammatical faux pas in both official languages are notorious, might have a genetic disorder that affects grammatical skills.






Bridging the knowledge gap


Civil engineering professor Saeed Mirza loves working in his new research laboratory  even if it does get awfully drafty sometimes. An expert on bridges, Mirza is now able to conduct his studies on an actual bridge.

The 38-year-old Dickson Bridge in eastend Montreal was recently deemed unusable due to deterioration and was slated for the scrap heap. Mirza stepped in to argue against the wrecking ball.

"When I heard that the bridge was going to be demolished, I said [to city officials] at least let us use it for our research before you destroy it. Luckily for us, they didn't want to spend the money to demolish it."

The city gave Mirza its blessings and the professor assembled a group of researchers from universities and industry interested in conducting tests on the 366-metre-long bridge. The team, which includes fellow civil engineering professors Ghyslaine McClure and Yixin Shao (above, centre, with Mirza and graduate students Lamya Amleh, left, and Rossella Fazio), now has a unique opportunity to study how a bridge can deteriorate so badly.

"In medicine, post-mortems can teach us a lot  why not the same in engineering?" asks Mirza. His project also received a three-year grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to fund research on corrosion of the reinforcing steel in the bridge's deck.

"With computer models, you're always making assumptions  you don't really know what the impact of the salt and ice will be over 38 years. With this bridge, we can see it for ourselves. And we'll be able to use that knowledge to design better bridges."

Word of the bridge's new vocation as a research site is spreading. A PhD student from Northern Ireland traveled to Montreal last month to study the bridge. "When they gave me my grant, the NSERC people said this was an absolutely unique idea," says Mirza.








To be a good actress, you have to have a normal life. It's not real to stay in beautiful hotels, getting your hair and makeup done. My life is riding a bus, papers and exams.



Russian and Slavic studies student Mia Kirshner, talking to The Toronto Sun. Kirshner balances her university studies with a blossoming career as a film actress. Her movie credits include Exotica, Anna Karenina and the new release, Mad City, with John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman.





The road less rough?


McGill's students consistently rate among the best in the country in categories like entering grades and percentage who graduate, and now a study led by a sociologist from Université de Montréal has found some more areas where they lead the pack  at least in Quebec.

According to Arnaud Sales, students at McGill have the highest gross income ($11,844) among the province's students and require government aid less often because they receive more assistance from their parents. Those parents are more likely to have gone to university themselves (66.5%) than parents of students at Université de Montréal (43.8%) or in the Université du Québec network (25.4%). The study also revealed that McGill students are twice as likely as students at UQAM to finish their degrees without interruption (47% vs. 23%).

Sales's report, called La différenciation de la population étudiante universitaire au Québec, is based on data gathered in 1994 from 2,400 students throughout the province. While it looked at differences among students, it also found some common trends. For example, 14% of university students rely on work during the school year to complete their studies. Consequently, many take longer to finish and the average age of the student population as a whole is now 26.2 years. Retention seems to be a greater problem for universities in urban centres and, says the report, young francophone men are "missing the boat" as the "feminization" of Quebec's student population continues. The report has been sent on to the Ministry of Education.

Source: Université de Montréal Forum













A lot of our kids are going to the United States. Why are we letting them go to the U.S. to pay $20,000-plus, when they can get the same quality of education in Canada?



Anne Roussell, executive director of the Recruitment and Liaison Office, speaking to The Chronicle of Higher Education. McGill, like many other Canadian universities, has recently stepped up its efforts to recruit promising students.







Academic hires and departures

Number of Olympic Games this century without a competitor from McGill:0
Average number of first-year applicants:16,000
Average number of first-year students enrolled:4,000
Relative size of downtown campus vs. Macdonald:1/20th
Percentage of students who regularly participate in athletic activity:74
Number of former McGill Redmen in Canada's Hockey Hall of Fame:10