Author Archives: Ghoussoub

Timothy Gowers: A leader for our times

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Ghoussoub

Timothy Gowers is much more than an outstanding mathematician. A Fields medalist, Tim is a global thinker, an eloquent and prolific writer, a pioneer among scholars, and a leader. “Un grand homme”, the French would say. Tim is an innovator in scholarship and also … Continue reading →

Posted in Honouring friends, Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Business Development Bank gets into the “NSERC Act”

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Ghoussoub

“First, I want to reassure you that we did not take this decision lightly.  This is a decision that is made by NSERC staff, independent of the peer review process.  Every year we reject applications based on mandate ineligibility.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Grade inflation, instability and uncertainty in Discovery Grant competitions

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Ghoussoub

It is reported that in a still embargoed presentation to the 2011 Canadian Mathematical Society meeting in Edmonton, NSERC’s President, Suzanne Fortier, cited “Grade inflation” as one of the factors for the disastrous collapse of grant levels in mathematics in the 2011 Discovery … Continue reading →

Posted in R&D Policy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

You are not alone!

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Ghoussoub

Yet, that’s exactly what bureaucrats want you to feel. “You are the only one complaining. You are isolating your community…”. That’s what they said when 336 mathematical scientists, 27 Canada Research Chairs and 35 fellows of the Royal Society of Canada wrote NSERC’s President … Continue reading →

Posted in R&D Policy | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

My opening remarks at the UBC housing forum

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Ghoussoub

Various and somewhat distorted versions of my statements at yesterday’s UBC housing forum were published on several websites. I am therefore posting here the full text of my opening remarks.

Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

You have been awarded a research grant of $1.4 billion

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Ghoussoub

“How come I haven’t been reimbursed yet?”, I wrote to the organiser. More than three months have already passed since that glorious conference in Nice. Long enough to feel the pinch on the purse, but not enough to forget this luscious … Continue reading →

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My name is “Small Number” and I was born in Banff, Alberta

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Ghoussoub

I am not a character from a Stanley Kubrick movie. I am “Small Number” and it was exactly on November 22d of the Year 2009, that I was born in the Canadian Rockies at the intersection of three glacial valleys at a … Continue reading →

Posted in Banff International Research Station | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

“Campus as a living lab”… for sound governance and common sense

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Ghoussoub

Review committees for Deans and VPs should not comprise direct aides and immediate subordinates of the person under review. Besides fueling –often unwarranted yet prevalent– skepticism vis-a-vis the evaluation process, current practices have the potential to undermine it by shutting … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors | 1 Comment

New perspectives on functional inequalities

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Ghoussoub

No, this blogpost has nothing to do with social stratification and class struggle nor does it address gender or racial inequalities. It is about Mathematics. The occasion? I have finally finished a book, which has been 3 years in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

Don Fraser, Officer of the Order of Canada

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Ghoussoub

“There are too many of my students on the dance floor”. That was at a wedding party (mine!) more than twenty years ago, and Don Fraser was resisting efforts to make him dance. Many of the guests (on the dance … Continue reading →

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“A no-brainer, if you ask me”

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Ghoussoub

That was in an email from a colleague at one of UBC’s better departments. “Gents, In your capacities as …, and BoG-dude (AKA faculty representative on the Board of Governors), have a look at these two links. A no-brainer, if you ask … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan | Leave a comment

Happy New Year everyone!

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Ghoussoub
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Lessons learned: Housing at NYU, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA and UC-Irvine

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Ghoussoub

Last June, I and a few other UBC Governors and senior staff visited NYU, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA, and UC-Irvine. Just like UBC, these universities are located in areas where housing prices are prohibitive. And just like them, UBC is in … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The problem with developing a “Housing Action Plan” for UBC (II) – Cash Flow

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Ghoussoub

The UBC administration is quite aware of how critical the issue of housing is to the future of the university and is committed to addressing it. The President said as much in his latest town hall meeting, and the Board … Continue reading →

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A weekend of obituaries

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Ghoussoub

In an ironic twist of fate, Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel and the “official version” of the Iraq war ended on the same weekend. A most intense propagandistic time, which must have been a field day for students of journalism everywhere. … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The problem with developing a “Housing Action Plan” for UBC (I) – Attitudes

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Ghoussoub

Many hurdles face the prospect of a sound “Housing Action Plan” for UBC, not the least of which being personal attitudes shaped by Vancouver’s real estate subculture, the variable academic standards within the university, the ethical issues of eligibility and … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Telling a Gaussian distribution curve from a Faustian one

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Ghoussoub

“Thank you so much for this opportunity for a non-mathematician to be part of the BIRS community”, wrote Alice Major. It doesn’t happen often that an illiterate mathematician gets an email from a Poet Laureate. Major was writing about her … Continue reading →

Posted in Banff International Research Station | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Firing a President for all the wrong reasons

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Ghoussoub

I kid you not! The president of the University of Oregon, Richard Lariviere, was recently fired because he wanted to use non-state funds to provide badly needed salary increases to retain and recruit faculty at his university. Robert Berdahl, a veteran of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors | 1 Comment

Unethical science or just another gold rush?

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Ghoussoub

When did my chain-smoking leftist Italian friend move to Saudi Arabia? I wondered. I had just received his recent preprint, in which he cites King Saud University  (KSU) as his affiliation.  The answer to my query was even more colorful than … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

The two main threats to good governance: “Yes people” and sound leadership

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Ghoussoub

Institutions require strong governance the most whenever they are stuck with mediocre or abusive leadership. On the other hand, institutions that are going through an era of sound leadership have a tendency to drop their guard, ignore, and eventually weaken … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors | 1 Comment