Wilfrid Laurier University President Max Blouw helped launch Congress 2012 at an opening reception at the Communitech Hub in Kitchener.

The reception included a funding statement by federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, who announced a round of grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Laurier researchers Ginette Lafrenière and Alison Blay-Palmer were among the recipients.

Lafrenière, associate professor in Laurier’s Faculty of Social Work, will receive $198,000 over three years for her research into community integration and support for survivors of domestic violence after they leave women’s shelters. Blay-Palmer, associate professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Laurier, will receive $197,000 over two years to investigate the creation and reinforcement of regional food networks.

Laurier is co-hosting the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences along with the University of Waterloo. More than 7,000 scholars, students, policy-makes and practitioners will be attending the eight-day conference, which runs from May 26 to June 2. For more information, visit www.congress2012.ca or www.lauriercongress.ca

Numerous Laurier researchers will be presenting their latest work throughout Congress. Here are just a few who will be presenting their work Sunday, May 27:

Julie Mueller, assistant professor, Faculty of Education. Presentation title: Social Media Non Grata? Teaching Communication in a Hyperconnected Classroom
Time. 1:15 p.m. Location: UW - J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, Room 2107. Mueller discusses a new study that examines the use of BlackBerry™ PlayBooks by three pre-service teachers as part of an innovative pilot project connecting the pre-service teachers with schools that are supportive of technology integration.

Steve Sider, assistant professor, Faculty of Education. Presentation title:
Local Schools, Global Action: School University Partnership for Global Citizenship
Time. 11:30 a.m. Location: Bricker Academic, room BA 110, Laurier campus
. Description: This presentation examines how a Faculty of Education has supported global citizenship education within local schools. Specifically, it examines how teacher candidates develop global citizenship dispositions within the context of this university-school partnership.

Dawn Buzza, associate professor, Faculty of Education. Presentation title: Supporting Self-Regulated Learning across Instructional Contexts: Teacher Collaborative Innovations at the Secondary Level. 
Time: 1:15 p.m. (part of a multi-paper session). Location: Bricker Academic, room BA101, Laurier campus
. 
Description: Self-regulated learning has been shown to improve the performance of students and enhance their motivation. Buzza discusses a new study of the ways in which self-regulated learning can be built into the secondary school classroom.