GREETINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT
Welcome to the 2008-09 academic year at Mount Allison University – Canada’s best undergraduate liberal arts and science university!!
Summer 2008 was a very busy and lively summer and the campus and the town seemed to be hopping the entire time. But the pace and intensity has certainly geared up as we now welcome the Class of 2012 and head into another exciting school year. Classes started September 3, as have the bewildering variety of activities outside the classroom, which have lived up to the true Mount Allison Experience.
This summer we welcomed hundreds of visitors to our beautiful campus, through the conference services office's programs and a multitude of activities. Along with an exciting line-up of summer camps, the campus and the town of Sackville were buzzing with conferences, weddings, and theatre – highlighted by the Festival by the Marsh, SappyFest, and OK Quoi?! Festivals.
BACK TO CLASS
During the annual Commencement Ceremony, we welcomed over 700 new faces from around the world to the Mount Allison community and we announced the start of the ‘year of the environment’ – highlighted by Professor Brad Walter’s enthralling and challenging presentation to the class of 2012 and their parents and friends. Commencement kicked off Orientation Week, appropriately themed Mounties Fly Together. And, another successful Shinerama campaign was launched, building on the national award received by the Shinerama team last spring.
 |
 |
 |
Orientation committee members welcome new students to Sackville. |
International life at Mount A is gearing up again, with a terrific cohort of international students arriving from around the world who were welcomed by the Town of Sackville at a splendid event at the Civic Centre on August 27. Ron Byrne’s responsibilities are now accurately described in his title Vice-President International and Student Affairs, and he is joined by Adam Christie and Pronoti Majithia, in an expanded International Students Office in the new Student Centre.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Be sure to mark September 13 on your calendar and attend SURF 2008 in the Wu Centre! The undergraduate research fair will feature presentations by many of our talented summer research students from all three faculties!
Also this month (September 19-21), Mount Allison will host the Carbon ‘0’ Mission Green Campus Summit. The Summit will include a number of guest speakers, including the world-renowned Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute, who will deliver the Josiah Wood Lecture on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in Convocation Hall.
The Music department is gearing up for another exciting semester of concerts and presentations. A Gala Concert on September 5 featured performances and compositions by our distinguished faculty. Along with hosting some of the Performing Arts Series artists in Brunton Auditorium, the department will also host the Olivier Messiaen Symposium on October 17.
CAMPUS NEWS
In June, the Government of New Brunswick announced Be Inspired. Be Ready. Be Better. The Action Plan to Transform Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick, in response to the Working Group’s Report on Post-Secondary Education (PSE) in the province. This is a good starting point for post-secondary education reform in New Brunswick. It will allow institutions, such as Mount Allison, to continue to do what they do best, in our case offering a top undergraduate liberal arts and science educational experience on a close-knit, community-based campus. At the same time, we look forward to the new opportunities ahead for collaboration with other post-secondary institutions in the province. To link to the full report, as well as the Working Group’s recommendations, please visit http://www.mta.ca/governance/president/updates.html.
Vice-President, Academic and Research Dr. Stephen McClatchie has been appointed University Provost, effective Sept. 1. The Provost oversees the academic mission of the university and is also the official replacement for the President in his absence.
Seven faculty members received the University’s Paul Paré Excellence Award, recognizing outstanding faculty research, scholarship and creative performance, provided that these activities do not compromise excellence in teaching and service. Congratulations to 2008 recipients Felix Baerlocher (department head, biology and biochemistry); David Hornidge (physics); Thaddeus Holownia (department head, fine arts); Vett Lloyd (biology and biochemistry); Jane Mullen (commerce), Stephen Westcott (chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Boron Chemistry), and Michael Fox (department head, geography and environment).
Congratulations to Diana Hamilton (biology) and Kirsty Bell (modern languages and literatures), the first recipients of the Marjorie Young Bell Faculty Fellowship for tenure-track faculty. Diana will build on her current research program, looking at interactions between ducks and intertidal invertebrate communities, while Kirsty’s research will examine representations of painters in the Québécois novel.
Robert Adlam, (anthropology) has been named the Canadian Anthropology Society’s (CASCA) Executive Member and Treasurer.
Research professor Peter Edwards (modern languages and literatures) was named to the Ordre des Palmes Académiques at the French
Consulate General by the French
Government.
Math and computer science professors Francesco Sica and Liam Keliher welcomed cryptographers from around the world when they hosted the 15th Annual International Workshop on Selected Areas in Cryptography, SAC 2008, not to be confused with our wonderful group of student leaders from the SAC office (http://mtasac.ca).
2008 Tucker Teaching Award winner and AAU Teaching Award recipient Elizabeth Wells delivered a fabulous “Tucker Talk” on August 27 to get us all in the “Back to School” mode.
We also had many student successes this summer including award-winning presentations by Mount Allison biologists at the Canadian Association of Zoologists' AGM in Halifax this spring (http://www.mta.ca/news/index.cgi?id=1623).
And, our physics department is already involved in research around the launch of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the highest energy particle accelerator ever built on Earth! http://www.mta.ca/news/index.cgi?id=1634
As you can see it has been an exciting and action-packed summer and beginning of term. Bonne Chance for a wonderful fall semester!