Jazz @ Jennings

It's Dr. Jim Code's last year of full-time teaching at Mount Allison, and he has invited some alumni jazzers to come to Sackville for what will likely be his last "Jazz at Jennings" (as Director, at least!) on Saturday evening, March 29, 2008 at 9 pm.

Lots of alumni are attending, including:

Saxes: Mike O'Brien '05, Kelly Waterhouse '05, Jolene (Parker) Buchholz '84, and Martin Chandler.

Trumpets: Pat Foley '94, Eric Sproul '06, Karen Snell '93, Rob Dutton '80, and Ann Hennessey '06.

Trombones: Zud Gaskin, Bob Ferguson '76, and Herb Poole '77.

Piano: Amy Anderson '04, Dave Pos '77, and Tanya Bostick '95.

Bass: Martin Chandler '06

Drums: Dave Pos '77, Shawn Bostick '97

Guitar: Steve MacMillan '03

Vocals: Melanie (Ross) Breen '92, John Lindsey-Botten '93, Jolene Keats '05 and Sharlene Keats '05.

They will also have recently hired professor Wesley Ferriera, and a retired professor, Jamie Mark playing clarinet.

Extend your happy hour and join us for an evening of musical hits. Dancers are welcome. The cash bar opens at 8:30pm and the music begins at 9:00pm. Admission is “pay what you can”.

Contact: Music Department, 364-2374, music@mta.ca

Dr. William Godfrey

It is with sadness that I write that our colleague Dr. William Godfrey passed away early this morning, after a long struggle with cancer.

The university flag will fly at half-mast in his honour.

Dr. Godfrey grew up in Kitchener and obtained his BA and MA in history from the University of Waterloo. After earning his PhD from Queens University, Bill came to Mount Allison University in 1970 where he spent his career.

In addition to his time teaching in the History Department, he served eight years as Department Head, seven years as Dean of Arts, and three years as Director of Research Administration.

He was widely published and highly respected as a Canadian historian.

As a member of faculty Bill was very active and served on countless committees, Faculty Council, Senate, and the Board. He was on the search committee that selected the present President.

Dr. Godfrey is survived by his wife, Rhianna Edwards, three children, two step-children, and two grandchildren.

Sobey Performance Scholarships announced

Janis Sobey-Hames, chair of The David and Faye Sobey Foundation announced that The David and Faye Sobey Foundation and The Sobey Foundation are contributing a combined total of $500,000 to be endowed for scholarships that will be awarded to returning students at Mount Allison.

The first scholarship, which will be awarded in September 2008, will be given to students who attain high academic achievement and are also successful at integrating extracurricular activities into their lives.

Each year Mount Allison awards more than $2 million in scholarships and bursaries. Approximately half of that amount goes to entrance scholarships and the other half to upper-class students.

Read full story.

UPDATE: Cairo to Cape Town

Update from the blog entry, Cairo to Cape Town.


Message from Sam Millar ('99):

"As part of the trip we're raising funds for a Canadian group called Spread the Net. This NGO has been very effective at distributing anti-malarial nets in Africa—an empirically proven way to overcome one of the biggest health challenges and brake on quality of life and development in Africa.

We set an initial target of C$5,000, but we've been absolutely floored by the generosity of friends and strangers alike, having nearly met this initial objective in only a matter of weeks.

As such, Peter and I have decided to increase our aspiration considerably; to C$50,000 or the equivalent of 5,000 nets.

If you are so inclined, please consider supporting Spread the Net at our dedicated website here (tax receipts will be issued directly by StN). We've indicated a suggested donation of C$60 (six nets or ½¢ for each KM we ride!!!) but of course any amount would be most welcome.

Feel free to forward on to others who may have an interest and a big thanks to all those who've already donated so generously!"

Celebrating Leadership

Mount Allison has been producing leaders in all walks of life since 1839. And many of those leaders have chosen to make New Brunswick their home.

To celebrate a few of our provincial leaders we are profiling representative individuals who have made inroads in the areas supported by the five pillars of the University’s Strategic Statement —

• The Environment (Nik Basque '06)
  
• Science: From Imagination through Experience to Discovery (Bob Hawkes '72)
  
• Public and Community Service and Citizenship (Monique Imbeault '81)
  
• Globalization and its Consequences (Bruce McCubbin)
• Culture and Creativity (TBA)
  

One new profile and question has been added each week for five weeks. Read more about Celebrating Leadership.

Int'l Women's Day celebrates women of the past and present at Mount A

International Women’s Day 2008 will see the return of several young, successful alumnae to the Mount A campus on Saturday, March 8.

Mount Allison is known as a Canadian leader in women’s education, as the first university to confer a bachelor’s degree to a woman in the British Commonwealth, Grace Annie Lockhart in 1875.

The University will be celebrating its rich past in women’s education and some of its recent graduates and current women’s studies students during a panel discussion to take place on campus in Crabtree Auditorium on March 8 between 2 and 6 p.m.

A reception will follow the panel discussion at the President’s Cottage (University Club), beginning at 6 p.m. and will mark the official launch of the online publication, We Were Here: Exploratory Essays on Women’s History at Mount Allison University.

Everyone is welcome to attend these events and there is no admission charge.

International Women’s Day panelists include past students in women’s studies at Mount Allison

• Sarah LeBlanc (’06) — Sarah is a legislative assistant for Senator Roméo Dallaire in Ottawa.

• Frances Ross (’06) — Frances is a teacher in Nunavut.

• Katherine Austin-Evelyn (’07) — Katherine is currently working as an intern at Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership in Calgary, and has just received a Rotary Scholarship to attend the London School of Economics in the fall.

• Roberta MacLean (’07) — Roberta has just returned to Canada from working on an economic development project for young women in Ethiopia over the past six months.

Several current women’s studies students will also present as part of the panel discussion including:

• Bridget Arsenault (’08) — Bridget is completing her honours English degree with a minor in women’s studies.

• Jessica Chapman (’08) — Jessica will graduate this spring with a degree in honours psychology and women’s studies.

• Julie O’Brien (’08) — Julie is a Canadian Studies major, with three minors in history, English and women’s studies.

The first student essays of We Were Here: Exploratory Essays on Women’s History were originally published in 2006, with support of the Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre.

Pregnant women needed for Mount A study

What to feed the baby? Pregnant women think long and hard about what is best to feed their baby and are often bombarded with conflicting messages and competing demands as they consider breastfeeding and bottle-feeding.

Two researchers at Mount A, anthropology professor Dr. Patricia Kelly-Spurles and sociology professor Dr. Judith Doyle, are studying this decision-making process.

Dr. Kelly-Spurles and Dr. Doyle recently received an operating grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), valued at $81,356, for their study — The Mothers and Babies Research Group (MABRG).

The grant was the only one awarded to an undergraduate university in Canada in the Fall 2007 competition, and the first of its kind for Mount Allison University researchers.

The study has also received funding from the New Brunswick Medical Research Fund (NB Department of Health), and Mount Allison University.

The study is a qualitative one of women’s experience and decision-making regarding breastfeeding supplementation and cessation in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.


The MABRG study will seek to learn about the feelings, experiences, and decisions about breastfeeding of women in the last trimester of pregnancy and during their first six months after childbirth. Participants will be interviewed at their convenience during this time, and asked to reflect on their experiences and thoughts on breastfeeding.

Researchers are also seeking to speak with mothers about their experiences with baby feeding in general, both breastfeeding and bottle.

Dr. Kelly-Spurles and Dr. Doyle will present their preliminary findings from interviews conducted so far at the 3rd Roundtable on Baby-Friendly New Brunswick in Fredericton in March.

If you would like to learn more about the MABRG study or are interested in participating, please contact Rian Lougheed-Smith, MABRG researcher at 506-364-2631 (mabrg@mta.ca).

Mount A grad and Dominion founder Dru Jay to give presentation

On Monday, March 3, Mount A grad and founder of The Dominion, an independent online newspaper out of Montreal, Dru Jay ('02) will give a presentation in Sackville as part of the paper's "Own Your Media" national tour on the importance of independent media. Dru will be joined by Dominion managing editor Stu Neatby and will present at the Sackville United Church parlours (Main Street) on Monday, March 3 at 4:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend and there is no admission charge.

The Dominion (www.dominionpaper.ca) is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles.

The Dominion's "Own Your Media" tour is currently touring across Canada to promote the newspaper to those who can provide consistent, long-term funds towards a democratic and independent newspaper.

Dru Jay is the founder of the independent paper and got his start in journalism while at Mount Allison as editor-in-chief of the Argosy. Dru graduated from Mount Allison in 2002 with a degree in international relations.

The Dominion now boasts a regular readership of nearly 70,000 people per month. Other Allisonians who have contributed to The Dominion include agriculture editor Hillary Lindsay ('01), volunteer co-ordinator and copy editor Moira Peters ('03), arts editors Max Liboiron ('02) and Jane Henderson ('03), environment editor Yuill Herbert ('02), review and copy editor Linda Besner ('03), illustrator Sylvia Nickerson ('01), and Amanda Jernigan ('01).

The Climate Change Challenge is on at Mount A!

The campus-wide Climate Change Challenge (C3) is well underway at Mount A.

Organized by the student group, Eco-Action, with support from university administrators, C3 encourages residences, and academic buildings on campus to collectively reduce their energy consumption.

This is the second year for C3 — last year’s winning residence reduced their consumption by 24 per cent during the month of February. Owen Roberts, a member of Eco-Action and one of the student organizers of C3 says, “This is an easy way to convey how painless it is to reduce dramatically our greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change! Through collaborative efforts, students and staff at Mount Allison are making a difference in their energy use at home and at work.”

Residences and academic buildings will monitor their energy usage for the month of February and then compare their usage to February 2007.

Students, faculty, and staff work together to reduce their energy usage by such efforts as unplugging unused appliances, collectively turning the heat down, air-drying laundry, and monitoring and reducing paper usage.

The residence with the biggest reduction will win a sports pack full of energy-efficient house activities, such as board games and sports equipment. The winning academic building will receive reusable mugs for all its occupants.