Mount A takes flight

Mount Allison University and the Moncton Flight College will be offering a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Aviation starting this September.

The multi-disciplinary degree will offer students the chance to obtain their Commercial Pilot’s Licence while completing an undergraduate degree.

The new Bachelor of Science in Aviation will welcome its first students this September. The interdisciplinary major will cover basic geography and environmental science, math and computer science, chemistry, physics, as well as upper-level aviation courses.

Students will also have the opportunity to engage in Mount A’s liberal arts curriculum, while receiving hands-on pilot training at the Flight College — graduating with a Bachelor of Science as well as their commercial pilot licence with multi-engine and instrument flight rules ratings.

Read more:
Top Canadian schools join forces (MTA News Release)
Mount A, Moncton Flight College join forces (Times and Transcript)

Commerce trip to Toronto

To give students in the Investment and Portfolio Management course a better feel for the investment industry, their professor, Dr. Nauman Farooqi, took them to Toronto to speak with the people who actually work in the financial sector.

While in Toronto this past March, thirteen students met with Mount Allison alumni:

• Dan Nowlan (’90), Managing Director at CIBC World Markets
• Michael Gibbens (’93), Managing Director at TD Securities
• Purdy Crawford (’52), renowned business leader who is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.

In the evening there was an informal get-together with recent MTA grads at Osler’s Law Firm organized by alumnus Matt Stanley (’04).

This trip would not have been possible without the generous financial support of alumnus Michael Gibbens and all those who gave so freely of their valuable time.

Most outstanding geography student in Canada

Sarah Blake-Dickson (’08) of Waterloo has just received the 2008 Canadian Association of Geographers Undergraduate Award. This award is presented to the most outstanding student in Geography at universities across Canada.

The head of the department, Dr. Mike Fox calls Sarah a model department citizen. She was the student representative on the hiring committee for two new professors in the department during her time at Mount Allison.

Last summer, she worked for the Rural and Small Towns Programme, a university-based research group that works on rural issues, where, on one of her projects, she worked on a housing study for the town of Sackville.

It is amazing that Sarah found the time, but outside the classroom she volunteered in the Best Buddies program, which works with the special population and she played intramural sports including softball, soccer, and volleyball.

This summer Sarah is working for Industry Canada as a Community Economic Development Assistant at the Stratford Community Futures/FedNor Office in Ontario.

Luckily the East Coast gets her back as Sarah, who has had her choice of university graduate programs, has decided to attend Dalhousie University in the fall to do a master’s of Resource and Environmental Management.

Read full story: A Love of Place

Festival by the Marsh Preview

A night of merrymaking and fund raising with Bill Langstroth ('54) and guests was held on Saturday, June 7 at Cranewood.

Proceeds went towards this year’s Festival by the Marsh.

The event also honoured Friends of the Festival who donated to support last year’s edition, including:

• Don and Leona Campbell
• Robert Campbell and Christl Verduyn
• Dr. John McManaman
• Monika Boehringer
• Sandy and Wendy Burnett
• Joyce and Laing Ferguson
• Odette Gould and Mark Standring
• Virgil Hammock
• Gloria Jollymore
• Ron and Patricia Kelly Spurles
• Honourable Dominic Leblanc
• John and Lesley Read
• Pauline Spatz
• Rob and Susan Summerby-Murray
• Marilyn Trenholme Counsell
• Gary and Nancy Tucker

This year’s lineup included Mike Allison ('00), who continues to gain musical fame around the region and beyond, and who has just recently released a new CD, entitled Tilting at Windmills.

Also included in the program was the debut performance by Laura Turnbull of an original play, A One Person Brief History of Sackville, as well as scenes excerpted from this year’s play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare.

Visit the Festival’s web site www.festivalbythemarsh.ca
The Festival runs through July 5-27, 2008.

If these walls could talk

A voice from CHMA's radio past is speaking again.

The crew at Mount Allison's campus community station is gearing up for its big move to the University's new Student Centre and has made some interesting discoveries during the process.

When moving a wall of floor-to-ceiling CD shelves, which had been bolted in place for a number of years, CHMA’s summer events co-ordinator Mark Brownlee discovered hidden messages written on the wall behind.

The messages, dated 1999, were from former CHMA station manager Liam Allen and junior engineer James Marcogliese.

A blank old-school music log — one of the forms that on-air hosts have to complete during each show — was also posted on the wall.

“We all chuckled a bit when we discovered the hidden messages,” says Brownlee.

“These Allisonians must have thought their messages would be long hidden or that there would be some great technological strides in the new millennium — it was anticipated that robots would be giving the music library its next coat of paint.”

While robots won’t be painting CHMA’s walls this time, the staff is excited about their move to the new Student Centre.

Station manager Pierre Malloy says the new space will provide some exciting new opportunities.

“We’re going to have a much bigger studio space and recording area. Which means we'll have more room for live interviews and live performances.

We’re also going to be better able to record local bands and performers so we can help them get their music out there. It’s a great jump forward for CHMA.”

Listen to CHMA live and hear move and community updates

Dr. Charles ("Willie") Eliot

Dr. Charles ("Willie") Eliot, former Mount Allison professor and University of Prince Edward Island President Emeritus, died of a stroke in his home on May 20, 2008.

Dr. Eliot was an important member of the Department of Classics at Mount Allison, serving first as Head of the Department and then as the Josiah Wood Chair in Classics. He also served as Vice-President, Academic and as a member of the Board of Regents at Mount Allison. In addition to his important work at Mount Allison, Dr. Eliot was an instructor and professor at the University of British Columbia between 1957 and 1971.

He was an active member in the wider academic community, serving on the Advisory Academic Panel of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and as a member of the Classical Association of Canada.

Born in Pakistan in 1928, Eliot also maintained an international connection through his involvement with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece, which included a five-year term as a Professor of Archeology between 1971 and 1976.

In 1985 Eliot became President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island, a position he held for 10 years.

UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan has informed us that Willie's memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m. on June 22 in the Recital Hall at UPEI.

Bermuda represented in new Student Centre

Pictured above is "Jobson's Cove, Bermuda", one of four giclée prints from Roger Savage's (' 63) original Bermuda watercolours to be displayed in the Bermuda Wing of the new Mount Allison Student Centre.

The Student Centre grand opening will be September 27, 2008 during Homecoming Weekend.