StFX undergraduates to present research at largest earth sciences international meeting in San Francisco

Marielle Lesperance of Ottawa, ON and Sara Klapstein of Antigonish, NS, both StFX BSc honours students in Physics and Environmental Sciences, will be among the 12 Environmental Sciences Research Centre (ESRC) researchers, graduate and undergraduate students from StFX presenting their research at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco from Dec. 14-18.

The AGU, a preeminent scientific society, is dedicated to the furtherance of research in the earth and space sciences by providing forums for scientific meetings and publications.

 “It is very unusual for undergraduate students to have the opportunity to present their work at an AGU meeting,” says Dr. Hugo Beltrami, ESRC researcher and Marielle’s research and honours advisor.

“Generally, presenters at the AGU are top professional scientists and students at graduate or post-doctoral levels and that is why this is a special honour for these two undergraduates. This is becoming a regular occurrence for undergraduates in our centre as we have sent several undergraduates to international conferences during the past three years.”

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Fall Convocation a day of celebration

Prime Minister, Philanthropist Receive Honorary Degrees

As friends and family waited with flowers and proud words of congratulations, a celebratory atmosphere once again filled the Charles V. Keating Millennium Centre on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, as StFX graduated 178 students in degrees and diplomas and conferred 46 diplomas to graduates of the Coady International Institute during Fall Convocation 2009.

The Rt. Hon. Winston Baldwin Spencer (pictured top photo, centre) and Allan P. Markin (bottom photo, second from left) receive the degree Doctor of Laws honoris causa. Also pictured, l-r, are StFX President Dr. Sean Riley, StFX VP-Academic & Provost Dr. Mary McGillivray and StFX VP and Coady Director Mary Coyle.

During the ceremony, StFX also honoured two outstanding individuals, bestowing the degree Doctor of Laws honoris causa upon the Rt. Hon. Winston Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and a graduate of the Coady International Institute, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Allan P. Markin of Calgary.

L-r, Outreach Award recipient Dr. Nancy Forestell and StFX President Dr. Sean Riley

Dr. Nancy Forestell of the Department of History was honoured with the university’s annual Outreach Award.

“Convocation is one of those great moments in university life. I can sense in the air the innimate transition to new phases of life,” StFX President Dr. Sean Riley said in his opening remarks as he offered his warmest welcome to all those gathered. 

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The day was truly one of celebration.

Among the graduates were 10 Mi’kmaw teachers who have been part of StFX’s off-campus teacher education program offered in Indian Brook First Nation. As the StFX Faculty of Education celebrates 60 years since graduating its first B. Ed. students, these graduates join the 80 StFX B.Ed. alumni of Aboriginal ancestry, who have taken on the professional role of teachers in the past decade. The Indian Brook program was a joint partnership between the StFX Faculty of Education and Mi’kmaw Kina’matewey, as a strategy to prepare teachers for two new band operated schools in We’koqma’q and Indian Brook. They will make “a monumental difference as leaders in shaping their communities,” Dr. Riley noted.

 Louise Burley

Celebrating a special milestone too was Louise Burley, the first non-sighted person to graduate from the Diploma in Adult Education program. William Goggin, the director of the Diploma in Adult Education, perhaps summed it best when during the year he remarked, “I have never seen a person with sight challenges not only present, but work as a team member of three. I think that everyone better bookmark this in their mental log and say wow, I saw something today that was unique.”

Another special joy of Fall Convocation is the graduates of the Coady International Institute, world-renowned for its professional education programming for community leaders working worldwide to build better lives for all people.

“Thank you for bringing your experience and vision to enrich our community, and congratulations,” Dr. Riley told the graduates in this historic 50th anniversary year class. 

Both honorary degree candidates expressed their thanks for the honour bestowed upon them, and urged graduates to go forward with respect and communication with others, and to be conscious citizens.

“I’m proud and humble. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this honour,” said Mr. Spencer, who has long been a champion of the interests of developing countries.

He was elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda in 2004, and re-elected again in 2009. 

In his remarks, Mr. Spencer said that it was during his time at the Coady Institute that he discovered the value of humility and social leadership for the good of all. “The principles have stayed with me, and fashioned my thinking,” he said as he announced his government’s annual scholarship for an Antigua and Barbuda citizen to attend the Coady.

In his address, Mr. Markin, a distinguished humanitarian, successful businessman in the energy industry in Canada, and co-owner of the Calgary Flames, urged the graduates to combine intelligence and compassion, to listen to others, to build times of silence into their lifes, to be ethical and to be life-long learners. “To fill your mind with everything that is true is not always a smooth ride,” he said. “Remember to listen first.”

“Thank you again for this honorary degree. Know that it means a great deal to me.”

Coady graduate Ann Kargbo of Sierra Leone, who delivered the acknowledgement, said she and her classmates have that good feeling that comes from within. “We have done our best. Congrats to my fellow graduates. It is the beginning of a new journey.”

X-Ring shines with pride and poignancy

“After 1,190 days, we made it!”
~ Kevin Klin, 2010 senior class president

The loud joyous cheer that filled the Keating Millennium Centre moments after the Class of 2010 received their X-Rings said it all.

Wow.

On Thursday, Dec. 3, the Feast Day of patron saint, St. Francis Xavier, senior students gazed down at their fingers in awe, took pictures holding up their rings, smiled and hugged friends, and when the 976th ring was presented, spontaneously erupted in joy.

“Each year the importance of this event seems to grow,” StFX President Dr. Sean Riley told those gathered to watch the 2009 X-Ring ceremony.

Countdowns – including the one on the Students’ Union website – were ticking down to the 1,000th second.

Meanwhile, several thousand proud parents, family and friends gathered in overflow rooms on the StFX campus, as more tuned in worldwide via the web, to watch the Class of 2010 proudly receive their X-Rings.

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Dr. Truis Smith-Palmer wins Science Champion Award

Dr. Truis Smith-Palmer is a science champion. And now she has an award to recognize it.

The long-time StFX chemistry professor was honoured recently at the seventh annual Discovery Awards for Science and Technology, winning the prestigious Science Champion Award at the ceremony held November 26th at The Westin Nova Scotian, Halifax.

Dr. Truis Smith-Palmer 

The awards honour individuals and organizations whose exemplary work in science and technology inspire. In particular, the Science Champion Award recognizes the devotion to the promotion of science and technology to the public. The recipients of the award are role models who make science fascinating and accessible.

Dr. Smith-Palmer’s award is in recognition of her efforts to bring exciting and engaging science educational activities to children and schools all over northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

“I was very excited and honored to receive the award,” she says. “It recognizes not only the work I have done with outreach, but also all the help and support I have had from faculty and staff in chemistry and the rest of the science faculty. I began visiting schools over 25 years ago in company with the late Dr. David Bunbury to give presentations on chemistry. We also gave presentations in malls and to community groups and at Mayfest. We were part of the opening day presentations at the Museum of Industry.”

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Student Samantha Marshall receives fully-funded scholarship to study in Norway

A StFX honours biology and aquatic resources student is one of only two Canadian students awarded a fully-funded scholarship to study in Norway next term.

Samantha Marshall of Tottenham, ON received the Fellowship for Studies in the High North, scholarships for Canadian students to study from January to June, 2010 at Bodø University College (BUC) along the western coast of Norway. The fellowship is offered by the Norwegian government, through the Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture at BUC. It covers the cost of travel to and from Bodø, Norway, fees for attending BUC, and student housing while in Norway. Marshall will take courses that will go toward her StFX degree. 

“There were only two fellowships available for Canadian students and we are very pleased that Sam was awarded one of the two,” says Aquatic Resources Program Officer Lynn Patterson. 

“It’s quite a privilege when you think about it,” Marshall says. “On top of the personal development you hope to get out of it, it’s a chance to make a lot of connections with researchers and professors, which may open up opportunities in the future.

“It’s an opportunity to study abroad and I want to do my master’s in aquaculture so it’s a chance to try it out before my master’s.”

Marshall says her studies in Norway will really complement what she’s done at StFX.

She has been a dean’s list student, and has conducted independent research on freshwater mussels, a species at risk in Canada, during her aquatic resources work term with the St. Mary’s River Association in Sherbrooke. She’s also volunteered with the Community Aquatic Monitoring Program, and with biology professor Randy Lauff on his owl monitoring project. In September she spent two weeks aboard a DFO research cruise, counting fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Quebec.

StFX partners with Apple Canada

The next generation of StFX teachers will be well prepared for using Apple technology in the classroom, thanks to a nearly $100,000 partnership between Apple Canada and StFX through its Faculty of Education and the Technology Support Group (TSG).

Thanks in part to its existing relationship with the TSG, Apple Canada has selected StFX as one of three universities across Canada – the other two are UBC and the OISE-University of Toronto – to participate in this national pilot project.

Apple will provide the faculties of education at each university with equipment and professional development training. At StFX, this means two mobile laptop labs, 40 laptops, and 15 days of professional development.

“We’re pretty excited about it, the real opportunity is that it’s not just equipment, it’s also professional development,” says Rob Proctor, manager of service and support with the TSG. He says technology experts from Apple will be on campus over the coming months to demonstrate ways to use the equipment in the classroom. Mr. Proctor says StFX’s relationship with Apple started over two years ago when chief technology officer Duncan Macpherson approached the company to have StFX officially support and bring Apple technology to campus. “This partnership came because of that relationship,” Mr. Proctor says.

L-r, Colton White and James Stewart, Apple campus reps for StFX, Rob Policicchio, Apple Canada instruction technologist specialist, Faculty of Education Dean Dr. Jeff Orr, Karen Ritcey, Apple marketing manager, Andrew Foran, chair of StFX’s B.Ed program, and Rob Proctor, manager of service and support with TSG. 

Mr. Proctor says as part of the relationship, they also want to bring in local school boards to see how Apple supports teaching and learning in the classroom.

“Apple’s primary market is education. By helping the Faculty of Education, they are preparing the next generation of teachers and master’s students to try to increase their comfort level in laptops and in Apple instruction.” 

Dean of Education Dr. Jeff Orr says they are very excited about the possibilities the partnership opens, for faculty, pre-service teachers, and teachers and staff in schools.

“This straddles the two worlds of the university and school board worlds which we live in. As we get better at using Apple technology, the pedagogy spills both ways in what goes on in schools and universities. We see the possibilities to invite campus to experience professional development opportunities associated with laptops.”

This project helps us support educators as they learn how to use such technological features as voice, video and drag and drop icons. With the ease of rolling the laptops into a classroom on one cart “this shows a very convenient way to integrate laptops into a classroom without people having to own one,” Dr. Orr says.