Campus Notes
At Saint Mary’s, we are grateful for our community of generous donors – alumni, faculty and staff, friends, and organizations. Every donor’s reason for giving is different, but all are united by a passion for giving back to the community.
From the President of the Alumni Association
By Maroon & White |
Being President of the Saint Mary’s Alumni Association since October 2014 has given me many opportunities to interact with fellow alumni, faculty and especially with the students. It is a great pleasure to spend time with our future leaders. I attend as many events as I am able.
Last September I was assisting our Alumni Office with Welcome Week for new students and I saw a familiar face.…
Latest SMU Telescope Linked to Social Media
By Renée Hartleib |
The Burke-Gaffney Observatory unveiled a very special telescope last fall. The Planewave 0.6-metre CDK24 telescope is the second-largest telescope on a Canadian university campus, and the first in the world to be synced via software to social media. This allows it to be monitored and controlled by Facebook and Twitter users worldwide. Named in honour of its major benefactors, Dr. Ralph M. Medjuck…
Top Marks in Canada
By Renée Hartleib |
Saint Mary’s University has been ranked first in Canada for international research collaboration. This special recognition is a part of Research Infosource’s annual rankings on university research. “It is wonderful that the magnitude of international research collaborations at Saint Mary’s has been recognized by Research Infosource,” says Dr. Kevin Vessey, Saint Mary’s Associate Vice-President,…
President-Elect Announced
By Renée Hartleib |
In February, after an international search, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray was chosen as Saint Mary’s University President-Elect. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Summerby-Murray has been in Canada since the 1980s, when he received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Toronto. He has served in a number of senior academic roles, including as Dean of Social Sciences at Mount Allison University…
SMU Hosts Award-winning Author Emma Donoghue
By Renée Hartleib |
On March 13, Canadian writer Emma Donoghue delivered this year’s Cyril Byrne Memorial Lecture. The annual lecture celebrates the life and spirit of Cyril Byrne, who during his 35-year career as an English professor at SMU, helped establish the school’s Atlantic Canada studies program and the D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies. Donoghue is an Irish-born writer whose work has been translated…
New Chancellor
By Renée Hartleib |
Dr. Paul D. Sobey is following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. David F. Sobey, who served as Saint Mary’s Chancellor from 2008 until 2010. Born in Halifax, but raised in New Glasgow, Dr. Paul D. Sobey, FCA, B.Comm, D.Comm, worked through various positions in Empire and its subsidiaries, assuming the role of Vice-President and Secretary in 1985, and President and CEO of Sobey Leased Properties…
A Win-Win Situation
By Renée Hartleib |
International students studying in Halifax now have expanded opportunities to enter the work force and stay in Nova Scotia. A new program, launched in February with help from the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association Atlantic Section, offers international students at the Sobey School of Business valuable work experience through a paid internship program with the Halifax Port Authority. This new…
The Buzz about BNUZ
By Renée Hartleib |
Saint Mary’s has a long relationship with China’s Beijing Normal University – Zhuhai (BNUZ). Since 2002, hundreds of students from BNUZ have attended Saint Mary’s, with SMU students also able to access a study-abroad program at BNUZ. In February, a new partnership was announced with SMU’s Faculty of Arts. This latest development between the two universities is a credit-transfer agreement.…
On the Cutting Edge
By Renée Hartleib |
The David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing and Services was launched in style on March 10 at an invite-only event attended by over 150 Canadian business luminaries. David Sobey, for whom the new Centre is named, was recognized through remarks from master of ceremonies, Dean Patricia Bradshaw. “The launch of this Centre honours the region’s tradition of business excellence in the retail…
Fostering the Future
By Renée Hartleib |
Combine 100 high school or post-secondary students with an interest in entrepreneurship, a handful of keen mentors, and 50 Nova Scotian communities. What have you got? Startup 100, a unique partnership between the Province of Nova Scotia, the Sobey School Business Development Centre, and Enactus Saint Mary’s. The program began February 20, and will continue for 100 days with a two-fold goal: foster…
Improved Supports for Students with Disabilities
By Renée Hartleib |
For 30 years, Saint Mary’s has played a leadership role in ensuring that higher education is accessible to students with disabilities. Back in 1985, when the Atlantic Centre was first established, it began by helping 13 students. That number has grown to over 200 students today. A passionate supporter of services for students with disabilities, and a former member of the University’s Board of…
Establishing a Community of Responsibility
By Suzanne Robicheau |
It isn’t easy to take a stand against sexualized violence—even for a self-described “big guy” like Amali Armony, President-Elect of Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association (SMUSA). Thanks to training received through an innovative program called Bringing in the Bystander, Armony and other members of the Saint Mary’s community are now poised to speak up and step in.
“This…
Licence to Innovate
By Chris Benjamin |
Sobey School of Business students devised improved agricultural methods, a financial literacy program for inmates, public-use cell phone-charging stations, and a social media platform for Chinese ex-pats, and they took home four of six BOYNECLARKE Innovative Ideas Awards on February 23 at the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax. They swept the social innovation category, winning all three awards in that…