Year-in-Review

May 2002

Family medicine is tops

The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) judged Memorial University the overall winner for family medicine training in the country. This is the second time the society has awarded its prestigious Keith Award to Memorial - the inaugural awards in 2000 also went to Memorial, and last year Memorial placed second.

Honorary degrees awarded

Spring convocation ceremonies were held on May 10 at Grenfell College in Corner Brook and May 29-31 at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre. Over 2,000 degrees were awarded during eight sessions of convocation. Memorial also recognized the achievement of a number of today's outstanding leaders with honorary degrees: Sister Elizabeth Davis, educator, executive and community leader; Dr. Sandra Djwa, professor, editor and E. J. Pratt scholar; Ron Hynes, singer, songwriter and actor; James Igloliorte, judge and community leader; Dr. Brenda Milner, pioneering neuropsychologist and professor; Dr. Henry Mintzberg, professor and renowned management expert; and Right Rev. Marion Pardy, United Church leader.

Business professor receives national award

Dr. Robert Sexty was one of three Canadian professors to receive this year's Leaders in Management Education awards. The awards honour outstanding business and management professors and are sponsored by the National Post and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. "Being recognized for my efforts in management education is appreciated," said Dr. Sexty. "I enjoy the classroom teaching and the challenges of developing new content and integrating innovative teaching approaches in management education." Dr. Sexty's award makes Memorial the first business school in Canada to have three of its faculty members receive these awards since the program started in 1996. The other two were Dr. Jim Barnes and Dr. Alex Faseruk in 1997 and 1999 respectively.

Home court for Sea-Hawks hoopsters

Memorial University will host the 2002-2003 Atlantic University Sport Women's Basketball Championships. When AUS schools met for their general meeting, Memorial delegates delivered a bid package to help sell the idea of Memorial's suitability to host the games. Frank Butler, director of athletics, said the bid was made possible through the support of Memorial University Recreation Complex (MURC) Inc., the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation and the university community.

Linking with IBM

IBM Canada's ThinkPad University Program will be introduced into Memorial's post-baccalaureate diploma in information technology in the fall 2002 semester. Under the program, full-time IT students will be provided with an IBM ThinkPad notebook computer for the duration of their program, including the work term. The ThinkPad program will offer students a standardized platform, a library of IBM software and 24-hour access to the learning resources of the IT program.

A leader among us

Dr. Mary Williams, NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (Atlantic Region) and professor of engineering and physics, was appointed as director general of the National Research Council of Canada's Institute for Marine Dynamics (IMD). In her role as NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, she has had great success in promoting science and engineering and when asked about her new appointment, Dr. Williams said, "I will still be a part of the Memorial community. I plan to use this connection to encourage more extensive collaboration between Memorial University and the Institute for Marine Dynamics."

Research Report released

President Meisen launched the university's new 2001-02 Research Report in his address to convocation on May 29. The inaugural report highlights the university's major research accomplishments and notes the research activities of faculty, staff and students. The report, which covers the period April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002 is produced by the office of the vice-president (research and international relations), Dr. Christopher Loomis.