Year-in-Review

October 2001

Vic Young appointed executive in residence

The Faculty of Business Administration invited one of the province's most distinguished business leaders to join them in shaping the business leaders of tomorrow. Dean Bill Blake announced that Vic Young had accepted the faculty's invitation to spend the fall term as executive-in-residence effective Oct. 1, 2001. "Mr. Young's extensive experience in government; as chairman and CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro; and more recently as chairman and CEO of Fishery Products International, has given him a wealth of business expertise and knowledge that can be shared with both faculty and students," said Dr. Blake, on behalf of the management group.

Noel Veitch named alumnus of the year

Retired professor and campus food bank co-founder Noel Veitch was named Alumnus of the Year for 2001. Mr. Veitch graduated from Memorial in 1959 with a BA (Ed.) and returned a few years later to join the Faculty of Education, where he taught speech communication. Mr. Veitch is the co-founder of the campus food bank and maintains an active role as co-ordinator of that organization. He is a volunteer driver with Meals on Wheels, a member of the board of directors of the Positive Thinkers Club, a member of the St. John's Metro chapter of the Memorial Alumni Association, and the MUN pensioners' representative on the advisory committee of the Employee Assistance Program. He has been the marshal of convocation at Memorial since 1997.

Chemist receives award for bravery

Dr. Jean Burnell, chemistry, was one of four people recognized by the province for acts of bravery. On Aug. 22, 1989, Dr Burnell crawled through smoke and flames in a Memorial University chemistry lab to reach a graduate student, Pei-Ying Liu, whose experiment had exploded. Dr. Burnell extinguished the fire in Ms. Liu's hair and clothes and pulled her to safety. While Ms. Liu's colleagues took her for medical attention, Dr. Burnell returned to the lab to put out the blaze. Premier Roger Grimes and Lieutenant-Governor A. M. House presented the Newfoundland and Labrador Award for Bravery in a special ceremony at Government House on Oct. 9.

Memorial Researchers to receive funding

Health minister Allan Rock, former Industry minister Brian Tobin, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) university delegate Dr. Sandra LeFort, announced a Government of Canada contribution of over $5.1 million to fund Newfoundland health research initiatives. Memorial University received funding for five projects that will take place over the next three to five years and cover the full spectrum of health research - biomedical, clinical, health services and population health.

MUN runner tops in nation

Cross-country runner Trevor O'Brien not only finished in first place at a meet in Nova Scotia, but his exploits were recognized in the region and across the country. The fourth-year kinesiology student from Paradise was named Male Athlete of the Week by the Atlantic University Sport and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), for the week ending Oct. 7. In his first meet of the season at Dalhousie University, Mr. O'Brien edged 2000 First-Team CIS All-Canadian Eric Gillis of St. Francis Xavier by one second to finish in first place. His time of 32:34 over the challenging 10k course also helped Memorial finish in second place in the team competition. Mr. O'Brien also won the Atlantic University Sport Men's Championship in 2000 and was selected as a Second-Team CIS All-Canadian.