In June the department participated once again in the Campus Food Bank’s Twelve Days of Giving food drive.  In July we found out that we had one the prize for being the largest donor of all the offices and departments on campus.  This is the eighth year in a row that we won this prize, which is a testament to the generosity of our people.  The prize is a coffee break funded by the food bank and that event will be held later in the fall.
 
Members of the Department were part of the host group for the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual meeting held in St. John’s June 5 – 7.   A busy but successful event was reported by attendees.

On July 1st our new department head took up his position.  Dr. Mark Berry came to us from Brandon University in Manitoba.  He’s been busy ever since immersing himself in department activities while learning our ropes.  Welcome to MUN Biochemistry, Dr. Berry!

The fourth Biochemistry Summer Student Research Symposium took place on August 13th at the Fluvarium.  This event is organized by the department’s graduate students each year.  It included posters and talks by graduate and summer undergraduate students, as well as an invited guest speaker, Dr. Alain Nepveu, Professor of Biochemistry, and  member of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Centre at McGill University.  This year for the first time, graduate students were competing for the L.M. Stead Oral Competition Award for Best Oral Presentation. This award was generously donated by Dr. Lori Stead and by Dr. René Jacobs, both alumni of the department.

Students returned to university for Fall on September 3rd and this found our halls buzzing with activities as they rejoined classes and labs for another academic year.  We welcomed five new graduate students this fall enrolled in our MSc program, Alaa Al-Jaroudi, Welaa Al-Jaroudi, Scott Bray, Emily Courage, and Yuanxin Sun.   We also have a number of students hired in MUCEP and ISWEP positions for the fall semester, mostly placed as lab assistants.

The annual Faculty of Science awards ceremony was September 23rd.  At this event the Dean of Science honours students named to the dean’s list for the prior academic year.  In addition, other student awards are announced and employee achievement awards are presented.   The big news for this department was that our staff member Craig Skinner won the 2014 Dean of Science Distinguished Service Award. Craig was nominated by a large group of department members in recognition of his outstanding service to the department so the award is well-deserved.  Congratulations, Craig!