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(February 8, 2001, Gazette)

Remembrances of Memorial past...

30 years ago
New communication avenue for Labrador
February 1971 – As part of a continuing communications project on the Labrador coast, the Extension Service is now involved in taping informational and public affairs programs to be screened in communities on the coast. Four communities and their satellite areas have been chosen for the project: Mary’s Harbour, Port Hope Simpson, Cartwright and Charlottetown. Committees will be set up in each community, and under the co-ordination of Paul MacLeod, film utilization officer, 10 hours a week of programs will be screened at public gatherings beginning late this month.

In other news, the Physics Department’s new Geomagnetic Research Laboratory is officially opened this month by Sir Edward Buller, professor of geophysics at the University of Cambridge. The 3,600 sq. ft. all-electric building is located on a magnetically flat site at White Hills, just north of the Dr. Charles A. Janeway Child Health Centre. It contains six large laboratories, a student workshop, ancillary facilities and equipment valued at over $80,000 for experimental work in geomagnetism.

25 years ago
Irish studies seminar at MUN
February 1976 – The Canadian Association for Irish Studies, a national body devoted to the promotion in Canada of Irish literature and its related areas of study, holds its ninth annual seminar at Memorial this month. The theme is Literature and Folk Culture: Ireland and Newfoundland.

20 years ago
Memorial names president-elect
February 1981 – Dr. Leslie Harris, vice-president (academic) is named Memorial University’s president and vice-chancellor-elect this month. The appointment will take effect Sept. 1, 1981, upon the retirement of Dr. M. O. Morgan. Dr. Harris is the first graduate of the university to become its president and vice-chancellor. He graduated from Memorial with a BA(Ed.) in 1956 and a master’s in Newfoundland history in 1959. He received his PhD in history from the University of London in 1960, having specialized in South Asian history. After a number of years of teaching, he returned to Newfoundland in 1963 to join Memorial’s faculty in the Department of History.

15 years ago
$26 million for Memorial
February 1986 – The federal and provincial governments announce this month that Memorial will receive $25 million for the construction of a new building to house the Centre for Earth Resources Research, as well as $1 million for a computer-aided design facility for the engineering faculty. The projects are among the first to be approved under the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore development fund, which was provided for in the Atlantic Accord of Feb. 11, 1985.

In other news, a major conference at Queen’s College this month attracts a large cross-section of people concerned with the potential impact of worker migration to communities that are the sites of major development projects. The conference, In Search of Work: A Working Conference on Speculative Migration and Community Impacts, draws over 100 participants, including individuals from communities, governments, industry and social agencies. In Search of Work is the second major conference on the theme of offshore development organized this year by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Memorial.

10 years ago
Dr. Arthur May installed at special convocation
February 1991 – More than 400 people attend the special convocation ceremony held early this month in which Dr. Arthur May is officially installed as Memorial’s president and vice-chancellor. As well, Dr. Albert Cox, Memorial’s vice-president (academic), was installed as the university’s pro vice-chancellor. Honorary degrees were presented to three Memorial alumni – Dr. James Downey, former president of the University of New Brunswick; Dr. George Ivany, president of the University of Saskatchewan; and Dr. David Strong, president of the University of Victoria.

In other news, representatives of unions and student groups at the university meet this month with members of the administration to discuss the university’s projected financial problems. The meeting was held to advise employees and students about plans being developed to cope with anticipated funding cutbacks and also to invite suggestions on how the university can best cope with financial restraints.

Five years ago
Strike averted
February 1996 – A strike by members of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association (MUNFA) was narrowly averted early this month when MUNFA and the university administration came to a tentative agreement less than 24 hours before the union’s strike deadline.

In research news, researchers in the Department of Biochemistry report findings from a study that show that although breast milk is the best food for infants, feeding your baby evaporated milk is not harmful. The study, funded by Health Canada, tracked three groups of babies from birth to 18 months of age and found the evaporated milk-fed babies were all in the normal range for nutrients.

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