Students returned to classes on September 4th making our hallways, classrooms and labs a beehive of activity.  Summer is busy in labs of course, but we really notice the change as our undergraduates return after Labour Day. 

In addition to students returning, we saw two per course instructors return to the department for teaching duties in the Fall Semester.  Dr. Elaine Dodge is teaching Biochemistry 2005, and Dr. Kelley Bromley-Brits is teaching part of Biochemistry 2101.  Many of our graduate students have been hired as teaching assistants in our courses this semester, as is our usual practice.

Judong Yeo and Tadiwos Asrat arrived in September to start their graduate programs in the research labs of Drs. F. Shahidi and V. Booth, respectively. We also have one new staff member who started in September; Dr. Mark McDonald returned to the department as a Research Assistant with Dr. Booth.

We have over 20 MUCEP positions for fall, most of which are in research labs.  Our student labs, computer room, and tutorial centre also have MUCEP students placed there. As of the end of the month there were still a few vacancies for which resumes were being reviewed.

The headship search committee hosted three candidates in September.  Department members had a chance to meet with all candidates, as well as attend seminars by each. The hiring process moved to the selection stage after their visits and as of end month, that was still in progress.

The annual Dean’s award ceremony was September 24th.  At this event he 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.   Lists of student winners can be found on the dean’s web site.