June 10, 2015 Volume 47 | Number 15
A m e m o r i a l u n i v e r s i t y o f n e w f o u n d l an d p u b l i c a t i o n
Registration Mail No. 4006252
National engineering academy inducts three fellows By Krista Davidson
chris hammond PHOTO
The Canadian Academy
Historic day Dr. Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic), was installed as Memorial’s first female pro vice-chancellor during spring convocation May 26. From left are Dr. Matthew Janes, Dr. Golfman, Sheila Singleton, Dr. Greg Naterer, Minister Clyde Jackman and Iris Petten.
Mapping the North Atlantic seabed By Leslie Earle
A multinational team of Canadian, European and American ocean-mapping experts are currently exploring the seafloor in the waters connecting St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and Galway, Ireland. This first trans-Atlantic mapping survey stems from the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance which was formed following the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. Launched June 1, it has brought together representatives from the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University; Ireland’s national seabed mapping
program, INFOMAR, at the Marine Institute and Geological Survey of Ireland; the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere to use multi-beam echo sounders to collect ocean-mapping data in this region of the ocean. “The North Atlantic Ocean is crucial to the ecological, economic, and societal health and resilience of North America, Europe and the Arctic regions and the data we collect will be vital to understanding how we move forward together to ensure its sustainability,” said Glenn Blackwood, vice-president, Memorial University (Marine Institute).
“We are pleased to lend our oceanmapping expertise in this field and contribute in such a meaningful way for our shared benefit.” The work is being conducted aboard the Irish research vessel, RV Celtic Explorer, which just completed this year’s 30-day fisheries survey and is returning to Ireland providing the additional opportunity for the trans-Atlantic mapping survey. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has invested approximately $5 million in Celtic Explorer expeditions since 2010 to support fisheries science activities.
See mapping on page 4
of Engineering (CAE) inducted a number of alumni, faculty members and longtime Memorial University supporters to its membership at its 2015 annual general meeting and symposium in Hamilton, Ont., June 4. Among the 50 members that have been inducted throughout Canada, three individuals have close connections to Memorial by way of their professions: Fred Cahill, president, the Cahill Group; Jamie Long, president, Hibernia Management and Development Co. Ltd. (HMDC); and Dr. Leonard Lye, professor and associate dean (graduate studies), Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University. Each of the three individuals have made significant contributions to the field of engineering and applied science both within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond. Mr. Cahill, an alumnus from Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, is also chair of the Genesis Centre, Memorial’s business incubator for technology-based ventures with high-growth potential, and has made a number of significant contributions to Memorial, including spearheading the Cahill Engineering One Help Centre, a resource centre for first-year engineering students that helps facilitate the transition from high school to university.
See academy on page 4
features
3 F u t u r e i n s p i r at i o n
The daughter of a late member of the School of Pharmacy hopes awards established in his name will inspire future researchers.
5 F r a m e wo r k s at wo r k
A research-based employment program is providing undergraduates an opportunity to work in the field.
6-11 Co n c i s e a n d l i v e ly
The Gazette brings you the sharp insight and sparkling wit of Memorial’s orators.
12 S o c i a l a ffa i r
Enjoy a selection of celebratory messages spring graduates shared via social media.
Alumni spotlight running store located at 564 Water St., St. John’s, Mr. Goulding is also the IT supervisor with The Commons at Memorial University and is working part time on a master of education degree. He sat down recently – briefly! – with special contributor Katie Guiney.
KG: What motivated you to start Biped Sports?
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AG: It came down to seeing a niche
Aaron Goulding
in the marketplace that wasn’t being filled. I often heard runners saying they weren’t satisfied with the current offerings locally. I first identified the opportunity in the summer of 2013 and started working on a business plan with a fellow runner and friend. She was busy with other things and couldn’t dedicate the time, but I decided to keep it moving and started the business on my own. Biped Sports opened on March 1, 2014.
KG: What separates Biped Sports Aaron Goulding (BBA, 2011) is always on the run. The owner and operator of Biped Sports, an independent
distinctions: expertise, local running community engagement and customer service. The customer having a good experience is the most important thing to me. At Biped, we offer a lot of extra value; for example, we have an in-store treadmill so you can run in the sneakers you want before you purchase. I would never buy a car without test-driving it, yet people buy sneakers just by looking at them all the time. I actually learned a lot about the value of good customer service working at Memorial. At The Commons, we pride ourselves on taking care of students and ensuring they get exactly what they need. I also go out to all the local races and take pictures and post them on social media. If people want their picture from a race, we give it away for free.
KG: What’s the single most important factor to being a successful entrepreneur?
from the competition?
AG: You have to be driven. Be
AG: I think there are three major
willing to put in long hours and make sacrifices for the benefit of your
business. I have a wide range of skills that make me a good entrepreneur — web design, multimedia — but at the end of the day, you need to have the drive.
KG: What advice can you offer a new runner?
AG: I always advise beginners to take a clinic first. At Biped, we want everyone to run and we are rooting for your success. We offer a number of clinics for various running goals and fitness levels. Our programs basically guarantee that if you show up all the time, you will get better at running. The great thing about running is its accessibility. It doesn’t matter if you’re going two miles an hour or 10 miles an hour — it is something almost anyone can do. There are so many health benefits to running — and the social aspect is a big part of it, too. When you join a clinic and make friends, it makes it so much easier to get out and run.
EDITOR Mandy Cook GRAPHICS Mike Mouland REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS
By Amy Jones Special to the gazette
Lian Morrison PHOTO
Yaffle.ca is Memorial’s online connecting tool. One of its most significant jobs is to provide a way for people from outside Memorial to ask for research help. With hundreds of communitysuggested opportunities to choose from, your next project is just a click away. Here’s one...
Th e o p p o r t u n i t y
It is recognized that the arts can have a wide impact on Newfoundland and Labrador by creating a healthy, vibrant community and economy. However, the immediate and tangible benefits of linking business and the arts may not be immediately apparent to everyone. That’s where the not-forprofit organization Business and Arts Newfoundland and Labrador comes in. “We are a business-led, membership based organization with the goal of facilitating long-term relationships between business and the arts in our province,” said Amy Henderson, general manager of the organization. “We want there to be a two-way flow of benefits between arts and business as equal partners, as both have many assets to contribute to the other.” In order to better expand and strengthen these relationships, solid data regarding the arts in the province needs to be collected, including data on the levels of resource support for the sector. “We would like to determine what resources, including both money and in-kind contributions, are allocated
Travellers stop to make some music at N.L. Business and Arts’ Come Play with Me piano project at the St. John’s International Airport. to the arts in our province,” said Ms. Henderson. “Having this solid data would provide a starting point for discussion, as well as comparisons between the province and elsewhere.” Th e p r o j e cT
Ms. Henderson would like to work with a researcher or team of researchers at Memorial to gain a better understanding of who provides resources to the arts, including all levels of government, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, private foundations, businesses, and so on. She would also like to examine how much support or funding is provided and in what way, whether through donations, grants, sponsorships or other methods. In addition, her organization would also like information on what types of arts organizations or artists secure resources, and what those resources are used for, such as core operating costs,
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administrative costs, programming, sustainability initiatives, and others. “There are data and statistics about resource provision for the arts in Canada as a whole, but it’s difficult to tell how they relate specifically to Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Ms. Henderson. “Other places in Canada and the United States have compiled and analyzed this type of data, and we would like to compare what is going on here with what is going on there. We would also like to use this information in programming to determine where the needs are. Taking a comprehensive look at the arts environment in the province would benefit the arts community, but it would also strengthen the province as a whole.” Interested in learning more about this potential research project? The Harris Centre’s coordinator of knowledge mobilization would be happy to tell you more. Call Amy Jones at 709864-6115 or email at amy.tucker@mun.ca.
Courtenay Alcock Laura Barron Jennifer Batten Melanie Callahan Rebecca Cohoe Nora Daly Krista Davidson Kelly Foss Elizabeth Furey Leslie Earle Pamela Gill Jeff Green Janet Harron Jill Hunt
Jackey Locke Virginia Middleton Cathy Newhook Michelle Osmond Lisa Pendergast David Penney Marcia Porter Kristine Power Dave Sorensen Melissa Watton Meaghan Whelan Susan White Heidi Wicks Laura Woodford Sandy Woolfrey-Fahey
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Kelly Hickey PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Hammond ADVERTISING Mandy Cook T. 709 864 2142 mandyc@mun.ca Next gazette deadline June 24 for July 2 publication. The gazette is published 17 times annually by the Division of Marketing and Communications at Memorial University. Material in the gazette may be reprinted or broadcast without permission, excepting materials for which the gazette does not hold exclusive copyright. gazette, Room A-1024 Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7 T. 709 864 2142 F. 709 864 8699 mandyc@mun.ca ISSN 0228-88 77 With the exception of advertisements from Memorial University, ads carried in the gazette do not imply recommendation by the university for the service or product.
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Project WILD Taking science education outdoors By Lisa Pendergast
“We are fostering future generations who will think critically about what is being done to the world around them, and how it impacts wildlife.” — Ashley Gosse Robert Kelsey, the science education lab instructor with the Faculty of Education, organized the outing in conjunction with staff of the Salmonier Nature Park, and believes it will help increase the healthy living aspect of education in Newfoundland and Labrador. “The impetus for offering this program came from a discussion I heard on Howard Gardner’s theory
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Faculty of Education students participated in Project WILD and Below Zero workshops on May 29. Project WILD is an internationally recognized program, sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation, and its goal is to increase the awareness, knowledge and skills of teachers in the areas of wildlife and the environment. The Below Zero portion of the workshop focuses on wildlife during winter and in frozen environments. Student educators who are interested in wildlife education can attend workshops to run through lesson plans and activities for students from kindergarten to Grade 12. Faculty of Education students participating in a Project WILD activity on interdependence. of nature deficit disorder,” said Mr. Kelsey. “It stems from the fact that children are changing from beings that have a lot of natural wonder in the world to beings that are becoming more sedentary and are sitting in front of video games and television and losing that ability to respond to the wonder in their environment.” The excursion took place both inside and outside on the St. John’s campus and was led by Michael Blackwood, environmental education technician with the Wildlife Division of the Department of Environment and Conservation. Students from both the bachelor of education primary/elementary and intermediate/ secondary groups attended. Throughout the half-day session,
students had the opportunity to review the Project WILD and Below Zero activity guides which feature 121 complete lesson plans about wildlife and the environment. They broke into groups, went outside to practise some of the activities and presented to the group how they would adapt the activities for a particular grade or subject. “I love the outdoors and I have a strong appreciation for hands-on learning,” said intermediate/secondary pre-service teacher Matthew Ingram. “Project WILD brilliantly combines these basic notions with the idea that youth are inherently motivated to study their natural surroundings. We were provided with great resources and skills through
this program, I will certainly use them in my future classrooms.” Project WILD is not just for science teachers, it can benefit educators and students in any field. “As an English/technology education student, I am thrilled that Project WILD had so much to offer,” said Ashley Gosse. “Knowledge of wildlife and wildlife conservation is increasingly crucial as our world grows and expands. As our students are informed about the importance of habitats and which local species may be endangered, we are fostering future generations who will think critically about what is being done to the world around them, and how it impacts wildlife.”
Lasting honour By Dr. Noriko Daneshtalab Special to the gazette
The passion for research and education that inspired the life of Dr. Mohsen Daneshtalab, the late School of Pharmacy professor and associate dean, graduate studies — known to me as “Dad” — has been immortalized through the creation of two awards for graduate students aspiring to enter pharmacy research programs. For over 40 years, my father was a world-renowned devotee to medicinal chemistry. His diverse career was as unique as his character, with incredible events that shaped his life and career. He received the highest Medal of Honour for Education from the Shah of Iran. His patent for the antidote for mustard gas exposure was successfully used to treat victims during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-88. Most recently, he created Signature Vodka — the anti-hangover vodka. His incredibly illustrious international career began when he completed his PhD in organic chemistry at Tohoku University in Japan, followed by his doctor of pharmacy at the University of Tehran in Iran. He worked
in private industry and academia. During the course of his career, more than 90 doctoral and master’s students and postdoctoral fellows graduated under his tutelage and mentorship, and he guided many more students from different research groups through their graduate education. My father continued his advocacy for research both within the School of Pharmacy and university-wide at Memorial. He was part of the VicePresident (Research)’s Strategic Planning Committee, where he helped define the university’s future research strategy. At the School of Pharmacy, he was instrumental in starting Pharmacy Research Days and establishing the Pharmacy Poster Award, which was given to the graduate student with the best research poster presentation at the annual Research Poster Competition. To honour his enduring energy and devotion to advancing pharmacy research and graduate education, two awards have been created — the Dr. Mohsen Daneshtalab Graduate Entrance Award and the Dr. Mohsen Daneshtalab Graduate Research Poster Award. My father passed away last year, and
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Research awards established in memory of beloved pharmacy professor
Dr. Mohsen Daneshtalab during his PhD days in Tohoku University in Japan in 1974. passed the torch of fuelling research interest and innovation to other aspiring researchers. He was a scientist, an advocate for research and a true scholar, with a voracious curiosity and keen perspectives on many subjects. His guidance and support inspired many people — including myself.
I hope these awards will continue to inspire future researchers. Dr. Noriko Daneshtalab is an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy. The deadline for applications for the Graduate Entrance Award is July 2, 2015. For further details, please contact jweber@mun.ca.
cont’d from mapping on page 1 “The collaborative mapping of the Atlantic Ocean by Canada, the U.S. and Europe is an important initiative which, as a provincial government, we are proud to support,” said Darin King, minister, Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development. “This tangible initiative builds on the work my department has been undertaking to facilitate partnerships and economic opportunities between Newfoundland and Labrador
cont’d from academy on page 1 Mr. Long, through HMDC, has invested in numerous funds and programs to support research, teaching and learning at Memorial University, including the recent launch of the Hibernia Project-Shad Valley Fund at Memorial in 2014, which encourages high school students to pursue studies in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The Shad Valley project is led by Dr. Lye, who was also inducted into the academy. In addition, Dr. Lye, a faculty member with Memorial since 1988, has contributed significantly to the field of engineering and applied science. In addition to his role as a professor of civil engineering and associate dean, he is also an inventor and entrepreneur and
and Ireland and on a broader scale between Canada, the U.S. and Europe.” The team will collect information on the physical characteristics of the seafloor, such as water depth, hardness, roughness and the presence of geohazards, which are key considerations for shipping safety, development-related seabed engineering and sustainable fisheries. “This is an exciting opportunity to identify some important sites on the Atlantic seabed,” said Dr. Peter Heffernan, Marine Institute, Ireland.
“It marks the beginning of an Atlantic research-mapping collaboration between the U.S., Canada and Europe. We hope to build on next year in 2016 and subsequent years when Ireland’s RV Celtic Explorer will be joined by research vessels from Norway and the U.S.” The goals of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Co-operation are to join resources of its three signatories to better understand the North Atlantic Ocean and to promote the sustainable management of its resources.
has mentored more than 30 graduate students and published more than 120 papers in journals and conferences. “I would like to offer my congratulations to each of the individuals who have been inducted as fellows into the academy,” said Dr. Richard Marceau, vice-president (research), Memorial University, and past president, CAE. “They have supported and contributed to enriching and enhancing research, training and education at Memorial University and in this province. Throughout their distinguished careers, they have consistently demonstrated exemplary service and provided invaluable leadership to the wider community.” The CAE is the national institution through which Canada’s most distinguished and experienced engineers provide strategic advice on matters of
critical importance to Canada. The CAE is an independent, self-governing and non-profit organization established in 1987. Members of the CAE are nominated and elected by their peers to honorary fellowships, in view of their distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession. In 2014 five members with close ties to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science were named fellows to the organization: Dr. Ray Gosine, associate vice-president (research), Memorial University; Dr. Charles Randell, president and chief executive officer, C-CORE; Earl Ludlow, president and chief executive officer, Newfoundland Power; Gilbert Bennett, vice-president, Lower Churchill Project, Nalcor Energy; and Dr. Ross Peters, professor emeritus, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University.
papers & presentations Cyr Couturier, aquaculture scientist with the Marine Institute of Memorial University, was invited to give a keynote presentation titled Sustainable Aquaculture in Canada – An Ecological Approach at the Global Aquaculture Summit, in Xiamen, China, May 24-27, 2015.
classified Newly renovated, furnished apartment, one bedroom, on Allandale Road, six minutes walk to MUN. Internet access, four appliances, shared garden and storage area. Rent $600; POU. Contact: Christopher English (cenglish@mun.ca), or phone 754-4855 or 229-1686 and leave a message. For rent near MUN Bright, clean and pleasant third-floor unit at Summerville Condos, 386 Elizabeth Ave. Shining hardwood floors, two bedrooms, 1.5 baths. An easy walk to MUN and Health Sciences. Fitness room, library, social room. Quiet adult building, no pets and no smoking please. $1,475 POU. Available furnished $1,975. 753-0433. For sale heritage home (pre-realtor offering). Irwin’s Farm, c.1860, only third sale in over 150 years. 20 minute walk to MUN, 15 to downtown. Detached with off-street parking, on border of Churchill Park and Georgestown. Beautifully restored and renovated with fully developed yard: 3 bedrooms,
changes to parking contact information
office, 4 and 3 piece bathrooms, living room, dining
If you require information regarding
mature professional couple, August – December,
parking on the St. John’s campus or you
have any questions concerning parking, please email parking@mun.ca
or call 709-864-2736. For more information, visit www.mun.ca/cep.
room, eat-in kitchen. Email lewis@mun.ca. Furnished House or Apartment Wanted: For 2015. Contact 753-9838/749-6568 or email: lagoon21@hotmail.com
Information about budget planning The Vice-Presidents Council (VPC) is working to address the serious and complex budgetary challenges facing Memorial University. As this important work continues, VPC is committed to listening to the questions and concerns of the university community and sharing information whenever possible. An update on the budget planning and approval process has been posted to the VPC website. The update includes information on the process to develop proposals and contextual information on the university’s revenue and expenditures, student demographics, tuition fees, employee demographics and salary levels, pensions, infrastructure deficits, the core science building and the Battery Facility. Guiding principles • Minimize the impact of budgetary measures on students, employees, university programs and operations. • Share the contribution to solving this serious challenge among all people and units at Memorial. Process • VPC works closely with deans and the Senate Budget and Planning Committee to develop proposals to address the budget shortfall. • University Pension Committee considers issues related to the $20.9-million special payment and how they might be addressed and will provide a recommendation to the Board of Regents.
Highlights from VPC update • Memorial has three primary sources of revenue to fund operations: operating and infrastructure maintenance grants from the provincial government (83 per cent); tuition paid by students (13 per cent) and revenue generated from other sources (4 per cent). Memorial’s expenditures are approximately $491 million, of which 66 per cent is for academic operations. • Should any budget proposal include a potential tuition increase, it will not happen before the 2016-17 academic year. • While the number of employees at Memorial has increased by 23 per cent in the past five years, the number is misleading. For example, 10.8 per cent of the increase is in casual standardized patients (aged 2 to 90) in the Faculty of Medicine who might be required only a few hours per year. The next largest increase at 4.7 per cent represents clinical faculty in the Faculty of Medicine who are not paid by the university but must have a title for academic purposes. • The ratio of faculty members to staff members is unchanged over the past five years; 41 per cent of employees are faculty while 59 per cent are staff. • Memorial’s pension fund is 92 per cent funded. To address the deficit, the university is legislatively obligated to make “going-concern” payments. This can be done by using funds from the university’s operating budget or requesting from government a deferral of
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the payment for this year. Government has signalled its willingness to grant a deferral, provided Memorial requests this and agrees to review its pension plan and consider changes to ensure the plan’s future sustainability. • Through the guidance of the University Pension Committee and the Board of Regents, the pension plan is on solid footing. • Life safety issues on all Memorial campuses are the first priority for infrastructure spending and the university will address all life safety concerns. • The provincial government has invested $43.8 million in deferred maintenance from 2010-11 to 2014-15 and has provided $13.5 million in laboratory safety funding. However, Memorial continues to have major challenges regarding aging infrastructure, particularly on the St. John’s campus which was built in the 1960s and not significantly retrofitted since that time. • The core science infrastructure is a new $325 million teaching, learning, research and engagement space which will allow Memorial to continue to attract and retain world-class faculty who will provide the best possible education for undergraduate and graduate students. • The core science project is funded with $25 million from the Memorial Matching Fund; $125 million from the Hebron settlement with the provincial government; and $175 from borrowing.
The payment on the loan portion of the cost will be approximately $10.3 million annually over a 30-year period. Funding in the budget from the government’s grant-in-lieu of tuition and savings generated by the ongoing operations and budget review will make up the annual payment. • The Battery Facility will include student accommodations, public engagement programming, conference and meeting spaces and services and more (planning and public consultation is still underway). The graduate student housing will help address identified needs in this area. The facility will ease the space crunch and parking challenges on the St. John’s campus. • The Battery was purchased for $9.5 million in 2013, with up to $16.2 million approved for renovations as needed. Funds for these expenses, along with day-to-day operating costs, will be provided through redirected lease expenditures for off-campus space, philanthropic funds, accommodation rentals and revenue generated from activities and tenants at the facility. To read the complete update and to access further information, including the 2013 Auditor General Report Responses, Findings and Recommendations and the presentation delivered by President Gary Kachanoski and Kent Decker, vice-president (administration and finance), to Senate, please visit www. mun.ca/vpc/budgetupdate2015-16.php.
Frameworks at work
Memorial’s frameworks in action
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The three overarching frameworks guiding Memorial’s future direction — the Research Framework, the Teaching and Learning Framework and the Public Engagement Framework — are the result of several years of consultations with the university community and the people and organizations of Newfoundland and Labrador. This regular feature will help showcase the frameworks in action by sharing projects and highlighting the successes that are bringing them to life.
Student Seamus Dwyer gained research experience transcribing 18th and 19th century books, pictured here, housed in the Basilica Museum’s Mullock Library.
research Strategy
Two programs provide students with a taste of research By Krista Davidson
By the end of 2020, Memorial aims to be recognized as one of the most student-friendly research universities in Canada. The university hopes to achieve this by engaging not only graduate students, but undergraduate students as well, in research programs where they will gain valuable skills and build meaningful relationships with experienced researchers in their fields. Since January 2015 more than 70 student-research opportunities enabled undergraduates to get a taste of research through two unique programs: the research-based Memorial Undergraduate Career Experience Program (MUCEP) and the University Student Summer Internship Program (USSIP). The 2015 winter session offered 56 research positions to undergraduates under the MUCEP program. MUCEP is an on-campus employment program
for undergraduate students aimed at providing work experience while allowing students the flexibility to enrol in courses. Students can choose from 40- and 80-hour positions while they pursue their studies. While MUCEP has been ongoing since 1992, research-based MUCEP positions were launched for the first time in the winter 2015 academic session to encourage undergraduate students to consider research as a viable career option and to provide them with the skills and experience to pursue research in the future. Research MUCEP positions, made available through the Department of Career Development and Experiential Learning (CDEL) and the Office of the Vice-President (Research), spanned many faculties and schools at Memorial, including arts, medicine, science, pharmacy and social work. In addition to the research MUCEP positions, the Office of the Vice-President (Research) launched USSIP, as well. USSIP provides eligible undergraduate students with the opportunity to carry out a 13- or 16-week research development work term under the supervision of a full-time faculty member. Fourteen students are participating in the 2015 USSIP summer semester.
Seamus Dwyer has been fortunate to participate in both programs. A recently graduated honours student of the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, he spent his research MUCEP position uncovering the origins, tracing the history and mapping descriptions of a unique 18th- and 19th-century book collection at the Mullock Episcopal Library located in the Basilica Museum in St. John’s, the first public library in Newfoundland and Labrador, which dates back to the 1850s. “A big part of my research is to learn and figure out that this is what I want to do. You never know until you get a taste of research and decide you want to go further with it,” he said. Mr. Dwyer, who will attend the University of Oxford in the fall to pursue a master’s degree, moved to St. John’s five years ago with his family from New York and New Jersey, U.S. His grandfather is originally from Western Bay, N.L. “I love being around the books that have been bound and published in the 1800s,” he said. “It’s a very humbling experience to connect with books of a different time period and to piece together the history.” Dr. Agnes Juhász-Ormsby, associate professor, Department of English,
Faculty of Arts, serves as both Mr. Dwyer’s work-term supervisor and honours program supervisor. She emphasizes the program is yet another opportunity for faculty members to advance their research projects and mentor future generations of talented researchers. It’s also a chance to avail of unique skill sets. “I was very happy with the support I received through the research MUCEP,” said Dr. Juhász-Ormsby. “The support from students, the level of engagement and the different skills they offer provided valuable contribution to my research. It’s wonderful for them but also great for faculty as well.” As part of his USSIP work term, Mr. Dwyer is working on Dr. Juhász-Ormsby’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project involving 16th-century English school masters, titled The Literary Culture of Early English Schoolmasters: William Lily’s Poems. Mr. Dwyer is transcribing, translating and annotating the poetry of William Lily, an English humanist and the first high master — also known as a headmaster or head teacher — of St. Paul’s School in London, a boys’ school founded in 1509.
By Sandy Woolfrey-Fahey
Gemma Hickey, an arts alumna of Memorial and a current master’s student in gender studies, has tackled many issues in her life. She is a vocal advocate who speaks up for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, at-risk youth and people living with HIV and AIDs. However, one of the earliest issues Ms. Hickey dealt with was her own: sexual abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest. “I’m not one to stay silent on issues,” said Ms. Hickey. “As an adult I felt my public voice, community connections and life experiences could benefit others who’d also experienced abuse.” In November 2014 Ms. Hickey successfully launched the Pathways Foundation (pathwaysfoundation. wordpress.com) to support victims
of sexual abuse within religious institutions. To support her foundation, she is undertaking the Hope Walk this summer, a cross-island walk from Port aux Basques to St. John’s to raise awareness and funds. You can donate by searching “Hope Walk” online. “Through training for the walk I’ve become healthier, lost weight and become stronger, but since starting the foundation, many people are opening up to me about their own abuse. I credit my physical training with helping me to be mentally stronger to carry the burden of the experiences of others.” She hopes to encourage others to integrate physical fitness and healthier food into their lifestyle in order to combat mental illness. Ms. Hickey credits her newfound love of physical activity for not just a more fit body, but a healthier mental state as well, an area she has struggled with since the abuse. Ms. Hickey’s training is being led by Dr. TA Loeffler, professor with the School of Human Kinetics and
TA LOEFFLER photo
Pathway to resilience
Gemma Hickey on Signal Hill in St. John’s after a training climb to the top that involved dragging a tire behind her. Recreation (HKR). Many of the other trainers she’s working with are past and present students of the school. “One of the things I love most about working in HKR is that we support people in becoming the best they can be,” said Dr. Loeffler. “Leading Gemma’s training team with other members of the HKR family has epitomized this for me. Gemma and I have been training together since September for her Hope Walk and it has been so inspiring to see her progress
and commit to this enormous project.” Using the skills, expertise, and knowledge gained from training in HKR, each team member is helping Ms. Hickey develop a different aspect of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual strength and health she will need to fulfill her mission. Each team member is volunteering time to this effort – a HKR tradition of service leadership – to help her complete this more than 900 kilometre walk across the province.
C O N V O C AT I O N 2 0 15
May 8, 10 a.m., Corner Brook
May 8, 7:30 p.m., Corner Brook
Madam Chancellor: Who is a
Madam Chancellor: The shout of
Oration honouring Sarah Anala leader? What makes an effective leader? One classic statement, by Henry Reginald Buckler, asserts that “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Madame Chancellor, I submit that Buckler’s statement is an apt description of our honorary doctoral candidate this morning, Sarah Anala. First, Sarah Anala clearly knows the way. As a health-care worker, social justice advocate, and most prominently as Inuit liaison and elder for Correctional Service Canada, Sarah Anala has earned the deep respect of her colleagues for her knowledge and experience, as well as her devotion to the causes that have animated her working life. Consider, for example, the extraordinary range of issues that she has addressed as a presenter at national and regional conferences: safe communities, conflict resolution and mediation, substance abuse, racism, strategies for dealing with sex offenders, best practices in native liaison services, healing from rapid cultural transformation, and recovery from trauma. Yet her breadth and depth of knowledge transcend mere expertise. Sarah Anala is not just an expert. She is a true elder, in the sense recognized by the community she serves: a person who thinks and acts wisely. In an eloquent statement in Nunatsiavut Silatani, Ms. Anala tells us that Inuit elders are the preservers of cultural identity and heritage. When one considers her own rich contributions to the preservation of Inuit culture, the promotion of Inuit art and artists, and the
vitality of the Inuktitut language, there is no doubt, Madame Chancellor, that she fulfills these criteria. Second, she goes the way. Sarah Anala has served in many roles during her distinguished career: writer, researcher, interpreter, translator, counsellor, consultant, support person, caregiver, and healer. Always she has led by example. Consider the many trails she has blazed: in 1968 she became the first Inuk nursing graduate from Nain, Labrador; after beginning her career in that profession, she became, in 1993, the first Inuit liaison officer with Correctional Service Canada; between 2005 and 2011, Sarah helped pioneer and implement the first Inuitspecific substance-abuse program in the country. Consider as well her paradigmaltering initiatives, such as the institution of “circles of support and accountability” to help reintegrate offenders into Labrador communities, or her proposal to reform the diet of Inuit and Innu prisoners to include “country foods” like caribou, Arctic char, and seal. Madame Chancellor, Sarah Anala is the epitome of the forward thinker. But there is another sense in which she goes the way. Part of her authority is built on a personal narrative replete with challenges overcome: the early death of her father, the trauma of residential school, the struggle with addiction. Sarah Anala can speak with both credibility and empathy because she has been there, she has walked the path. Third, she shows the way.
See ANALA on page 10
Oration honouring Barbara Doran
“action” is connected in the public mind with the world of filmmaking. It is also an adjective that captures the professional and personal spirit and ethos of our honorary graduate this evening. I would guess that most of us gathered here have seen something that Barbara Doran has had a hand in making. She has been working in the movie industry for almost 30 years, with at least as many films to show for it. Indeed, she is one of the handful of industrious souls who breathed life into Newfoundland and Labrador’s film industry. Inspired by the culture and surroundings that nurtured her, she has not been willing to leave the storytelling of this place to the historians and talk shows. Barbara Doran’s list of projects reads like the history of film in Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada. She started her record of producing (and later directing) with the film Finding Mary March, and the tapestry of her work continued with the famed Studio D of the National Film Board, numerous documentaries, the celebrated television series Random Passage, her feature films Young Triffie’s Been Made Away With through to last year’s hit, The Grand Seduction. Her film production company, Morag Loves Company, founded in 1985, specializes in both drama and documentary. But her true passion is the latter, especially those that feature social justice and women’s issues. The topics of these celebrated films range from female prisoners in Pakistan, serial killers, AIDS workers in Soweto,
a comparison of Newfoundland and Iceland, the world of romance writers, the remarkable tapestry of Conche, our love-hate relationship with winter, the lives of notable provincial luminaries such as Gordon Pinsent and Joey Smallwood, sweatshops in Guatemala, and electromagnetic weapons. A set of topics that is splendidly eclectic, to say the least. She is both a director and producer. The latter, in particular, involves a myriad of skills. If innovation, as they say, is 90 per cent perspiration and 10 per cent inspiration, then film-making these days is 90 per cent putting the paperwork and financing in order and 10 per cent actually yelling “action” on the set. Her skills in the less glitzy production end have supported a space for creativity within our provincial film community. And, very significantly, it has provided opportunities to mentor a new generation of filmmakers. Her work shows up at festivals (like the Toronto International Film Festival and Cannes), theatres, mainstream television, specialty channels and even classrooms. (One of her films, a fresh view on the battered women’s syndrome, was a fixture in our classes on Families for many years here at Grenfell.) She has been recognized by the film and television industry through two Gemini awards and additional honours at a number of independent film festivals. She is a member of all of the significant film guilds and academies in this region and country.
See DORAN on page 10
2015 PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PARTNERSHIPS
6 gazette | Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | www.mun.ca/gazette
C O N V O C AT I O N 2 0 15
May 26, 3 p.m., St. John’s
May 27, 10 a.m., St. John’s
Oration honouring Mary Gordon
Oration honouring Zita Cobb
Madam Chancellor: There is a nice
Chancellor: Fogo is, in all its
circularity about Mary Gordon’s presence on this, Memorial’s convocation stage because, despite her townie origins, her schooling at Mercy Convent and Holy Heart High School, she did not progress to graduate with us. In fact one might, were one unkind, argue that her great creation, the Roots of Empathy, is one long apologia for her career at Memorial. Perfectly comfortable in her own skin, immensely sociable, she spent much of her time here chatting with her comrades, little time engaged with her books. She was so notorious for wandering the biology lab rather than doing her experiments that the professor said he would give her an A — for mileage. Her father was similarly distressed and once remarked that, “If Mary had a choice between a sale and studying, the sale would win.” It was her parents, George and Helen Dyer, who gave another dimension to this open, warm personality. They imbued her with a sense of public service and social justice in those intense discussions that were characteristic of the family dinner table. You, Madam Chancellor, have some sense of this being something of an enthusiast (the normal term will be avoided for this occasion) yourself as would your brother, Gwynne, who seems in his journalism to be prepared to take on all kinds of tyrants and ideologues. By profession a kindergarten teacher in Toronto, Mary Gordon took her experience there in the most culturally diverse city in Canada and created two organizations that have had, respectively, a provincial and an international impact upon education.
Working as a supervisor with the North York Board of Education in the late 1970s she saw a great need for pre-school children to be given advanced preparation. In 1981 she established a series of Parenting and Family Literacy Centres which brought parents and children from all cultural backgrounds into the school system, gave them the basics in reading and numeracy, encouraged reading (often in the mother tongue of the family), developed parenting skills and, through all this, integrated parents and children into their often-new communities. What she observed while doing this work led to her next and most far-reaching project, Roots of Empathy. In this initiative she has children observe and nurture a baby in their classroom over a whole term. She has found that such engagement with the most vulnerable elicits a sense of empathy in the children and has a major effect in reducing aggressive behaviour. It has also been applied to reduce the incidence of bullying, particularly in at-risk youth. The profound value of this is most wonderfully demonstrated by the case of a boy in a Grade 8 class. A year or so older than his peers — shaved head, ponytail, tattoo, mute — he was clearly alienated. And why not — he had seen his mother murdered; he had been through a series of foster homes. But as the class was breaking up the boy did a curious thing: he asked to try on the Snugli, the baby carrier, and then, more extraordinary, asked to be allowed to hold the baby in it.
See GORDON on page 10
manifestations, an extremity. Fogo is the top of the world or the end of it and, certainly, is one of its four corners. Appropriate then that Zita Cobb should come from Fogo, have left there, have returned there for, appearance and demeanour to the contrary, she is a person of some extremity. She went to university and took a business degree — why? To discover what happened to our fishery. She went into the corporate world eventually joining JDS, a company serving the fibre-optics market, and soon became one of the highest-paid female executives in North America. And then she retired but, with her stock options, became a multimillionaire. And then she sailed around the world — in her own boat — for several years. And then she returned to Fogo with some notion of doing good only to be challenged to do something creative — to do something to ensure the survival of her island. She took that challenge and has over the last decade effected a transformation there: redundant churches are being reused as arts space; small and distinctive enterprises are starting up and prospering; but, most extreme of all, the architecture of Fogo constantly appears in the pages of the world’s press. That architecture is extraordinary. The eccentric angularity of the studios, their play with the idea of the rectangle, their absolutely alien forms make them completely captivating. Jewel boxes of buildings, each one takes and refracts the light and scene in a different way. Yet alien as they are in form and texture,
they make a monumental contribution to the setting. And, in quiet and subtle ways, borrow from this setting: the shores that support the Inn recall those beneath the stores and stages, the horizontal lines of the walls echo the clapboard of the houses. The buildings are an attraction in themselves and have been featured in almost a hundred magazine articles. They make a statement about the exceptionality of Fogo and, also about the exceptionality of Zita Cobb’s daring vision. As she says “art is the key to Fogo’s reinvention, not because it comes with cash, but because it comes with consciousness, with communal self-knowledge and a sense of possibility.” She has opened up her place, her Inn, her island to new people and to new ideas: she is putting a new spin on the notion of the hospitable Newfoundlander. Her vision, however, does not involve resistance to change, it involves resilience and the distinction is important because there is in that word a spring, an elasticity that speaks of a capacity to respond to circumstances, to bridge extremes — all part of the ethos of the Shorefast Foundation, Cobb’s social enterprise corporation. The buildings are built above, not into the landscape so they do not disturb it. They are all designed to the highest level of energy sustainability. They bring together the designs of an international (though locally born) architect and the handwork of local craftspeople.
See COBB on page 10
Ready, set, engage! Need help moving ahead on a public engagement project?
Our funds support projects that are in keeping with the goals of Memorial’s Public Engagement Framework.
Public Engagement Accelerator Fund:
Initiate or extend a project with up to $10,000 in support of work related to Memorial’s academic mission.
To apply for funding, and to learn more about public engagement at Memorial, please visit www.mun.ca/publicengagment/funding.
C O N V O C AT I O N 2 0 15
May 27, 3 p.m., St. John’s
May 27, 7:30 p.m., St. John’s
Oration honouring Margaret-Ann Armour
Oration honouring Howard William Meeker
Madam Chancellor: Physicists may
“Stop it right there!” Madam Chancellor. Let’s back it up a bit. In fact, let’s go all the way back to the start of the first period. If I had a telestrator in hand, I’d draw a circle around little Howie Meeker, who is playing a fierce game of shinny hockey on a pond near Kitchener, Ont., where he spent his idyllic Canadian boyhood dreaming of the NHL. Didja know this su-u-uper-looking kid was going to become a Canadian legend? That he would play for the Leafs while serving as an MP for Waterloo South, be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and receive the Order of Canada? Was the tiny terror playing then with the same kind of passion and tenacity he’d show in every period of his long life? In one of many examples of Howie Meeker’s devotion to service, he put his promising junior hockey career on hold to become a member of the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War. Meeker was seriously wounded during a training exercise in England when a hand grenade exploded, damaging his legs. A good deal more severe than a rough go on the boards, but not enough to keep him away from the frozen game for long. Now, Madam Chancellor, as far as athletes go, hockey players have a kind of gladiatorial resilience that we don’t find in many other team sports. A study comparing the scrappy toughness of hockey players with baseball players, for instance, notes that hockey players barely take a shift off for knocked-out teeth, concussions, broken bones, and major gashes. If it can be managed with a little Humpty Dumpty nose cotton, temporary stitches, or tight tape job, they are back on the ice, whereas baseball players can be sidelined for weeks when they injure themselves sneezing too hard or pulling on their own cowboy boots. In hockey, you can be tough, you can have power and speed, but without timing, you’re not making any plays. Clearly having used up the universe’s allotment of bad timing in one terrible moment, Meeker seems to have had the gift of very good timing ever since. It’s not just luck, because that implies pure chance; but, rather Meeker has been blessed with something more like serendipity, an ability to be in the right place at the right time, know a good thing when you see it, and use one’s skills to create opportunities. Much like what it
claim to have a corner on the really big questions of science, but when it comes to people and their relationship to planet Earth, chemistry is where the real action is. Big questions in chemistry include: How did life originate; can chemistry ever be environmentally friendly; can society be convinced of the importance of chemistry; and why does cookie dough taste so good once it is baked? Okay, perhaps cookie baking does not truly register on the world scale of “big” issues in chemistry, but this was the sort of question that intrigued young Margaret-Ann Armour to become a chemist so that she was prepared to tackle the other “big questions.” In what would now be labelled as “out of the box” thinking, Margaret-Ann dared to think differently as a young woman. While other chemists focussed mostly on chemical synthesis, Margaret-Ann wondered how could she help people dispose of potentially dangerous chemicals safely, easily and inexpensively. She literally “wrote the book” on safe disposal of laboratory chemicals, a book from which all of us have benefited whether or not we have personally turned its pages. On a near daily basis, this highly acclaimed educator convinced student after student of the beauty and importance of chemistry. She achieved this by sharing her passion for chemistry through the use of elegant and effective laboratory experiments and classroom demonstrations. Margaret-Ann takes her “chemistry is important” message beyond the university and into communities where one school has affectionately named her as their “Science Mom.” Yes, MargaretAnn Armour delights in tackling the big questions of chemistry. But, Madam Chancellor, the Senate of this university did not invite Margaret-Ann Armour to this convocation for her ability to transform chemicals, as she already holds a doctorate in that field. Instead, she stands before us in recognition of her ability to transform people. In 1982, the University of Alberta’s vice-president of research challenged Margaret-Ann to figure out why so few women were involved in science, engineering and technology, and then do something about it. From these challenges came WISEST ― Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology. An early program of WISEST brought Grade
11 female youth into laboratories for a sixweek experience. For many, the experience was life-changing. Having that summer experience empowered those young women to enter disciplines where they were few in number. As a result of WISEST, more young women continued to enter these fields, and results of research show that WISEST alumnae are more likely to succeed and progress to graduate programs and careers as researchers and scholars. The success of WISEST and the wisdom of its approach were recognized by scholars and educators throughout Canada. Within a few years, similar programs were adopted from coast to coast to coast. MargaretAnn Armour was the face and voice of this transformative movement. Following Margaret-Ann’s lead, forward thinking women scientists and engineers in our own province soon created Women in Science and Engineering-Newfoundland and Labrador (WISE-NL). Since 1988, WISE-NL has effectively encouraged young women to consider the breadth of their career options by providing them with hands-on opportunities in science and engineering labs. Success of WISE-NL is demonstrated, for example, by alumnae who are now professors at Memorial University. Following the example of Margaret-Ann Armour, these WISE women continue to spark the torch of scientific enquiry and scholarship among a future second generation of young women scientists and engineers. Margaret-Ann’s influence on empowering young women exploded across the country to create a coalition of like-minded people and organizations. These organizations, in turn, were crucibles for the development of more women scholars in the areas of science, engineering and technology. MargaretAnn provided the formula and served as the catalyst for this powerful chain reaction that continues to this day. Madam Chancellor, were it in our Senate’s power to grant her status, I would commend Margaret-Ann for the title of “Science Grandmother” to many of today’s graduating class. If, however, that is not possible, I am pleased to present MargaretAnn Armour, chemist, educator, mentor and leader for the degree of doctor of science, honoris causa. Donald W. McKay University orator
8 gazette | Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | www.mun.ca/gazette
takes to connect your stick with the puck and find the back of the net. It is certainly something beyond luck that can account for the fact that the prone-to-losing Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup four years in a row after Meeker signed on as a winger in 1947. He famously scored five goals in one game against the Chicago Black Hawks that season, earning him the Calder Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Rookie of the Year. Howie’s playing career ended after eight years, 83 goals, 185 points, and 346 games, but arguably his greatest impact on national hockey is through his 50-year radio and TV broadcasting career that followed. It may only be the parents and grandparents here tonight who can remember a time before Don Cherry ruled the roost at Hockey Night in Canada, but it was Meeker who really revolutionized analysis and colour commentary when he joined the CBC and later TSN. Whether during the Howie Meeker’s Hockey School TV segments that ran from 1973-77, or his CBC colour commentary for NHL games or the 1972 Canada-Soviet Summit Series, it was Howie’s voice that stood out: he gave us refreshingly outspoken, incisive, and sometimes controversial sports punditry, delivered always with high-pitched exuberance, corny phrases, and squeals of delight. His game dissection was all about improving the quality of play, so it’s natural that Howie’s no-nonsense expertise would be soughtafter as a coach and a teacher. When his broadcasting career got underway, he had already been living in St. John’s, having been recruited by a higher power to coach for the Guards and hopefully displace St. Bon’s as the dominant team in the Boyle Trophy League — which he did, four times. In his coaching, hockey schools, and books he always focused on the individual’s mental and physical skills, teaching the fundamentals of skating and puck-handling to each kid eyeball-to-eyeball, but always infused with his characteristic enthusiasm and the injunction to “Have fun!” He was a leader in St. John’s hockey culture for the 20 years he lived here, and a generation of kids, who grew up skating on ponds in Newfoundland, got to experience it directly.
See MEEKER on page 11
C O N V O C AT I O N 2 0 15
May 28, 3 p.m., St. John’s
May 29, 10 a.m., St. John’s
Madam Chancellor, it takes a rare
Chancellor: The honorary graduand we celebrate today should be of special interest to our newest degree recipients. Dr. Georgina Hedges exemplifies the best inclinations of the human spirit that exist in abundance among both education and health professionals. Dr. Hedges was born to an English rose and a Newfoundland man in 1946. She grew up in Grand Falls, a company town built by the Anglo Newfoundland Development Company whose paper mill dominated the landscape. It was a watershed time for our small country. Joseph Smallwood had launched his campaign for Confederation. Life was infected with a collective hope fuelled in no small part by education and the promise it held for what, as a Canadian province, we might become. A passion for education was stirred early in our honorary graduand. In 1964, she graduated from Grand Falls Academy and began studies at Memorial University, where she completed two degrees. A graduate degree from Mount Saint Vincent University and a doctorate from the University of Toronto followed. These accomplishments positioned her to influence and to inspire others in this hopeful project of education. Chancellor, Dr. Hedges shares her school alma mater and a passion for the arts with another of our honorary graduates, Gordon Pinsent. But there is no “rowdy man” in in her story. Grace, dignity, and quiet intelligence are her hallmarks — as a teacher and curriculum specialist for three decades; a provincial professional development officer; a member of the Canadian Parents for French for 26 years; and a member of our university’s Board of Regents for nearly a decade, twice as acting chair. As a lover of children’s books, Dr. Hedges would be familiar with Mrs. Whatsit, a wise celestial being from Madeline L’Engle’s great novel, A Wrinkle in Time. Mrs. Whatsit is a steadfast, sage presence in the lives of the young characters of this story, a catalyst for the emergence of their sense of responsibility and thoughtful action. She compares life to a sonnet, “a strict form [with] freedom within it” and asserts: “You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.” In her own sonnet, Dr. Hedges has written memorable lines. She has crafted a legacy infused with care and respect for others and propelled by
Oration honouring Robert Mellin individual to make us look at our world with fresh eyes and give us new ways of talking about the buildings, bridges, houses and landscapes that we see. Everything we have built on our shores, in our outports, suburbs and towns tells a story but without chroniclers and interpreters, buildings are voiceless and vulnerable, all too easily cast aside in the whirligig of time and taste, all too readily eradicated from the annals of history. Robert Mellin, architect, artist, scholar, author and heritage advocate is one of those chroniclers and interpreters of the material structures, both ancient and modern, that signify our civilization. Robert Mellin has contributed immeasurably to the appreciation of our historic and contemporary buildings and given us new ways of seeing and cherishing what, in the words of the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius, is firmitas, utilitas, venustas, what is enduring, useful and beautiful in the buildings where we make our homes, teach our children, earn our livings, worship and play — the landmark places that give meaning to our mortal lives without which our lives and those of our descendants are diminished. Robert’s three iconic books, Tilting: House Launching, Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching and Other Tales from a Newfoundland Fishing Village (2003), Winter in Tilting (2015) and Newfoundland Modern: Architecture in the Smallwood Years, 1949-1972 (2011) form a contemporary triptych illuminating, in our secular age, the aesthetic, social and economic forces that influence the distinctive designs, materials and details of our buildings. Robert’s first book, Tilting, is a vibrant collage of community voices. The Burkes, Foleys, Greenes and Mahoneys speak to us across the years from a Newfoundland community on the cusp of change. Their voices are accompanied by Robert’s exquisite architectural drawings of Tilting’s unique typology, as well as his maps and photographs. Through a harmony of voice, text and image, Robert reveals the civilized values of a strong people: the mutual dependence between humanity and nature; their communityminded stewardship of natural resources; their respect for environmentally friendly materials and low impact technology. Of course, Madame Chancellor, when
this rare individual, this young American outsider from Montreal first hove up on our beaches and began measuring the houses, poking around the barns, wandering in and out of the lanes, rooms and kitchens of Tilting, people thought he was strange, a “strange man” not a rare man. But, Robert, and his wife, Dr. Heidi Kravitz, and their daughters, Julia and Hannah, soon became part of the place and his unique study of Tilting’s cultural ethnography has brought national and international recognition for the viability of life on Fogo Island. In Winter in Tilting he revisits the poetics of that inimitable place. Robert’s 58 watercolour paintings in this text render a reality no camera can capture, only the eye and hand of the individual artist/architect. Robert’s third book, Newfoundland Modern, is an integral part of the triptych, revealing that in Newfoundland and Labrador the past is not a foreign country to be sentimentalized and commercialized. It is a dynamic continuum as long as we preserve what is enduring, useful and beautiful in the built legacy of our forebears. Robert has made us look anew at the remarkable examples of Newfoundland’s postConfederation modernist architecture when a small group of courageous professionals had to deal with the impetuous energy of Joseph Smallwood. Though Joey bore an eerie resemblance to the famous urban designer, Le Corbusier, Joey was more a populist autocrat than an architect. Robert’s meticulous scholarship has uncovered the versatility and outward-looking vision of, among others, Frederick A. Colbourne, Angus Campbell, Paul Meschino, Charles Cullum and the syndetic process between their work and that of Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Louis Kahn and Ove Arup. Many of the places we all take for granted, the elegant pedestrian bridge in Bowring Park, the sea-anemone design of the Marine Sciences building, the art deco and modernist detailing of O’Brien’s Fruit Store, the Brookfield Ice Cream Factory, and that haven for the refugees from 9/11, the Gander International Airport lounge, all express the creativity of Newfoundland architects.
See MELLIN on page 11
Oration honouring Georgina Ann Hedges unwavering energies directed squarely at home base. She seemed implicitly attuned to naturalist John Burroughs’ imperative: “…to ‘look under your feet’ [for] the great opportunity is where you are. Every place is under the stars. Every place is the centre of the world.” Dr. Hedges represents a group of educators with a remarkable commitment, in particular, to rural areas. Such educators “look under their feet” and see vitality and possibility. With keen eyes and an uncommon wisdom, they grasp how we are spiritually bound creatures who, by virtue of living here, are cast in a play centred on the magnitude, complexity and power of this place ― and we must write our own lines! Our books, music, performing and visual arts tell the stories of who and why we are. An artist herself, Dr. Hedges uses a palette of robust and delicate shades to shape her own expressive voice. Her commitment to youth, rural life, and education has enabled others to learn and to create. If, as Emily Dickinson suggested, “The Possible’s slow fuse is lit / By the Imagination”, it requires patience, persistence, and devotion, as well as tireless leadership on many fronts. On these counts, Dr. Hedges has delivered. As a founding and longtime member of the Winterset in Summer Literary Festival, Dr. Hedges expressed a kinship with Sandra Gwyn, in whose memory it was established and who believed that “the effort to preserve a community; to preserve a human environment” is always worthwhile. Dr. Hedges encouraged rural entrepreneurship and insisted that the festival include and benefit community youth through featured writing, scholarships, and school library donations. Chancellor, throughout our history, educators have been key community players who exercised vision and leadership to mobilize hope and action when despair and powerlessness were tempting alternatives. They are the human rebar of our collective story, their real measure not yet fully documented. As we honour Dr. Hedges, we celebrate this story and the magnificence of a life devoted to these infinitives: to care, to give, to inspire, and to create. The life work of Dr. Hedges attests to the will to give so as to give back.
See HEDGES on page 11
C O N V O C AT I O N 2 0 15 cont’d from ANALA on page 6
May 29, 3 p.m., St. John’s
Oration honouring Penelope Manuel Ayre Rowe Madam Chancellor: Were Penny Rowe to present this oration, it might be as brief as: “I present Penelope Manuel Ayre Rowe for the degree of doctor of laws honoris causa.” Penny Rowe is a nononsense straight shooter who does not waste words. Actually, she does not waste much of anything. One former deputy minister opined that Penny Rowe can squeeze a nickel’s worth of value out of every penny she receives, and this is an exemplary trait for the chief executive officer of the Community Sector Council. The community sector is often defined by exclusion. It is neither public, nor private. You might ask, “If neither of these, what remains?” Madam Chancellor, what remains is the sector that is most important to many of us. Few are the obituaries recommending that in lieu of flowers, donations be given either to the Harper government or to Exxon-Mobil. Most families want their loved ones to be remembered for their volunteer work or through not-for-profit organizations that contribute to the richness of their lives or the betterment of our society. This is the community sector. By making educational and helpful resources available at little to no cost, the Community Sector Council supports the myriad of volunteer or not-for-profit organizations working to improve the social fabric of Newfoundland and Labrador. For some, this service function of the Community Sector Council might be justification enough for its existence, but not for Penny Rowe. She has a vision; a vision for a just and inclusive society. A society that recognizes that when people are given the right tools, that people can help themselves. Penny Rowe understood from the beginning that the community sector has the power to create and sustain that vision. Starting as its first employee in 1976 and serving as its top executive since that time, Penny Rowe shaped the Community Sector Council to be an agent for social change and lasting impact. Penny Rowe is a good listener who is sharp, logical and fair. She is guided by evidence gained through action-oriented research. Once the evidence is in and the legitimacy of the need is established, Penny Rowe fully immerses herself in finding a solution to the problem. She
specializes in devising needed policies, excels in finding financial support, and is a wizard at assembling competent and passionate teams to tackle the issue at hand. She lives by the mantra: “If you get the right people around a problem, you can turn it into a solution.” Penny Rowe eschews standard human resources protocols when selecting her team members. Once, when seeking a candidate for a key project leadership role, she told the candidate that many of the learners coming into the project would bring with them their own sets of problems and issues. The only questions Penny Rowe asked at the interview were: “Can you handle this and can you empathize with them?” Few in this room have not been affected in some way by the social justice initiatives championed by Penny Rowe. She was, for example, instrumental in the creation of this province’s first centre to provide instruction for early childhood educators. The demonstration childcare centre project was so successful, that the pedigrees of most early childhood educators across the province trace their roots back to that centre. Memorial University students who received SWASP grants while working in their home communities over the summer were likely the recipients of support that was managed by the Community Sector Council under Penny Rowe’s leadership. The list of Community Sector Council achievements is long, and successes surround us in areas as diverse as improved accessibility for the less able, credit counselling for those in need, better resources for our aging seniors and more. Wherever the need is established, Penny Rowe is at the forefront in securing funding and assembling teams to tackle these problems and find sustainable solutions. Madam Chancellor, before you is an outstanding community organizer, leader and humanitarian. For her demonstrated commitment to social justice spanning four decades and for her successes in making our province a better place to rear children, live, and grow old, I present Penelope Manuel Ayre Rowe for the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa. Donald W. McKay University orator
10 gazette | Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | www.mun.ca/gazette
In both the content of her work and her manner of working, she is an outstanding role model within her own community, the province, and the country as a whole. She has worked to transform our justice system by showing what it means to treat offenders with understanding and humanity. Sarah’s is a legacy marked by integrity, respect, and compassion. And she shows the way in her manner of work: generous, tenacious, and humble. Her humility deserves special mention because it cuts against the grain of contemporary ego-centred approaches to leadership. To the question, “What makes an effective leader?” Sarah Anala’s body of work might answer back, “Communities do.” Communities nurture leaders by imparting a rich body of ancestral knowledge and values. First and foremost, leaders are learners, gratefully receiving what is given, keeping faith with those who have gone before. Finally, Sarah Anala has written that an elder can never simply self-proclaim but must be recognized as a leader within the community she serves. Full-throated recognition of this kind has come from her community in Nunatsiavut, as well as Indigenous communities throughout Atlantic and Northern Canada, and indeed through her receipt of the Order of Canada and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award. Each of these constituencies has said to Sarah, “Nakummek,”: “Thank you.” Now as a university community it is our turn, our privilege, to do the same. Madame Chancellor, it is my honour to present to you, for the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa, Sarah Anala. Ken Jacobsen University orator
advertisement?) The business is not just a way to keep all things solvent, but also to share her love for rural Newfoundland. As a young girl growing up in St. John’s, Ms. Doran was (for a time) singled out by some to become a nun. Fortunately for those outside that tradition, she found a calling that could minister to all of us, illuminating the stories in our collective souls. In her work she celebrates culture, community and individual resilience, social justice, and diversity. These are all values that are at home at the university. And so, it is eminently relevant that we honour her today. Chancellor, for her long commitment and her significant achievements in telling stories in film and television, I present for the degree doctor of laws (honoris causa), Barbara Doran. Ivan Emke University orator
cont’d from GORDON on page 7 The mother was, not surprisingly, somewhat apprehensive, but she gave him the baby. Without hesitation the baby cuddled right into him and boy held him for a time, rocking him. Returning the baby to the mother he asked, “If nobody has ever loved you, do you think you could still be a good father?” Out of the darkness, light; out of despair, hope. For her belief in the power of children to change the world, Chancellor, I present to you for the degree of doctor of laws honoris causa, Mary Gordon. Shane O’Dea Public orator
cont’d from DORAN on page 6 cont’d from COBB on page 7 In the last two years alone, she has received the Newfoundland and Labrador Artist Achievement Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the inaugural Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs Export Award. Why the latter? Because she is an entrepreneur. It is not possible to have a career in film in this province without a nose for opportunity and a foot that you are willing to keep in multiple doors. As a colleague of Ms. Doran mentioned, “no” is not a word that she fully comprehends. She has tenacity, though it is sugar-coated by a sense of humour. To quote Mark Critch, with whom she has worked: “She’s too crooked to give up when it seems impossible to do something. She is successful out of spite.” I also have it on the highest authority that Ms. Doran’s brilliance as a producer applies to multiple areas — she can feed a crowd of 40 at the drop of a hat, for example. If we had asked her to, I’m certain she could have organized a convocation ceremony for us, complete with the costumes and pageantry and drama (and snacks) that we’ve come to expect. And with a couple of awards to boot. As evidence of her organizational skills and boundless energy, Ms. Doran still finds the time to be the owner and operator of a tourism business, Trinity Bight Vacation Homes. (What is a film these days without a product placement, or a convocation without an
For this woman whose ancestors came here as fishers from Ringwood in Hampshire at the end of the 18th century, whose work was with the most advanced technology of the 21st century, this conjunction of past and present is as natural as the rock-girt coast from which she comes. Yet, and here is another apparent disjunction, the studios are for artists — an elite; the Inn rooms are for the wealthy — an elite. Zita Cobb fully recognizes this and — having come from the world of business — see the interrelationship of elites and islanders as capable of being as productive as the interrelationship of culture and nature. The artists and the visitors will serve the island by celebrating it in a way that respects its past and fosters its future; the islanders will serve artists and visitors in ways that foster selfrespect and economic independence. As she has said, “If you want things to stay the same, they have to change.” This courageous and remarkable woman has taken a chance on us and for us, on a scale that has never before been attempted here. At the periphery of the known world she has set the centre for the future. Chancellor, I present to you for the degree of doctor of laws honoris causa, the woman who has led from the margin, who has made our Northern shore the model for all Newfoundland, Zita Cobb. Shane O’Dea Public orator
If a life can ever be said to be like a game of hockey, we have seen some spectacular play from Howie Meeker since he first laced up a pair of skates. We may be nearing the end of the third period now, but it’s not too late for Memorial to acknowledge the accomplishments of the man now standing at centre ice. For his outstanding and passionate contribution to the development of Newfoundland and Canadian hockey as a player, coach, broadcaster, and teacher — for never picking up his marbles and going home — I turn it over to you, Madam Chancellor, to finish the check, and confer the degree of doctor of laws honoris causa on Howard William Meeker. Jennifer Lokash University orator
cont’d from MELLIN on page 9 Madam Chancellor, Robert’s triptych allows us to respect the harmonious connection between all things counter, original, spare and strange whose beauty is past change, showing us that in a dynamic society, bricks and concrete can coexist with clapboard. Robert tells us to look afresh without sentimentality or prejudice at the buildings we have made with our hands and our hearts. This multi-talented man not only builds beautiful homes for his clients, he also teaches his students the reciprocal relationship between aesthetic theory and pragmatic reality, makes music on the harpsichord, draws delicate watercolours, handles his carpenter’s tools like a craftsman and uses his mind to express the wonder of our built heritage. What could be more fitting that in this magnificent modernist building, built of wood, glass, steel and concrete, watched over by Maurice Savoie’s dramatic mural and sitting under a canopy of stars, we honour this rare man, who is no longer a stranger? Madame Chancellor, the Roman architect, Vitruvius, was given a lifetime pension by that imperial lady, Octavia, for his groundbreaking book, De Architectura. I know in our post-imperial times of lamentable budgetary constraints, this is out of the question, but I urge you in the presence of the august authority of convocation to award Robert Mellin, this luminous chronicler and interpreter of our culture, memory and identity, the degree of doctor of letters (honoris causa). Dr. Annette Staveley Deputy public orator
For more on these events and other news at Memorial, please visit www.today. mun.ca.
Wednesday, June 10 Notes from the Field: Working Together to Reveal Local Knowledge on Fogo and Change Islands, 7-8:30 p.m., The Rocket Room, 272 Water St., St. John’s, Sponsor: Office of Public Engagement Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 3 -- Cooking Oil, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank Building Upon Your Success as a Teaching Assistant: Professional Growth in the Academic Context, 12-1 p.m., UC-3018, The Landing, Sponsor: Teaching Assistants Union at Memorial University An Afternoon in the Garden, 2-3 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Thursday, June 11 The Best of Both Worlds: Part-Time Study at Memorial University, 1-2 p.m., online webinar, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 4 -- Pasta, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank Coffee Morning in Honour of Ed Evelly’s Retirement, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Health Sciences Centre, Lecture Theatre D, second floor, Sponsor: MELSS Toronto Affinity Celebration with Denis Parker, 6-9 p.m., Rodney’s Oyster House, 469 King St. West, Toronto, Ont., Sponsor: Alumni Affairs and Development
Friday, June 12 Fostering Respect and Dignity in the Workplace, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Gardiner Centre, Sponsor: Gardiner Centre Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 5 -- Chunky Soup, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank
Saturday, June 13 The Food in This Place, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m., The Rocket Room, 272 Water St., St. John’s, Sponsor: Eastern Health, Food Security Network of N.L., Food Policy Lab at Memorial University, Building Healthy Communities
Her accomplishments have been acknowledged by, among others, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association, the National Staff Development Council, and Memorial University, which, in 2006, presented her the J.D. Eaton Alumni Award. Today, Dr. Hedges receives our highest honour. Chancellor, I present to you for the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa, Georgina Ann Hedges. Ursula Kelly University orator
a world of wonder Danielle Nichols, left, shows a sculpin to some of the children who participated in World Oceans Day activities hosted by the Ocean Sciences Centre at Middle Cove beach on June 6.
Monday, June 15 Metrics, Measurement and Analytics, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Gardiner Centre, Sponsor: Gardiner Centre Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 6 -- Canned Fruit, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank
Rd., St. John’s, Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Tuesday, June 23 Tuning NK Cells for Proliferation and Diverse Functions during Virus Infection, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Health Sciences Centre auditorium, Sponsor: Division of BioMedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
Tuesday, June 16 Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 7 -- Juice, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank Tool Tuesdays, 2-3 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Wednesday, June 17 Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 8 -- Canned Milk, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank An Afternoon in the Garden, 2-3 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Thursday, June 18 Wine and Walk at the Botanical Garden, 6-8 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden An Introduction to Graduate Studies at Memorial, 3-4 p.m., online webinar, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies Information Gathering Using Professional Investigating and Interviewing Techniques , 9 a.m.-5 p.m., BN-4019, Sponsor: Gardiner Centre
Writing a Proposal, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Gardiner Centre, Sponsor: Gardiner Centre Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 11 -- Canned Corn, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank
Wednesday, June 24 An Introduction to Graduate Studies at Memorial, 3-3:50 p.m., ED-3048, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies NatA Acetyltransferase Signalling Pathways in Health and Diseases During Aging, 5-6 p.m., 1M101, Medical Education Centre, Sponsor: Division of BioMedical Sciences PhD Oral Defence of Tina Giles-Murphy, 1-3 p.m., IIC-2014, Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 12 -- Canned Meat or Fish, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank An Afternoon in the Garden, 2-3 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Thursday, June 25 Rhododendron Festival, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Sunday, June 14 cont’d from HEDGES on page 9
Jackie Whitten photo
cont’d from MEEKER on page 8
out & about
Sunday Morning Nature Hike, 10-11 a.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden Sunday Nature Programs, 2-4 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden Rhododendron Festival, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden
Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 9 -- Chicken Noodle or Vegetable Soup, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank
Application to Graduate School: Tips and Strategies, 3-4 p.m., online webinar, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies
Friday, June 19
Type 2 Diabetes and Early and Late Diagnosis in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1-3 p.m., IIC-2014, Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation, Sponsor: School of Graduate Studies
Campus Food Bank Drive: Day 10 -- Juice Boxes, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Campus-wide, Sponsor: Campus Food Bank Japanese Cinema Night, 6:30-9 p.m., IIC-2001, Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation, Sponsor: Department of Linguistics, Japan Foundation
Sunday, June 21 Sunday Morning Nature Hike, 10-11 a.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden Sunday Nature Programs, 2-4 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio
Seniors’ Day at Memorial University Botanical Garden, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Memorial University Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Rd., Sponsor: Memorial University Botanical Garden, Friends of the Garden
Tuesday, June 30 Open Session: Changes to Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 2015, 9:30-11 a.m., Hampton Hall, Marine Institute, Sponsor: IAPP Office, Office of the Chief Information Officer
Social event of the year
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Vine and now Snapchat — Memorial’s newest social media channel — were alive with photos, videos and text messages during spring convocation this year. Powered by hashtags #Grenfell15 and #MUNgrad2015, hundreds of the approximately 2,700 graduates connected online and in real time to make the most of their special day — some of which were projected onto venue screens for all to enjoy. Pictured here are a few of the Gazette’s favourites. Congratulations to all!
12 gazette | Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | www.mun.ca/gazette