SMU advisor’s work to support Wuhan helps efforts to assist Nova Scotians

Bill Bu MEd’94, Senior Advisor to China, Saint Mary’s University

What goes around, comes around, is a saying that many of us have heard throughout the years. In the case of Saint Mary’s University’s Senior Advisor to China, Bill Bu MEd’94, it’s brought a pleasant surprise to Nova Scotia in uncertain times.

In early February, Bu was a vital part of the efforts to connect hospitals and medical staff in Wuhan, China, with the medical supplies that were sorely needed. Now that COVID-19 has come to Canada, the experience and connections he gained working to help those in Wuhan, is being used to support the QEII hospital in Halifax.

For Bu, COVID-19 has been something he has followed closely after it came to the region he used to call home. 

“The outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan greatly impacted my family,” says Bu. “My wife’s parents live there, and I have many connections there from my time studying and teaching at Wuhan University. When I heard about the outbreak, I knew that I couldn’t sit idly by while my family and friends were suffering.”

Bu’s close connection to the situation in Wuhan drove him forward. He began thinking of ways he could help and the number one need that he kept hearing was a call for more medical supplies.

“I decided to reach out to the Halifax community to see if other people felt the same, and I was shocked by their generosity,” says Bu. “We raised thousands of dollars for medical supplies, and we were able to help provide them to those who needed them in China.”

Now those skills developed only months ago are being used to help closer to home. Bu, who is also the President of the Atlantic section of the Hong Kong Canada Business, is working with a variety of leaders in Nova Scotia’s Chinese community to fundraise for the QEII Foundation and the medical equipment they need during this pandemic.

In only three days, the campaign to raise money for the QEII launched and received over $15,000 in donations. Now the funds raised has surpassed $60,000. Bu says that at least half the donations come from Chinese Canadians and from people in China, who previously lived in Nova Scotia. Donations have even been received from people in Wuhan, paying forward the work of Bu and many others to support those in one of the areas hardest hit by the early stages of the pandemic.

The funds raised for the QEII Foundation will purchase items like electronic stethoscopes, Bluetooth O2 probes, ultrasounds and bedside diagnostics. The funds will also support home self-care and recovery, in addition to virtual care solutions.

While the generosity of the donations may come as a surprise, Bu isn’t shocked by the support. 

“We live in a global community,” adds Bu. “When one member of our community is in trouble, the rest of us work together to support them.”

New Nova Scotians cook a community meal to celebrate International Development Week

A celebration of newcomers,  diversity, and tradition through food will take place this Friday, February 7, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.  At the event, ten refugees from around the world who are now living in Halifax will prepare dishes from their home countries as part of a community meal.

‘Taste of the World’ aims to break down barriers and build understanding through something that is universally shared: food. For the cooks, it is an opportunity to showcase their traditions and cultures to a broader audience. For the public, it’s a chance to connect with newcomers and sample delicious dishes. The event is free and takes place at the Halifax North Memorial Public Library, 2285 Gottingen St. in Halifax.

“As an immigrant, I have firsthand experience of how difficult it can be to start a new life in a different country,” said Leena Roy Chowdhury, co-president of Enactus Saint Mary’s and this event’s co-organizer.  “We are working with newcomers to Canada, and helping to inspire them as entrepreneurs so that they can build a career using their incredible cooking skills. This event is the perfect occasion to celebrate diversity and entrepreneurship with food that will captivate your taste buds!”

 ‘Taste of the World’ is being held as part of International Development Week (IDW). IDW celebrates Canadian community and international development efforts by showcasing work being done across the country. 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of IDW, which will run from February 2nd-8th. As the signature event for the Atlantic, ‘Taste of the World’ will be live-streamed to a national audience.

This year’s theme for IDW is ‘Go for the Goals’, referencing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are 17 universal, aspirational, and interconnected goals introduced by the United Nations in 2015. The ‘Taste of the World’ event seeks to address goal no.2: Zero Hunger, no. 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, no. 10: Reduced Inequalities, and no.17: Partnerships for the Goals.

To learn more about the SDGs, click here: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300

Funding for this event is provided by the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation (ACIC), on behalf of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The event is being hosted by the Global Shapers – Halifax Hub, Enactus Saint Mary’s, and Hope Blooms.

Saint Mary’s researcher contributes to UN fishery and climate meetings

Dr. Tony Charles (2nd from left) participates in a panel at the UN’s International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability in Rome.

The work of a Saint Mary’s professor is reaching the global stage via two international United Nations symposiums.

Dr. Tony Charles, who teaches in both the School of the Environment and the Sobey School of Business, was recently invited to speak on the future of global and regional fisheries at the International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability. The event was held in Rome at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The conference examined how decisions are made around all aspects of the fishery, with the aim to develop high-level policy on the role, value and sustainability of fisheries in the 21st century.

“My focus is on how fishing communities can do better in the future, how they can have healthier, better lives through conserving their local resources and environment,” says Dr. Charles.

“That’s been my interest for all my career here at Saint Mary’s, is how to make natural resources sustainable while providing livelihoods for people,” said Charles.

The topic is a timely one. Fisheries are linked with many of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals not just the health of the ocean, but ending poverty, food security, gender equality, climate change.

“There’s been a philosophy that government has to control fishing people or they will go crazy and catch too much fish. But what I and many others have been documenting over the years is that if you let the fishers operate as local communities, all around the world, what you see is that they actually conserve the fish.”

‘It turns out if you just let local communities take action themselves, and give them support for doing that, it’s very impressive what they can accomplish.”

Another project led by Charles is also being taken to the international stage. His publication Addressing the Climate Change and Poverty Nexus looks at the links between poverty reduction efforts and climate change action and will be presented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at COP 25 this week in Madrid. “It’s kind of a tool kit to the countries of the world on how to make poverty reduction come together with climate action, and vice versa,” says Charles.

Learn more:

International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability

Community Conservation Research Network

Introducing Saint Mary's new International Masters in Teaching English (IMTE) program

Students taking the new International Master of Teaching English (IMTE) program participated in a recent orientation led by Dr. Michael Legutke (back), visiting scholar and several instructors from the Faculty of Education.

With English continuing to expand as the world’s lingua franca, the demand for teachers of English continues to grow.  The British Council forecasts that by the year 2020, over two billion people will be speaking or learning English.  Global research in English language teaching has shown that the majority of future English language teachers in non-English-speaking countries will be non-native speakers of English. 

In response to this global challenge, especially with respect to preparing non-native English speakers as teachers of English as an additional language, Saint Mary’s Faculty of Education created its new International Masters in Teaching English program (IMTE).  Launched in September 2019, the Faculty welcomed its first cohort at a recent program orientation event, which included a workshop by internationally renowned professor of English language education, Dr. Michael Legutke, from one of our partner institutions in Germany, the University of Giessen.

The new IMTE program prepares graduates for international careers in teaching English as an additional language.  Saint Mary’s University enjoys a partnership with Cambridge University, having been selected as a Cambridge English Language Assessment Authorized Centre.  This partnership enables the Faculty of Education to offer IMTE students opportunities to progress along the Cambridge Teacher Framework, leading to internationally recognized certificates from Cambridge Assessment English as part of the IMTE program.

The Faculty of Education was delighted to receive a large number of applications from outstanding applicants for its first year.  There are currently 14 international students enrolled in the four-semester 16-month program coming from many countries, including Iran, Japan, China, Mexico and India.  Course professors include both Saint Mary’s faculty and visiting professors from partner universities abroad.

Introduction of the new IMTE program is another step forward in the Faculty of Education’s long history of international education and intercultural engagement at the graduate level.  During the past twenty-five years, the Faculty of Education has been offering graduate courses with an international focus in three thematic areas:  teaching English as a second/other language (TESOL), peace education, and education and development.  The IMTE program builds on these strengths and takes the English language education focus to a new level.

Unlocking overlooked history from a 2,200-year-old Roman villa

When modern technology meets buried remnants from the early Roman Empire, collaborative research has the potential to unearth new chapters of human history never previously analyzed.

That’s the thinking behind The Villa di Tito Project: Reexamining Roman Villas, helmed by Dr. Myles McCallum of Saint Mary’s University. The project received nearly two thirds of SMU’s most recent round of federal research funding, announced July 17 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Home to an annual archaeology field school for Saint Mary’s and McMaster University students, the rural Villa site is located amid olive groves on the north slopes of the Velino river valley in central Italy, in the province of Reiti. It’s along the Via Salaria, an ancient road used to transport salt into the interior of Italy, which ran from Rome to the Adriatic. The Villa sits high above a freshwater lake that is also ripe for archaeological study – the Lago di Paterno, once considered the geographical centre of Italy and a sacred site connected to the goddess Vacuna.  

Over its five-year lifespan, the SSHRC Insight grant will – among other things – reduce costs for students participating in the field school, and allow McCallum to hire and train several undergrads each year to work as research assistants on the project. Including three this summer, plus a fourth hired with funds from SMU’s Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.

“The research results were pretty spectacular this summer and will just get better over the next few years,” says McCallum, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics. The students “did an amazing job, they worked incredibly hard, and learned a bunch of new things like using our database system, flying a drone, doing some detailed photography and photogrammetry, and more.”  

The field school also teaches the fundamentals of archaeological excavation, field surveying, drawing, and artifacts analysis. The drone footage will help to create detailed views, maps and 3D models of the area.  

“This particular structure is monumental in size. Whoever built it in the 1st century B.C. invested a lot of time and money into it. It was a showpiece in the countryside for them, and probably the local centre of the social and economic network,” says McCallum.

One of the project’s goals is to find evidence to prove the theory that the Villa was originally built by Titus (Tito), a member of the Flavian family and the Second Dynasty of the Roman Empire. More importantly, it aims to reconstruct the lives of the workers – the people who made bricks and wine, grew crops, pressed olives for oil, or engaged in mining, woodworking and metalworking.

“The historical record is highly biased toward the social elites and the aristocracy,” says McCallum. “They wrote the history for themselves and they didn’t tend to write about slaves or poor people. We want to understand the Villa as a community, as opposed to just a monument to one person or family’s wealth and prestige.”

A good portion of the two-storey structure was revealed over the summer. Other notable finds were coins, stamped tiles, ceramic pots and transport amphorae, chunks of mosaic flooring, and incredibly intact brick walls. The Villa went through a series of renovations over the centuries, and was briefly repurposed after apparently being abandoned for a few hundred years. Environmental archaeology will yield more clues about the people: collecting and analyzing soil samples for pollen, seeds, charcoal, food remains and animal bones can indicate whether diets changed over time, pre-Roman conquest to post-conquest.

“We’re beginning to understand this transition, and the role played by these villas and estates in the process of creating a homogeneous imperial culture in Italy,” says McCallum. 

The SSHRC Insight grants are designed to promote research collaboration and partnerships. The Villa di Tito project team includes researchers from McMaster, Oxford, the University of Rome, the University of Nevada and Texas A&M. McCallum has invited Saint Mary’s colleagues in Geography and Chemistry to get involved, for everything from carbon 14 dating and chemical analysis to geomorphology and ground-penetrating radar.

Recruitment is underway for next summer’s field course, and students in all disciplines are welcome. McCallum admits it’s not the most glamourous work: “You’re outside all day for eight to 10 hours. It can get hot, it can rain, and there are bugs.” Even so, most students agree it’s an unforgettable learning experience.

Follow the project on Facebook via the Villa of Titus Archaeological Research Project and the Saint Mary’s Department of Modern Languages and Classics.     

Saint Mary’s expands cross-border education ties with China

Students in business programs at Guangzhou College, South China University of Technology (GCU) will have added opportunities to transfer to Saint Mary’s after two years and complete their degree at the Sobey School of Business.

A senior delegation from GCU was on campus this week to sign an enhanced Transfer Credit Agreement, paving the way for closer ties with one of China’s most renowned independent colleges. Executive Vice-President Zhixin Zeng, Vice-President Ying Lin, Dean of the International Business School and Director of the International Office Liguang Wu and International Office Program Coordinator Huijing Huang held a series of meetings with their counterparts at Saint Mary’s on Monday, April 15.

Mr. Zeng suggested that GCU’s visit to campus reflected the growing ties between the two universities, while Mr. Lin commented that the new Transfer Credit Agreement opened the door to exciting new possibilities for international cooperation between the two institutions.

Celebrating a Longstanding Partnership

In the years since the signing of an initial MOU in 2011, designed to foster academic and educational cooperation between Guangzhou College and Saint Mary’s, around 60 students have come to campus – some to complete their third and fourth years of their degree as part of the 2+2 agreement with the Sobey School of Business, others to take the Master of Finance Program. Many of the 25 students currently enrolled at Saint Mary’s enjoyed a dinner on Sunday hosted by their alma mater in China to celebrate the arrival of the delegation to Halifax.

Meeting with the delegation on Monday, Dr Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s, said that the University was committed to building on the strong foundation of academic partnership between the two universities. This week’s visit, he said, was also an important affirmation of people-to-people connections between Canada and China. As “Canada’s International University”, Saint Mary’s is proud to be recognized as a national leader in building bridges between the two countries, he said.

Guangzhou College of South China University of Technology is a large primarily undergraduate institution with more than 21,000 full-time students who can choose from 35 programs offered through 14 schools. Its 283-acre campus is located just outside Guangzhou city in China’s Pearl River Delta, home to more than 120 million people a major centre of technology and innovation.

Saint Mary's and Yale partner for experiential learning in Northern Ireland

A group of Saint Mary’s students and professors departs Halifax on Tuesday, heading overseas to share peace education workshops with children in 16 schools in Northern Ireland.

It’s the 14th annual trip to Belfast through the Northern Ireland Conflict Resolution Program, which provides unique experiential learning for students in SMU’s Faculties of Arts, Science and Commerce.

This year for the first time, an undergraduate Yale class studying political science with Dr. Bonnie Weir is collaborating with the SMU students, thanks to technology.

“They’ll have a chance to Skype into what we’re doing in real time,” says Bridget Brownlow, SMU’s Conflict Resolution Advisor and President of Peaceful Schools International.

“Our colleagues at Yale recognize Saint Mary’s as a leader in this type of experiential programming linked to civil conflict in Northern Ireland. Yale is interested in the model we use to engage with schools and communities, and has an interest in replicating our efforts in the promotion of peace education and exploring the various connections we’ve developed with schools, ex-combatants, community leaders and academics over the past 14 years. We anticipate developing a long-term, meaningful partnership.”  

The Yale students will have the chance to share questions beyond the school programming as they join in the SMU team’s discussions with ex-combatants who are now working toward peace.

Brownlow and Weir have been exploring ways to collaborate for some time. Their efforts were enhanced in November, when Brownlow and SMU President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray took part in a symposium at Yale, co-hosted by Queen’s University Belfast. Titled “Twenty Years of Peace: Progress and Possibilities in Northern Ireland,” the conference brought together academics, community leaders, politicians and architects of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which in 1998 marked a formal end to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Another twist for this year’s trip to Belfast is the new series of storybooks launched in October by Peaceful Schools International, with support from SMU and SMUSA. Already shared locally with more than 1,000 elementary schoolchildren, the books were written and illustrated by three Halifax junior high students.

The Saint Mary’s students have created interactive workshops based on these books. To date, their efforts have been very well received by local children. One of the books, Animal School, has just been translated into Irish (by Prof. Neil Ó Briain of the Department of Irish Studies at Saint Mary’s) and will be presented to a Bunscoil An Tsleibhe Dhuibh, a long-term Irish medium school. Plans are underway to translate the other two books.

The Saint Mary’s team, including 25 students and four faculty members, will return to Canada on February 25. It’s the most diverse group of students to date, says Brownlow, adding it includes international students from as far away as Bangladesh, Yemen, Nigeria, Brazil, India and Jamaica.

The faculty members involved are conducting research while in Northern Ireland:

• Dr. David Bourgeois, a Psychology professor, is studying the impact of the Peaceful Schools International program on our own student participants at SMU, as well as initiating research on the motivational profiles of Loyalist Youth involved in the ongoing activities associated with bonfires in Belfast and surrounding areas;

• Criminology professor Dr. Ashley Carver is conducting research on Republican and Loyalist internees; and

• Dr. Catherine Loughlin, Associate Dean of Research and Knowledge Mobilization for the Sobey School of Business, is collaborating with Dr. Carver on the role of women internees in Northern Ireland.  

For updates on the initiative, please follow Peaceful Schools International on Twitter at @PeaceatSchool and Facebook at @peacefulschoolsinternational.     

Celebrating African Heritage Month 2019

Join Saint Mary’s University in celebrating African Heritage Month by exploring the multitude of events taking place across campus, including a one-of-a-kind exhibit and panel discussion in the Patrick Power Library.

African Heritage Month events at Saint Mary’s. Click here to go to the Saint Mary’s events calendar.

The theme of the panel discussion is “Racial Apartheid & Black Freedom Struggles in Nova Scotia & South Africa”. The exhibit features Nova Scotian and South African materials from the Lynn Jones African-Canadian Heritage and Diaspora Heritage Collection, housed in the Saint Mary’s University Archives. The exhibit will be on display on the first floor of the Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary’s University from February 4-28, 2019.

The panel discussion will feature South African writer and SMU scholar Gugu Hlongwane, Dr. Lynn Jones (Global African Congress, NS Chapter), researcher and filmmaker Francesca Ekwuyasi, and social justice strategist, songwriter and educator Delvina Bernard. The panel will speak to similarities and differences between Black history and freedom struggles in Nova Scotia and South Africa. This event takes place on Tuesday February 12th, 6:30-8pm, Patrick Power Library Classroom (LI135).

The Saint Mary’s University Archives is the proud home of the Lynn Jones African-Canadian Heritage & Diaspora Heritage Collection, which “documents the lives of Lynn, her family, and over 50 years of African, African Diasporic, and African-Nova Scotian heritage and history”.

Dr. Lynn Jones

Learn more about the Collection and how to access it at https://smu.ca/academics/archives/lynn-jones-african-canadian-collection.html

For more information about African Heritage Month and the events taking place throughout the province, visit https://ansa.novascotia.ca/, Facebook, @AfricanNSAffairs or Twitter, @OfficeofANSA.

Bridges to Thailand: Saint Mary’s signs MOU with Srinakharinwirot University

The start of a partnership: Dr, Malcolm Butler, VPAR with Associate Professor Prit Supasetsiri, Vice President for International Relations and Communications, SWU and the visiting delagates in the McNally Boardroom.

The signing of a MoU between Saint Mary’s University and Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) in Thailand marks the beginning of a new partnership and opens the door to increased international mobility for both institutions.

A ten-person delegation from SWU came to campus on November 28 to visit Saint Mary’s, sign the MoU and discuss further opportunities for potential collaboration including joint degree programs, student exchanges and ESL summer/short-term courses.

In addition to Dr. Butler, delegates spoke with Dr. Adam Sarty, AVP Research, and Dean, FGSR; Dr. Harjeet Bhabra Dean, SSB; and Nicola MacNevin from the The Language Centre.

The Thai delegation included faculty from their College of Social Communication Innovation and Faculty of Economics who want to build ties with relevant Saint Mary’s programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Language Centre is also considering building a customized short-term program that focuses on English training, intercultural communication, or other specific subjects. SWU students could potentially start taking part in language training programs as early as next summer (2019).

Saint Mary’s was first introduced to SWU in June 2018 with the support of Nitchawan (Pan) Sriviboone, Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, who identified the institutions as a good match for Saint Mary’s University in terms of partnerships.

Collaboration agreement signed between Saint Mary’s and LAU

Saint Mary’s President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray shakes hands with LAU President Dr Joseph G. Jabbra

Saint Mary’s University and the Lebanese American University (LAU), have signed an agreement that will open doors to more collaboration between the two institutions.  The agreement allows for a variety of new opportunities including academic and professional exchange, joint research and short-term academic programs.

LAU President Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra welcomed Saint Mary’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, to the Jamil Iskandar Conference Room at LAU’s Byblos campus on October 9, 2018, to sign the agreement.

President Jabbra is known to many on campus from his time spent as both an active member of the political science department and as the Vice President, Academic and Research from 1980 to 1990. In April 2017, President Jabbra received a Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa, from Saint Mary’s.

Saint Mary’s President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray and LAU President Dr Joseph G. Jabbra sign the collaboration agreement between the two universities.

Saint Mary’s University has a well-established commitment to cultural diversity and encourages and supports the development of a global perspective. This new collaboration supports Saint Mary’s commitment to international and intercultural education and the global connectivity of the university and the university’s research partnerships. Saint Mary’s is recognized as a Canadian leader in these areas with extensive international outreach and collaboration by way of institutional linkages with universities around the world. This agreement with LAU marks another opportunity for students, faculty and staff to benefit from global perspectives and partnerships.

At the signing, Dr. Summerby-Murray emphasized the importance of the collaboration and the strong foundation that is already in place between both institutions and countries. The end of the event was marked by the exchange of gifts between the two presidents. The partnership is expected to begin shortly, with a representative of LAU expected to arrive on campus later this month.

Saint Mary’s archaeological expedition to share the story of people enslaved at coffee plantation in Cuba

Students unearthing artificacts at the Angerona Plantation archaeology site. 

A group of Canadian university students are about to depart on an archeological expedition to Cuba, spearheaded by Saint Mary’s University. The students will be excavating historical artifacts and investigating the cemetery at Angerona, a Cuban national historic site and former slave plantation, 80 kilometres east of Havana.

Interested in applying to join the expedition or looking for more information?

Email Professor Taylor at c.aarontaylor@gmail.com. The fee to join the expedition is $1600 (this includes accommodations, meals and transportation within Cuba) plus airfare and tuition (2 credits). The deadline to apply is May 4th.

“This expedition offers an opportunity to work with our partners in Cuba to uncover more of the lost history of the Angerona Coffee Plantation,” said Aaron Taylor, a Professor of Archaeology at Saint Mary’s and the program’s instructor.  “This plantation has a big historical significance in Cuba, and we want to help tell the stories of the people who were enslaved there.”

During the 19th century, Angerona was one of the largest slave plantations in the Americas—yet little is known about the day-to-day lives of the people who lived there.

A collection of some of the artifacts found in the first year of the excavation.

From June 10 to July 1, students from Canada and Cuba will be working together on excavating, identifying and interpreting the artifacts they find.

In addition to continued exploration of the site’s barracks, this expedition will include an investigation of the plantation's cemetery and the recovery of skeletal remains. This will provide a clearer story of life on the plantation. The team will be able to learn more about the people on the plantation, such as their general health, diet, age of death, and burial customs. This will include further research into the possibility that Nova Scotia supplied large quantities of codfish to Cuba during the period of the plantation system.

This trip marks the second year of what will be at least a five-year partnership between Saint Mary’s University, Havana’s Cabinet of Archeology and the College of San Geronimo.

 For more information about the expedition and to apply to join the team, visit http://www.smu.ca/academics/departments/cuba-archaeology.