Saint Mary’s University introduces new director of athletics and recreation

Scott Gray

Saint Mary’s University is pleased to announce the appointment of Scott Gray to the position of director, athletics and recreation at Saint Mary’s University, effective November 6, 2017.

“I am very happy to announce the appointment of Scott Gray as our new director of athletics and recreation,” said Saint Mary’s University President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray. “Scott is a seasoned athletics and recreation administrator who brings a holistic approach to athletics and recreation to our campus. He understands the important role that sport, recreation, health and wellness play in student life at Saint Mary’s, and he will be an excellent support for our students, student-athletes, coaches, faculty and staff.”

Gray joins the university from Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology, where he led the athletics department and managed the college’s recreation facility since 2006.  In that role he was responsible for the college’s various athletic programs including varsity sport, club sport, campus recreation and community ventures.

“My primary focus is on student engagement and student involvement in athletics and recreation on campus,” said Gray. “I want to build on the proud traditions of the Huskies and also continue to promote our facilities as a place for recreation, wellness and community connection.”

Gray has served as a head coach and assistant coach in various sports at the recreational, collegiate and university level.  He has assumed many leadership positions within both the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association (OCAA). Most recently, he served as president of the OCAA from 2014 to 2017.

Gray has also been an active athletics and recreation leader in his local community. He has served as the vice-president: director of operations, and a founding member, of the Sault Minor Football Association. He has also served in leadership roles in the community supporting curling, cross country and women’s volleyball.

Gray is a graduate of Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Physical Education. As a student at Queen’s, he was also an Academic All Canadian (football) and Vanier Cup Champion.

Dr. Elizabeth McLeod: Dedication in pursuit of a goal

“Balance is key,” says Elizabeth McLeod, about managing her life while earning her Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (Management) after 10 years of study and research.

Pursuing her latest degree and holding a full-time job kept Dr. McLeod juggling school, work, and home life, and “keeping all the balls in the air at once” was a challenge. A PhD typically takes four to five years to complete, and even longer on a part-time basis. The first two years consist of classes, followed by comprehensive exams, and then an extensive research project. During those years, vacations from her job were spent studying for exams, conducting research, and writing.

The epitome of a committed Santamarian, Dr. McLeod not only completed her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Master of Business Administration at Saint Mary’s, she has worked in the Faculty of Science for 27 years. Recent students will know her as a Lab Technician in Chemistry, but Dr. McLeod has also been a Neutron Activation Technician, a WHMIS Instructor, and has held roles in the Dean of Science Office and Co-operative Education.

Her PhD dissertation, which she successfully defended in June, is titled “The Role of Privacy Management in Brand Protection and Brand Value.” Her work focused on researching privacy issues and concerns with the use of a growing number of invasive technologies, and how these concerns can affect a brand’s value. Her research confirms that privacy management plays a significant role in brand protection and brand value.

Dr. McLeod is excited about completing her doctorate and she is grateful for the support she received throughout her degree from her supervisor Dr. Dawn Jutla, her PhD Director Dr. Albert Mills, and from her family, friends, and colleagues.

“Dr. McLeod’s dissertation provides a seminal publication empirically connecting organizational privacy behaviors, brand protection, and brand value,” says her supervisor Dr. Dawn Jutla.

For her research Dr. McLeod used a preliminary survey of privacy and security experts to discover what their top concerns are about privacy. The findings informed a formal survey instrument, which included both new and existing scales for the constructs that were later validated. This work contributes a new model that connects privacy practices, experienced harms, privacy concerns, brand protection, and brand value to management, management information systems, marketing and risk literatures. “Empirical testing of the hypotheses has confirmed that privacy management plays a significant role in brand protection and brand value,” writes Dr. McLeod in her abstract.

Saint Mary’s is a family affair for the McLeods. Elizabeth’s husband Ron is a Saint Mary’s part-time professor, and their two children have spent time on campus as well. Their son Connor received the Gold Medal when graduating with his Diploma of Engineering at Saint Mary’s, and their daughter Kaleigh started a Bachelor of Science this fall.

“Elizabeth has been on life’s journey, holding down a full-time job, raising teenage children, surviving car accidents, burying loved ones, supporting a creative entrepreneur-husband, and celebrating 10 birthdays while doing her dissertation,” said Dr. Jutla.

“Her story is one of perseverance producing great work with support from her village—the good people at Saint Mary’s University, especially Albert Mills, PhD Director, who believed in her too, and fellow PhD graduates like Anthony Yue. We are all so very proud of her!”

Ray MacNeil joins Saint Mary's as new CLARI Network Manager

Ray MacNeil

Saint Mary’s University is pleased to announce that Ray MacNeil has joined the university as our new CLARI Network Manager.  Ray is now finishing his second-week on campus and is a welcome addition to Saint Mary’s and the CLARI network.   

“The CLARI facility here at Saint Mary’s is the heart of the province-wide network,” Dr. Adam J. Sarty, Associate Vice-President, Research and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.  “Ray brings decades of experience working in highly productive and collaborative environments to CLARI, and is the right person at the helm as we expand the reach of our change lab.”

A twenty-six-year veteran of the Nova Scotia public service, Ray has spent the last ten years of his career exploring advances in the complexity sciences and their application to improved public services. His work in this area has resulted in consulting requests with a number of other governments and institutions.

In 2016, Ray was honored with the Nova Scotia Public Servant of the Year Award by the Springtide Collective.  In that same year, he retired from the public service and created Organizational Dynamics, a consulting firm dedicated to complexity informed management practices. Ray has remained a regular presenter on issues related to the management and measurement of public services.

CLARI is a cross-province, multi-post-secondary education partnership offering academic and research expertise, designated spaces and communications technology to support Nova Scotia communities in applying stakeholder collaboration techniques and action research toward addressing social and economic challenges.

CLARI’s hub-and-spoke style network spans the province, combining the talents and resources of its six founding partner universities and the Nova Scotia Community College’s 13 campuses. Through CLARI, partners can assist communities in all parts of the province in developing social and economic improvement projects while providing enhanced learning opportunities for students.

Academic All-Canadians honoured at U SPORT breakfast

Learn more on the Huskies site.

Master of Science student Corwin Trottier recognized by Mineralogical Association

CorwinTrottier

Congratulations to Master of Science in Applied Science candidate Corwin Trottier, recipient of a prestigious $5000 Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC) Foundation Scholarship.

Corwin Trottier is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Applied Science under the supervision of geology professor Dr. Jacob Hanley. He holds not one, but two undergraduate degrees from Saint Mary’s University: a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a BSc in Geology.  

Trottier’s MSc thesis builds on his summer research with Dr. Hanley and Dr. Georgia Pe-Piper, where he studied samples from the Great Bear magmatic zone (GBMZ) in the Northwest Territories. These samples contain polymetallic “five-element” (Ni-Co-As-Ag-Bi) mineralization, which occur as structurally controlled veins within lightly metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary host rocks. 

“Noteworthy recent research on five-element veins have focused on several European deposits, but GBMZ deposits remain untouched by modern analytical techniques,” writes Trottier in his thesis rationale.

Trottier’s research examines 60 rock samples that had been collected in the 1960s from the Eldorado Mine, which operated from 1933 to 1982, and stored at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) division of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in Ottawa. His objective is to advance the understanding of the ores at Eldorado Mine and similar five-element veins using modern analytical tools.

“Mr. Trottier is laying new ground in our understanding of uranium-silver deposits in Canada and abroad,” said Dr. Hanley. “I have been greatly impressed by his worth ethic and care in conducting this important research.”

Previous studies in the GBMZ have not quantified the metals in ore fluids, nor have they captured trace element and stable isotope chemistry at the scale of individual vein stages. As a result, current models have not been able to explain the source of uranium and other metals at Eldorado from a geochemical perspective.

“Final results will be compared to those of previous studies in the GBMZ and other five-element occurrences around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, NWT,” writes Trottier. “This comparison will provide insight into the potential genetic relationship between similar deposit styles of variable ore grade at local and regional scales. The expected outcome will bring a better understanding of how ore metals are distributed in similarly complex vein deposits.”

About the Scholarship

The Mineralogical Association of Canada awards two $5000 scholarships yearly, one to a student enrolled in an MSc program and one to a student in a Ph.D. program. The applicable fields of study are: Mineralogy, Crystallography, Geochemistry, Mineral deposits and Petrology.

Dr. Rowland Marshall Prize in the Science of New Energy awarded to Taylor Lynk

Dr. Rowland Marshall and Taylor Lynk

Saint Mary’s University is pleased to announce that Taylor Lynk, a fourth year Bachelor of Science student, is the winner of the inaugural Dr. Rowland Marshall Prize in the Science of New Energy.

Lynk, from Marion Bridge in Cape Breton, will complete her B.Sc. with Honours in Chemistry degree with a Diploma in Forensic Science this year. She is working on her honours project with the supervision of Dr. Christa Brosseau.

The prize will be presented annually to a full-time student enrolled in the Faculty of Science at Saint Mary’s University, for a paper on something new and innovative related to the study of new energy – with particular interest in renewable resources and energy. The award is given for a completed paper or it can be used as seed funding for a thesis. The concept must be explained in fewer than 500 words, supported by images or diagrams as appropriate. When selecting a recipient, the judges consider three variables:

• Recognition of the student’s existing work on new energy sources
• Incubation opportunity for research in new energy
• Incentive for an innovative approach to new energy sources

“Congratulations to Taylor Lynk on receiving the 2017 Prize in the Science of New Energy for her research and paper. Taylor's attainment is specially significant in that this is the first award of this particular new prize in the Science Faculty here at Saint Mary's. Well done, Taylor,” said Dr. Marshall.

The winning paper explores a way to use green materials to synthesize nanomaterials in an environmentally benign way to allow for continued growth of the nanotechnology field.

Working with fellow students in Dr. Brosseau’s lab, she tested using avocado pit extract as an alternative to harsh chemical reducing and capping agents commonly used in noble metal nanoparticle synthesis.

Lynk explained that using avocado pits was an idea conceived by herself and fellow researcher, Osai Clarke, when they were inspired to make use of the waste from a fellow student's lunch. “The avocado pit is a byproduct of avocado processing, so this project could potentially be a good solution for diverting some of the waste generated from avocado consumption,” she said.

She found that this renewable waste product demonstrated superior performance over traditional counterparts, which is a key step in implementing the replacement of chemical feedstocks with sustainable options. This method could be valuable for future large-scale plasmonic applications such as in plasmon-enhanced solar cell technology.

Along with the Dr. Rowland Marshall prize, Lynk has maintained a renewable entrance scholarship with academic achievement increases over two years. She won “Best Undergraduate Oral Presentation in Analytical Chemistry” at the 2017 Science Atlantic Chemistry Conference (ChemCon), two Department awards for “Scholarly Achievements and Academic Excellence in Chemistry,” and has been on the Dean’s List since her first year at Saint Mary’s.

Dr. Rowland Marshall’s connection to Saint Mary’s University spans 55 years. Along with his late wife Margó Takacs Marshall, the former philosophy professor has established a variety of student awards. In 2017, on Canada’s 150th anniversary, he is happy to be still involved in the university’s evolution and success.

Back-to-back national football champions inducted into the Saint Mary's Sport Hall of Fame

Back-to-back national championships were honoured this year as two Saint Mary's University football teams were inducted into the Saint Mary's University Sport Hall of Fame, October 15.

In 2001, the Saint Mary's Huskies knew they had a special football team. The team went on a blistering 11-0 run that season, outscoring their regular league opposition 480-35 and post- season opponents 128-31. During this dominant season, the team did not give up a single rushing touchdown.

Blake Nill, head coach of the Huskies 1998 - 2005 commented, "What makes this time of my career so special was not just the on-field accomplishments by an outstanding group of athletes and coaches but how we were viewed off field.  There was a Huskies presence throughout campus, the city of Halifax and the province.  The 2001 and 2002 editions of Huskies Football were teams that truly represented the Maritimes, their pride, and the long standing traditions of this community".

Then assistant coach Steve Sumarah said that he considered the 2001 Huskies "the most dominant team in the history of Canadian university football." The team went on to defeat the Laval Rouge et Or 48-8 in the Atlantic Bowl and then the Manitoba Bisons 42-16 in the Vanier Cup game where they became national champions.

The 2002 season proved more challenging for the defending Vanier Cup Champions.  Losing to both Acadia Axemen and St. Francis Xavier X-Men, the team went on to post a 6-2 regular season record, tying St. Francis Xavier for top spot in the conference but claiming the conference's top spot due to a greater point spread. The Huskies went on to defeat St. Francis Xavier 63-14 for the Atlantic Championship.

Led by quarterback Steve Panella, who would be named the Vanier Cup's Most Valuable Player, Saint Mary's would go to defeat their dogged rivals the Saskatchewan Huskies 33-21 in the national championships to become the first repeat winner of the Vanier Cup in 25 years.

The 2001 and 2002 Saint Mary's Huskies championship football teams were inducted into the Saint Mary's University Sport Hall of Fame during Homecoming Weekend, October 15th.

Historic all-black line discusses past and future of black athletes in hockey

Damon Kwame Mason, Darrell Maxwell, Bob Dawson, Percy Paris, Willie O'Ree

In 1970, Bob Dawson, Percy Paris, and Darrell Maxwell formed the first all-black line on a Canadian university hockey team. On October 12, the historic linemates revisited their alma mater for an exciting and moving evening looking at the history—and future—of black athletes in hockey, in Nova Scotia and internationally.

The evening included a screening of Soul on Ice: Past, Present, Future, a feature-length documentary about the history, current state of play, and prospects of black hockey players. Filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason was in attendance, along with Willie O’Ree, the first black player in the NHL and currently the league’s Diversity Ambassador.

Following the screening, the former players engaged in a panel discussion, moderated by former CBC sports broadcaster Bruce Rainnie, and shared stories of their youth and early athletic careers, and engaged with contemporary questions around politics, race, and sport.

The event received generous support from the Province of Nova Scotia 150 Forward Fund and, at Saint Mary’s University, the Office of the President, Alumni Affairs, the Department of History, the Centre for the Study of Sport and Health, the Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Culture, and the Atlantic Canada Studies Program.

Saint Mary’s celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding alumni

Seven outstanding Saint Mary’s University alumni were honoured last night, Oct. 12, as part of the 2017 One World Alumni Awards Gala.

“Saint Mary’s alumni are leaders in our communities and the One World Gala is when we celebrate their accomplishments,” said Erin Sargeant Greenwood, vice-president of Advancement. “I want to congratulate all of our award winners this year, and thank them for their continued dedication to our university.”

The alumni gala is when the annual alumni awards are presented for: Alumni Volunteer of the Year, Young Alumnus of the Year, Associate Alumni of the Year, and Distinguished Community Service.

This year’s winners include:

• Dr. Michael Durland, BComm’87, DComm’10, and Catherine Durland, BComm’87, winners of the Distinguished Community Service Award;
• John Sime, BComm’08, winner of the Paul Lynch Volunteer of the Year Award;
• Harry Ezenibe, BA’14, winner of the Young Alumnus of the Year Award; and
• Dr. Pat Bradshaw, dean of the Sobey School of Business, Larry Freeman, Q.C., and Shirley Boudreau, winners of the Associate Alumni of the Year Award.

In addition to the individual awards are the One World Awards, given to an external charity and a Saint Mary’s student society that is working on a charitable project.

This year’s One World Award winners are: Ronald McDonald House Atlantic and Saint Mary’s Conflict Resolution Society. Both winners received a $7,500 prize.

The two runner-ups, Phoenix Youth and Saint Mary’s Model UN, received an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Their generous $1,000 prize sponsored by Manulife was matched by the Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association (SMUSA), ensuring both organizations went home with $2,000.

The One World Alumni Awards are presented by TD Insurance and Saint Mary’s University. The awards emphasize Saint Mary’s Santamarian values of student leadership, social responsibility, and cultural diversity.

More information about the One World Alumni Awards Gala.

Sobey School Business Development Centre offers coaching to help Atlantic companies grow and succeed

See the orginal story at http://www.smu.ca/academics/sobey/growth-coaching-program-announced.html

Saint Mary’s astronomer part of Canadian collaboration exploring how galaxies form and evolve

Canadian astronomers will soon build the Gemini InfraRed Multi-Object Spectrograph (GIRMOS), a sensitive infrared spectrograph capable of producing images of the sky in unprecedented detail, thanks to a $13 million Canada Foundation for Innovation grant announced today, Oct. 12.

GIRMOS will help shed light on how galaxies form and evolve over cosmic time and is designed for use on the 8-metre telescopes of the Gemini Observatory, which are among the largest telescopes currently in existence. With it, researchers will be able to study some of the faintest, oldest, and most distant objects in the universe; probe the formation of stellar and planetary systems; and investigate galaxies in the early universe.

Dr. Marcin Sawicki

Saint Mary’s University’s contribution to the GIRMOS project is to develop the data-processing pipeline and instrument simulator. The instrument simulator will allow astronomers to plan their observations, while the pipeline is essential for taking the raw observations from the instrument and turning them into data suitable for scientific analysis.

“Developing these elements of GIRMOS taps directly into the expertise in observational astronomy and computational astrophysics that are research strengths at Saint Mary’s,” said Dr. Marcin Sawicki, Canada Research Chair in Astronomy at Saint Mary’s. “Our researchers and students will get a chance to participate in the construction of GIRMOS and then use it to study distant galaxies.”

Dr. Sawicki and researchers from other Canadian institutions are developing the ground-breaking technology under the direction of project lead Dr. Suresh Sivanadam from the University of Toronto’s Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Physics. GIRMOS will also serve as a precursor to a spectrograph for the $1.5 billion Thirty Meter Telescope, which is now under construction in Hawaii.

Other GIRMOS partners include the National Research Council, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Laval University, Dalhousie University, York University, and the University of Manitoba.

Saint Mary's team presents Hackathon concept to five Federal ministers in Ottawa

(L-R)Mandy Hoyt, Senior Policy Analyst with Data Strategies & Development at ESDC; Chelsea-Leigh Robinson-Sharman, Junior Policy Analyst with Strategic and Service Policy/Open Data & Open Government at ESDC; Sandy Kyriaki, Chief Data Officer for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); Doug Woodworth, Senior Director of Data Strategies & Development at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC); Sunil Udhayakumar, CDA student; Keith Bain, Graduate Program Manager; Raj Sonani, CDA student; Matt Triff, CDA student; Patrick Charette, Manager of Strategic and Service Policy/Open Data & Open Government at ESDC

Saint Mary’s Master of Science in Computing and Data Analytics (CDA) students Matt Triff, Sunil Udhayakumar, and Raj Sonani, along with Graduate Program Manager Keith Bain, were invited by Employment and Social Development Canada to participate in a National Poverty Conference in Ottawa recently.

As guest speakers at the “Working Towards a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy” event, the CDA students shared their experiences developing, organizing, and participating in Hackathon events.

Using real-life examples, the team discussed how data from multiple sources could be used to find innovative solutions to social challenges we face in Canada, and shared their experiences in using advanced computing and data analytics techniques and tools to lead to creative solutions for the government and private sector.

Federal ministers attending the event included: 

• The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development;
• Louise Levonian, Deputy Minister, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC);
• The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture;
• The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; and
• Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

“The longer-term goal is to organize a hackathon focused on poverty issues through the MSc CDA program, analysing huge data sets to generate new ideas and innovations that could potentially help improve service delivery in key areas,” said Mr. Bain.

“At Saint Mary’s we are always fostering a creative environment where our students can use Data science in every day to day situations to improve the way we live,” wrote the team after their presentation.