Honorary Degree: Rob Steele

Robert (Rob) G. Steele, Doctor of Commerce, Honoris Causa
President & CEO, Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited CEO, Steele Auto Group

Rob Steele

Recognized as one of Atlantic Canada's top chief executive officers, entrepreneur Rob Steele is a natural-born trailblazer.

With more than 18 years in the communications industry, Mr. Steele, a Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame inductee, also has an impressive record of success in the auto sales sector; he has built the region’s largest and most diversified automobile group.

Through meaningful and targeted philanthropy, Mr. Steele’s companies, Newcap Radio and the Steele Auto Group, support many charitable causes, and he is personally involved with the Alzheimer's Society, the Mental Health Foundation, Family SOS, Daffodil House, Feed Nova Scotia, and the Arthritis Society.

Committed to giving back to the community, Mr. Steele currently sits on the boards of Montreal-based Stingray Digital and Atlantic Signature Mortgage of Halifax. He also serves as a director of the Halifax Mooseheads and is on the advisory committee for Junior Achievement of Nova Scotia; he will be inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame in June of this year.

Mr. Steele is past co-chair of the East Coast Music Awards (ECMA) event committee and continues to be involved with the ECMAs in an advisory capacity. He is also a former Halifax Metro Chamber of Commerce board member and former director of Advancement Nova Scotia, an advocacy organization designed to help build a stronger Nova Scotia economy.

Honorary Degree: Dr. Bernie Francis

Dr. Bernie Francis, Doctor of Civil Law, Honoris Causa
Author, Linguist, Advocate

Dr. Bernie Francis

A thoughtful and passionate voice for the Mi'kmaw people, Dr. Bernie Francis, along with his mentor and friend, Doug Smith, helped preserve the Mi’kmaw language through an easy-to-learn orthography, which is officially recognized by Mi’kmaw chiefs across the province and by the Canada-Nova Scotia-Mi’kmaw Tripartite Forum.

Raised in Cape Breton’s Maupeltu (Membertou) First Nation, Dr. Francis initiated Nova Scotia’s Court Worker Program (CWP). Facing opposition and some harassment, he worked for five years to establish the CWP to ensure the fair and proper treatment of Mi’kmaw people within the provincial and federal court systems.

Dr. Francis, a Grand Chief Donald Marshall Senior Memorial Elder Award recipient, later introduced a Mi’kmaw Language Studies Program at Cape Breton University. He also visited First Nations’ communities across the Atlantic provinces, helping teachers produce curriculum materials.

An author of academic articles on Mi’kmaw law, Mi’kmaw spirituality, the conceptual differences of thought between Mi’kmaw People and Europeans and books explaining Mi’kmaw tradition and language, Dr. Francis has contributed to the Saint Mary's University community through participation in numerous colloquia, seminars, and conferences.

As a published storyteller and successful linguist, Dr. Francis has expanded people’s understanding of the Mi'kmaw language and geographical vision of traditional Mi’kmaw territory, including Nova Scotia. His work has contributed so much to the appreciation of Mi'kma'ki – even among his own people.

Pride has arisen in leaps and bounds, raising great hope for future generations of the First Peoples of this land, Mi’kma’ki!

Honorary Degree: Paul Gauthier

Paul Gauthier, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
Founder & President, Cole Harbour Foundation

Paul Gauthier

Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native Paul Gauthier is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs. As founder and president of the Cole Harbour Foundation, a non-profit focused on improving educational opportunities for children and youth, Mr. Gauthier has a close connection to Saint Mary's through the many students his Foundation has helped over the years.

The Cole Harbour Foundation supports the children and youth of Cole Harbour, from birth through university graduation. It provides thousands of free books each month for parents to read to their infants and pre-schoolers. The Foundation supports students through math and literacy tutoring and by offering classroom materials to teachers. And this year, the Foundation will award its 100th university scholarship.

Previous to launching the Cole Harbour Foundation, Mr. Gauthier was the chief technology officer at Groupon, where he worked to scale the global platform for local e-commerce. Before his time there, he co-founded Inktomi, a Silicon Valley-based software business that developed search engine technology employed by some of the world’s biggest brands. He was also a co-founder of Ludic Labs; there, he designed and developed a new class of online promotional tools.

With a bold and ambitious vision to protect The 100 Wild Islands along Nova Scotia’s eastern shore, Mr. Gauthier is also a strategic environmentalist. He donated what is believed to be the largest philanthropic gift to environmental conservation in Nova Scotia’s history.

Honorary Degree: Dominic Barton

Dominic Barton, Doctor of Commerce, Honoris Causa
Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company London-based

Dominic Barton

Dominic Barton, global managing partner of consulting firm McKinsey & Company, is committed to the internationalization of Canadian universities and colleges; he leads his company’s focus on the role business leadership plays in creating long-term social and economic value.

Author of more than 80 articles on business and society, the issues and opportunities facing markets worldwide, and other related topics, Mr. Barton is the chair of the Canadian Minister of Finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth and of the Seoul International Business Advisory Council.

A trustee of the Rhodes Trust and the Brookings Institution, Mr. Barton has received multiple accolades for his corporate leadership and contributions to the communities in which he has lived and worked.

Ahead of becoming McKinsey’s managing partner, Mr. Barton served as its Shanghai-based Asia chairman. Before that, Mr. Barton headed McKinsey's Korea office. In recognition of this work, he was awarded South Korea’s Order of Civil Merit and received the Singaporean Public Service Star.

Mr. Barton, an honorary fellow at Brasenose College and an adjunct professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, is also a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council. He also serves on the boards of the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and FCLT Global.

Graduate student team recognized for creativity at international competition

The Saint Mary's team

A group of four Saint Mary’s University students from the MBA, Master of Finance and Master of Applied Health Science Research programs have received a specially created prize for best creative AI idea at the International Graduate Competition this week in Montreal.

Students Stuart Clow, Soheil Ahmadi, Felix Han and Maxwell Poole travelled to HEC with coach, Dr. Chantal Hervieux, to take part in the International Graduate Competition. Competing teams included the National Chenochi University, Queen’s University, Universidad de Deusto, and RMIT University (Australia).

Although the Saint Mary’s team did not move on to the finals, they received very positive feedback from the AI industry professionals in attendance, who instigated the creation of a special prize for the top AI idea specifically for the Saint Mary’s University team. The proposed solution takes aim at Montreal’s complex pothole problem through a unique coupling of AI construction planning and novel private financing. The students may be asked to keep working on their proposed solution with the City of Montreal.

As well, Stuart was recognized as Best Team Player, for outstanding collaboration.

To register, the IGC requires a cross-disciplinary team (no more than two students from an MBA program). The Saint Mary’s team featured a skill portfolio in international business, strategy, finance and IT.

Collaboration is a key to this competition: for part of the week, students were grouped into their skill vertical to learn from each other. They then regrouped as a team to incorporate what they learned.

Saint Mary's team wins ‘Distinguished Delegation’ award for their work at Model United Nations

On March 29, the Saint Mary's delegation to the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in New York City, won a ‘Distinguished Delegation’ award for their work representing Bulgaria.

NMUN is the world’s largest Model UN, and can trace its founding back to the League of Nations. It is the only Model UN that takes place in the actual UN headquarters in New York, and sees 5,500 students from more than 130 UN member countries.

“It’s an extraordinary opportunity for students,” says Political Science chairperson Dr. Marc Doucet, “to get this kind of real-world experience, and interact with students from around the world.” Since Saint Mary’s first delegation in 2003, more than 200 students have attended, making the conference an opportunity to build international connections and gain a greater global perspective. This year was the most international Saint Mary’s delegation yet, with 21 students attending, from Canada, India, the Bahamas, Saint Kitts, Japan, and the UK attending. They represented fields of study including Political Science, International Development Studies, Economics, Sociology, and Business.

“It really strengthens our delegation because the UN is not solely political,” says Abby Dooks, a Political Science and International Development Studies student. “It deals with everything from education to human rights to business to economics, so you need that diverse expertise to understand the topics.”

This year, students visited the Bulgarian Permanent Mission to the UN, and met with diplomats at Bulgaria’s permanent mission to the UN, to discuss current global affairs and issues.

Dooks was attending this year for the second time. “The highlights were different from last year—this year it was really seeing other students achieve the same milestones I did last year, especially those were might have been nervous. One friend of mine was worried all year, concerned that she wasn’t going to be able to speak in front of the entire room, and so a highlight for me was when she did her speech and was just amazing. Those are the moments that make these experience so worthwhile.”

Three former athletes join the Saint Mary's Sport Hall of Fame

Redirect to http://smu.prestosports.com/general/2017-18/releases/20180427aoetep

Saint Mary’s celebrates new and existing Canada Research Chairs

Members of the Saint Mary’s University community formally welcomed the institution’s newest Canada Research Chairs (CRC), Drs. Ivana Damjanov and Mohammad Rahaman, and celebrated existing CRCs at a reception held today.

Created in 2000, the CRC Program invests $265 million per year across Canada to attract and retain the world’s best researchers in the fields of engineering, the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

“Whether investigating the consequences of low-wage practices on the worldwide economy or using the world’s most advanced telescopes to delve into details of galaxy formation and evolution, Saint Mary’s CRCs are making an impact on our world and on society’s foundational knowledge,” says Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice President of Academic and Research at Saint Mary’s University.

With the addition of Dr. Ivana Damjanov, CRC in Astronomy & Astrophysics, and Dr. Mohammad Rahaman, CRC in International Finance and Competitiveness, Saint Mary’s University is proud to host nine more Canada Research Chairs.

The following is a list of Saint Mary's University's Canada Research Chairs:
 

•    Dr. Todd Ventura, CRC in Petroleum Systems, Geochemistry, and Reservoir Characterization

•    Dr. Christa Brosseau, CRC in Sustainable Chemistry and Materials

•    Dr. Marcin Sawicki, CRC in Astronomy

•    Dr. Gavin Fridell, CRC in International Development Studies

•    Dr. Karly Kehoe, CRC in Atlantic Canada Communities

•    Dr. Kevin Kelloway, CRC in Occupational Health Psychology

•    Dr. Najah Attig, CRC in Finance

•    Dr. Ivana Damjanov, CRC in Astronomy & Astrophysics

•    Dr. Mohammad Rahaman, CRC in International Finance and Competitiveness

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Dr. Ivana Damjanov, Canada Research Chair in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Dr. Ivana Damjanov, Canada Research Chair in Astronomy & Astrophysics and Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President, Academic and Research

Dr. Damjanov’s research involves using images and spectroscopic signatures of massive galaxies to follow the evolution of their stellar and dark matter content over 7 billion years of cosmic time. As Canada Research Chair in Astronomy and Astrophysics, she seeks to expand the spectroscopic and imaging surveys of galaxies to cover large areas of the sky and provide the highest-quality data. By carefully analyzing these information-rich datasets Dr. Damjanov and her team hope to reveal how the biggest building blocks of the universe form and evolve.

Dr. Damjanov is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Physics.

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Dr. Mohammad Rahaman, Canada Research Chair in International Finance and Competitiveness

Dr. Mohammad Rahaman, Canada Research Chair in International Finance and Competitiveness and Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President, Academic and Research

Dr. Rahaman’s research is in the area of international finance, international competitiveness, corporate finance, and cross-country financial development. As Canada Research Chair in International Finance and Competitiveness, Dr. Rahaman is investigating how manufacturing and job losses induced by competition from low-wage countries are influencing the way capital is accessed in high-wage countries. His work will contribute to our understanding of how small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada can overcome their financing constraints and contribute to employment growth in our increasingly globalized and competitive world economy.

Dr. Rahaman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance, Information Systems, and Management Science.

Saint Mary's MSc student wins People’s Choice Award at Regional 3MT

Congratulating the Three Minute (3MT) Thesis Canadian Eastern Regional Competition winners including MSc in Applied Science student Molly LeBlanc (third from the right). 

MSc in Applied Science student Molly LeBlanc won the People’s Choice Award and placed third at the recent Three Minute (3MT) Thesis Canadian Eastern Regional Competition. She has earned a spot at the national competition, which will be held virtually.

Canada’s 3MT competition challenges masters and doctoral students to effectively explain their research to an audience of non-scientists in three minutes. Over 40 graduate schools across the country host 3MT challenges, and the winning students compete at three regional levels (Western, Eastern, and Ontario) for a chance to represent their university at the national final.

MSc in Applied Science student Molly LeBlanc with her Three Minute (3MT) Thesis Canadian Eastern Regional Competition people’s choice award and third place certificate. 

“The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) is proud to host the 3MT competition annually,” says Dr. Diane Crocker, Associate Dean of FSGR. “It provides an excellent opportunity for students to practice how to break down complex ideas into simpler terms and expand the audience for their research.”

LeBlanc won the 3MT challenge at Saint Mary’s University; MSc in Applied Science student Garland Xie was runner-up.

LeBlanc’s 3MT, “Not All That Glitters: Assessing Environmental Effects of Abandoned Gold Mines,” explains her research evaluating the environmental effects of mercury-rich mining waste in Nova Scotia using wetland insects. Garland Xie’s 3MT explains how he is evaluating plant root strategies to help green roof designers choose the proper plants. 

"Being able to effectively communicate your research, especially to those outside your field, is such an important skill to develop,” says LeBlanc. “It is a challenge to be both accurate and engaging, especially with only 3 minutes, but that is what the competition teaches you to do. "

The National 3MT Competition is sponsored by the Canadian Association of Graduate Schools (CAGS) and will take place online. Videos of each competitor will be available for viewing on CAGS’ website on May 16. People’s Choice voting will be open for two weeks.

Saint Mary’s enhances entrepreneurship and innovation through new centre

• See gallery of high-res images

To celebrate more than 25 years of cultivating entrepreneurship at Saint Mary’s, the school is today introducing the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre.

Meet the disruptive entrepreneurs from Saint Mary's

“Although Saint Mary’s has always aimed to instill an entrepreneurial mindset within our students across all academic disciplines, we’re now taking our focus on entrepreneurship to the next level,” says Saint Mary’s University President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray.To launch the new entrepreneurship centre, more than 200 Saint Mary’s alumni, business partners, and government representatives are gathering tonight at a special venture showcase. In conjunction with the centre’s launch, the university is also kicking off a creative campaign celebrating graduates’ entrepreneurial successes.

“We created this campaign to highlight the immense number of inspiring stories that started in the hallways of Saint Mary’s University,” says Dr. Patricia Bradshaw, Dean of the Sobey School of Business. “Today, and over the coming months, we’re celebrating the success of our alumni by showcasing the great entrepreneurial careers launched by graduates in Arts, Business, and Science.”

The Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre, formerly known as the Sobey School Business Development Centre (BDC), has played a key role in building workforce skills, creating employment, supporting start-ups, and growing companies. It has also offered undergraduate and graduate students hands-on business research and consulting experience.

“Approaching the BDC’s 30-year mark, we’ve helped thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of graduates,” says Michael Sanderson, the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneur Centre’s Acting Director. “As a bridge to the community, we’re pleased to see the repositioning of our role through the launch of the Saint Mary’s Entrepreneurship Centre; we’re ready for growth.”

“Saint Mary’s has been developing and mentoring entrepreneurs for decades,” says
Dr. Summerby-Murray. “We’re proud to play a key part in the ongoing growth of Atlantic Canada. And I hope that when our federal, provincial, and industry partners look to Saint Mary’s, they see eager learners and doers who spark innovation within our region, across Canada, and around the world.”

The Saint Mary's Entrepreneurship Centre

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.

Saint Mary’s biologists receive federal funding for Fish Behaviour and Physiology (FiBP) Lab

Dr. Laura Weir and Dr. Anne Dalziel

Two Saint Mary’s biologists have received funding to investigate how environmental variation influences fish populations in Atlantic Canada, which should help predict how fish will fare with continued changes in climate. Drs. Laura Weir and Anne Dalziel will use their $200,000 John R. Evans Leaders Fund award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to develop a Fish Behaviour and Physiology (FiBP) Lab at Saint Mary’s University.

 “Saint Mary’s is delighted that Drs. Weir and Dalziel have received a prestigious CFI research award,” says Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President Academic and Research. “This investment supports not only the world-class research taking place at Saint Mary’s, but also our students access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and technologies.”

Integrative studies that combine the genetic, biochemical, physiological, and behavioural mechanisms are needed to understand how fish populations adapt to environmental change. The FiBP Lab will investigate how these mechanisms contribute to differences in environmental tolerance, physiological performance, and reproductive behaviour among populations and species of fish common to Atlantic Canada, including salmon, trout, stickleback, killifish, alewife, and herring.

“Fish are a valuable natural resource,” says Dr. Laura Weir, assistant professor in the Department of Biology. “Our research will provide important baseline knowledge and inform policy and conservation efforts for our local fish populations.”

Research in the FiBP Lab will also help scientists and the public understand how biodiversity in aquatic environments is affected by coastal development.

“Canada has the longest coastline in the world, and understanding how changes to coastal waters will impact the animals living there is essential,” says Dr. Anne Dalziel, assistant professor in the Department of Biology.

The FiBP Lab formalizes an existing research collaboration between Dr. Anne Dalziel, an expert in fish physiology and evolutionary biology, and Dr. Laura Weir, whose expertise lies in behavioural and evolutionary ecology. Currently, the pair are working together to discover the physiological and behavioural mechanisms that lead to the unique breeding coloration of the white stickleback, an endemic Nova Scotian fish.

About the John R. Evans Leaders Fund

The John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) supports Canadian researchers by providing them with the research tools and infrastructure required to become leaders in their field. It also helps Canadian institutions attract and retain world-class researchers by remaining internationally competitive in areas of research and technology development aligned with their strategic priorities.