Alumni E-News
Alumni E-News is a Centennial project aimed at keeping alumni up-to- date with news from the University including important announcements, student and alumni achievements, athletic news and upcoming events. You will still receive your alumni magazine, the Agricola News, by mail, free-of-charge. In this monthly, E-newsletter you'll find brief news items and for most, a link to our alumni website for more detailed information

Calgary Area Alumni Meeting
If you have been receiving the Agricola News and the Alumni E-News, you are aware that these are exciting times for the NSAC. We are currently celebrating our centennial anniversary, launched our own postage stamp, turned declining enrolments around and introduced new programs.....and the list goes on.

We would really like to have an opportunity to get together with our Alberta alumni to fill you in on all the exciting details. We’d also like to stay connected with you and hear what is happening in your lives.

Mr. Jim Goit, NSAC’s Executive Director of Development and External Relations will be in the Calgary area on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 and would love to get together with you for an evening of casual conversation and fellowship in the Silver Room at the Royal Executive Inns and Suites, Barlow Trail & 27th Ave N.E. Calgary beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Please RSVP your attendance to Stephanie Rogers either by phone (902) 893-7247 or by e-mail at srogers@nsac.ns.ca by May 25th, 2005.

2005 Agri-Golf Classic

The 2005 Agri-Golf Classic will be held on Friday, July 22, 2005 at the Amherst Golf Club. The scramble format tourney is open to all in the agri-food industry including NSAC students, staff and alumni, NSDAF staff, agri-food industry representatives and provincial agricultural departments.

REGISTRATION FEE $450 per team (includes green fees, awards, shirt, a sleeve of balls and a meal). Registration deadline is June 30. (Individual registrations are welcome at $90 each).

For complete information on the tournament, please visit http://www.nsac.ns.ca/athletics/golf/default.asp

Jason Scott Robert is Assistant Professor of Life Sciences in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He teaches in the Bioethics Program within the Center for Biology and Society. Jason’s PhD is in philosophy (McMaster University, 2000), and prior to joining the faculty at ASU, he was a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University. He has published many articles in the philosophy of biology and bioethics and his first book, Embryology, Epigenesis and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2004.

Jason has been recently preoccupied with determining the roles and responsibilities of scientists and bioethicists in the face of controversial science, such as the creation of part-human chimeras in stem cell biology. He is a member of the Stem Cell Network in Canada, and he serves on the Advisory Board of the Canadian Institute of Population and Public Health

Centennial Homecoming Weekend 2005
Plans are well underway for Centennial Homecoming Weekend 2005 and we've got some exciting events planned for all alumni and in particular our honour year classes ending in 0 and 5. A highlights of the weekend include a Maritime Musical Night,a hilarious Yuk Yuks on Tour performance Friday evening in Alumni Theatre and an opportunity to visit some of your old haunts during our first ever Pub Crawl.

Come and enjoy a weekend of great entertainment. Please keep posted to our Homecoming web site for additional details as they develop.

Alumni Gifts from the United States
All charitable donations to the NSAC are fully tax deductible for NSAC alumni and their families, as well as for U.S. residents who are the parents of current or former NSAC students. According to the Canada/United States 1980 Tax Convention, ratified in 1997, Article XXI: a U.S. resident is entitled to a charitable deduction for gifts to a Canadian University, provided he or she, or a family member, is or was enrolled at that University. Family members include spouse, children, grandchildren, parents and siblings. These gifts may be deducted against U.S. source income subject to the standard percentage limitations for U.S. Federal Tax purposes. Indicate on your tax return that you or a family member are/were a NSAC graduate or student.

NSIA Awards Banquet
The Honours and Awards Committee of the NSIA recently honoured some NSAC alumni during their Annual Honours and Awards Banquet April 21, 2005.

The Distinguished Agrologist award was presented to John Tait, Class of 1966. Rollie Hayman, Class of 1964 was named Distinguished Life Member.

Susan Simpson, Class of 1992 was honoured with the Outstanding Young Agrologist award, while John Murray received the C.A. Douglas award.

Congratulations to all the winners.

John Tait, a professor in the NSAC Business & Social Sciences Department, was awarded the Distinguished Agrologist Award, presented by Kevin Sibley, President of NSIA (right) and Heather-Anne Grant, Class of 1998, who wrote the nomination.

Retirement

Professor John Tait will be retiring on June 30th after a 35 year career teaching at NSAC. Instead of asking people to send best wishes to John directly - we want to collect best wishes, stories and pictures from anyone who has been taught by, worked with, or simply knows John. These will all be arranged into a memory book that will be given to him later this summer. All info can be emailed to jreade@nsac.ns.ca or mailed to Mrs. Janet Reade, Department of Business and Social Sciences, NSAC, P.O. Box 550, Truro, NS, B2N5E3.