Development and External Relations Update

The Development and External Relations office UPDATE is a monthly summary of activities in the section and is published for your general information. If you have questions, please contact Jim Goit or call at (902) 893-7950

• Jim and Laurie attended the “Directions East” Life Science Summit on September 8th in Halifax. Several excellent contacts were made with potential partners on several initiatives. Jim will follow up with the several leads as a result.
• There was a meeting of the ACCC Agricultural consortium in Ottawa on September 13th. The group is preparing a major proposal under the Renewal Pillar of the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) for a national agricultural career awareness campaign that should be very useful for our recruiting program.
• Jim attended the Working Group meeting of the Atlantic Agricultural Coordinating Council (AACC) in Moncton with Brian Smith. The Atlantic Policy Institute proposal that has been on the agenda since January 2004 was moved forward. The provinces are still interested in having activity in this area however it appears there will be no Federal funding in the near future. Jim worked with Steve Russell to prepare a smaller proposal for a specific project to get the institute going.
• Jim worked with a representative of Syngenta toward the development of an endowed scholarship at NSAC. Syngenta already has several scholarships at NSAC but is planning to starting endowed support at agricultural Universities across Canada. We are discussing support of graduate student research.
• Jim completed the integration of the first two interim data uploads from the Harris Directory project into the Datatel alumni Database. When all the families and employers are included the number of individuals and companies doubled from what we previously had.
• Work was begun on the fall mail appeal. A draft of the letter was created and campaign materials assembled. Jim also began to work on the details for the NSAC’s first phone-a-thon that is planned for the January-Feb 2005 time frame.
• Jim worked with Sherry Porter and RBR staff on plans for the strategic planning session for the Foundation Board to be held in early October. A summary of all activities at the Development office as created along with general statistics on fund raising as a background document for the meeting. The group will plan fund raising priorities for the next year.
• Jim organized a visit by the ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) Advisory Committee to campus on September 22nd. This is group of private sector individuals who advise the minister of ACOA on policy around granting money to research projects. There were ACOA staff who accompanied them including Debbie Windsor, Acting VP from Moncton and Michele Scott, the local ACOA representative. NSAC has several major AIF projects and the group was very impressed with the facilities and the enthusiasm of our faculty and staff.
• Jim was in contact with Harold Cook, the new Dean of the Dalhousie Medical school, to arrange a visit to campus and to talk about possible cooperative efforts on research and education programs. Harold is a 1966 graduate of NSAC. We are planning a profile on him for an upcoming Agricola News.
• Jim made follow-up contact with Colin Latham the chairman of the Life Science Development Association (LSDA) to arrange a visit to campus. There are several areas of our research programs that will be of interest to LSDA and they will benefit in being aware of what is occurring at NSAC.
• NSAC was a sponsor of the BIOport Conference held in Halifax in late September and early October. This is an opportunity for NSAC to network with the major players in the biotech industry in the Atlantic region.
• Staff of the Development Office continue to be active in the planning of AASTW. The conference is providing a good opportunity for agricultural professionals in the Atlantic region to get together at NSAC and find out about the latest advances in the Bio Economy.
• Tim has begun meetings with department heads and departmental webmasters to demonstrate the prototype for the next version of the website. Response has been positive. During the last team meeting, Tim demonstrated the new site to the rest of the development team. Response was positive and will proceed to next phase—graphic design and branding. Stephanie and Sarah will collaborate with Tim to fine tune the look and feel of the new site.
• Due to the Harris Directory Project a total of 3251 alumni were changed and/or found and updated during the month.
• Arranged promotional schedule for AASTW 2004
• Coordinated promotion of NSAC programs and student life on Breakfast Television
• Coordinated sponsorship advertising for bioNova conference, BioPort Atlantic
• Consulted on design and implementation of market study for pilot on-line course
• Consulted with Residence Services on development of new marketing material
• Developed advertisements for First Year at Home program and NSAC's various Humanities courses
• Met with Opportunity Colchester for discussion of youth-related issues in Colchester
• Completed content for new International Student Recruitment tool, of which NSAC is one partner university
• Coordinated advertising supplement in Maclean's Magazine
• Consulted on Engineering Open House in November
• Attended EMC Coordinating Committee Meeting,