NSAC E-Bulletin

Please forward your submissions to the NSAC E-Bulletin to Stephanie Rogers (news@nsac.ca) by Friday at 3:00 p.m. for inclusion in the next week's edition.

May 3, 2004 --- Week 177

NSAC Student Three-Time Winner

Troy Lyons, NSAC M.Sc. student, has won three awards for graduate student research conducted at NSAC. He won both the Stolt Award and APICS Award for best graduate student oral presentation at the Atlantic University Aquaculture Conference held at the University College of Cape Breton (UCCB), in Sydney on March 5 - 7. Troy's presentation was entitled "The use of crab meal as an alternative protein, pigment and feeding stimulant source for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) feeds". Earlier this year, Troy won the Scotia Pride 2004 Award for best student presentation at the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia conference in Halifax on January 23 to 25. Troy's graduate student thesis research is conducted under the co-supervision of Dr. Derek Anderson, Professor, Department of Plant and Animal Sciences, NSAC, and Dr. John Castell, Research Scientist (Emeritus), Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews, NB. Troy is originally from Bathurst, New Brunswick.

Teaching Workshop for Faculty, Staff and Other Instructors
An Integrated Approach to Developing Scientific Communication Skills
Dr. Kate Frego's 50 minute presentation describes (and documents the development of) a series of integrated activities and assignments in Dr. Frego's introductory Botany course that would be easily transferable to other disciplines. It includes a staged writing exercise, analysis of both content and structure of scientific literature, oral communication (in a mini-conference format), and peer evaluation. The original intent was to develop oral communication skills in an atmosphere that reduced anxiety. However, it rapidly encompassed the other skills her department deemed essential. Student feedback has been remarkably positive.

May 11, 2004
9:30-12 noon
Cox 136
Please register by e-mail to gpearson@nsac.ns.ca

Sponsored by NSAC Instructional Development Committee

Internet Upgrade

As a result of the new Internet Service Contract with Eastlink, an upgrade to our Internet connection is necessary. Internet service to NSAC will be affected between 8:30am and 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 4th, 2004. All Internet (mail and Web browsing service) will be affected during this upgrade. The Mail server can be reached (you can read your mail) and it will queue your outgoing mail to be sent when Internet services are restored. ITS apologizes for any inconvenience as a result of service upgrade. We appreciate your understanding as we work to enhance the quality of service and hope you will enjoy the increased bandwidth. If you have any questions about the upgrades, please contact IT Services.

Special Feature: Mental Health Month

Since May is “Mental Health Month” , Student Services is offering a series of information articles on stress , and maintaining your mental and physical health. Today’s article will be Stress: What is it? It includes a Stress Index and a section on Getting Stress Fit. To see article, click here. The rest of the article schedule is as follows:

May 10 Understanding Stress
Stress Response
Coping with Stress
Stages of Stress

May 17 Effects on Health
Easy Ways to Take the Pressure Off
Anti-Stress Strategies

May 24 Preventing Stress
18 Tips to Deal with Stress

May 31 Resources to Help you Cope
1)recreation and leisure
2)by learning
3)counseling and support

AND... Since many find exercise a useful tool is dealing with stress, NSAC Athletics is offering a Free Week’s Membership to the Langille Athletic Centre from May 8 - 14, 2004. Need help getting started? Phone extension 6660 to arrange a workout buddy. Staff are also reminded that the EAP is available if you want to access additional services. Please contact the HR Department or the Government Website for details.

News from the Road

The Recruiting Team is excited to announce that application numbers for 2004/2005 are up 11% from this time last year! Applications for the B.Sc. (Agr.) program have increased by 24%! Thanks to all NSAC students, staff and faculty involved in making this a successful recruitment season. The past few weeks have brought many interested students to campus. We met with nine students for personalized tours and also hosted a group from North Nova Educational Centre in Pictou. Students were interested in a wide variety of programs, including Plant Science, Environmental Studies, Pre-Vet, Animal Health, and the First Year at Home (in Arts studies) program. Craig spent the last weekend in April at the PEI Garden Show representing plant- and horticulture-related programs. Craig also had the opportunity to meet with many NSAC grads working in these fields and representing a number of different companies at the show. A big thanks to Claude Caldwell for meeting and touring a Plant Science Tech student this past week, and to Debbie Mellish for letting us to speak with her lab group from Colchester Christian Academy.

Books Wanted: Canadian Federation of University Women

The Truro Branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) is looking for donations of books, recordings and games for their 40th Annual Book Fair being held June 4th and 5th at the Truro Curling Club. Proceeds are for CFUW's Award Fund. CFUW regrets it cannot accept text books, Readers' Digest Condensed Books, magazines or encyclopedias. Donations can be dropped off at the Victoria Street entrance of the curling club at the following times: Tuesday, May 25 through Friday, May 28 (2pm-4pm and 7pm-8pm each day) or Saturday, May 29 (10am-noon). For more information, call Mary MacRae at 895-3694.