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.

On October 15th, an organizing meeting was held and a committee struck. The organizing committee consists of: Lynn Crosby, Nancy Crowe, Diane Dunlop, Jeff Hoyle, Laurel MacIntosh, Ralph Martin, Pat Nelson, Graham Pearson, Bruce Ramsay, John Stackhouse, Anne Swan, with Graham Pearson and Anna Fitzgerald as co-chairs.

The theme for the showcase is “Back to the Future: Traditions, Trends and Travesties”, and is meant to get people thinking about “old” ways that still work well, new innovations that grab (and hopefully keep) students’ attention, and those things that sound good in theory, but maybe just don’t work so well in the real world (and haven’t we all had a few of those in our classrooms!).

There are always lots of jobs to be done when organizing any sort of meeting, and so the committee members will be happy to welcome others to help out. If you wish to contribute some time, either in this planning and preparation stage, or closer to the event, please feel free to contact any member of the organizing committee.

Also, please consider giving a presentation at the showcase. Sessions are generally 30 to 40 minutes, but longer ones are also accepted. Do not assume that other instructors won’t be interested in what you are doing, or that your techniques apply only to your discipline. One of the most enjoyable aspects of these teaching showcases is seeing the way others meet the challenges of the academic mission.

What is Important to our Students?
Last spring we asked our students what was important to them as part of the Student Satisfaction Survey. They told us that their top five priorities were: Instructional Effectiveness, Student-centered Campus Philosophy, Registration Effectiveness, Campus Climate, and Academic/ Career Advising. What have you done today for our students? What can you do to make tomorrow a better day for all of campus?

Teaching Workshop “University 101”
A 1st yr. Seminar Course for New Students
Speaker - Susan Drain*
Atlantic Association of Universities - 2003 Best Teacher Award Winner

Faculty describe an increasing gap between their expectations of entering first-year students and the level of preparation they encounter. In this session, faculty will be invited to discern what might assist students in making a successful transition from secondary to post-secondary learning, and will explore some existing models facilitating that transition as well as some challenges of the challenges involved.

When: Nov. 15th, 2:00 pm
Where: Cox Institute Rm. 257
Expected Duration: 90 minutes
please register attendance by email: afitzgerald@nsac.ns.ca

Light Refreshments will be served during the workshop. This workshop is sponsored by the NSAC Instructional Development Committee

*Susan Drain is the 2003 winner of the Association of Atlantic Universities Teaching Award for Instructional Leadership. She was nominated for this award by Mount Saint Vincent in recognition of her commitment to the development of writing instruction within the department and across the curriculum, as well for her work in developing a first-year seminar course, UNIV 1101, for incoming students. She teaches writing, children's literature, and Victorian literature and culture in the department of English.

Study Skills Session
Study Skills sessions will continue for the month of November. Each session will have a specific topic with the first session on Wednesday, November 10 from 6:30 - 7:30 pm in Cox Room 138. The topic will be ‘Note Taking and Test Preparation’. Other sessions will be held on November 17 and 24, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, also in Cox 138, topics to be advertised weekly.

For assistance with a specific aspect of the "learning process" please contact Julie Tully at jtully@nsac.ns.ca .

News from the Road
As the leaves change colour and the air becomes crisp, it is a wonderful time to travel the highways and biways of Atlantic Canada, and so far Recruitment has spent 13 weeks this Fall doing just that. This past week saw Craig in Saint John and Sussex. This will Jenna will be visiting students in Moncton, and Monica and Craig will be visiting high schools in Truro, Brookfield and Halifax.

While things are busy off campus, activities on campus are certainly keeping everyone busy. This coming week will be the first of two weeks devoted to bringing prospective students to campus. The High School Introductory Program is designed to show visiting students about our campus, our programs and our student life. Students will be visiting with academic advisors, touring campus, having lunch at the cafeteria, taking part in an interactive lab, and talking with NSAC students about what it’s really like to be a student at NSAC.

Nov. 3rd was Take Your Kids to Work day, and 10 NSAC and Dept. of Ag. and Fisheries employees chose to do just that! Monica put together a lunch for these Grade 9 students and their mentors and also showed them the great opportunities available here at NSAC. Students enjoyed a tour of campus and learned about the type of jobs that graduates of NSAC can obtain.

Recruitment also took part in the Engineering Open House held on Nov. 3rd. Students interested in the Engineering programs at NSAC were able to talk with profs, instructors and NSAC students, take part in activities and learn about the great research being conducted here on campus. Congratulations to the Engineering Department for putting on another successful Open House, and for being so proactive in attracting students to NSAC.

Thank you to students who took the time to fill out First Year Student Surveys, and to Dr. Olson for offering class time for this NSAC Marketing study.

Varsity Results

Development Office Update
Things have been happening at the Development office. In addition to a highly successful Alumni Weekend, Hall of Fame induction and efforts surrounding Autumn Assembly, we have been hard at work updating the database with information from the Harris directory project. Hundreds of corporations and families of Alumni have been added.

Donations also continue to come in at a steady rate. In terms of accumuated donations we are approximately at the same place as last year this time, however the number of donations is within 25 of last year’s TOTAL for the year. With our fall mail appeal just arriving in peoples’ mail boxes and our phone campaign set for the winter, we’re hoping to significantly improve on last year’s total for the year of $359.000.

Our full monthly report is on-line at http://www.nsac.ns.ca/development/section_reports/2004/Oct.htm and it gives details on all of the happenings during October.