NSAC E-Bulletin

Please forward your submissions to the NSAC E-Bulletin to the newsdesk at (news@nsac.ca). for inclusion in the next edition, which run on Monday and Thursday of each week. Remember you can post notices anytime on the NSAC Forums at http://nsac.ca/forums

Official Launch of Select Nova Scotia

Selecting Nova Scotia First is the theme of an exciting, new marketing campaign aimed at promoting locally grown and produced food.

The government's buy-local campaign, Select Nova Scotia, was announced by Brooke Taylor, Minister of Agriculture, on July 5, 2007. The event featured a logo unveiling, website introduction, details of upcoming promotional activities and the announcement of a Minister's Advisory Committee on Buy Local.

"Nova Scotia produces delicious, high-quality food and this logo will help consumers identify local produce and select it as their purchase," said Mr. Taylor at the historic outdoor courtyard at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the site of Halifax's City Market in 1750. "Through our purchases of local products we invest in our provincial economy and show support our agriculture industry."

The logo represents three elements of agriculture: green for the colour of crops, blue for the province's clean, crisp water, and a yellow sun representing energy, hope and vitality.

To help promote awareness, increase consumer knowledge and encourage consumption of Nova Scotia agri-food products, a Minister's Advisory Committee on Buy Local has been created to review buy-local efforts and co-ordinate initiatives across the province.

"We have been actively pursuing buy-local initiatives for some time and this advisory committee enhances our efforts and heightens the importance we place on getting locally produced food to Nova Scotia consumers," said Mr. Taylor.

Committee members are:
- Peter Swetnam, president, Chicken Producers of Nova Scotia (Chair), Federation of Agriculture representative, producer
- Wayne Atwater, counsellor, Kings County Municipality
- Jeanne Cruikshank, vice-president Atlantic, Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors
- Sharon Lynk, president, Women's Institutes of Nova Scotia
- Gordon Stewart, executive director, Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia
- Natalie Webster, Communications Nova Scotia, Department of Agriculture.

The committee will oversee a buy-local campaign during the six weeks of harvest in August and September.

The Select Nova Scotia website, www.selectnovascotia.ca, will continue to be developed and, over the next several weeks, offer information on events and where to find local products. The logo is available for industry and marketplace participants to download.

The department continues to work on a number of buy-local initiatives including needs assessments, government/industry partnerships, and promotional materials and events.

The government has made changes in the past year to support local-product purchases in provincial health care and justice institutes. All dairy products; 90 per cent of processed dairy, such as butter and yogurt; 60 per cent of fresh produce and up to 80 per cent of fresh produce from storage; and 60 per cent of beef, chicken and pork purchased are produced locally.

Retirement Celebration for Wayne Bhola

Please join the Department of Engineering in celebrating the 33 years Wayne Bhola has been part of NSAC.

On Monday, July 9th, Engineering will be hosting a reception for Wayne in the Banting Building from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm.

Please stop by to bring best wishes to Wayne and his family.

Rona MS Bike Tour

Four members of the NSAC community are participating in the Rona MS Bike Tour this year. They are Fraser Nicholson, Dr. Norman Goodyear, Gillian Fraser and Holly Munroe. The tour departs from Windsor to Wolfville with a loop around Canning on July 28, 2007 and returns to Windsor the next day. Pledges for the bike tour go toward MS research in Canada. Any pledges from the NSAC community would be graciously accepted. Official tax receipts will be issued for pledges of $15 and over. The NSAC team is called the VELO-AGGIES. If you want to make a pledge contact Fraser, Norman, Gillian or Holly. Thank you for your support in this worthwhile cause.

Regards,

Fraser, Norman, Gillian and Holly

Premier's Award of Excellence Webpage

Dr. Robert Gordon, Dean of Research, Canada Research Chair of Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Department of Agriculture, received the 2007 Premier's Award of Excellence. In recognition of this achievement, a webpage has been created for Dr. Gordon. To view this webpage, visit http://www.gov.ns.ca/agri/department/pae_award.shtml.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Gordon at a celebratory BBQ in his honour to be held Monday, July 23, 2007 beginning at 11:45 in the Riverview room of Jenkins Hall. (Rain or shine). Please RSVP your attendance to Joanne Jordan at jjordan@nsac.ca.

Dr. Tess Astatkie Awarded Professional Statistician Designation

Dr. Tess Astatkie, Department of Engineering, has just been awarded Professional Statistician (P. Stat.) designation by the Statistical Society of Canada (SSC). The Board of SSC awards this designation to statisticians who have demonstrated significant practical knowledge, experience, and expertise, as well as those who are able to take greater responsibility for all aspects of statistical work. He was the 94th statistician to receive this accreditation, and one of the few in Atlantic Canada.

Congratulations to Dr. Astatkie on achieving this level of distinction.

Service Interruption

On Sunday, July 22, there will be a service interruption from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm and all mail to the NSAC campus may be delayed during this period. This interruption will be caused by the mail migration for students. The existing student mail hosted by NetMail (webmail.nsac.ca) will be turned off. All students will begin receiving mail with the GroupWise web client at nsac.ca/gwacc.

Belgians Visit NSAC

A group of Belgian farmers visited the NSAC campus on Friday, July 6. The group was led on a tour of the campus by Mr. Jim Goit, Executive Director of Development and External Relations at NSAC. The farmers are hoping to immigrate to Canada.

Caption: Belgian farmers stand on the front steps of Cumming Hall before taking a tour of the NSAC campus.

Graduate Scholarships and Bursaries Available to NSAC M.Sc. Students

To access scholarship and bursary application forms, students can go directly to our scholarship website located at http://nsac.ca/awardsoffice/, double click on a title and print off the form. Students can also drop by the Awards Office located at 11 River Road, Main Level. We are currently promoting those awards with July 27, 2007 deadlines. Other awards have fall 2007 deadlines. For more information, contact Brian Crouse at (902) 893-6729 or bcrouse@nsac.ca.

Click here to view a list of graduate scholarships and bursaries at NSAC.

Mail Room Closed Today

The mail room in Cumming Hall will be closed today, Monday, July 9, 2007. Mail will still be picked up from the offices at the regular times; however, it will not be sorted and re-sent until tomorrow.

Open House 2007 Meeting

A reminder that there will be an Open House planning meeting on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 beginning at 10:00 am in the C.A. Douglas Room. Please complete the attached participation sheet and forward to Adrienne Murray (amurray@nsac.ca) for inclusion in the program at your earliest convenience. As well, you will need to indicate the number and size of t-shirts you will need for your staff that will be working that day.

We will endeavor to meet the t-shirt size requests of all who respond. All t-shirts MUST be pre-ordered.

Thanks and see you on the 10th,

Stephanie Rogers