NSAC E-Bulletin

Please forward your submissions to the NSAC E-Bulletin to the newsdesk (news@nsac.ca) by Friday at 2:00 p.m. for inclusion in the next week's edition. Remember you can post notices anytime on the NSAC Forums at http://nsac.ca/forums

Corporate Merchandise Sale

When: Friday, March 9th from 10:00am-12:00pm.

Where: Cox (outside of Registry).

Why: Selling off old stock to make room for our new items.

Students Participate at Annual APICS Conference at UNBSJ

The annual Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences (APICS) student Biology and Aquaculture conferences were held at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John on March 2nd to 4th, 2007. In the Aquaculture section, Corinna Phillips (An. Sci. Major) and Jenny MacPherson (MSc candidate) presented talks on sexual maturation in Atlantic salmon and Arctic charr respectively. In the Biology section, Adam Scanlan (An. Sci. Major) tentatively concluded the American pine marten was a spontaneous ovulator. Corinna won second prize in the undergraduate section. Drs. Ronquillo and Duston served as impartial judges. All talks were of a high quality, you did NSAC proud!

People are Asking ... “What IS a Link Resolver?”

A Link Resolver is software that knows about MacRae Library print journal subscriptions, and e-journal licenses from any number of sources. Embedded within the indexing and abstracting databases as a link “Find it@NSAC”, it gives you direct access to the full-text of scientific and scholarly articles. When you find a citation in a database, you click on “Find it@NSAC” or “Links” to get a list of sources for the full-text. Sometimes there are several sources, sometimes there are none, in which case you have the option of clicking on the Novanet Catalogue for the holdings of other Novanet libraries. The purpose of the Link Resolver is to allow you to spend less of your scarce and valuable time searching for things to read, and more time reading.

Learning How to Make Compost Tea

What is compost tea?

Compost tea is a liquid rich in microbes beneficial to plants. It is brewed from high quality compost or worm compost.

Why should I know more about it?

If you are a commercial grower or turf manager, you can use compost tea to fine-tune the ecosystem in your soil (known as the soil foodweb). This fine-tuning, in combination with other good soil management practices, can greatly decrease disease and pest pressure and increase yield – at the same time as it allows you to reduce and eventually eliminate commercial fertilizer and pesticides. This has been demonstrated over and over again in many parts of the world. More information...

NSAC Program Review

The NSAC BSc(Agr) and MSc programs are under program review by Dalhousie University Senate. These academic reviews are carried out every eight to ten years and are very important to ensuring that our Bachelors and Masters degrees continue to serve students and the Atlantic community with the highest quality programs possible.

The review committee will be on campus Tuesday March 27 and would like to meet with you to hear any comments you have regarding either program. You may drop in to meet with the whole committee, or choose to meet with one or more members by appointment on the 27th (please contact Annette Brightman abrightman@nsac.ca). If you would like to speak with the committee, and cannot make it on the 27th, please let Annette know and we will try to schedule another date.

The joint NSAC/Dalhousie Review Committee members are:

Leslie MacLaren, VP Academic, NSAC (Chair)
Derek Anderson, Professor, Plant & Animal Sciences, NSAC
John Stackhouse, Associate Professor, Business & Social Sciences, NSAC
Deborah Buszard, Professor, Biology, Dalhousie University
David Patriquin, Professor, Biology, Dalhousie University
Lynda Weatherby, BSc Graduate, MSc Student & President, NSAC Association of Graduate Students

Note that details on session timing and location will be announced shortly.

Thank you in advance for participating in the review process.

New Graduate Scholarship Program to Benefit Dairy Industry

The Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) and the Canadian Dairy Commission are pleased to announce a new scholarship program that will benefit the dairy industry.

The Canadian Dairy Commission Scholarship Program aims to support high caliber students who are registered full-time in the Master of Science (M.Sc.) program at NSAC and who are conducting a thesis project that has application to the dairy industry. The value of the award is $20,000 per year for up to two years. Students who receive the scholarship may also apply for a one-time additional sum of up to $5000 for travel costs to further their education or research program on the advice of their thesis supervisor. Full release...

Recruitment Update

What a great University Day we had! Thanks to all who participated in the Expo, organized tours, volunteered and took part in our information sessions! This year we saw over 200 prospective students and their families. I'm still sifting through information and am confident that there will be an influx of applications to add to the pile we've already received.

On another note, I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Nick, who is finishing his time in Recruitment this week. Nick has been an amazing team member and I will definitely miss him! His last commitment to his position takes him to New Brunswick today, where he is meeting Engineering and the NSAC team will represent our university at the Farm Mech. Show until Saturday. He is also meeting with schools from PEI who couldn't come to University Day and is bringing University Day to them!!! Craig is on the road again and is in PEI at a career expo and is visiting the few last schools on our list. As I am clearing University Day 2007 off my desk, I continue to work on the Global Blast conference NSAC is taking part in with other members of EduNova and NSISP. Other projects include our display at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax with the Ag. Awareness committee, the Canada Wide Science Fair campus activities, several career expos and Brian is gearing up for his big trip to India.

Recruitment activities have gained momentum and are producing results. Thanks to all who regularly help us in our efforts and thanks to Craig, Nick, Brian and Sandra for your hard work in all of our endeavors.

Monica

CCAA Men's Basketball Nationals

NSAC is the proud host of the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Basketball Nationals. Seven participating teams will arrive in Truro this Saturday to join NSAC's team.

The event will kick off Sunday night with a banquet in Jenkins Hall. Games will begin Monday at 1:00pm and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Eastlink Television broadcasting the bronze and gold medal games live in NSAC's gym.

For complete schedule details and more information, visit http://nsac.ca/nationals/.

Photo of the Week

University Day 2007 Expo