NSAC Forums

Message from Co-Presidents

It is hard to believe the holiday season is upon us. The year 2011 has been a challenging and exciting one for NSAC and for all those who know and love the institution.

In that regard, we’d like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all faculty, staff students and alumni for their hard work, ideas, patience and understanding as we navigate through a merger with Dalhousie University.

At NSAC we aspire to offer our students a unique educational experience in a small, friendly environment. Our small student-to- faculty ratio means students learn “hands-on” from world class researchers. Our expertise in the areas of agriculture, agri-food and bio-resources enables students to support healthy, sustainable communities – to make a difference.

As we approach this next phase in NSAC’s evolution, these, our core values will not change. They have grown out of our past, remain central to our present and will guide our future.

As 2011 draws to a close, we hope the holidays bring you lots of reasons to smile and that health, happiness and good times greet you each day of the new year.

Sincerely,

Leslie MacLaren Co-President, VP Academic
Bernie MacDonald Co-President, VP Administration

Holiday Hours

Continuing Education will be closed from noon, December 23 until January 3. Wishing you the very best for the holidays and the new year!

The Financial Services office will close at noon on Friday December 23, 2011 and reopen for regular hours beginning Tuesday January 3, 2012 at 8am.

The Library will be open as follows from December 13, 2011 – January 3, 2012. December 13-15 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. December 16 8:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. December 17-18 CLOSED December 19-22 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. December 23 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. December 24 – January 2 CLOSED January 3 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Christmas Greetings from the Registry Office. Registry will close at noon on December 23rd and reopen at 8:30 am on January 3rd.

Chartwells will be closed for maintenance work beginning Tuesday, December 20th and will be re-opening for regular business on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012. Cox’s Cupboard will be re-opening on Wednesday, January 4th and Haley Snack Bar on Monday, January 9th, 2012.

The NSAC Mailroom will close again this year during the  holiday period for the following three days - December 28, 29 and 30th.Please plan any significant mailing around this closure.

The NSAC Print Centre will be closed Friday, December 23 at noon, reopening on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

The Development and External Relations office will be closed Friday, December 23 at noon, reopening on Tuesday, January 3, 2012

AgriTECH Park Inc. will be closed on the 28th, 29th & 30th of December and re-opening on Jan. 3rd at 8:00 am.

Langille Athletic Centre Holiday Hours
Courts 1 and 2 (main gym) are closed Dec 19 - 27 inclusive.
The facility will be closing :
Dec 20 and 21 (due to air quality issues with fumes created with the floor re-finishing)
Dec 24, 25, 26 3 pm Dec 31st and Jan 1

The Bookstore will be closed Dec 23rd at noon reopening on January 3rd.

HR will closed at noon on December 23, 2011 and reopen at 8:30 a.m. on January 3, 2012.

The Enrollment Management Office will close Thursday, December 22, re-opening on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

Plant and Animal Sciences Holiday Office Hours
Haley Office - Closed at noon on December 23; reopening January 3
Cox Office - Closed at noon on December 23; reopening January 3

The Residence Office will be closing at noon on December 23 and will re-open on January 3rd.

Regular Hours will apply for the remainder of the Christmas Break period.

Lunch Time Fitness at the Langille Athletic Centre

January 9 - March 2, 2012
Boot Camp Mondays
Boot Camp Wednesdays
Fun Fitness Fridays (Fun Fitness Fridays will be a great mix of Zumba, Zumba Fusion and Body Max)

Cost
$168.00 for a 24 day punch card
$128.00 for a 16 day punch card
$10 Drop in rate
(Rates apply to those working on NSAC Campus and/or LAC Gym Members)

Please Register with Ashley at the Langille Athletic Centre by Wednesday December 28th. Minimum Numbers Required

The Louis D. Hyndman Sr. Award

Michelle Jendral was the recent recipient of The Louis D. Hyndman Sr. Award. This award is presented by the office of the Vice President, Research, University of Alberta, in recognition of significant contributions to improving the welfare of animals used in research, teaching and testing at the University.

The award is given to individuals who have introduced improvements in the welfare of animals in their care or have effectively reduced or replaced the use of animals in their work. In recognizing this achievement, the following statement was issued by the office of the Vice President Research:

“As a graduate student at the U of A, Dr. Jendral played a key role in establishing poultry welfare research. For example, the University of Alberta's Poultry Research Centre’s new caging system came about as a result of her untiring concern for hen welfare. Her work as a PhD student at U of A both increased the emphasis on the welfare of laying hen flocks and opened new possibilities for laying hen research.”

Dr. Lorne Babiuk, OC, SOM, PhD, DSc, FRSC
Vice-President (Research), University of Alberta

NSAC Career Fair January 12th 2012

As planning for our Career Fair 2012 is underway, we have been receiving registrations regularly from a variety of exhibitors. At this time, we have approximately 40 exhibitors registered!

As a reminder, I am looking for new contacts and am relying on our students and departments to forward requests. I have already spoken to some faculty and students and have made contact with those possible exhibitors.

The link to our Career Fair is now on the main page of our website if you are planning on forwarding information to potential exhibitors.

All the best!
Monica

Condolences

The NSAC community extends Condolences to Maxine MacLean and her family on the passing of her grandfather on the weekend. Robert Thompson "Bob" MacLean was a 1954 NSAC grad. Maxine displays daily his love for sports, his commitment to volunteering and his enthusiasm for NSAC.

NSAC Teaching Technician Awards - a call for nominations!

Nominations are now open for the NSAC Teaching Technician awards. Please nominate an NSAC teaching technician who has positively impacted your education or who you feel is deserving of this special recognition because of how they demonstrate dedication to their teaching day to day. Students, faculty and staff can nominate a deserving teaching technician. The final deadline for nominations is Friday January 13 2012 by 4:30pm. Please contact Lori Parsons at lparsons@nsac.ca, the secretary for instructional development committee, 893-6648 for more information on the award or the nomination process.

 

Addition to Out of Country Travel forms

Effective immediately, NSAC employees are to obtain permission from our Deputy Minister, Paul LaFleche if they plan to take electronic devises, including their blackberry, out of country. To facilitate this, we have amended the current Out of Country Travel request forms accordingly. Any out of country travel requests currently in the queue will go forward as usual; however, as of today, please use the new form.

All employees transporting electronic devices (computers, PDAs, USB drives etc) containing personal information out of Canada are subject to the NSAC Policy for the Protection of Personal Information from Access Outside Canada http://nsac.ca/admin/policies/international_info_access.pdf

Coursepack / Lab Manual Production Workshop: Creating Copyright Compliant Coursepacks!

Do you create a coursepack for your class that contains photocopies of articles or book chapters? Do you create a lab manual that contains images from books or a website?
If so, then you want to come to our workshop where you will learn how to create copyright compliant coursepacks and lab manuals. In this 90 minute session, you will learn:

• Where to find copyright information on NSAC’s website,
• About the Access Copyright Interim Tariff and NSAC’s copyright reporting requirements,
• The Coursepack process - where to send it for copyright approval, printing and more!
• How to properly acknowledge or cite photocopied material in your coursepack or lab manual according to our Access Copyright license,
• The types of materials that can be included in a coursepack or lab manual – because not everything is permitted!

Date and Time: December 20th, 2011 from 2-3:30pm (90 minutes)
Location: Writing Centre Corner - MacRae Library

Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP to Elaine MacInnis (emacinnis@nsac.ca or 893-6670) or Erin MacPherson (emacpherson@nsac.ca or 893-3296) no later than December 18th, 2011.

New Copyright Website

Check out the new NSAC Copyright Website for information on photocopying on campus, coursepack and lab manual production and regulations for showing films on campus and much more! The website can be accessed in various locations on the NSAC website directly: http://nsac.ca/copyright/

Longest Night of the Year - Candlelight Vigil