Nova Scotia's Education Advantage

Recently I sat at dinner beside a gentleman who told me he had attended the Mount’s Convocation for the first time this May. When I asked him why, he told me that he and his wife have a housekeeper who for many years has been working part-time in the evenings to complete her degree. She’s the first in her family to attend university, and they were there to celebrate her success. This story offered a powerful reminder of the dedication and hard work that goes into earning a university degree, and the pride our graduates – and their supporters – take in their accomplishments.

Nova Scotia is home to ten excellent universities, each boasting thousands of similar success stories every year. As the Mount graduates talented students in fields such as communications, modern languages, applied nutrition, family studies, public policy, economics and more, so too do our counterparts in their areas of focus. These efforts arm our province with a highly educated, highly skilled, competitive workforce and each graduate is a testament to the role we play in elevating our region as a whole. But our contributions extend far beyond annual convocations.

Our new international students visit Peggy's Cove

According to a 2013 report by the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents, our province’s universities produce a combined economic output of $2 billion, $220 million in tax revenues, $840 million in annual export revenues, and over 8,000 jobs. Our strategic value for the province is substantial. We can attract international immigrants, we can contribute research and innovation to all sectors, and we can ready our younger students to stay and work right here – all this with the second lowest provincial funding per student in the country.

As a major port city in Eastern Canada, Halifax is at a crossroads. The Nova Scotia government, in partnership with the federal government, appreciates the value of internationalization and has made it a priority to increase immigration in the province, particularly Canadian-trained international graduates. Our universities have a key role to play in this process.

Organizations such as EduNova are working hard to grow the number of international students in Nova Scotia’s universities, colleges, and schools. In 2012-13, over 6,000 international students (13.8 % of the total student body) chose to study in Nova Scotia’s universities. These students generate over $230 million for Nova Scotia’s economy, and hundreds of jobs right across the province. Many of these students choose to stay in Nova Scotia after graduation, bringing valuable international skills and experiences, global networks, and new perspectives to our communities.

Meng Zhao, BPR '10

Currently, the Mount’s student body of just over 4,000 includes 590 international students from over 50 countries. Apart from the strong economic case for international education, these students greatly enrich our campus, many becoming leaders in both academics and community service. PR graduate and Dakai Magazine founder Meng Zhao sets a strong example as she builds ties between the local community and Chinese culture. It’s clear that the ongoing accomplishments of our international students will only continue to enhance our region.

As we welcome students from across the country and around the world for another year, let’s remember the importance of what we do and why we do it here in Nova Scotia. Our work as universities has tremendous benefits on an individual basis as seen by our students, their classmates, and their employers, and on a broader scale as seen through our contributions and innovations across all sectors. Just as our province offers a strong environment for post-secondary education, we in turn continue to strengthen Nova Scotia’s global appeal.

Welcome

September at the Mount is one of my favourite months, as we greet new students, welcome returning students and begin a new academic year with our faculty and staff colleagues.

This year the Mount celebrates its 140^th anniversary, marking a distinguished history of fostering academic excellence, community building and social justice.  Our new Strategic Plan, Mount 2017: Making a Difference, will guide us in shaping an equally distinguished future for our University, and I invite you to play a role in this important work.

The construction of the Margaret Norrie McCain Centre of Teaching, Learning and Research, as you’ll have noticed, is making big changes on our campus.  While some of these changes – new routes to travel across campus or different parking spots to be found – may try our patience from time to time, we’ll see the rewards when the building is complete.  The first academic building constructed at the Mount in over 40 years, the McCain Centre will not only provide long-awaited space for key programs and departments, but, in keeping with our mission, it will also honour and tell the stories of women throughout.

I had the opportunity to tour the construction site this summer and was delighted with the progress I saw; we’re on target toward our goal of opening in December of next year.  I invite you to keep updated on the building by visiting the construction website.

This past weekend I attended orientation events for new students and was struck once again by the diversity of those who come to study at the Mount – some joining us from high school, others coming to our community as mature adults, and many arriving from around the world.  I’m excited about the year ahead as we welcome these students and strive to meet and exceed their expectations. 

At our annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning held last week, we focused on the topic of diversity.  In addition to excellent sessions led by members of our faculty, we heard a panel of students speak about their academic experience.  They were honest in telling us not only what has worked for them in their Mount education, but where we can make changes that will improve their learning.  A number of faculty and staff in attendance spoke to me of their desire to keep hearing these student voices, and we’ll seek opportunities to continue the conversation throughout the year.

My colleague Elizabeth Church, VP Academic, delivered closing remarks at the workshop, drawing a parallel between foreign travel and university.  She challenged us, faculty and staff, to be guides to our students, who are travellers in strange and unfamiliar territory—to help them remain open to others and able to learn from their experiences.  We can all benefit by thinking of ourselves as travellers in our own university, with much to learn and gain from our time together.

Enjoy your fall term and I look forward to travelling the road with you.

Ramona 

Dr. E. Margaret Fulton's Lasting Legacy

Another Convocation season has come and gone – a bittersweet time of year for us at the Mount.

Everything we do is for our students and while we proudly celebrate as they cross the stage, we must also say goodbye as they set out to make their own mark on the world.  I invite our 620 new Mount graduates to join me in celebrating the mentors, teachers, and peers who have helped prepare them for what’s to come.

Last month, we had the privilege of sharing our Spring Convocation with a number of outstanding women. Poet Lorna Crozier, sociologist Arlie Hochschild, and soprano Suzie LeBlanc (pictured left) received honorary doctorate degrees and offered graduates compelling insights on compassion, ambition, risk-taking and strength. Dr. LeBlanc, reflecting on the Mount’s founding by the Sisters of Charity, noted that “finding your strength, finding ways to make something happen that you really believe in, is the way this university was begun.”

I hope our graduates take these words to heart as they consider not only how the Mount came to be, but how it has remained true to the Sisters’ original intent over the past 140 years. For an example of how our history has been shaped by strength, creativity, and belief, we need look no further than former Mount President E. Margaret Fulton.

While she wasn’t able to join us in person, I am delighted that Dr. Fulton was recognized at our Spring Convocation in her new role as President Emerita, in tribute to her outstanding contributions as the leader of this institution from 1978 to 1986, and as a trusted friend ever since.

Dr. Fulton broke new ground from day one at the Mount, serving as our first President who was not a Sister of a religious order, as well as the only woman President of a Canadian university at that time. In a 1999 interview she recalled how shared priorities with the institution turned an unconventional pairing into the perfect fit:

“The goals and the statement fitted perfectly where I was at that time: my commitment to the changes in the women’s movement, and the development of a feminist perspective, and a desire to provide more opportunities for women to get an advanced education.”

It was her passion for women’s education that drove Dr. Fulton to usher in an era of great innovation at our university. While she’s quick to credit her success to others, it was under her leadership that the Mount made education more accessible by becoming the first university in Atlantic Canada to offer televised courses. Further, it was through her work with our dear Ruth Goldbloom that the Mount’s first major capital campaign raised $3.5 million to fund the Rosaria Student Centre, the creation of the first Chair of Women’s Studies in Canada, and the first Co-operative Education program in the Maritimes.

And just this year, it was a gift from Dr. Fulton that pushed Project TWENTY12 past the $12 million mark, proving that even at age 90, she hasn’t quite finished shaping the future of the Mount for generations of students yet to come.

In my conversations with Dr. Fulton, what always strikes me is the wonderful curiosity and excitement she continues to feel about everything to do with the Mount. She believes in us, she still expects a lot from us, and it is our ongoing privilege to continue building upon her remarkable legacy.

Congratulations, Margaret, and thank you.

Small and Successful

In conversations about the Mount, people often mention our size. That’s quite natural when you consider, in a world of mega-universities, our overall enrolment of 4,000 students and our average class size of 24.

Size alone isn’t what’s important, however, but rather the advantages we can derive from being small. Our typical class size means our professors really do know their students on a first-name basis. It’s our size that allows us to form close personal and professional connections with one another, creating a highly engaged learning community—a key component in the success of our students, staff, and faculty.

Take Dr. Peter Mombourquette, for example, who is one of many Mount faculty members who extend the student experience beyond the classroom.  Peter is the Chair of our Department of Business and Tourism, and he’s a passionate champion for social entrepreneurship. Over the past two years, he has enriched the learning experience of students with extracurricular opportunities by showcasing how to solve complex problems with a balance of empathy and innovation. Starting small with food drives and blanket collections, his initiative quickly evolved into an annual two-day conference, Social Entrepreneurship for a Day (SE4D), where students collaborate with mentors to find creative solutions that address critical social needs.

SE4D developed organically, but it was far from accidental. The Mount’s environment of close-knit relationships, rich learning experiences, strong mentorship, and commitment to service saw one person’s passion become a signature feature of our student experience.  And the 150 participants in this year’s SE4D are proof that our students eagerly seek out these opportunities to contribute to the broader community.

My colleague Dr. Robert Campbell, President of Mount Allison University and current Chair of the Association of Atlantic Universities, recently noted the importance of universities to our region. He wrote in The Globe and Mail that universities in Atlantic Canada are key economic drivers, stimulating growth and creating thousands of jobs.  The primary role of universities, of course, is to stay true to our core mission—the education of our students. But education goes hand in hand with social and economic prosperity; the two are not mutually exclusive. We need to ensure that our students graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed fully as human beings, and in turn their individual contributions after graduation will showcase the value of our time together. Our small size is a great asset in this undertaking.

At the Mount, our commitment to students is interwoven with the value we place on strong communities. We make sure that each of our students feels valued and engaged, and that each has the opportunity to experience a sense of belonging. In return, our students graduate ready to shape the world around them. Far from just a reflection of our size, I consider this outcome to be the hallmark of a Mount education.

Creating Momentum in Aboriginal Education

Consider this: more than one-third of Aboriginal people of high school age or older have not completed high school, and only eight per cent of Canadian Aboriginal people between the ages of 25 and 64 have a university degree.

It’s easy to see why Aboriginal education should be a policy priority for all levels of government in Canada. Education, particularly at the college or university level, is critical to helping all of us achieve our goals, support our families, and compete in a quickly changing job market. Historically, few First Nations students have had the tools or support to succeed in post-secondary education. Fortunately, in the past few years, there are indications that this tide is shifting.

Recognizing the challenge and the importance of providing support and access to education for Aboriginal Canadians, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has made Aboriginal education one of its priority policy items and has been lobbying the federal government to increase funding for Aboriginal students. The AUCC has also launched a number of dynamic online tools to create awareness and understanding of the success many young First Nations students have achieved at the university level. Among these tools is a summary of opportunities in education across Canada for Aboriginal students. AUCC has also produced a compilation of resources for Aboriginal students, including a list of bursaries, indigenous services, transition programs, and elder visits across the country.

Jenna Marr, a first-year Mi’kmaq student from Indian Brook, is featured prominently as a success story in the AUCC database. Jenna, one of the Mount’s student ambassadors, is currently studying in our Public Relations program, and has helped our recruitment team reach out to prospective students through campus tours, special on-campus events, and school visits. We’re proud of Jenna’s contributions and her work as a role model for other Mi’kmaq youth.

At the Mount, we’ve introduced a number of initiatives to better support and encourage Mi’kmaq and other Aboriginal students. Our Aboriginal Advisory Committee has been instrumental in giving insights to the university’s leadership team on how we can do a better job of building a community where Aboriginal students are able to achieve their goals. We also recently welcomed Art Stevens as the Mount’s new Coordinator of Aboriginal Services to develop programming and resources to support our First Nations students.

Most recently, on February 28, I was delighted to join staff, students, and special guests from the community for the opening of the Mount’s Aboriginal Student Centre. The Centre was established as a community hub where students can meet, chat, and have access to a resident counselor. Dr. Don Julien, Executive Director of the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and member of our Aboriginal Advisory Committee, led us in prayer as part of the day’s ceremonies. We’re grateful for his leadership and for the support, wisdom and guidance of all members of our Advisory Committee.

Securing access to education affects all of us, whether at the campus, community, or national level. It’s vital—to our communities, our country, but most importantly, to young Aboriginal students from across the country—to ensure we are providing the tools for Aboriginal students to realize their dreams.

Until next time,

Ramona

Celebrating Girls and Women

As we approach International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8, it’s important to reflect on the issues facing women and girls in our communities and around the world. In 2013, there are still some who might question the importance of paying tribute to women through a global event such as IWD.

In a remarkably short period of time, six Canadian provinces and territories, representing over 85 per cent of the Canadian population, are now governed by women premiers. Globally, there are more female heads of state than at any time in history. In university classrooms across Canada, young women now make up the majority of undergraduate students and have pulled ahead in gaining admission to professional programs such as medicine and law.

But such advances mask a larger climate of gender inequality. Women still remain woefully underrepresented in corporate boardrooms and in parliaments across Canada and the globe. Violence against girls and women in the home, in the workplace, and in communities, remains unacceptably high.

The lives of many murdered and missing Aboriginal women from across Canada in the last few decades have been largely ignored by mainstream media. Young girls and women are still entering academic programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at levels far below their numbers in others. In the media, in schools, and in the broader culture, young women and girls remain inundated with contradictory messages about their value and about what it means to be a woman in 2013.

Globally, the situation remains concerning. While Saudi Arabia only recently welcomed women to its governing Shura Council, women in that country are still banned from driving and are forbidden from holding high political office. Recently, a vicious assault on a Delhi city bus drew condemnation from around the world and shone a light on the often brutal realities for women in contemporary India. These are just two alarming examples of the perceived value of girls and women in some societies.

Addressing the difficulties faced by women and girls is a collective responsibility. At the Mount, we are grateful for the historical example of the Sisters of Charity and of our many faculty, staff, students and alumnae who continue to work for the betterment of girls and young women in our communities and around the world. We are also eager to see what’s in store at this year’s Girls’ Conference, an annual event which seeks to create a sense of community while addressing tangible solutions to challenges facing girls and women.

We are inspired by faculty like Dr. Tamara Franz-Odendaal, NSERC Atlantic Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, who connects girls across the Atlantic provinces with mentors and positive role models in the science and engineering fields. We give thanks for the many pioneers who have paved the way for new generations – women like the late Dr. Daurene Lewis, a trailblazer in the African Nova Scotian community, whose work at the Mount’s Centre for Women in Business equipped many female entrepreneurs with the skills and networks they needed to thrive.

Finally, we look forward to the future, and to breaking ground on the new Margaret Norrie McCain Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Research. The McCain Centre is the first university academic building in Canada dedicated entirely to honouring women. It will house many of the Mount’s signature programs, including our recently renamed Alexa McDonough Institute for Women, Gender and Social Justice. It will also feature the Riva Spatz Women’s Wall of Honour, a unique tribute to women from all walks of life – our mothers and daughters, our sisters and friends.

This March 8, International Women’s Day, please join me in celebrating and honouring the diverse experiences of women and girls.

Until next time,

Ramona

The Spirit of Giving Back: Caritas Day



A photo taken during the fire of '51

At the Mount, we’re justifiably proud of our commitment to making a difference in our communities. We were founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1873 to educate and provide opportunities to girls and young women, opportunities that were few and far between at the time.

Caritas Day springs from the same spirit of service. After a devastating fire in 1951, the Sisters of Charity, overwhelmed by the generosity that helped get the university back on its feet, instituted a day each year that would allow students to “give back” to the wider community.

Bachelor of Public Relations student,
Allison Sparling

Mount students, staff, and faculty are active in communities locally, nationally, and around the world. One of our current students, Allison Sparling, has helped organize opportunities for women to become more involved in political life through her collaborative Walk with Her campaign.

Meng Zhao, who came to the Mount from China and has since gone on to become an active member of the Halifax community, is about to launch the first Chinese-language magazine in the Maritimes.

And Joan Ntebohelen (Kolane), a Mount alumna now living in Pretoria, South Africa, was inspired by the values of hard work and service she learned at the Mount and is now the United Nations Chief of Nutrition and Food Security in Ethiopia.

Our communities far and wide continue to need our help. A report from Feed Nova Scotia states that in March 2012 alone, over 23,500 Nova Scotians were assisted by their local food bank. This is a nearly 40 per cent increase from only four years earlier.



Shown above: Donations
from the Caritas Day 2013
food drive.

 Across Canada, nearly 3.2 million people live in poverty. More than a third of those in our country who receive assistance from food banks are young people or children. According to the United Nations, nearly 1 in 8 people around the world goes hungry each day.

Clearly, much work needs to be done. But there are signs of hope. According to statistics provided by the Government of Nova Scotia, 453,000 Nova Scotians give back to their communities through acts of volunteering.

Perhaps most encouraging, nearly 65% of young people in our province volunteer. Organizations like Feed Nova Scotia, among countless others, continue their good work helping the most vulnerable among us.

We each of us have the chance to make a difference.  Caritas Day is an opportunity for all of us to commit ourselves to the service of others through acts of generosity, however large or small – on campus, within our home communities, and around the world.

Until next time,

Ramona

More stories:

• Caritas Day: A Day to Celebrate Community
• Giving Back: Sharing the Mount with the World 
• Sisters of Charity Embody the Spirit of Giving