Flashes

Student nurses to compete
Nursing students from across the country will converge on the Fredericton campus March 17 and 18 for the university’s 11th annual Monique Begin Nursing Advancement Competition.
Each contestant will deliver a paper on an issue of concern to the nursing profession.  They are judged on how well they examine the issue, pose creative solutions and demonstrate public-speaking abilities.
Based on the theme, High Tech High Touch:  Co-existing in Health Care, the competition will be held at the  Wu Conference Centre.
Winner of the in-house contest, who will be competing in the event, is Erin O’Mahony, a second-year BN student from the Saint John campus.
The competition, an initiative of the UNB nursing alumni, is named in honour of Monique Begin, the former federal minister of health who was instrumental in advancing the new Canada Health Act.

General Electric CEO to give IG lecture
Robert Gillespie, chairperson and CEO of General Electric Canada, will deliver the next lecture in UNB’s 1999-2000 Investors Group Distinguished Speakers Series.  Entitled The Global Transformation of GE, his talk will be held on Thursday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Royal Stewart Ballroom of the Fredericton Inn.
To reserve a seat for this free public lecture, contact the faculty of administration (F) at (506) 453-4869.

Provincial assessment topic of lecture
An official with the New Brunswick Department of Education will give the third lecture in the Colloquium on Research, Policy and Practice in Education on Wednesday, March 1.
Cary Grobe, director of the education department’s evaluation branch, will present An Overview of the Provincial Assessment Program:  Its Scope and Purpose.
His talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Marshall d’Avray Hall, Room 356.  All are welcome to the lecture and the reception which follows.
For additional information, call the faculty of education (F) at (506) 453-4600.

Science student goes to Antarctica
A master of science student in the biology department at UNB Saint John has left for Antarctica to conduct field work with 16 expeditioners from the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) of the Australian government’s Department of Environment.
Patrick Abgrall will be working in Mawson, on the coast of Antarctica south of India, for seven months.  Mawson is one of three year-round bases operated by the AAD.
A graduate student working with UNB marine biologist Jack Terhune, Mr. Abgrall will follow in his supervisor’s footsteps, recording the underwater vocalizations of Weddell seals.
His aim is to collect data that will help determine if the seals have dialects that could be used to identify reproductively isolated breeding groups.
The research builds on data previously collected at the other two Australian Antarctic bases by UNB Saint John scientists and students.

Shakespeare classic to be staged
After a hiatus of several years, UNB Saint John is getting back into big-production theatre.  Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will hit the boards of Saint John High School’s Minitheatre nightly at 8 from March 30 to April 1.
Interest in the production has been high, says English professor Robert Moore.  He produced a number of plays with relatively small casts over the past 10 years, but his hopes of staging a full-scale production were dim until a group of enthusiastic students formed the Falstaff Society for those interested in drama.
 A cast of 15 and a production crew of 12 are involved in the project.
For ticket information, contact the Community Relations Office on the Saint John campus at (506) 648-5698.

SPECIAL SPEAKER —  Robert Sternberg, professor of psychology and education at Yale University, was the invited speaker at UNBF’s Colloquium on the Philosophy of the University recently.  Dr. Sternberg’s lecture was based on the theory that creative people are like good investors — they buy low and sell high, but in the world of ideas.  The discussion provided an overview of the theory and how it can be applied in school and business settings to increase creative abilities.  With Dr. Sternberg are President Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, left, and Wendy Robbins, chair of the colloquium planning committee.  (Joy Cummings photo)

MEETING THE CHALLENGE, COLLECTING THE PRIZE — Alumnus Robert Deboo’s (BScF ’60) abiding interest in forestry education and keen interest in his alma mater were evident in a student contest he sponsored recently, titled Forestry in the 21st Century.  Mr. Deboo asked students to generate a meaningful definition of forestry in 50 words or less.  Top prizes included gift certificates and T-shirts from the Famous Ford Foresters. Inuit student Reginald Parsons, in front at right, who is in his first year of the master’s program, wrote the winning entry.  With Mr. Parsons are UNB’s planned giving officer, Frank Dunn, top right, who presented the prizes;  fifth-year student Jeff Higdon, top left, who took third place; and fourth-year student Troy Lifford, who took second place.  (Joy Cummings photo)