Development and External Relations Update

The Development and External Relations office UPDATE is a monthly summary of activities in the section and is published for your general information. If you have questions, please contact Jim Goit or call at (902) 893-7950

• AgriTECH Park
  • Prepared job descriptions and interviewed for 2 key positions related to the Atlantic Bioventure Centre Micro-Factory initiative (i.e. Process Operator and Quality Control Assistant); the modular micro-factory unit will be delivered to AgriTECH Park in early February and will begin the process of bio-active extractions from blueberry and cranberry pomace.
  • Attended an alternative energy meeting with town of Berwick representatives to present a backgrounder on Atlantic BioVenture Centre and potential partnering concept for capturing methane gas and by-products through bio-digester technology.
  • Met with Alan Johnston, CoRDA Marketing Manager, to give background on the Park and tour some of the facilities on-site.
  • Completed a draft of an AgriTECH Park discussion paper and presented to J. Goit/B. MacDonald for review; the paper will then be forwarded to Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
  • Attended “Ag Day in Canada” sponsored by Farm Credit Canada
• External Relations
  • Jim worked with Bernie MacDonald on a temporary solution for continued services in the Print Centre.  After meeting with vendors and calls for quotes a 6 month arrangement was made with Xerox for continuity and upgrades to the current service.  Sarah and others began efforts to make the service work better for campus.
  • Jim and Bernie met with RBC Executives to talk about banking services after the change in Governance
  • Renovations to the President’s Boardroom were completed during the month.  New multimedia system was installed, reframed pictures put up. It will look much more professional.
  • Jim and other management class people worked on a complete rewrite of their position descriptions during the month as part of government wide review project of all MCP and AS positions.  This project came on short notice but is long overdue.
  • Given public concern about the use of the 15 passenger mini vans to transport students, management of NSAC decided to pull our fleet off the road. Jim worked with the group on the new interim van policy
  • Jim met with Art Pick on the Hall of Fame and potential links with the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.
  • Jim, Jo and Sarah attending a session on purchasing from Inter University Services. We will be using this organization more once Governance change is complete.
  • Jim attended the NSIA Meet the Grads Night at Glengarry. This event is a good opportunity to begin to build relationships with the new grads as they become alumni.
  • Jim had a meeting with David Fullerton and Alan Johnson of CORDA about potential partnerships with NSAC.  It was agreed we might do some joint promotion on business attraction to the region.
  • AASCW executive held their last meeting and signed off on the final report.  While the conference was a huge success it is big drain on resources and NSAC needs to constantly remind itself of the purpose.
  • Rob Gordon, Sarah Morris and Jim met to discuss potentials for Institutional Awards this spring. Several were identified.
  • There were several OH&S issues this month that consumed staff time. One was in regard to a Department of Labour order and the other a JOHSC incident investigation.
• Marketing
  • The decision was delivered that the International Business degree program was going ahead and meetings were held to begin marketing efforts. Sarah and Jim met together and with others during the month to decide on tactics to help recruitment of students.
  • Rob Gordon and Jim met with Bob Scott of Progress Magazine on potential promotional articles for that magazine.
  • Began work on market potential survey for new specialization/major/program in bio-products
  • Completed design of University Day and Scolarship and Awards direct mail pieces for prospective students
  • Began work on long-term signage strategy for NSAC
  • Began redesign and rewrite of M.Sc brochure
• Communications and Alumni
  • Becky Ackerman started as our new PR marketing and PR Co-op student and was immediately thrown into work of the office.
  • Stephanie went on maternity leave at the end of December and had her baby in January.
  • Agricola News was completed and sent to the printer.  Becky was instrumental in completing this major task.  .
  • Jim worked on a prepared backgrounder for the AIF funding announcement for ACOA.  Vasantha’s project will bring in over #2M to campus.
  • Jim and Sarah conducted interviews for Stephanie’s position.  A candidate was selected, recommendations made and hiring completed.  Terry Murray-Arnold will be with us for the next year.
  • The final steps were completed to make changes to Alumni Bank account. The new board is now officially in control.
• 98 Found/changed alumni records this month
• Development and Fund Raising
  • Jim made several calls to donors on recent gifts to NSAC and worked with Joanne on cleaning up outstanding pledges to various campaigns.  The last of the second century endowment campaign pledges were dealt with.
  • Jim worked with Brian Crouse and completed the development of the terms of reference for several scholarships. Joanne and Sandra joined them in going over the list of all scholarships to make changes where necessary

• Website
  • Potato Molecular Biolgy and Genomics website was retemplated.
  • Potato Consumer Research Initiative website was retemplated.
  • Mike and Sarah met with Bristol do discuss changed to the askvic.ca website as well as the "re-skin" of the NSAC web templates.
  • A new webpresence was completed for the new International Food program. http://nsac.ca/internationalbusiness
  • Funds database continues to be improved with suggestions from the end user.
  • Various tweaks to menuing and department webpages continues throughout the month.
  • We purchased new software to help with development of online eBrochures which will allow us to post our viewbooks, program brochures, etc, in an online format.