First Senate Environment Award presented

	The keepsake award features a design of a windblown pine tree etched into a Bay of Fundy stone.ÊÊÊ Shown (left to right) are: Tarah Wright, Senate Environment Committee; Shannon Bard and Ray Cote, accepting on behalf of the Symposium Organizing Committee; and Steve Fry, Senate Environment Committee.Ê

The inaugural Senate Environment Award was presented recently.

The Organizing Committee for the university's first annual Environmental Research Symposium won top honours for organizing a day-long symposium last fall. Two hundred people attended the Nov. 9 events at the Tupper Link on Carleton campus, including a public lecture, unveilings of the entries of a poster competition and a concluding reception. Fifty posters, submitted by students and faculty from Dalhousie and other institutions, dealt with topics as diverse as biology, earth sciences and chemistry. Alanna Mitchell, award-winning Globe and Mail senior features writer, gave the keynote address.Ê

Graham Gagnon, Civil Engineering Professor and a member of the organizing committee, said that the day was "... a huge success. Our main goal was to showcase ongoing research and to ensure that researchers and students from all three campuses meet each other and find out what others are doing in other parts of the university. We were very pleased at the high turnout from all three campuses, but the thing that I'm proudest of was that this was a grassroots initiative, enabled by researchers and supported by faculties and senior administration." Professor Gagnon says organizers are already planning another symposium for the fall.Ê

Researchers from most faculties participated. Several units, including the Faculties of Engineering and Science and the Office of the Vice-President of Research, contributed small seed funding for the day's events. ÊÊÊÊÊ

According to Dr. Tarah Wright, the Environmental Research Symposium's wide scope made it the winning candidate. "A strong preference was given to projects or activities which were successfully executed on campus and where possible, involved multidisciplinary co-operation and collaboration on campus," said Dr. Wright. "While all nominees were excellent, the ultimate award winner was the one that showed they were taking a multidisciplinary approach and trying to involve as many people at Dalhousie as possible. That was the ultimate tipping point."

Dr. Wright said the award was created with a positive goal in mind. "We wanted to give some incentive for people doing positive environmental work on campus to get rewarded for it."

The award had two parts. First, a plaque inscribed with each year's winners will be on display permanently. Each year's winner will receive an attractive, unique keepsake. This year's keepsake, fashioned by a Nova Scotia craftsman, featured a design of a windblown pine tree etched into Bay of Fundy stone.ÊÊÊ

A call for nominations for the 2005 Senate Environment Award will be announced in late summer or early fall. Nominations should be forwarded by Oct. 31, 2005.Ê

The 2004 Senate Environment Award was presented by committee chair Tarah Wright at the March 14 meeting of Dalhousie Senate. Profs. Shannon Bard and Ray Cote accepted the award on behalf of the organizing committee.Ê

For more information on the Senate Environmental Award, contact Dr. Tarah Wright, Director, Environmental Programmes.