1994-03-10. MUN Gazette, vol. 26, no. 14

              Gazette
Federal budget offers
mixed bag for universities
Memorial
University of Newfoundland
Volume 26 Number 14
March. 10, 1994
There was an upside and a
downside for Canadian universities in the recent federal
budget. The upside was that support for the major research granting councils, which annually pour
about $10 million into Memorial,
! will remain the same this year and
increase next year. In fact, the
budget confirms campaign promises made by the Liberals by
pledging $100 million this year in
new money for research and development, with future increases
set at $200 million for next year
and $300 million in 1996-97.
Among other initiatives, the
budget also calls for the creation
of an Engineering and Scientists
Program to assist small firms secure staff with technological expertise, a move that has already
received favorable reaction from
the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. As well, there
will be increases to funding for
the space sector as part of a 10-
year Space Plan, although government has decided to withdraw
from current commitments to the
space station program.
The downside is related to government's plan to cap transfer payments to the provinces. Transfer
payments are used to cover a variety of expenses including education, health and social services,
and with costs increasing in all
these areas, a freeze could potentially affect university operating
budgets in the future.
The budget also calls for a review of assistance available under
the Canada Student Loan Program
as part of an overall process of
"social policy reform," however
there was no indication whether a
pledge made by the previous government to increase weekly loan
limits would be honored.
In other areas support for international initiatives was also decreased for this year and will be
frozen next year, and defense
spending for research and development will decrease.
Lecture series to be launched
The Office of the Vice-President (Research) is launching
a Distinguished Lecturer Series
this month, beginning March 29
with a talk by Dr. George Story,
Henrietta Harvey professor of
English at Memorial.
Dr. Kevin Keough, vice-president (research) told the Gazette
his office aims to organize at
least one lecture per semester in
this new series, to highlight the
work being done by distinguished scholars inside and outside Memorial University.
"What I hope to accomplish
is to have lectures given by our
own prominent researchers and
by prominent people from outside Memorial to enhance the
profile of research and scholarship across the spectrum of disciplines. By profiling the work
carried out by our own people
and inviting others to discuss
their work, we hope to encourage
new relationships and contacts
with the larger community. I
hope that the lecturers will not
only discuss their scholarly work
but will communicate something
of their personal views of research and how it has influenced
them and the broader community."
Dr. Story's lecture is entitled
Ralegh's History of the World
(1614) Revisited. "It's a rather
offbeat subject," the well-known
scholar said. "I've been interested in Sir Walter Ralegh's
work for a number of decades,
and the talk will be about me,
going back to look at it."
Dr. Story's talk will begin at 4
p.m. in Room A-3017 of the Arts
and Administration Building, but
those interested in attending —
and all are welcome — are encouraged to arrive at 3:30 p.m. in
time for refreshments.
Quality Initiatives at Memorial
Office of the Registrar plans to
improve admissions
By Pam Frampton
The first contact many students have with Memorial is
with the Office of the Registrar.
It is to this busy place, located
on the second floor of the Arts
and Administration Building,
that thousands of students flock
to apply for admission, pick up
drop and add forms, order copies
of transcripts, and innumerable
other services. It is therefore no
surprise that the registrar's office is quite familiar with Total
Quality Management (TQM)
theory — or the concept of quality initiatives, as it is known in
academic circles — which is basically, the idea that providing
service to the customer (in this
case, students) must be the number one priority.
Currently the Office of the
Registrar is working on a quality
initiatives pilot project which will
vastly improve its communication
with students. Right now the office depends on a computerized
student records system which,
though effective, does not facilitate the targeting of information to
specific sectors of the student
population. For example, if several high school students have indicated that they are interested in
studying science at Memorial, the
present records systems offers no
efficient way of assuring that
these potential students receive information about programs that
might interest them. With the new
student administration system to
be implemented in 1995, access to
demographic information will be
much easier to come by.
"We've been trying in the past
number of years to improve the
quality and appropriateness of the
materials we send out to students," said Joe Byrne, assistant
registrar, "and that means everything from letters of acceptance to
information on degree programs.
This new system will tremendously improve our ability to
communicate with students, track
on-line requests, and test new
See REGISTRAR, p. 2
A window on Grenfell
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, nestled in the trees that line University
Drive in Corner Brook, offers a great view from almost any window,
including this one from the Fine Arts Building. For a closer look at
Grenfell, this Gazette features an interview with chemistry professor
Patrick Monaghan (p. 8), plus a look at the STEPS program (p. 9),
which is enlivening school classrooms by arranging visits from
experts from the fields of science, engineering and technology.
Cashin reports on
the fishery crisis
chaired. He said he welcomed
the opportunity to speak to MI
students, staff and faculty about
the report and to explain why it
was so important.
"We wrote the report in an attempt that the people in Ottawa
and across the country would
come to understand just what's
at stake in our province," he
said. "Something very special
has to occur if we're going to
change what's going on."
Mr. Cashin's passion for helping fishermen was evident as he
told stories about catch failures
and the devastating effect on
many communities. It was from
See FISHERY, p. 3
By Nadine Barber
Marine Institute
Richard Cashin is not sure
which word to use any more
when he talks about the fishery
in Newfoundland. He uses the
word "crisis," he uses the word
"catastrophe," but no word
seems to fully describe the gravity of the situation faced by
those in the fishing industry in
the 1990s.
Mr. Cashin voiced this dilemma on Feb. 23 at a standing
room-only forum at the Marine
Institute (MI) where he presented a report outlining the recommendations of the Task Force
on Incomes and Adjustment in
the Atlantic Fishery, which he
Inside
Video explores first-year experience	
Inside the food pilot processing plant....
Business students on a winning streak!.
Engineering has something to celebrate,
New program pairs experts, students	
Remembering a familiar voice