Student Affairs
Committee
Student
Affairs Committee Mandate
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"to
encourage the active participation of students in the
affairs of the Association and recommend appropriate
activities and pursue those approved by the board to
promote the development of aquaculture education."
(Bylaws, Article
7.01(i)).
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This new section is in place to route the user to information
on upcoming jobs and/or graduate studies in aquaculture and related
fields.
The next annual meeting for the AAC will take place at the
Westin Nova Scotian Hotel in Halifax, NS. The meeting will run from
May 6 to 9, 2001, and is themed "Moving forward
through partnerships." It will no doubt be as
successful, if not more, than this year's meeting in Moncton and those
of previous years!
There will be another silent auction at this
meeting to aid the AAC Student Endowment Fund, so start asking
professors, friends, institutions, and others for donations. It's
all for a good cause!
Post-Meeting Wrap-Up (AC2000
– Moncton, NB) (English / Français)
This year's annual meeting was a great success! With a total
of 28 student presentations (oral and poster), student representation
was very strong. Furthermore, the high quality of student presentations
was remarked by many people. Congratulations go out to the
winners of the student presentation winners: (oral) Nicole Brun
(Université de Moncton) for her presentation entitled "In the
electrophoretic profiles of gill mucus proteases of the Eastern
oyster Crassostrea virginica in response
to infection by the turbellarian Urastoma cyprinae"
and (poster) Michelle Atkins (UNB) for her presentation entitled
"Physical and hematological comparisons of exercised and underexercised
triploid and diploid book trout." Student presentations
this year were interspersed with other speakers according to
subject area, which was met with appreciation from students
asked.
This year at the annual meeting, there were also several
successful endeavours in aid of the Student Endowment Fund, which aids
student travel and prizes. There were more than 150 tickets sold
for the annual Student BBQ (U de M – l'Osmose). At this
event, there were ticket draws made for items, including a
meeting golf shirt, a meeting t-shirt, and the original meeting logo
print, bringing in over $555. As well, we held a silent auction
at the BBQ, offering a wide variety of many donated items including
scientific texts, clothing, artwork, and gift certificates from
local businesses, altogether raising more than $700. The following
sponsors are greatly appreciated:
Andrew Boghen, American Fisheries Society, John
Castell, CRC Press, Dooly's (Moncton), Elsevier Publications,
Marine Institute of Memorial University, Debbie
Martin-Robichaud, MexicaliRosa's (Moncton), Sage Publications, World
Aquaculture Society
And finally, John Gracey announced his intention to provide a
personal donation of $300 per year for the next 5 years to the Student
Endowment Fund. This all will help even more student attend the annual
meeting! Furthermore, a large amount of thanks are extended to
Erick Bataller (U de M) and the many students helping out this
year!
The Student Luncheon this year was held at the Pump House Brew
Pub in Moncton, and thanks are extended again this year to Bill
Robertson and Heritage Aquaculture, an annual sponsor of this event.
Student Questionnaire
We presently have an online
questionnaire for all students in the AAC. The results
from this will help improve student affairs in the AAC, with
input straight from the target. I encourage all students to
fill out the questionnaire... shouldn't take too long. This
will also allow us to compile a demographic of students in the
AAC for the future.
Membership
Presently underway is a membership drive for students in the
AAC. A poster and letter have mailed out to all aquaculture-related
educational institutions in order that student awareness of the AAC
and the benefits it provides can be spread. Our goal is to
increase student membership to over 200 members. It is
presently well below 100.
As well, the membership application/due structure of the AAC
has presently been updated. If your membership is up for renewal,
please make sure you are aware of the changes in place, which include
new publication options, as well as a slight increase in
publication costs for publications traditionally included with
membership dues.
Post-Meeting Wrap-up (AC'99
– Victoria, BC)
Membership
At the time of the 16th
Annual Meeting of the Association in Victoria, BC in October
1999, there were 53 student members in the AAC. At the annual
meeting of the Board of Directors in Victoria, a suggestion was
made to investigate incentives to boost student membership, a
policy present in some other organizations. These can include
reduced rates for future memberships, awards for highest number
of new members brought in by an existing member, etc. Results of
this and other ventures by the Committee will be regularly posted
on this web page.
Student membership on the AAC Board of
Directors was also discussed and it was decided that students be
encouraged to run for the Board. A call for nominations,
including students, has been placed in the Bulletin, and this
page also offers a general announcement for this.
Student Session
Also this year at the Annual Meeting in
Victoria, a new schedule was introduced, which included a separate
Student Session for presentation of student papers and student
posters, instead of the usual method of incorporating them among other
presentations with respect to topic. There was both positive and
negative feedback from this venture, mostly the former. The
latter seemed to concern the fact that concurrent to this Student
Session was a Vendors Technical Session. As a result, there were
complaints that students were not as exposed to industry as they would
have liked. And after all, it's all about jobs in the end, isn't
it? Attempts in future meetings will be made to ensure that such an
overlap does not occur.
Student Input
A separate informal meeting of students was
held during the Student Mixer at the Victoria meeting, in order
to allow students attending the meeting to discuss any issues of
concern with Student Affairs, and offer suggestions for
improvement. Some valuable comments and suggestions stemming from
this meeting include aforementioned comments on the Student Session,
and an AAC job listing and/or résumé bulletin board in order
for students to promote themselves to prospective industry
employers. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the Annual Meeting,
students are encouraged to contact one of the above Committee
members with their suggestions or comments on Student Affairs in
the Association.
Publications
With the subscription option of the three
national aquaculture trade publications to our membership, John
Gracey (Criterion Communications Group Inc.), publisher of
Shellfish World and the Aquaculture Gazette, is offering a
special discounted rate for students; both publications are available
together for a subscription rate of CDN$15. Contact the Association Office for more information.
Money
An attempt will be made to have an annual
sale at Annual Meetings to augment student award funds, which may
include donated used books, paraphernalia from host institutions,
and other suitable items.
I reiterate that if you have any suggestions concerning
Student Affairs in the Association, if you wish to nominate a
student for elections of the Board of Directors, if you yourself
would like to run, or help out in any way with this committee,
feel free to contact me (chris_hendry@hotmail.com)
or any other Committee member. We want to have as much student
participation as possible in the Association, as students are the
future for the industry.
- Chris Hendry
