Meeting Report

This year’s meeting had the highest number of registrants (33 chairs & heads) of any annual CCUBC meeting. It was hosted in the lovely Lord Elgin Hotel, just steps away from Canada’s parliament buildings. The program consisted of several interactive sessions, as well as formal presentations from guests of the CCUBC.

The meeting started with a mixer at the Lord Elgin on Thursday evening including local beer, wine and spirits, and lots of lively conversation among chair and heads who they had not seen in a year as well as several new participants to the meeting. This was one of the years where we got the amount of food correct!

Next, the chairs and heads headed off on a brisk walk to the Canadian Museum of Natural History for a tour and a chance to dip our fingers in the touch tanks filled with sea stars, sea cucumbers, and anemones.

That evening the banquet with was held in the Lord Elgin. During our dessert, the awards were presented to Vanessa Shivnauth (Undergraduate Paper Award, Wilfred Laurier University) and Maria Laura Sosa Ponce (Graduate Paper Award, University of Calgary). In addition, Dalal Hanna (Carleton University) received the Science Promotion Prize and gave an inspiring talk on her work promoting science in Canada and around the world. Lastly, the Career Achievement Award was presented to Professor Turlough Finan (McMaster University) and he spoke eloquently about his contributions to science and the amazing graduate students and researchers that worked with him throughout his career.

Day 2 started with a hearty breakfast buffet followed by a presentation by Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA) on the CCUBUC Biology Department National Survey report with a great discussion on engagement in faculty across Canada.

Following coffee, small groups discussed the practices of hiring research and teaching faculty and some of the challenges that are now arising with budget constraints in universities.  This was followed by graduate students from University of Manitoba, Devon Bath and Mohamed Naim Ben Younes, presenting on their app, GradFinder, a “social media like” app to link faculty with potential graduate students around the world in a quick and efficient manner.

Following lunch we had our business meeting, where a new award, CCUBC-oCUBE Emerging Educational Leader (EEL) Award was approved replacing the Career Achievement Award. We also unanimously agreed that the new website needed to be translated in French as soon as possible. We discussed how to continue this excellent momentum with a record turnout in attendance and that next year’s meeting could be in Montréal – an easily accessible location with mostly one flight for many (but not all).  Our last order of business was to elect a new incoming Vice-President -  Gary Anderson (University of Manitoba), Treasurer -  Christian Lacroix (University of Prince Edward Island) and new members at large, Gregor Fussmann (McGill University), Jeffrey Richards (University of British Columbia), and Diane Hamilton (Mount Allison University). The secretariat report was shared (to view the full meeting package, click here).