President's Address

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT (26 May 1983 - UA RG 285, Box 1, File 4)

As Anne Murray said when she performed here in the Aitken Centre last November: 'I'm so glad you all came. Somehow, it isn't the same when you don't show up.'

Madam Chancellor, it is a pleasure to report briefly on the advancement of learning at the University of New Brunswick. that incorrigible coiner of infelicitous phrases, Yogi Berra, once said: 'You can do a lot of observing by just watching.' What I believe I have observed in the past three years at UNB is a university growing in competence, confidence, and reputation.

Enrolment in 1982-83 at both campuses stood at 7,000, an increase of almost 10% over 1981-82. At 7,000 UNB is large enough to be able to offer a wide range of academic programs and support services, yet small enough so that students can feel part of a community.

But of course it is not the size of a university, nor its age, that distinguishes it. True distinction can only be accomplished through the achievements of faculty and staff, students and graduates. Here too we feel satisfaction and pride. In national competitions for scholarships, fellowships, and awards, our students and faculty continue to excel. This year again, in the competition for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Scholarships, UNB's students have put their University first in the Atlantic region and among the top eight universities in Canada in terms of the number of postgraduate awards. Thirty-two of these postgraduate scholarships, each valued at $10,500 per year and renewable for several years, have been awarded to students who are receiving bachelors degrees today or tomorrow.

In this respect our students are following the example set by their professors. Researchers on our two campuses have been awarded more than $2.5 million dollars for 1983-84 by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council to carry on their investigation into a broad spectrum of research fields in science, engineering, forestry, mathematics, administration, and the more applied areas of social science. Our scholars in the humanities and social sciences, where research is not so expensive, have also attracted impressive support from their national granting agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. It is estimated that total research support from the SSHRC for 1983-84 to faculty and graduate students at UNB will total close to $250,000. Such sums are of interest and importance only inasmuch as they suggest the quality of the work whose progress they are intended to further.

Of particular interest this year is the $1,000,000 over three years that has been committed by the federal Department of the Environment and NSERC to our Faculty of Forestry. Coming as it does in the 75th anniversary year of the Faculty of Forestry at UNB, this promise of support brings withit opportunities for the enhancement of our programs of instruction and research in an area of crucial importance to the future prosperity of our province. How appropriate then that, at this Encaenia, UNB should, through the conferring of honorary degrees, recognize two outstanding forestry professionals: an exemplary forestry educator, Dr. Hank Blenis, and a distinguished forestry scientist and administrator, Dr. Ross Silversides.

Another of our faculties is also celebrating an anniversary this year. The Faculty of Nursing began in 1958, as the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Science, with a $250,000 eight-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. It was the first time that the Kellogg Foundation had supported an undergraduate program. It could hardly have chosen a better one to begin with. Twenty-five years later, UNB's Faculty of Nursing has, through its high entrance and promotion standards, through its commitment through to a solid arts and science education, through its intensive clinical requirements, through the example of its four founding faculty members - Katherine MacLaggan, Margaret McPhedran, Irene Leckie, and Rhyllys Cutler, and - above all - through the quality of tis 736 graduates, earned its reputation as one of the best nursing programs in Canada.

But, Madam Chancellor, I wouldn't wish you to think it was all work and no play at UNB. There was a story going round campus last fall of a conversation between a freshman and a sophomore in one of our residences. The freshman said: 'What are we going to do tonight?' The sophomore replied: 'We'll toss a coin. If it's heads we'll get dates. If it's tails, we'll go to the basketball game. If it stands on edge, we'll study.' I can neither confirm nor deny the truth of that story, but I do know, from having participated in a variety of student activities from the Red 'n Black Revue to residence house dinners, that the spirit of Youth is alive and well, and only occasionally out-of-control, at UNB.

Worthy of note as an example of how UNB student excel outside the classroom as well as within is the remarkable achievements this past year of our intercollegiate sports teams. Of the thirteen Atlantic Universities Athletic Association events we entered we won seven championships, and four of our winning teams ranked third in the national championships. One of our coaches, Colleen Dufresne, was awarded the dual distinction of AUAA and CIAU Coach of the Year. Five UNB athletes were designated All-Canadian. Not bad for a university that is sometimes said to sacrifice athletic pursuits to academic achievement.

A young undergraduate who had lived a little too well but not all that wisely sent a telegram to his parents which said: 'Am without friends or funds. Please advise.' His father wired back: 'Make friends.' This improbable story reminds us of the importance of money to a university education. Recognizing the value of higher education to society as a whole as well as to the individual, governments in Canada have subsidized post-secondary education for those - mainly young people - who have chosen to take advantage of it. In recent years, as Government support has, in real terms, declined, universities have looked increasingly to alumni and friends in the business world to assist. It is a pleasure for me to acknowledge two men - one a graduate of UNB, the other a native son of New Brunswick - who, through their professional acumen and accomplishments, as well as through their example as citizens, have earned distinction and respect. Dr. Johnson once said: 'Men are seldom more innocently employed than when they are honestly making money.' In conferring honorary doctoral degrees upon Fredrik Eaton and Rowland Frazee, UNB acknowledges the importance to our society and nation of our great business and banking institutions and of those men and women who, in leading them, are in turn mindful of the value of our cultural and educational institutions.

Finally, Your Honour, on behalf of the Board of Governors, the Senate, the faculty, and everyone at UNB, I should like to express congratulations and best wishes to all our graduands. May peace and joy and a sense of purpose follow you throughout your lives, and may you remember UNB fondly and return often.