News Briefs

May 18, 2007

Gift funds aging chair

VICTORIA – A $2.25 million gift from two UVic graduates will establish a research program in UVic’s Department of Psychology and the Centre on Aging with a focus on adult development and aging, just as the country’s baby boomers are poised to begin their retirement years.

The gift, from Erich Mohr (PhD ’82) and Shelley Mohr (BA’84), will fund a research chair to be held by a world-class scholar, said a news release. That person will lead the university’s participation in national and international research initiatives, including the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), the first national study on the process of aging. The chair will be named for Erich Mohr’s parents, Harald and Wilhelma Mohr, who were both medical doctors.

Health faculty gets new home

VANCOUVER – The new home of Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences will be named Blusson Hall, thanks to a $12-million gift from Stewart and Marilyn Blusson, the largest private donation the university has ever received.

Blusson Hall is designed to encourage the interdisciplinary flow of ideas and activities among researchers and students in health science, arts, public policy and practice, said a university news release. It will be located at the eastern edge of SFU’s Burnaby campus. With about 11,700 square metres of classrooms, faculty offices, teaching labs and research labs, it will accommodate more than 800 new students. It will also contain a Level 3 containment laboratory for infectious disease research.

The donor, Stewart Blusson, is president of Archon Minerals Ltd. His 1991 discovery of a diamond deposit in the Northwest Territories led to the creation of the country’s first operational diamond mine and spawned a burgeoning Canadian industry.

Letters online

VANCOUVER – The UBC Library is now offering an unprecedented glimpse into the world of Florence Nightingale thanks to a new online collection of her correspondence.

According to a UBC release, the Library recently digitized the collection to celebrate National Nursing Week and Canada Health Day on May 12, the anniversary of the nursing icon’s birthday. The collection features 159 letters written by and to Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Woodward Biomedical Library at UBC acquired much of the Nightingale correspondence from a Boston book dealer in the 1960s. A link to the collection, and other digitized works, is at http://angel.library.ubc.ca.

Gift returned

KINGSTON, ONT. – The Board of Trustees of Queen’s University returned a gift of almost $1 million made by David Radler after he pled guilty to fraud in U.S. federal court.

In a news release, the university said Radler’s name would be removed from its School of Business and from Queen’s Benefactor Wall. At the time the pledged gift was returned, the university had received $915,180 for the Goodes Hall building fund from Radler and a number of corporate newspaper organizations he was associated with.

In a release at the time of the monies were returned, the university said it felt the integrity of the gift had been compromised and that although it regretted having to take the action, the move was “in keeping with our policies and with our primary commitment to act in the best interests of our students, our alumni, other members of the Queen’s community, our donors and the general public.”

Vice-provost appointed

CALGARY – The University of Calgary has announced the appointment of Frederick L. Hall to its newly created position of vice-provost (graduate education).

Hall is currently president and a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, an organization that promotes graduate education and research in Canada. His term will begin August 1.