GAZETTE
January 15, 2014 Volume 46 Number 8
Publication Mail Registration No. 40062527
A M E M O R I A L U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W F O U N D L A N D P U B L I C AT I O N
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Growth assessment
The Cupids Legacy Centre needs Memorial’s help measuring its impact on the region of Conception Bay North.
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Fiery festival
Books at Memorial The latest selection of page-turning reading material from Memorial’s authors.
The fifth annual SPARKS Literary Festival will light up hearts and minds Jan. 19.
Blackout 2014 Memorial copes with unexpected power outage By Dave Sorensen
Exceptionally
cold
temperatures
and
a
province-wide power outage caused headaches for Memorial University as the winter semester was set to kick off. The university shut all campuses for three days Jan. 6-9, just as thousands of students, faculty members and staff were preparing for the semester’s start. When Memorial did reopen Jan. 9, frozen and burst water pipes left many offices and some classrooms uninhabitable. The bill to repair damage is expected to run into the hundreds of thousands. “The winter semester of 2014 will be remembered for its exceptional winds, snow, cold and related power outages,” said President Gary Kachanoski. “But we are mostly back, safe and sound, and I want to personally thank the entire Memorial University community for your patience and understanding through this difficult time.” The president also thanked staff and faculty who worked through the situation to help manage the varment, Nalcor and Newfoundland and Labrador Power for their co-operation and efforts to help the university manage through the situation. When the outage started, the primary focus was students returning to and living in residence, at both Grenfell Campus and in St. John’s. While the outages did affect residence students, building heat loss was kept to a minimum and no students were required to
See blackout story on page 5
chris hammond PHOTO
ious problems and issues that arose, as well as govern-
Post-blackout repairs Bernard Aylward, a staff member in Facilities Management’s carpentry shop, is pictured hard at work installing new insulation in the walls of the fourth floor of the Arts and Administration building annex.
Strategic area Arctic research project to provide unique opportunity for doctoral students By Jackey Locke
Students interested in doing a PhD centred on Arctic shipping and operations have yet another reason to consider Memorial University. Memorial is one of four partnering universities sponsored to conduct research on safer Arctic shipping methods and, as part of the program, students will have an opportunity to conduct some of their research at partnering universities. The Joint Center of Excellence for Arctic Shipping and Operations, made up of researchers from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Aalto University in Finland, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Helsinki in Finland, recently won an international competition that resulted
See arctic story on page 4