Effective September 1, NSAC will become the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University.

May 16 update

Transition Steering Committee update
dated May 16/12

The Executive Transition Steering Committee met on May 15, 2012.  Updates from the meeting are:

  • Leanne Munn-French is the most recent addition to the Transition Steering Committee in her role as project manager for merger transition activities. You will be hearing more from Leanne as we move into further detailed transition activities. Additional members from the NSAC will be joining the Committee in the near future.
  • The Dalhousie University-Nova Scotia Agricultural College Merger Act is expected has been introduced into the Legislature and is in its final stages of review. The approval of this legislation is expected within the next few days. The passage of this Act will then enable the agreement to put into effect. The agreement itself is in its final stages before it goes to the Executive Committee of Government and to the Dalhousie Board of Governors for review and approval. The approval of the agreement, which outlines the details of the merger, will enable us to move into full transition activities. Important first activities will be to discuss the important facets of the agreement and also move forward with the organizational details required for the structuring of the Faculty of Agriculture.
  • Reference has been made to the merger’s three-year agreement. This refers to the funding agreement that was part of the overall merger negotiations. Similar to the funding arrangements under a three-year memorandum of understanding between the Department of Labour and Advanced Education and Universities in Nova Scotia, a renewed funding agreement will be negotiated in three years in relation to the funding provided by the Department of Agriculture in support of the future Faculty of Agriculture.
  • Once the agreement is signed, communications materials (web, view book, etc) will begin to reflect the coming transition in our messaging and design.
  • We will provide details on the transition activities as well as the involvement of various individuals and groups as we move into details transition work.  The Transition Steering Group will continue to:
    • Monitor progress of transition – task completion and timeliness;
    • Ensure coordination and effective communications of transition;
    • Identify and/or resolve issues
    • Identify regular and special communications items
    • Identify actions and tasks that need to be addressed as part of transition.

The committee meets every two weeks with the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 29. Please continue to share your questions and comments via the merger website or contact any of us on the Steering Committee. I look forward to seeing you on campus.

Sincerely,

Susan Spence Wach
Chair, Transition Steering Committee