The Senate of Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was created in 1966 when Mount Saint Vincent College became Mount Saint Vincent University under Bill 85, granting the University a Charter. Some of the Committees that are now standing committees of Senate do predate Senate, such as the Student Affairs Committee and the Committee on Academic Policy and Planning. The Senate is responsible for the academic policy of the University and regulates the academic programs of the University. The size and membership of the Senate, and the terms of office of its members, are determined by the by-laws of the Senate, subject to Section 8 of the University Charter. Voting members are the President; the Academic Vice-president of the University; the Administrative Vice-president of the University; the Deans; the University Librarian; the Registrar; faculty members elected by the faculty; students elected by the students and such other persons as the Senate from time to time determines. The Chair of Senate is the University President. Senate meets on the last Monday of each month throughout the University session. These meetings are generally open to the University community, subject to limitations including special considerations of confidentiality. All Senate standing and ad-hoc committees report directly to Senate.
The Public Affairs was previously known as the Public Relations Office, University Relations, the Communications Office and the Information Office. Their mandate is to build relationships with our many "publics including government, potential students and their families, alumnae, donors and partners, and the general public
In 1925 a Bachelor of Secretarial Science, which later became, a Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Studies was offered at Mount Saint Vincent College in the “commercial department” and later the business department. The program offered a variety of subject courses as well as secretarial courses. In the 1950s, the business department became a separate unit and courses became less broad and more business orientated. In 1958, two-year diploma programs were introduced in Secretarial Science and Medical Secretarial Science. The Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Studies was phased out in 1966 and replaced with a new degree called the Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics. In 1971 the Bachelor of Business Administration was introduced and in 1972, men were admitted for the first time as part-time students into the program. In 1973, the diploma in Secretarial Studies changed to an Executive Secretarial Diploma and a new diploma in Legal Secretarial Studies was offered. In 1976 the Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, which had been phased out in 1972, was replaced with the Bachelor of Secretarial Arts degree. In 1977 the Business Administration Department and the Secretarial Department separated, however students in the Secretarial program continued to take Business Administration courses. In 1988 the Secretarial Department became the Office Administration Department. That same year the Executive Secretarial Diploma changed to the Diploma in Office Administration: Executive, the Legal Secretarial Diploma became the Diploma in Office Administration: Legal and the Medical Secretarial Diploma became the Diploma in Office Administration: Medical. In 1992 a new degree was developed called the Bachelor of Applied Arts (Information Management). It was the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada and it offered classes in arts, business and information management. The title changed again in 1999 to a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Information Technology, as it is known today. Sister Mary Assisium was in charge of the Secretarial Studies department from 1925 to 1945, followed by Sister Katherine Meagher in 1950. Other known department heads were Sister Anne Fintan (1964-5), Sister Marion Power (1967), Sister Brenda Helton (1970s) and Jean Mills (1990s).
The Humanities Committee met to study the structure of the Bachelor of Arts, to discuss the value of Humanities within the BA, to discuss courses at Mount Saint Vincent University related to the Humanities, and to investigate how these courses interacted with other disciplines in the University, among other things. This Committee also wrote the introduction and did any revisions to the Humanities section of the MSVU course calendar.
Garnet Rebekah Lodge no. 30 was a unit, or lodge, of the International Association of Rebekah Assemblies located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The Rebekahs (previously the Daughters of Rebekah) is an international service-oriented organization and a branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It was initially designed as the female auxiliary of the IOOF, but now allows both female and male members.
In 1873, the Sisters of Charity purchased land along the Bedford Basin in Rockingham and facilitated the construction of a new building, moving from their previous location at Saint Mary’s Convent on Barrington Street. In August of that same year, the new building was formally blessed by Archbishop Connolly and named Mount Saint Vincent. It housed the motherhouse and novitiate which also served as a normal school (a teacher-training school), marking the beginning of Mount Saint Vincent Academy.
In 1874, the sisters advertised for students at their all-girls academy. Tuition and board cost $120 per year, and students would receive religious training as well as an education in music, art, and deportment. Non-Catholic students were also welcome to apply. Sixteen students were enrolled in that first year.
The Academy’s curriculum was based on course standards from the Nova Scotia school system and taught grades 5 to 12. Courses included cultural subjects, dramatics, music, and painting. The lower grades were eventually phased out and in the later years of its operation, the Academy only taught grades 11 and 12.
In 1914, Mount Saint Vincent Academy began teaching college courses. Through an affiliation with Dalhousie University, the first two years of a liberal arts college degree were taught at Mount Saint Vincent, and the final two years were taught by Dalhousie professors. This initiative had been considered for some time, as by 1909 college degrees were required to obtain higher level teaching certificates. The agreement was formalized by Dalhousie Senate and the Sisters of Charity in 1916, and five courses were taught by Dalhousie professors who travelled to the Mount to deliver their lectures. The Dalhousie-Mount affiliation continued until 1941.
Mount Saint Vincent Academy burned down in a fire in 1951, eventually reopening in a new building in 1958. It remained there until 1972. By this time public schools had become more accessible, lowering need for private institutions. Due to the high costs of maintenance and lower demand, the Academy was closed in 1972 and the building was repurposed as a residence for 180 MSVU students.
The Canadian Society for the Study of Religion was founded in 1966. Its objectives are as follows: the society provides a meeting place for all who are involved in the academic study of religion, for example, anthropologists, historians, phenomenologists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, theologians; the Society fosters an interdisciplinary discourse in order to arrive at a better, integrated understanding of religious phenomena; the Society encourages research in the development of the study of religion with particular reference to the Canadian scene and the Society promotes a critical examination of the goals, methods, and styles of teaching demanded by
the discipline. (Constitution adopted 1977) The business of the Society is transacted by an Executive Committee, composed of the following members: a) a President who shall be elected for a two-year term at the Annual General Meeting of the Society; b) a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Membership Secretary, each of whom shall be elected for a three-year term at the Annual General Meeting of the Society; c) a Past-President whose term shall be for two years; d) three members-at-large elected to a three-year term of office at the Annual General Meeting of the Society. Election of members-at-large will follow a pattern in which one member will be elected each year and one will retire.
Presidents of the Society have included: 2003-2004 Dr. Andre Couture (Universite Laval); 2000-2002 Randi R. Warne (Mount St. Vincent University); 1998-2000 Paul Bowlby (St. Mary' s University) ; 1996- 1998; William Closson James (Queen's); 1994- 1996 Morny Joy (University of Calgary); 1992-1994 Jacques Goulet (Mount St. Vincent University); 1990-1992 Martin
Rumscheidt (Atlantic School of Theology); 1988-1990 Monique Dumais (Universite de Quebec -Rimouski); 1986-1988 Bruce Alton (University of Toronto); 1984- 1986 Roger Lapointe (St. Paul’s University); 1982- 1984 Harold Coward (University of Calgary); 1980- 1 982 Jacques Langlais (Champlain College); 1978-1980 Peter Slater (Carleton); 1976- 1978 Louis Rousseau (UQAM); 1974- 1976 Cathleen Going (Thomas More Institute); 1971-1974 Charles Davis (Concordia); 1969-1971 Fr. Simon Davis (Laurentian); 1967- 1969 Eugene Combs (McMaster); 1966- 1967 M. Giroux (University of Ottawa).
(UQAM); 1974- 1976 Cathleen Going (Thomas More Institute); 1971-1974 Charles Davis (Concordia); 1969-1971 Fr. Simon Davis (Laurentian); 1967- 1969 Eugene Combs (McMaster); 1966- 1967 M. Giroux (University of Ottawa).
In 1921, Sister Mary Columba Hayes, Mary Reardon (Mitchell), and a group of about 12 other Mount graduates formed the idea for an alumnae association. They sent out invitations, and nearly 200 women arrived for the first alumnae meeting in December. After this initial meeting, a formal Alumnae Association was formed in June of 1922, where committees were established to plan future meetings, various chapters were formed, and the constitution and by-laws were drafted and approved. Elections were also held for the association’s officers and Nan O’Mara (Emerson) was elected president. This meeting also established the motto: Fides, Sapientia, Amicitia-Alumnae.
Formal meetings were held at the Mount in October and at Saint Theresa’s Retreat in Halifax during winter months. News of these meetings was also published in Folia Montana, the school’s paper and later yearbook which was designed to keep graduates in touch with each other.
Search committees were charged with the task of establishing a suitable list of individuals for whichever office needed to be filled, such as the office of President. The search committee examined the qualifications and backgrounds of the persons, conducted personal interviews with potential candidates, and made recommendations to the Board of Governors of the candidate best suited to hold the office. The membership of a search committee could include the Chancellor of the University, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, three members of the Board in addition to the Chairman, two members of the Corporation, two representatives of the Sisters of Charity, two representatives of Senate, two representatives of Faculty, two representatives of Alumnae and two representatives from the Student Body