The President's Advisory Committee, known at one time as the Administrative Committee of Mount Saint Vincent University, discussed and provided for the ordinary administration of University affairs, recommended guidelines for administrative procedures, formulated general administrative policies, and provided for exchange of information among administrative personnel regarding matters or events pertaining to the University community. The Administrative Committee met once a week. Membership consisted of the President, the Academic Dean, the Registrar, the Director of Student Affairs, the Executive Assistant, the Comptroller, and the Director of Public Relations and Development.
Cynthia H. Plant-Hansen graduated from the Child Studies program at Mount Saint Vincent University in 1981 at the age of 27. She entered the program in the second year, as she had previous education and work related experience.
Betty Peterson (née Farber) was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1917. She attended the fine arts program at Syracuse University before marrying Gunnar Peterson in 1939. The couple were conscientious objectors during World War II and were increasingly dedicated to peace movements following the war, later becoming Quakers. They had two children, Lisl and Eric. In 1950, they moved to Chicago where Peterson was involved in the Civil Rights movement, participating in sit-ins, protests, and other political activities.
In 1975, Betty and Gunnar Peterson moved to Cape Breton out of frustration with the political climate in the United States. A few years after Gunnar’s sudden death in 1976, Peterson relocated to Halifax where she became an active member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Halifax Society of Friends (Quakers). Through these organizations she participated in a number of social movements both locally and abroad, including in 1982 when she travelled to New York City to attend a nuclear disarmament rally and present the Women’s International Peace Petition to the UN’s Second Special Session on Disarmament. She also made six trips to Labrador in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where she joined Innu protests of low-flying NATO test flights over Nitassinan, and in 1988 she travelled to Little Buffalo, Alberta on behalf of the Society of Friends in order to join Lubicon Lake Band protests against oil drilling on their land.
Peterson was involved in a number of protests and organizations related to women’s rights, environmental conservation, Indigenous activism, nuclear disarmament, and anti-war movements, including protests against the Gulf War (1991) and Iraq War (2003). She was an organizer of the P7 “People’s Summit” (1995) and a member of the Raging Grannies. She continued to attend protests until a few years before her passing in Halifax, in 2018.
Patrick O'Neill was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1940. He married Mora Dianne O'Neill in 1967 and had two sons, St. John and Brendan. O'Neill obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from St. Jerome's College, University of Waterloo in 1967, a Master of Arts in Theatre from the University of South Dakota in 1969, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from Louisiana State University in 1973.
O'Neill was a leading scholar in Canadian theatre history and published extensively. In 1995 he received the Richard Plant Essay Prize from the Association for Canadian Theatre Research. In 2002 he received an Award for Research Excellence from Mount Saint Vincent University. In 2004 he received a Fulbright Research Fellowship, awarded by The Department of State, Washington.
O'Neill worked as an Assistant Professor (1972-1975) at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and as an Assistant Professor (1975-1980), Associate Professor (1980-1993), and Professor (1993-2006) at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also worked as a Visiting Fellow (1982-1983) at Royal Holloway College, at the University of London, and as an Associate Professor, Part-time (1987-1991) at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
During his time at Mount Saint Vincent University O'Neill served in numerous positions, including Director of Research and International Liaison Officer (2002-2004), Coordinator, Speech and Drama (1975-2002), and as a member of the University Senate (2002). O'Neill also served on numerous committees, including the University's Tribute Committee (1999-2006), University Review Committee (1998-1999), and the Exceptional Service Awards Committee (1998-2006). Patrick O'Neill was also involved with various drama presentations. In addition to his work at the University, O'Neill served as a member of the Nova Scotia Innovation Trust (2002-2004), as a member of the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (2002-2004), as a Maritime Representative (1998-2000) and Treasurer (1982-1984) for the Association for Canadian Theatre Research, and as a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Research Committee for Architecture, Fine Arts, Drama (1993-1995). O'Neill also served as a parliamentarian for the Registered Nurses Association of Nova Scotia (1984-1998) and the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia (1996), as well as an External Reviewer for SSHRC applications (various years) and as an External Examiner for a University of Toronto Ph.D. thesis, a McGill University M.A. thesis, and a University of Saskatchewan M.A. thesis. O'Neill died in Ireland in 2006.
The Nova Scotia Women’s History Society (NSWHS), formerly known as the Halifax Women’s History Society (2013-2021), aims to promote the visibility of women’s history in Nova Scotia. Founded in 2013, the NSWHS has organized conferences, speaker series, lectures, events, a monument, and written materials pertaining to women’s history in Nova Scotia.
One of the NWSHS’ major initiatives was the “WOW, A Woman on the Waterfront” project (2013-2017), which culminated in the installation of “The Volunteers/Les Bénévoles,” a monument on the Halifax waterfront dedicated to the thousands of women who volunteered their time and labour during World War II.