Newsbites (Page 4)

Pests bugging you?

Got a skunk under your deck? Bats in your attic? Aphids in your garden? Who you gonna call? Macdonald Campus's Urban Nature Information Service might be your best bet. Staffed by plant science student Frieda Beauregard and applied zoology student Marie-Anne Hudson, the free service is a summer hotline for gardeners and cottagers searching for tips on how to shoo away raccoons or fight funguses. So far, the duo fields about 50 calls per week.

Remedies they dispense range from Ro-Pel, a non-toxic animal repellent to prevent pesky squirrels from unearthing tulips, to using spiky materials like porcupine quills to prevent birds from nesting in unwelcome spots. While most hotline questions are pretty cut and dried, says Hudson, complicated queries are answered by Macdonald Campus professors, including bird expert David Bird or entomologist David Lewis.

"And if we can't answer the question right away, we're usually able to offer some information within a day," says Beauregard, adding that the line is being funded by McGill's Work-Study Program and several municipalities. Beauregard and Hudson welcome in-person visits, too, especially in cases where plants or bugs need to be identified. "That can be difficult to do over the phone," says Beauregard.

The Urban Nature Information Service can be reached by phone at 514-398-7882, by fax at 514-398-7897 or via email at wildlife@nrs.mcgill.ca or hic@macdonald.mcgill.ca. Their office is located in Room R3-038 of the Raymond Building, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, and help is available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.

Source: McGill University Relations Office

New Provost Position

PHOTO: Owen Egan

Changing demands upon his time and energy have led McGill Principal Bernard Shapiro to recommend the creation of an expanded role for Vice-Principal (Academic) Luc Vinet (at left). Added to his title will be the position of Provost, making him a kind of "senior" vice-principal with what Shapiro calls "wide internal/operational responsibilities." Universities like the University of Toronto and Harvard have provosts.

Under the new arrangement, the Vice-Principal (Research) and the Vice-Principal (Information Systems and Technology) will report to Vinet. He will be supported by three associate vice-principals responsible for the areas of students (including residences), academic programs, and academic staffing and planning.

Over the course of the last few years, the Principal has been in high demand, visiting alumni and donors around the world and representing McGill on a variety of municipal, provincial, national and international bodies like the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Universitas 21, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

While he acknowledges that university heads are often criticized for being "too focused on external matters as opposed to the crucial internal considerations so important to any academic institution," he says he has also learned that "it is often only the Principal that is acceptable to many of the community organizations, the donors, the various boards, associations, etc. There continues to be a real conundrum. If the most senior representative of the University is required, there is no time. If others, equally if not more capable, are sent, it appears that there is no point."

Shapiro, who was appointed principal in 1994, says he will spend the remaining year of his term devoting more time to external relations and to consideration of broader policy issues, such as redefining McGill's budget model.