Bienvenue à McGill

	PHOTO: NICOLAS MORIN

Jean Chenette and Candide Cyr, the parents of new Arts student Alexandre Chenette, were among the several thousand moms and dads welcomed at the McGill Parents Tent on the lower downtown campus in August. The program run by Development and Alumni Relations is designed to help new students and their sometimes anxious parents as they settle in for the fall term. Volunteer staff answer all sorts of questions -- "Where do we shop for groceries?"; "How do I open a bank account?"; "Have you seen my wife?" -- and run a parents' orientation program at the same time as their student children go through their own University orientation. Parents were given fashionable McGill sling bags and an opportunity to relax, get some refreshments and settle their nerves.

The French-speaking Alexandre, who'll be studying History and is very excited to be at McGill, says one reason he chose to attend the University is to improve his English.

Book Fair Bargains

The McGill Book Fair is an anxiously awaited tradition now for Montreal bookworms and bargain hunters. Each year the McGill Women's Alumnae Association and the Women Associates of McGill organize the fair, where thousands of books are available to students, book dealers and bibliophiles for as little as 25 cents. Many shoppers line up early for the fair, toting their own boxes to haul away their booty. Proceeds from the fair are used to support scholarships. Book donations are welcome on Tuesdays at Redpath Hall between 10 am and 2 pm, or you can call call 398-5000 for Montreal-area drop-off depots. The dates of the fair to mark in your agenda this year: October 16 and 17 from 9 am to 9 pm at Redpath Hall.

Meet the President

PHOTO: OWEN EGAN

He helped choose the University's next principal as a member of the selection committee assigned that task, once shepherded McGill's graduates in London as the head of the alumni association in Great Britain, provided sage counsel to the people who put together this magazine as the chair of the McGill News advisory board and taught McGill's lawyers-to-be about the finer points of banking statutes as a lecturer in the Faculty of Law. Now Stuart (Kip) Cobbett, BA'69, BCL'72, is taking on another role for his alma mater. Cobbett is the new president of the Alumni Association.

Outgoing president Sally McDougall, BSc'68, DipEd'69, an old friend who worked closely with Cobbett during the past year on Alumni Association activities (Cobbett was vice-president of the association), says her successor is going to make a splash.

"I told Honora [Shaughnessy, executive director of the Alumni Association] that she has a great couple of years ahead of her. Kip is energetic and tremendously loyal to McGill. He can talk to anybody and everybody. He is going to be a terrific president."

Cobbett is managing partner of Stikeman Elliott's Montreal office and a highly regarded lawyer who specializes in entertainment law as well as mergers and acquisitions. The Montreal native also served as senior vice-president for one of Canada's top TV and film companies, Astral Communications, from 1985 to 1992.

Cobbett says his approach to his duties will largely be in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' vein.

"From what I can see, McGill is one of the leaders among Canadian universities when it comes to keeping in touch with its alumni." That said, Cobbett does hope to help McGill extend its reach. "The profile of our alumni membership is changing and it's becoming increasing international."

Cobbett says a priority for the Alumni Association in the coming months will be to focus more attention on how to keep in touch with graduates who have moved away from the Montreal area.

School Report Card

	MSE students examine a salmon cage during the Bay of Fundy field semester. PHOTO: GAIL CHMURA

It's been four years since the launch of the McGill School of Environment and the innovative, interdisciplinary program continues to get noticed. Recently a team of McGill professors won a national prize, the Alan Blizzard Award for collaborative teaching, from the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Seven professors joined forces to create and team-teach one of the core courses of the MSE curriculum, "The Evolving Earth," which looks at the formation of the planet, the evolution of life, and the effect humans have on Mother Nature. The winning teachers hail from the departments of biology, earth and planetary sciences, geography, plant science, and natural resource sciences. According to biology professor Martin Lechowicz, the unusual course -- which has all seven professors present and active for the 39 hours of lectures -- "would not have come to be without the framework for collaboration provided by the MSE."

The School is a joint venture between the faculties of Arts, Science, and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It involves professors from across the University teaching MSE core environmental courses, affiliated courses drawn from a broad range of disciplines, as well as special field study courses like coastal environmental issues in the Bay of Fundy or a multidisciplinary environmental project in Panama.

MSE Interim Director Marilyn Scott reports that the School has now graduated 90 students. Starting this year, new MSE students will be able to apply for $5,000 entrance scholarships, thanks to a gift from the McConnell Family Foundation. An anonymous donation, plus additional funding from the Faculty of Science, has enabled the School to launch an outreach program in environmental issues for Montreal youth. Starting this month, four MSE students will visit local schools to teach kids about their consumption patterns and the "ecological footprint" they leave behind.