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Dr. Timmons’ tour

People to meet, places to see in Newfoundland and Labrador

Campus and Community

By Melanie Callahan

Memorial University president Dr. Vianne Timmons kicked off a provincial tour visiting people and places in communities across the province last week.

Below is just a sample of the places she went and the people she met on the first leg of her journey at Grenfell Campus.

1/ Grenfell Observatory

Dr. Timmons visited the Grenfell Campus Observatory, home of one the largest astronomical telescope in Atlantic Canada, with Drs. Svetlana Barkanova and Aleksandrs Aleksejevs of Grenfell's physics department.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

2/ Grenfell Art Gallery

Dr. Timmons enjoyed the exhibit by artist Will Gill in the Grenfell Campus Art Gallery.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

3/ VP meet and greet

Dr. Jeff Keshen, vice-president (Grenfell Campus), hosted Dr. Timmons and introduced her to Grenfell's partners in the Corner Brook community.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

4/ Ferriss Hodgett Library

Louise McGillis, associate university librarian with Grenfell Campus, showed Dr. Timmons the Abbie Table: a celebration of life in rural Newfoundland a generation ago by Andy Jones and currently hosted in the Ferriss Hodgett Library. The Abbie Table is inspired by Abbie Whiffen, a grandmother who wrote an essay to communicate to her granddaughter what life was like in Trinity Bay in the mid-1900s.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

5/ Grenfell theatre

Dr. Todd Hennessey, dean of the School of Fine Arts, provided Dr. Timmons with a tour of the theatre, a cornerstone of Grenfell's theatre program.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

6/ Social distancing greeting

No hand shakes allowed! Dr. Timmons and Lloyd Morgan, a member of the Facilities Management team, tried a non-traditional way to greet each other.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

7/ Boreal Ecosystem Research Facility

Mumtaz Cheemah, School of Arts and Social Science, talked to Dr. Timmons about the Boreal Ecosystem Research Facility and the important research taking place in the areas of forestry, agriculture and the environmental sectors.

Photo: Lori Lee Pike

While in the city, she also met with municipal and community leaders, Indigenous groups, community partners, government representatives, and research facilities.

Her tour will continue through Western Newfoundland, the Great Northern Peninsula, Labrador and Central Newfoundland before returning to St. John’s next month.


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