Campus car fire suspect to appear in court
A man is facing pending arson charges after a car was allegedly set on fire near The Cellar Pub.
Witnesses say the vehicle parked near the loading dock went up in flames shortly after midnight on Sept. 9.
Fredericton Police spokesperson Alycia Bartlett said police arrested an adult man following the incident.
The fire occurred near propane tanks and campus security and police had to evacuate students from the area. The fire completely ravaged the car and damaged surrounding pavement. Over 60 people were inside The Cellar at the time of the incident.
Patrick Hanson, the pub’s manager and owner of the vehicle, attempted unsuccessfully to stop the blaze with a fire extinguisher after calling 911.
The man allegedly involved is scheduled to appear in court in November. The incident continues to be under police investigation.
“It Begins Here” campaign surpassed milestone of $110 million
“It Begins Here,” UNB’s fundraising campaign, surpassed its milestone of $110 million to raise a total of $125 million with the aid of over 10,000 alumni and external organisations.
On Sept. 28, in the press release for the campaign celebration of the milestone, UNB president Eddy Campbell said, “I am delighted to announce that we have not only met our $110 million campaign goal, we have exceeded it by $15 million. And all of this support, 100 per cent, has come from the private sector.”
Alumni, individuals and organisations have been encouraged to provide support to the university by donating to the campaign over the years. Donor funds have been distributed in five sectors in an attempt to financially support students and create a better university experience.
Major contributors are Atlantic entrepreneurs and companies such as Richard J. Currie; Gerry Pond; the Irving and McCain families; Emera Inc.; Irving Oil; J.D. Irving, Limited and OSCO Construction Group; national and international leaders such as Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Stephen Jarislowsky, Ron Joyce and Seymour Schulich; and financial institutions such as Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank, RBC, Scotiabank and TD Bank.
In his initial message about the campaign Campbell said that half of the $110 million campaign goal will be dedicated to supporting students.
Twenty-five million dollars of the funding will be invested in the construction of new buildings and research groups on both Fredericton and Saint John campuses. This includes the New Kinesiology building (UNBF), a multi-purpose Greenhouse Laboratory (UNBSJ), a Centre of Excellence for Children and Families (UNBF) and a Natural Products Research Group (UNBSJ).
Ten million dollars will be given to faculty-specific projects. A list of the projects is available on the campaign website and donors can contact the development and donor relations office to contribute to their preferred faculty and project.
On Sept. 11, CIBC made a contribution to the campaign by donating $500,000 to support Indigenous students through a bursary program. Indspire, a nationally registered, Indigenous-led non-profit organization, will manage the bursaries to be presented to First Nations, Inuit and Métis undergraduate students in financial need.
Innovation is one of the priorities of the “It Begins Here” campaign. Ten million dollars have been attributed to support centres that support UNB students to become successful entrepreneurs. The centres include the Pond-Deshpande Centre, International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre and Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship.
The fifth branch of the campaign is called “Prepare our students to succeed in the world” and it has an allocation of $15 million. This section involves The Promise Partnership in Saint John, offering tutoring and mentoring to K-12 children, and the Lorenzo Society, giving arts students experience with theatre production, writing and publication.
At the announcement on Sept. 28, UNB Chancellor Allison D. McCain said, “I was especially pleased that we could announce three major new initiatives at today’s campaign celebration—a gift of $500,000 from The Jarislowsky Foundation, which comes on top of its earlier gift of $1.5 million in health research funding; a gift of $400,000 from Dr. Robert Quartermain to create the Allan and Elizabeth Quartermain Research Fund, and a commitment from Osisko Mining Inc. of $250,000 for field education in Earth Sciences.
Funding Announcement for Engineering faculty
On Sept. 6, it was revealed that the OSCO construction group are investing $2 million in a research centre within the department of engineering on the Fredericton campus.
This collaboration between the OSCO group and UNB is an attempt to change the conventional methods of construction; instead of carrying out all operations at a jobsite, UNB will investigate building parts offsite to be assembled later on location. The $2 million will be mainly used for human resources, equipment purchase and space expansion.
During a press release, UNB president Eddy Campbell said, “You may have heard New Brunswick described as a failing province, indeed not failed but failing and this is part of the motivation that we have for the work that we are doing.”
The department of civil engineering will work with the OSCO chair to build an internal research team and to create relationships with potential clients.
The search for an OSCO chair is ongoing and the centre will host an international design symposium within the next 18 months.