● Bishop’s University graduate (Class of 1960), current University Chancellor, and philanthropist Scott Griffin publishes My Heart is Africa, A Flying Adventure.
A certified pilot, Scott Griffin, decided in 1996 to break from the comfortable routine of his life to go work for the Flying Doctors Service, an African organization that flies doctors to remote areas to administer medical assistance. Griffin also made the daring decision to fly his small, single-engine Cessna 180 solo from Canada to Africa and back again. My Heart is Africa is 
the engaging, personal story of Griffin’s two-year aviation adventure throughout Africa.
SCOTT GRIFFIN is the Chairman and major stakeholder of two manufacturing companies and the owner of The House of Anansi Press Inc. He is Chairman and Trustee of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry and Chancellor of Bishops University. He is on several NGO boards, including the AMREF International Board based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is married to Krystyne Griffin and has four children and seven grandchildren. All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the AMREF Flying Doctors Service.
● Opening of Bishop’s University Astronomical Observatory
Located on the roof of the Nicolls building on Bishop’s University campus, the observatory is a very recent and exciting addition to Bishop's University. The new observatory houses a 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope which will be used to enrich the undergraduate students’ learning experience and give the graduate students another tool with which to broaden their horizons. The new observatory will not only be used for educational purposes, but will also be open to the public for tours and stellar evenings. http://physics.ubishops.ca/observatory/
● In 2006, Centennial Theatre received a $1.5 million makeover. The renovations included new seating, house lights, carpeting, and a new sound system that includes mixing boards, microphones, and lighting allowing for larger productions in the theatre. Bishop’s University is grateful to the Minister of Culture and Communications of Quebec, Heritage Canada, City of Sherbrooke, Conférence régionale des élus, the Borough of Lennoxville, Bishop’s University, and the many alumni and friends of Bishop’s who supported this project.
Centennial Theatre received the prestigious Opus Prize for Presenter of the Year 2004-05 from the Quebec Music Council. The prize is awarded to venues that offer the best selection of concert music during the year. Luce Couture, Director of Programming, received the trophy which was presented to her with the following words: A presenter is someone who knows how to take risks, who is bold, who is audacious, and who respects artists. These are some of the qualities that we find in this multidisciplinary presenter who, with her intelligent and eclectic programming, ensures the promotion of concert music.
● 1st Annual Research Week was held in March. Students participated in a scientific poster display every day in the Centennial Theatre Lobby. Lunch-time presentations were given by professors in the fields of astrophysics, psychology, fine arts, music, sociology, and economics, among others. Guest speakers Dr. Andrew Cohen from Carleton University and Dr. Serge Marchand from the University of Sherbrooke, contributed to promoting research through lectures on their work in their respective universities.
 |
● The Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Montreal donated a 400 MHz high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) laboratory, valued in excess of $250,000, to the Chemistry Department at Bishop’s. NMR is a valuable spectroscopic technique for determining the 3-dimensional molecular structures of complex molecules, including those of pharmaceuticals, biologically important molecules, new materials, and semi-conductors. The technique uses radio frequencies to interact with the magnetic properties of various atomic nuclei to enable chemists to determine the connectivity of atoms within molecules. An especially important application of NMR in the health care field is found in the medical diagnostic technique known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The gift to Bishop’s was initiated by Dr. Deborah Nicoll-Griffith ’81, who is a Senior Director in Medicinal Chemistry at Merck’s Montreal research facility in Kirkland. The new NMR facility is the most advanced of its kind in the Eastern Townships. It will enable Bishop’s undergraduates to further experience cutting-edge research; it will promote important collaboration with the Université de Sherbrooke; and it will join new chemistry laboratory facilities for nanotechnology in playing an important role in securing additional external chemistry research funding and in promoting the development of chemistry graduate programmes at Bishop’s.
● The Gait – new student pub
January 2006 saw the opening of the new student pub on campus, The Gait, on the first floor of the University Centre in Memorial House. The space was originally built as a gymnasium, then converted to a pub after the Sports Centre was built in 1975. When Jehoshaphat’s Loft was built on the third floor of the Student Centre in 1998, the pub relocated there, until the Loft was deemed too small and unsafe to serve as the student pub. The new pub features excellent audio equipment including 1200-watt sub woofer, improved bar facilities, a good lighting system, a pool table, foosball and an 8' x 8' projection screen.
● Close Shave for cancer cure
Thanks to an initiative led by Bishop’s student Jenn Kang, a number of individuals from the Bishop’s community volunteered to shave their heads if certain amounts of money were raised for the “Fresh Start” programme of the Canadian Cancer Society. The more the Bishop’s community raised, the more people got “razed.” If Bishop’s raised $3,000 for example, those listed at every amount up to and including $3,000 would have their heads shaved.
