2020 Giving Report

Endowment Report

Because of Your Generosity

Student Life

Get the financial facts and

Campaign for Acadia has helped

Dale Wright (’20) tells a story

figures about 2019–2020. 2

elevate Acadia’s reputation.

of transformation at Acadia.

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Giving

The CAMPAIGN

for ACADIA

Report

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CAMPAIGN

for ACADIA

Your endowment Report For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, the Endowment Fund had a market value in excess of $85.5 million.

Contributions to the funds were $3.1 million for the year. The funds distributed $4.0 million, averaging a net payout of 3.7% after fees. A market depreciation of $3.6 million was recognized in the current year. Acadia University effectively manages administration fees (0.8% of total assets).

Statement of Changes

Asset and Manager Allocation

(Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2020)

(As at March 31, 2020)

Balance at beginning of period

$89,915,736 Global Global Equity Equity

22.74% 22.74%

24.28% 24.28%

Fixed Fixed Income Income and and Cash Cash

U.S. U.S. Equity Equity

26.43% 26.43%

26.55% 26.55%

Canadian Canadian Equity Equity

Revenue and other additions Bequests and donations

$2,947,619

Transfer from special reserve funds* Market appreciation (depreciation)

185,907 (3,566,263)

Transfer from operating fund

269

(432,468)

Endowment Split

Expenditure and income transfers Investment services

$385,283

Administration fees

315,000

Transfer to research funds

Scholarships Scholarships and and Bursaries Bursaries

4,346

Transfer to special reserve funds

1,783,522

Transfer to capital funds

14.18% 14.18%

10,372

Transfer to operating funds

1,498,139

3,996,662

Balance at end of period

$85,486,606

Professorships Professorships and and Lectureships Lectureships General General (4.72%) (4.72%)

22.87% 22.87%

* Special reserve funds are restricted funds held separately between the time a donation is made and the time the designation is finalized by the donor.

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55.55% 55.55%

Departmental Departmental and and Research Research Support Support Other Other (2.68%) (2.68%)

Investment Committee Members

Market Performance and Annualized Returns

Bert Frizzell FCPA, FCGA (’72) Acadia Board of Governors

Annualized Returns

1 year

Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia

Plan

-4.03% 0.38% 2.06% 4.18% 2.53%

Tim Formuziewich, CPA, CMA Investment Corporation of Ontario

Median

-2.36% 2.20% 3.15% 4.56% 3.53%

Dr. Peter Ricketts Acadia University

2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years

Dr. Bruce Galloway (’68, ’03) Acadia University Chancellor Stuart MacLean (’83) Acadia Board of Governors Mary MacVicar CPA, CMA (’90) Acadia University

Together, We Are Making History This report has a singular focus – the reasons we give – and while each of us has a unique motivation, we have all joined together to support the most ambitious fundraising initiative in Acadia University’s history.

In October 2018, we publicly launched Campaign for Acadia, comprising four themes – Transform, Inspire, Discover, and Build. The Campaign promises to strengthen support for students and faculty, enhance investment in research, and improve campus infrastructure.

Because of your generosity, Campaign for Acadia Cabinet members, working hand-in-hand with our Advancement team, have made great strides toward the Campaign’s $75-million goal, with more than $70 million already committed.

This incredible show of support is a symbol of the collective belief allies like you have in Acadia. You are choosing to invest in an extraordinary institution with the proven ability to transform the lives of our students by providing inspirational teaching, research, and community engagement.

In the pages that follow, we’re pleased to recognize and celebrate the tremendous impact of your support. You are invited to read about students who have realized their potential; research that opens inquiring minds and answers meaningful questions; partnerships that will lift others; and a community of committed alumni who are giving their all to Acadia.

These stories reveal the many ways Campaign for Acadia has helped elevate Acadia’s reputation as a premier undergraduate university, an engine for economic development, and an institution that equips our students for the complex world ahead.

Through this historic campaign, the Acadia Family – our alumni and friends, students, faculty and staff – represent what we can achieve when we work together.

Thank you for supporting Acadia University.

Dr. Peter Ricketts President and Vice-Chancellor

Nancy McCain (’82) Chair, Campaign for Acadia

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Transform:

extraordinary student experiences

Stepping onto Acadia’s campus means entering a world of possibility. From residence life to extracurricular activities, classroom discussions to co-op placements, our students experience a personalized education in a diverse and caring community.

“These awards allowed me to participate more in the community, while focussing on both my educational and sport-related goals.

Receiving these awards has truly been life changing.”

– Dale Wright (’20)

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Acadia students and donors enjoy meeting and celebrating the gift of student awards.

Student Life Transformed Dale Wright (’20) tells a story of transformation at Acadia.

“My family immigrated from Jamaica when I was only eight. Once arriving in Canada, my parents experienced many initial difficulties relating to finances, and getting accustomed to a new way of life. They instilled in me great values such as hard work, balance, and grit, and are supportive role models who kept me in check during challenging times. From an early age, they always enrolled me in sports despite the many financial struggles we faced.”

At Acadia, Dale played football and studied accounting.

“Sports have been prominent in my life. The opportunity to play with the Axemen allowed me to build many friendships, while improving character traits such as patience, empathy, and determination.”

In addition to his time on the field and in the classroom, Dale volunteered as a coach with the Valley Bulldogs and at home with the Out of the Cold program. He was the grateful recipient of several donor-funded student awards, including the Kristin Pipe Memorial, the B.V.I. Memorial and the Acadia Sports Therapy Clinic Athletic Awards. “These awards allowed me to participate more in the community, while focussing on both my educational and sport-related goals. Receiving these awards has truly been life changing.”

Scholarships, bursaries and awards are the backbone of direct support for students. During the past year, Acadia’s generous alumni and friends established over 70 new, named student awards, many in honour of family members and professors. Without this recognition and financial support, two-thirds of students would have a greater struggle to complete their programs.

Student services at Acadia are widely used and readily available, but there is more the University can offer those who have mental health challenges, learning and cultural differences, and career counselling needs. As home to the proposed Centre for Student Success, a reimagined Students’ Union Building has seen tremendous interest from alumni. In one example, more than 100 donors contributed almost $30,000 through last year’s Family Campaign for Acadia – an amount our Alumni Association was happy to match.

Alumni like Jordan Waterbury (’19) understand the transformative experience students can have when making use of the services available to them. “The Accessibility Office and Student Resource Centre staff helped me stay in University for six years, since mental health difficulties had kept me from graduating a year or two before.”

Waterbury also acknowledges the important role played

by Acadia’s donors. “Thanks to them, I was able to make it through university financially, which improved my mental health.”

To view a listing of all named student awards, visit giving.acadiau.ca/studentawards.

For more information on the Centre for Student Success, contact Nancy Handrigan (’92) at 902-585-1042 or nancy.handrigan@acadiau.ca.

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Inspire:

exceptional teaching and engagement

Faculty members who are passionate about teaching are the foundation of an Acadia education. From business to biology, from the performing arts to environmental sustainability, our professors are leaders who prepare our students for life.

“These new hybrid pianos bridge the gap between practice and creative exploration – I can mimic the sound of a grand piano and imagine myself performing on the world's largest stage.”

– Chantal Peng

To find out how to contribute to Acadia’s Piano Renewal Program, please contact Nancy Handrigan (’92) at 6 902-585-1042 or nancy.handrigan@acadiau.ca.

Music education at Acadia is enriched thanks in part to Acadia alumni (L to R) Clive Anderson (’89), Paul Bailey (’75), Marjorie Matheson (’48) and Francis C.C. Yip (’90).

Playing it Forward Doris Hiltz (née Fraser) didn’t major in music during her time at Acadia in the late 1940s, but she did spend a good deal of time in the music hall. Seven decades later, when the time came to designate a gift to her alma mater, pianos hit just the right note.

“I’m not a piano person, but music has played a major role in my life,” says Hiltz, who began playing the violin at the age of six. “I’m happy to be able to contribute to Acadia’s Piano Renewal Program and to help replace instruments that have outlived their purpose.”

As a chemistry major, Hiltz had a rigorous schedule that included daily afternoon labs, yet she found time to play in the University orchestra as well as a small chamber group.

She also took lessons from Janis Kalejs, an accomplished violinist from Latvia who taught at the University during Hiltz’s time and later served as Dean of Acadia’s School of Music.

“Growing up, I had wonderful music teachers, but never a professional of that calibre,” says Hiltz. “He knew I wasn’t a music major, but he encouraged me to continue my lessons and involved me as concert master with the University orchestra. As a teacher, he inspired me in the same way that my chemistry professors did. My life grew richer because of him and because of the music school.”

After completing two degrees at Acadia (BSc ’51, BEd ’52), Hiltz taught at Horton Academy for one year before accepting a position at the Fisheries Research Department.

It was there that she met her husband, Raymond, a fisheries researcher who worked for many years at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

A gift of pianos hit just the right note for this Acadia Alumna

With Raymond’s passing in 2017, Doris Hiltz is now on her own, but she has strong connections, particularly in the Pictou County Community Orchestra, where she continues to play violin.

“My fingers are a little stiff on the 16th notes, but I still enjoy being part of the group,” she says.

Hiltz also enjoys being part of Acadia’s alumni family and recently celebrated that bond with an inspiring gift of three hybrid pianos for the practice rooms in Denton Hall. The University is in dire need of new pianos and has also received gifts of hybrids from Marjorie Matheson (’48) and the Estate of Donald Hall as well as from three members of the Campaign for Acadia Cabinet: Clive Anderson (’89), Paul Bailey (’75) and Francis C.C. Yip (’90).

For Chantal Peng, a third year music major who has won both national and international piano competitions, a gift of pianos comes at just the right time to support a new requirement that all Bachelor of Music students be proficient on the keyboard. “What I really appreciate, is that these new hybrid pianos bridge the gap between practice and creative exploration,” says Peng. “I can use the innovative headphone feature to tune out musicians in nearby practice rooms, or I can mimic the sound of a grand piano and imagine myself performing on the world's largest stage.”

Peng’s remarks are music to Doris Hiltz’s ears. “I hope to attend my 70th class reunion in 2021,” says Hiltz. “Perhaps I will have the opportunity to meet Miss Peng and hear her play.”

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Discover:

innovative research and inquiry

Through close collaboration, Acadia students and faculty researchers drive discoveries that impact lives and improve communities. By seeking to understand and solve real-world problems, they will create a bright future.

“Being an Irving Scholar allowed me to grow immensely as a researcher.

I am very excited to facilitate this kind of growth for upcoming cohorts.

– Sarah Hines (’17)

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Right: Dr. Robert Walker (’73, ’17) and wife Karen (’74, née Higgins) with Dr. Rod Morrison.

Campaign Cabinet member Ian MacNeily (’81).

Below: Sarah Fancy with friends, Homecoming 2015.

Driving Discovery with Research Awards One of Acadia’s First Arthur L. Irving Scholars Comes Home The Acadia experience comes full circle for Sarah Hines (Fancy), one of the first Arthur L. Irving Scholars at the University. After graduating from Acadia in 2017 with an honours BSc in Environmental Science, Hines completed a MSc in Agriculture at Dalhousie University, focusing her research on soil microbiology at Acadian Seaplants, a company she came to know during an Acadia University co-op placement. After a stint as the Research & Development Coordinator at the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, she returned to Acadia to coordinate the Arthur L. Irving Scholarship Program and Research in the K.C. Irving Centre.

“This is an amazing opportunity so early in my career and it feels like a full circle experience to be back at Acadia mentoring new Arthur L. Irving Scholars,” she says. “Being an Irving Scholar allowed me to grow immensely as a researcher. I am very excited to facilitate this kind of growth for upcoming cohorts.”

Other than being 4th-year honours students, Siew Ten Ong and Krista Harrison don’t seem to have much in common. Ong was born and raised in Malaysia and is living in Wolfville while she completes an Economics degree.

Harrison comes from Ontario and is pursuing a Psychology degree. Thanks to the philanthropy of Acadia alumni, however, the two come together as recipients of awards that fuel a passion for discovery.

“It was a very emotional moment when I received an email telling me that I had received the Walker Science Research Award,” recalls Harrison. “As a mature student, I sometimes doubt my decision to go back to school, but this recognition encourages me that I made the right choice.”

Under the supervision of social psychologist Dr. Diane Holmberg, Harrison has begun researching health outcomes related to discrepancies between an adult’s memory of coming out to their parent, and their parent’s memory of the same coming-out event. With classes resuming, she is eager to begin work on her project.

Siew Ten Ong was also thrilled to receive an award that recognizes the importance of undergraduate research. “I am very grateful for the MacNeily Economics Research Award,” she says. “With this financial help and the support of my faculty advisor, I look forward to examining the cashless society and its impact on economic growth.”

Both Ong and Harrison feel fortunate to be working in areas that can have real-world impact, an imperative for alumni Dr. Robert Walker (’73, ’17) and wife Karen (’74, née Higgins) when establishing the Walker Science Research Award. “This new generation of university graduates will face a future with many challenges,” says honorary degree recipient Bob (Robert) Walker. “Karen and I hope this award will inspire recipients to engage in scientific research, and by so doing, to help build a better tomorrow.”

Making a real world difference was also a motivator for Economics major Ian MacNeily (’81), who comes from a long line of Acadia graduates and serves on the Campaign for Acadia Cabinet. “I hope the MacNeily Economics Research Award assists Acadia in attracting and retaining motivated, passionate students,” he says. “These are the individuals who will help us shape a brighter future.”

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Build:

proud heritage and promising horizons

Acadia is considered one of Canada’s most beautiful university campuses; however, it is also one of Canada’s oldest. At 182 years old, there is a need for investment in the University’s physical and financial infrastructure.

“Dr. Sandra Barr is an icon and a great mentor for women.

She was a trailblazer, a professor in a geology department in this country long before many women were.”

– Dr. Catharine Farrow (’89)

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Building on a Rock-solid Foundation Two donations totalling $105,000 have transformed Acadia’s “rock room” in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science. The generosity of Dr. Sandra Barr and her former MSc student, Dr. Catharine Farrow (’89), has enabled the department to purchase new equipment for sawing and grinding rock samples, and polishing them for study. The lab space was also updated.

Now, with much-improved workflow, the lab can take on more work creating thin sections for departmental use as well as for clients in Canada and abroad.

The transformation also inspired a name change: the “rock room” is now the Acadia Petrographic Lab. “That facility has been an essential part of Acadia for decades,” says Barr. “It’s not just a research facility; students use it, directly and indirectly, because we need it for preparing teaching materials. It’s also a money maker, and now we can work more quickly and efficiently. That’s why I made my donation – I could see both its historical and its future importance.”

Catharine Farrow (’89) is the recipient of Acadia’s 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award and a self-described mining industry enthusiast. “The best way to ensure you have a top-quality mine or successful exploration project is to really understand the rocks,” she says. “A 3D model on a computer screen is only as good as the inputs. The rocks are speaking to us, and petrography is a key way of figuring out what they’re trying to say.”

A geoscientist by training, Farrow has worked in many roles in mining, from researcher to CEO of a publicly traded company. Now she serves on several boards and does advisory and consulting work.

Acadia has continued to impress her, she says. “Innovation is sometimes best delivered by smaller organizations because they’re more nimble, and I think that plays out with a smaller university.”

Barr has been an enduring and positive influence on women in science, Farrow believes. “Sandra is an icon and a great mentor for women. She was a trailblazer, a professor in a geology department in this country long before many women were.”

Enhancing Student Experience In the School of Nutrition and Dietetics, several student areas have been upgraded, thanks to gifts from the estate of Catherine Calvert (’46) and from Penny and Stephen McCain (’81).

“The donations have led to an enhanced student experience, academically and in terms of student networking,” says Barb Anderson (’77), Professor and Director, School of Nutrition and Dietetics. “The upgraded student lounge is welcoming, and we created a help centre where students can meet and be mentored.”

In the fourth floor hallway, students can now see Cape Blomidon as they work.

“It’s beautiful. Students say the space went from zero to a hundred,” Anderson says.

Upgrades to the Food Commodities Lab will bring the lab out of the 1960s into 2020, she adds, and a classroom has also been refurbished. “I can’t tell you enough how much we appreciate the generosity of our donors,” she says. “Our students feel valued. That is really important.”

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CAMPAIGN

for ACADIA

CABINET MEMBERS Nancy McCain (’82), Cabinet Chair, Toronto | Clive Anderson (’89), Singapore | Paul Bailey (’75), Toronto Libby Burnham (’60, ’00), Toronto | Don Clow (’83), Halifax | Henry Demone (’76), Lunenburg Shih Fang (Dino) Ng (’01), Kuala Lumpur | Ruth Hennigar (’81), San Jose, CA | Karen Hutt (’89), Halifax Allan MacDonald (’92), Toronto | Peter MacKay (’87), New Glasgow | Ian MacNeily (’81), Toronto Tracey McGillivray (’87/’15), Ottawa | Kevin Mullen (’86), Calgary | Larry Mussenden (’86), Bermuda Kerel Pinder (’06), Freeport, Bahamas | David Roy (’08), Toronto | Derek Smith (’05), London, UK | Ron Smith (’71), Yarmouth Cynthia Trudell (’74), Armonk, New York | Stephen Wetmore (’77, ’16), Toronto | Lana Wood (’82), Calgary/Vancouver Francis Yip (’90), Hong Kong | EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS: Bruce Galloway (’68, ’03), Chancellor John Rogers (’79), Chair, Board of Governors | Dr. Peter Ricketts, President and Vice-Chancellor Donalda MacBeath (’75), President, Acadia Alumni Association Dr. Rod Morrison, Vice-President, Advancement | Brendan MacNeil, President, Acadia Students’ Union Nancy Handrigan (’92), Executive Director, Philanthropy, and Campaign Director

Office of Advancement 15 University Avenue, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6 Canada Telephone: (902) 585-1459 Toll-Free: 1-866-222-3428 Web: campaign.acadiau.ca Email: campaign@acadiau.ca