While the snow doth fly, the travellers think to fly -- or cruise. Where? Well, the McGill Alumni Travel Program '99 offers 10 trips this year which -- the organization's name notwithstanding -- are open to staff, faculty and retired McGill employees, as well as alumni and friends of the university. Excursions range from the week-long cruise in the Grenadines at $ 2,550 (plus airfare) to an 11-day safari in Kenya at $6,595 (including airfare). Other excursions include Turkey, Europe's Roman ruins, Greece, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Tuscany, Japan, Provence and Tibet.

What do the McGill tours offer that others don't? "Customer satisfaction," says alumni relations associate Donna Henchey. "The reputation of the University is at stake so more care is taken in the planning." Furthermore, she says, "because we're a university, there's an educational component. We're not going to be sitting on the beach all day."

Begun in 1964, the tours have grown steadily in popularity; last year 400 travelled with the MATP. Henchey notes that one of the strong points of the excursions is the social aspect. "One woman came home from a trip one week and the next she was on the plane to Vancouver to see the friends she'd just met."

On the other hand, she says, the program equally well accommodates those who want to be on their own.

For more information, see the Alumni Services section of McGill's Alumni and Friends web site at ww2.mcgill.ca/alumni.

Bronwyn Chester

Younger professors take notice: nominations for a new teaching award are now being taken. The Carrie M. Derick Award for Graduate Teaching and Supervision is both a second and a first of its kind: second, because this is the University's second prize for graduate teaching and first, because it's the first time a McGill award has been named after a woman.

What distinguishes the Carrie M. Derick from the David Thomson award for graduate teaching is the restriction placed on the number of years of teaching experience. Unlike the latter award, which, in theory, is open to all faculty but, in fact, is usually granted, naturally enough, to the most experienced of teachers, the Derick, aiming to redress this imbalance, is open only to those teachers with 12 or less years of teaching experience, including three at the graduate level at McGill.

"In looking at the Thomson award nomination list, it was like comparing apples and oranges," says Martha Crago, associate vice-principal (graduate studies). "The Carrie M. Derick award provides encouragement and recognition of the extensive contribution that junior professors make."

The name of the award itself carries a special historical significance. Derick (BA 1890) was the first woman to receive full professor status in Canada and the first woman to receive an academic appointment at McGill. She is also believed to be the first woman to have directed a graduate thesis, that of a woman who graduated with a master's degree in 1912.

The presentation of the inaugural Carrie M. Derick prize will be at spring convocation as well as at the Graduate Faculty Council.

Leslie Stojsic