The New Year brought about some changes at the University Centre. The Coastal and Marine Management Program Director, Sigríður Ólafsdóttir, is on maternity leave. In her place we welcome Dagný Arnarsdóttir as Program Director. One of Dagný's first official tasks was to organise the students' theses presentations, which she managed admirably with the assistance of Skype, Powerpoint, SMS, and last but not least the clock! As some students and consultants were located around the globe, not only did Dagný need compatible technology but also the correct time zone!

 

Sigurður Arnfjörð Helgason has resigned his part-time position at University Centre, in order to concentrate his efforts on running the hotel in Núpur, Dýrafjörður. It could be said that Hotel Núpur is the first business spin-off from the University Centre, where a staff member or student of the University Centre has managed to make a living from a new venture.

 

2009 also saw Andrea Kasper as a part-time employee at the University Centre. Andrea assisted with the translation and editing of English text, supervised students, and organised The Writing Centre - the first of its kind in an Icelandic University Institution. She also helped with advertising the Coastal and Marine Management Master's Program - particularly within the United States. Andrea is presently moving to Skagaströnd where her husband has taken on a position at BioPol marine biotechnology science centre.

 

New staff members of the University Centre are Albertina Friðbjörg Elíasdóttir and Heiðrún Tryggvadóttir. Albertina taught the Preparatory Program at the University Centre for two years, and for a short time was also a project manager before. Heiðrún will organize the Icelandic language courses offered this year. She was one of the teachers on the Icelandic language course last year, so she is well aware of the challenges of organising a course for more than hundred participants.