• ACSED researchers participated in a workshop in April 2008 with representatives from research centres around the world that are focused on issues concerning diversity, multiculturalism and social justice. The objectives of the workshop were to share research experiences and to define areas for future collaborative research.

• Four ACSED research associates released a report summarizing results of their research on factors that affect academic achievement and social adjustment of international students in the Canadian context.

• ACSED pledged $6,000 in support of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society to help reconstitute its twenty-year genealogical project, largely destroyed when its Birchtown office was deliberately set on fire on March 31, 2006. This initiative was supported by the Office of the President at Acadia University.

In addition to the $6,000 contribution, two senior students were hired through ACSED to work full-time on site over the summer to assist in this vital reclamation project. Acadia’s prompt response was facilitated by the existence of its community research partnership between ACSED and the Mugomeh Conference. The Mugomeh Conference, developed through the leadership of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, is a coalition of African Nova Scotian community organizations and academic researchers, in which Acadia faculty members are active participants.

• An inaugural workshop was held to celebrate the establishment of ACSED and to provide an opportunity for all Research Associates to share recent research results.