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Thursday October 8, 2009

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:38:29 EDT

October 8, 2009 Smoking researchers win health award Faculty evaluation 'needs improvement' Enrolment above target; other notes Smoking researchers win health award

A trio of UW researchers are among the eight winners of the first Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Awards, announced a few days ago by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The awards “recognize and celebrate Canadian health research and innovation excellence”. Winners were selected by a peer-review panel of Canadian and international experts who looked for “the discoveries and innovations that had the biggest impact on the health of people in this country and around the world”.

Waterloo’s Geoffrey Fong, Mary Thompson and David Hammond were cited for “their outstanding work with the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in assessing the effectiveness of various programs to reduce smoking around the world”.

“It’s worth noting that all the winners of this new award have placed a strong emphasis on translating their research discoveries and knowledge into innovations that have resulted in practical ways to improve health outcomes,” said Ian Graham, vice-president (knowledge translation) at CIHR. “That’s a crucial test for health research: how it can make a difference in people’s lives.”

Fong, Thompson and Hammond are key figures in collecting and interpreting research evidence to promote methods for reducing the “preventable deaths” that result from tobacco use, including 37,000 Canadians each year, CIHR says. Background: “The global tobacco epidemic will reach unprecedented proportions in the 21st century, because tobacco use is increasing in low and middle income countries. By the end of the century tobacco-related deaths are projected to grow as high as 1 billion. To reduce preventable deaths from using tobacco, the nations of the world, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, created the first-ever health treaty: the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which includes tobacco control policies that ratifying nations (now over 160) are required to implement, such as more prominent warning labels, smoke-free laws, and higher taxes.

“While many public health authorities hope FCTC policies will be effective, the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, centred at the University of Waterloo, is providing evidence from a state-of-the-art multinational evaluation program to give strength and direction to those hopes. The ITC Project is the only research program that focuses on evaluating FCTC policies as they are implemented throughout the world.

“As an example, when Ireland decided to ban smoking in public places, including their famous pubs, the ITC Project was on hand to collect data on public opinion and behaviour before and after the change. What they found in Ireland was significant for tobacco control throughout the world. Compared to the United Kingdom, which did not implement a smoke free law, one year later Ireland saw a dramatic reduction of smoking in public places. In addition, smokers and non-smokers alike widely supported the ban. This set of findings from the ITC Project provided powerful feedback for politicians and public health officials, and has been the foundation for the many smoke-free laws that have been implemented throughout the world.”

Says Fong, of UW’s department of psychology: “We are one of eight researchers/research teams to receive this award, and the only one not given to a medical school. The ITC Project is centred at UW, although the project is a true collaboration, most notably with Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo (our lead U.S. collaborating institution) and the Cancer Council of Victoria, in Melbourne, Australia.

“We are very proud of the fact that the ITC Project is an equal working collaboration across three faculties at UW.” Those would be arts, which includes Fong’s psych department; mathematics, where Thompson is a faculty member in statistics and actuarial science, responsible for sampling and analysis methods; and applied health sciences, where Hammond is in the department of health studies and gerontology.

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Faculty evaluation 'needs improvement'

With midterm season arriving, it might be some comfort to students to know that faculty members at UW also face an appraisal, in the form of the annual performance evaluation — and that process, in turn, came under scrutiny this year. Some changes in UW’s formal policies, as well as administrative moves, are needed in order to improve the way faculty members’ performance is evaluated, said a memo in early summer.

A Working Group on Faculty Annual Performance Evaluation submitted its report to the provost and the president of the faculty association in April. Association president George Freeman announced this week that the goal is to have any resulting changes approved "so they would apply to the year 2010, that is, to the assessments which are done in 2011".

“Compared to other universities,” last spring's report pointed out,”the merit process at UW plays an unusually important role in determining annual pay increases for faculty. The salary structure for university faculty has low salaries early in careers, with provisions built into the structure for annual increases so that career average earnings are commensurate with qualifications. The size of these increases is entirely dependent on the faculty member’s merit evaluation.”

However, “the existing system is not being used as effectively as it might be, there is unfortunate variation in the way it is implemented across campus, and it is poorly understood.”

One problem is that merit ratings depend mostly on the department chair. The committee suggests creating a performance evaluation committee in each department, to provide expertise on the various fields of study in the department and “reduce concerns about arbitrary decisions made by one person”.

Faculty are rated in three areas — teaching, research, and service, usually weighted at 40, 40 and 20 per cent of the total. “There is a great deal of variation from discipline to discipline in terms of expectations,” says the report. “However, the working group judges that it should be possible, at the department level, to make expectations clear.

“We cannot remove judgement from the process, but a written statement of the relevant evaluation criteria, suitably worded to indicate that the criteria are general rules-of-thumb to which exceptions are possible, is the appropriate way to address this tension.”

The report points out that not everybody understands one principle already written in to the rules: “When a person’s weightings depart from the standard 40/40/20, the expectations for quality of work are unchanged, but the expectations for quantity do change.” It suggests making more use of that mechanism — for example, allowing young faculty members with children to have less weight attached to teaching and more to research as part of a reduced-load arrangement.

Says the report: “It is particularly important that tenure track faculty annually receive detailed information about their progress toward tenure and specific recommendations about what to change, if anything, to improve the likelihood of tenure and promotion.” However, it suggests, professors who have tenure don’t need evaluations that often, and energy could be saved by evaluating them every other year.

The report also includes some specific remarks about all three areas in which faculty are rated. About teaching, it points out that “there are other legitimate sources of information about quality of teaching beside student evaluations”, but suggests that evaluations could be used better, and calls for deans’ council to see about implementing “a common course evaluation instrument for use across campus”.

About scholarship, it notes that “the most frequently voiced concerns have to do with the difficulty of properly valuing scholarly contributions of a non-traditional nature (e.g., works of art, knowledge transfer, and social innovations). Another frequent concern is that a one-year ‘snapshot’ is not an appropriate way to evaluate scholarly contributions.” Rating of scholarship should be based on three years’ worth of work, it suggests, and UW should “clarify that scholarly work outside of the usual peer reviewed venues is valued, but that the onus is on the faculty member to provide evidence of its quality, impact and relevance.”

Finally, it says, “there is more serious discontent about the evaluation of service than either of the other two areas. . . . Important informal contributions to the University — things like being available to undergraduate or graduate students, mentoring new faculty members, or being willing to teach unfamiliar courses when the department needs someone to do it — are not being recognised sufficiently.”

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Enrolment above target; other notes

How many first-year students are there this fall? The answer comes from Mary Soulis of the institutional analysis and planning office, although it remains preliminary until after the official count date of November 1. By then, she says in a memo this week, “our total year one enrolment should be between 6,100 and 6,200. Of the total about 5,700 are new admits,” with the other four or five hundred being previously registered students who still have first-year status this term. The actual figure she’s calculating, with “an accuracy of about 1%”, is 6,169, compared to the target first-year enrolment of 5,911. “This would put us at 104% of our target . . . about 116 over last fall’s November 1 registered students of 6,053. All Faculties are close to or above their targets; the Faculties vary from 99% of target for Engineering to 116% for Mathematics. Domestic students are at 105% of target and international high-fee paying students are at 101% of target.” Inevitably there are footnotes and caveats about who’s included and who’s not; for example, 218 students in the mathematics and English Language for Academic Success don’t get counted. One note that’s new this time round: “Excludes 22 new admits registered in the Engineering UAE program.”

"Have you ever continued to snack when you were full . . . felt guilty when you ate certain foods?" The people who can say yes are the people who need "Mindful Eating", says Beth Bower of UW's Counselling Services. She's launching a seven-session workshop under that title, aimed specifically at staff members "who struggle with emotional eating and weight management". Says a flyer: “In the group you will learn and practice lasting changes to how you eat; strategies to manage stress and emotional eating; cultivation of self-acceptance and body acceptance; mindfulness skills including mindful eating, body scan, walking & sitting meditation, and gentle stretching.” The program runs in weekly sessions starting October 20 (4 to 6 p.m.) and the total fee is $10. Registration is at counselling services in Needles Hall, phone ext. 32655.

Over 35? You may be having some trouble seeing up close — squinting at the computer screen or holding your book further and further away. “This condition is called presbyopia,” Alisa Sivak of the UW school of optometry reminds us. “Unlike myopia (near-sightedness) and hyperopia (far-sightedness), which affect only some people and can develop at any age, presbyopia affects everyone once they hit middle age.” The Centre for Contact Lens Research has two studies under way, one for people who have never had problems with their vision (“particularly distance vision”) and one for those who have worn contact lenses some time in the past ten years but gave them up when presbyopia surfaced. “You found – and rightly so! – that contact lenses helped with your distance vision but made your near vision worse.” The new option: “Multifocal contact lenses allow you to see both distance and near without having to cart reading glasses around with you. You may be a little bit apprehensive about putting a contact lens on your eye, but you wouldn’t mind giving them a try if someone could walk you through the process. We can do that. We’ll teach you how to insert the lenses and sit with you while you try it for yourself. You get to wear the lenses for a week at a time, just enough time to get a taste for how they compare to your ‘readers’.” Potential research subjects can get more information: e-mail research@ optometry.uwaterloo.ca.

Fans can get the year's first look at the Warrior men's basketball team tonight, as they'll play an exhibition game against an alumni team starting at 7:00 in the Physical Activities Complex main gym. • The Student Life Centre announced on its Facebook fan page this week that "GO buses start running from campus on Saturday, October 31." • Thanksgiving dinner will be served tonight at Mudie's cafeteria in Village I (or, for those who don't like turkey, there are "spicy chicken parathas").

Some 23,300 undergraduate students had e-mail from the registrar's office yesterday inviting them to answer a survey about service at the registrar's and accounts offices in Needles Hall, and offering the chance to win a bookstore gift certificate. • Campbell McKay, an information systems specialist in UW's IST department, officially retired as of July 1 this year (sorry to be late in reporting this transition). • If anybody is wondering about the length of the overpass that will connect Engineering 5 above the ring road to Engineering 3, here's the answer: 76 meters, or about 250 feet.

CAR

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United Way progress report

"We are on track to
shatter our goal," Russell MacKay reports from the United Way campaign office. As of yesterday, less than a week into the 2009 campaign, $84,800 in personal gifts from 282 donors had arrived towards the $200,000 target.

His weekly report notes special events including a months-long euchre tournament in information systems and technology that's been raising revenue for the United Way. And tomorrow is another Dress Down Day.

Link of the day

Occupational Therapy Month

When and where

Employer interviews for winter term co-op jobs (main group) October 2-29; ranking opens October 30, 1:00 p.m. Details.

Imaginus poster sale in the Student Life Centre, through Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

UW Farm Market 9:00 to 1:00, Environment I courtyard: local produce, preserves, honey, baked goods.

Surplus sale of furnishings and equipment 12:30 to 2:00, central stores, East Campus Hall.

Warrior sports today: women’s soccer at Laurier, 3:00; men’s soccer at Laurier, 5:15; men’s basketball, exhibition vs. alumni team, 7:00, PAC main gym.

Career workshop: “Work Search Strategies” 3:30, Tatham Centre room 1208. Details.

International learning experience (Mexico) information session Thursday 5:30, Renison UC chapel lounge. Details.

Dead Sea Scrolls lecture: Derek Suderman, Conrad Grebel UC, “Rediscovering Jesus’ Scriptures” Thursday 7:00, Grebel great hall.

Library workshop: “Mapping Census Data” Friday 10:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Warrior sports this weekend: Soccer vs. Laurier, women 1:00 Friday, men 4:00, Columbia Field. • Men’s rugby vs. Brock, Friday 4:00, Columbia Field. • Soccer vs. Laurier, women 1:00 Friday, men 4:00, Columbia Field. • Men’s hockey vs. Western, Friday 7:30, Icefield (“Residence Night”); at Windsor, Saturday. • Football vs. Queen’s, Saturday 1:00, Warrior Field. • Women’s rugby at Laurier, Friday 4:00.

Jake Sivak, recently retired from school of optometry, reception celebration Friday 4 to 6 p.m., University Club.

Toronto Drama Troupe production of “I Am in Love with My Ex-Wife” (in Chinese) Friday 7:00, Humanities Theatre. Details.

Thanksgiving Day holiday Monday, October 12, UW offices and most services closed, classes cancelled.

Class enrolment appointments on Quest for winter 2010 undergraduate courses, October 12-17. Open enrolment begins October 19.

Library workshop: “Google Earth Level Two: Creating KML” Tuesday 2:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Computer science information session on upper-year courses, Tuesday 3:30, Davis Centre rooms 1301-1302.

Career workshops Tuesday: “Successfully Negotiating Job Offers” 3:30, Tatham Centre room 1208; “Are You Thinking about Med School?” 6:00, Tatham 2218. Details.

Arts faculty council Tuesday 3:30, Needles Hall room 3001; reception follows to greet new faculty members.

WatRISQ seminar: Max Rudolph, Rudolph Financial Consulting, “Making Better Decisions Using Enterprise Risk Management” Tuesday 4:00, Davis Centre room 1304.

‘Mini-Pharmacy School’ series of six public lectures, Tuesday evenings beginning October 13, 6:30, Pharmacy building, fee $100. Details.

Sexuality, Marriage and Family Studies presents Alice Kuzniar, Germanic and Slavic studies department, “Homosexuality in the Third Reich” Wednesday 6:00, St. Jerome’s University room 2011.

Work/Study Abroad Fair about exchange programs and overseas organizations, October 15, 11:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre great hall.

Quantum Dance sponsored by Institute for Quantum Computing, October 17, Federation Hall, doors open 9:00, e-mail iqc@ iqc.ca for VIP entry.

UW senate monthly meeting October 19, 4:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 3001.

Mental Health Wellness Day with booths and speakers in Student Life Centre, October 20, 10:00 to 3:00.

Town Hall meeting for faculty and staff with UW president and vice-presidents, October 20, 3:00 to 4:30, Humanities Theatre; e-mail questions to townhall@ uwaterloo.ca.

Ninety-Ninth Convocation October 24, ceremonies at 10:00 (applied health sciences, arts) and 2:30 (other faculties), Physical Activities Complex. Details.

PhD oral defences

Electrical and computer engineering. Kamran Jamshaid, “Centralized Rate Allocation and Control in 802.11-based Wireless Mesh Networks.” Supervisor, Paul Ward. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Friday, October 16, 9:00 a.m., CEIT room 3142.

Computer science. Arash Farzan, “Succinct Representation of Trees and Graphs.” Supervisor, Ian Munro. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Friday, October 16, 10:00, Davis Centre room 1331.

Biology. Youai Hao, “Two of the Mechanisms Used by Bacteria to Modify the Environment: Quorum Sensing and ACC Deaminase.” Supervisors, Bernard R. Glick and Trevor C. Charles. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Monday, October 19, 2:30 p.m., Biology I room 266.

 

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2009 University of Waterloo

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Monday December 15, 2008

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:27:53 EST

December 15, 2008 New rules about staff secondments Profile of UW's youngest donor Divers drops in the daily downpour

UW Place dons Alison Hogg and Adrienne Raw organized a charity drive in the residence "to get the dons and students involved in giving back", says residence life coordinator Jeyas Balaskanthan. The outcome: more than 100 shoeboxes filled with gifts for children ages 3 to 12. Twelve dons (including Lyha Quaranto, pictured) and six other volunteers helped with the packing at the local distribution centre for Operation Christmas Child.

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New rules about staff secondments

New guidelines for secondments — temporary assignments of UW staff to a different job in a different department — were issued last week after approval by the Staff Relations Committee.

The changes were made after a year-long review “in response to requests for clarification, and a desire to ensure that all UW staff had the opportunity to apply for secondments,” the committee said in a memo.

It pointed out that secondments are of special interest right now because of an official postponement of most UW hiring, at least until the new fiscal year starts in May. The hiring chill “does not affect secondments,” says the memo. “In fact, secondments may be an attractive alternative in some cases.”

The new guidelines, which went into effect November 20, are intended to “ensure that secondment arrangements are fully documented” and “clarify the circumstances when a secondment should be used”, the committee said. They also require that “normally” secondments will be advertised through the weekly Positions Available listing.

Here’s some of what the new guidelines document says: “The university endorses and is committed to the concept of continuous learning and development for all staff members. Secondments provide staff with opportunities for personal, professional and career development, and a mechanism for getting on-the-job experience in different areas of campus, thus increasing their overall knowledge and effectiveness to the organization. To that end, managers are strongly encouraged to consider the use of secondments for special projects or assignments or to fill positions where staff are expected to return from leaves of absence.

“Normally, secondments must be advertised internally to the campus community and Human Resources will record and batch resumes before forwarding on to the hiring manager. In some cases, it may be appropriate that secondments not be advertised due to unique needs, required skills or special circumstances. The seconding department head with the agreement of the home department head must formally request a waiver from advertisement from the Staff Relations Committee.

“All secondment arrangements must be formally documented and signatures obtained from the home department head, the seconding department head and the staff member. A copy of the secondment agreement must be sent to Human Resources for the staff member’s file.

“Managers involved in a secondment arrangement can consult Human Resources for information on advertising a secondment and drafting an agreement.

“It is understood that short term needs within a unit often can be met by re-assignment of existing regular or temporary staff. Recognizing that ‘short-term’ is subject to interpretation, it is suggested that departmental reassignments of up to nine months are not ‘secondments’. However, staff movement between business units should generally be considered as secondments regardless of duration.”

The guidelines also deal with procedures for performance appraisals, job classifications and other details. They note that the usual arrangement is for the “seconding department” — the UW unit that’s borrowing the staff member — will transfer funds to the employee’s home department to cover his or her salary.

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Profile of UW's youngest donor

a feature article from UW’s 2007-08 “Report on Giving”

The living room that Boaz Van Veen typically reigns over contains what you'd expect to find in any child's domain. A fort made of couch cushions encaging his pet cat. A teetering tower of colourful blocks stretching to the chandelier. A massive fire truck with sirens wailing. But what makes this scene remarkable is that, as this little boy plays with his toys, he is teaming up with cutting-edge researchers to improve dementia care practices in Canada.

While most of his peers spend their birthday or Tooth Fairy money at Toys "R" Us or a candy shop, this four-year-old gives to a program in UW's Lyle S. Hallman Institute for Health Promotion. The Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP), for which Boaz emptied his piggy bank to give $170, is an international leader in dementia research.

One in every 13 Canadians over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. As the population ages, experts predict that the number of people affected by this disease will increase. While the search continues for the cause and cure, MAREP brings together research and practice to ensure that those affected by dementia and their care providers are equipped with the education and support required to lead meaningful lives.

Boaz's parents, David and Gael, hope their son will grow up knowing his support has a direct impact on vital research, which is why they chose MAREP as his program to support. "Fortunately, our family hasn't been affected by this disease," says Gael, "but as the statistics suggest, it's quite possible that someday we may." Thanks to his family friend and the program founder, "Grandpa Ken" (Kenneth Murray), Boaz is well acquainted with MAREP. Ken is leading a campaign to raise $1 million in support for MAREP, to which more than $400,000 has already been pledged.

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Divers drops in the daily downpour

The campus gets quieter day by day, though fall term exams continue this week, winding up on Friday. The libraries are still in exam mode, with the Davis Centre facility open 24 hours a day and the Dana Porter Library from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Round-the-clock operation also continues until Friday at the real hub of the campus, the Tim Hortons outlet in the Student Life Centre. But the REVelation cafeteria in Ron Eydt Village, which had been running 24 hours a day last week, is back to its regular hours for the next few days, and will close for the season as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Mudie's in Village I stays open on its normal schedule (that is, until 12:30 a.m. daily) until Friday night. Elsewhere on the campus, finally, the CEIT building Café and the Eye Opener coffee shop in the Optometry building have gone dark as of today, joining several other food services outlets in their seasonal closing; they'll all reopen on January 5.

Wanda Richardson (right), who's played a key role in many of UW's most sensitive projects over the past couple of years, will leave the university at year's end, she said this week. Richardson has been working, on a contract basis, as director of "government relations and strategic initiatives". A permanent position heading that office was advertised in September. "My work at the university these past four years has truly been a great adventure," says a goodbye note from Richardson, who came originally in 2004 as a staffer for then associate vice-president Gerry Thompson. She's moving to a position with engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald.

The UW staff association sent a memo to its members last week announcing vacancies on a couple of influential university-level committees. A seat representing staff on the UW pension and benefits committee is open for a three-year term starting next May 1, and there's a two-year seat (starting January 1) for a member at large on the staff relations committee. Also vacant: an alternate position on the Employee Assistance Program committee, and two posts on the staff association's own nominating committee. Applications for all these roles are due by January 9, addressed to staff association past president Jesse Rodgers in information systems and technology.

A two-year employment contract between UW and Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793 has received its final ratification. Union members endorsed it earlier this month, and at week's end the university secretariat reported that ratification on behalf of the university, the employer, had been officially given by the board of governors executive committee, acting on behalf of the board. Such items are sometimes handled by the committee through a telephone vote, with the results reported to the next full meeting of the board (scheduled, in this case, for February 3).

CAR

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Link of the day

Halcyon days

When and where

Feds used book store, Student Life Centre, open Monday-Friday 9 to 5 this week; closed Saturday and next week. Open January 3-4, 9 to 5, and starting January 5, 8:30 to 5:30.

UW Senate monthly meeting scheduled for today, cancelled.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, today 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Finding Nemo: Advanced Techniques for Finding Web Resources” Tuesday 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Equipment cooling shut off in Biology I and II, Chemistry II and ESC buildings, Wednesday 7:30 a.m. to Friday 4 p.m.

Hot water shut off in Physics and CEIT buildings Wednesday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Barry Levely, mapping, analysis and design, Faculty of Environment, retirement reception Wednesday 2:00 to 4:30, Environment II room 1008A.

Pension and benefits committee Friday 8:30 a.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

Unofficial fall term grades begin appearing on Quest December 22; grades become official January 26.

Unsilent Night outdoor ambient music holiday event, with support from UW architecture students, all welcome, Monday, December 22, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., City Hall, 50 Dickson Street, Cambridge.

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5.

Optometry continuing education “CE on the SEA” Caribbean cruise and professional upgrading, January 3-10. Details.

Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ at Renison University College, Thursday, January 8, 7:00 p.m.; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, Sunday, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Engineering alumni reception at annual meetings of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, Tuesday, January 13, 6:00 p.m., Marriott Wardmann Park Hotel. Details.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

Engineering alumni ski day at Osler Bluff Ski Club, Collingwood, January 16. Details.

Centre for Family Business, based at Conrad Grebel University College, breakfast seminar, “Working in a Family Business”, Friday, January 16, 7 a.m., Waterloo Inn.

Renison University College Founders’ Day celebrations Sunday, January 17, 3:00, details to be announced.

Banff Mountain Film Festival January 18 and 19, 7:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre, tickets $15.

Faculty of Science presents Sydney Brenner, Nobel prize winner 2002, “The Architecture of Biological Complexity,” Tuesday, January 20, details to be announced.

The Three Cantors benefit concert celebrating 10th anniversary of the School of Social Work, Renison University College, Tuesday, February 3, 7:30 p.m., St. John the Evangelist church, Kitchener, tickets $25 (students $20), information ext. 28644.

Chilly Dog Run (or walk) around the ring road, sponsored by Moods Assistance Through Educational Support, Saturday, February 7, depart from Student Life Centre 10:30 a.m. Chili follows.

Winter term reading week February 16-20.

Family Day holiday Monday, February 16: UW offices and most services will be closed.

Friday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Friday December 12, 2008

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:31:31 EST

December 12, 2008 Survey tells how teens view UW She said, he said, about online system

Fall term final exams continue, mostly in the Physical Activities Complex, with the last ones scheduled for December 19. Unofficial fall term grades begin appearing on Quest December 22, and grades become official January 26.

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Survey tells how teens view UW

The largest share of young students who apply for admission to UW can be labelled “enthusiasts”, meaning they are “engaged participants” who expect “a high return on investment” for the time and money they put into their education.

That nutshell description suits 42 per cent of the first-choice applicants who answered a survey last February, according to a report from the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office. The rest of the applicants were divided among three other groups. “Conformists”, who “pursue university primarily due to societal pressures and parental and peer expectations”, made up 21 per cent of the total, “Humanists” who seek to “improve the world” made up 18 per cent, and “Drifters” who “don’t know why they are attending university” were also 18 per cent.

“Although all applicants share some aspect of careerist, altruistic, personal development, and expectation-driven motivations, statistical analysis allows clustering into four categories,” the report notes.

The results come from the University College Applicant Survey, which this year was offered to about 160,000 applicants to more than 40 institutions. The marketing office says about 5,000 UW applicants completed the survey, though it’s not clear how many of them were the same young people who actually were accepted to UW and started their studies here in September.

Some demographic findings about the 5,000 applicants: 41 per cent “self-identified as a visible minority”; 59 per cent “speak English as a first language”; 42 per cent live in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area, and 9 per cent in Waterloo Region.

“UW stands apart,” says the report, “as our first-choice applicants are more likely to be male” than those at other Ontario universities. (The UW figures: 58 per cent male, 42 per cent female.) “Compared to UW applicants overall, those from K-W and Cambridge are considerably more likely to be female and have lower grade averages.”

The survey asked several questions aimed at finding out what kind of university the applicants think they are coming to. Says the report: “UW is first and foremost identified with a handful of key programs — Engineering, Mathematics, Co-op, Computer Science/technology, and Science. For some, UW is strongly associated with ‘Bill Gates’ and ‘RIM’.

“Respondents are divided as to whether the social experience at UW is ‘fun’ or ‘boring’, but UW is seldom associated with athletics or extracurricular, as are many key competitors.”

In a separate survey, also available this week, the marketing office asked applicants who turned down admissions offers from UW why they had chosen not to come to Waterloo. The top three reasons, in order: “UW was not 1st choice; Better career preparation at chosen university; UW is known only for technology-oriented programs.” Some 35 per cent of applicants said they might have changed their mind, though, if Waterloo had offered them a larger scholarship.

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She said, he said, about online system

One of the presentations at last week’s WatITis conference described the development of the Online Faculty Information System that’s emerging in the faculty of engineering. The speakers were Marlon Griffith of engineering computing and Paul McKone, now of the faculty of environment but formerly also of engineering.

It turns out that the real begetters of the project are Beth Jewkes of the management sciences department and Peter Douglas, associate dean (computing) in engineering. Invited to give the background, they ended up in what can best be presented as a dialogue. . . .

She said: “OFIS development came together as a result of two separate, but related streams of thought that Peter and I were having about 2-plus years ago. I wanted an automated tool to help chairs and faculty members gather (and maintain) data pertaining to the reports for annual merit reviews, OCGS, CEAB, and other purposes where we had to report about faculty members’ activity.

“We collect the same information from the Graduate Studies Office, Office of Research, Institutional Analysis and Planning and the faculty level offices for different purposes over and over again, resulting in unnecessary work, errors and frustration. I wanted an approach whereby if we collected the base information once, had a mechanism to update it, that we could use the information for multiple purposes. It would require a substantial up-front investment, but the reduction in later work hopefully would be worth it.

“Management Sciences had recently implemented an online faculty application system whereby people interested in applying for a faculty position would apply and submit their paperwork online. Members of the hiring committee could then access all the application materials, and we could do our reviewing without masses and masses of paper, lost files, delays due to a sequential review of files (rather than concurrent). The experience we had gained in developing that system made me think about what other administrative processes we could streamline.”

He said: “When I first took on the job of Associate Dean, I thought that we could do a better job of supporting administrative computing functions. In particular, I thought about providing faculty with a summary of their teaching data (courses taught, student course critiques) over the past year. This is something that all faculty members must submit as part of the annual performance review. This info is not particularly difficult for faculty members to reproduce, but Engineering Computing had already created a database for the Dean that contained all this data and it could easily be converted into a report for each professor.

“I asked Paul McKone (because he created and maintained the database) if it was possible to generate such a report; Paul made the crucial mistake of saying ‘yes, that shouldn't be a problem’.

“It was probably around this time when we were talking seriously about the possibility of getting access to the central data that I began talking with Beth about what we were doing and she told me about her initiative in MSci to develop a database.”

She said: “We realized that we were talking about basically the same type of thing. I offered a faculty member to help — she is an expert in database design — and our computer technician.”

He said: “We began thinking of the other data that profs needed to complete their annual performance reports (teaching, research and service). Research data consisted of graduate supervision (the GSO had all this data), contracts and grants (the office of research had all this data) and finally names, ranks, etc. (human resources had all this info). A big vote of thanks has to go to Alan George, the associate provost, for making it easy for us to get access to this data from the central databases.”

She said: “With the support of Alan and the dean of engineering, Adel Sedra, we've made some pretty good progress, and it’s clear that it has very large potential for use campus-wide. This has been a labour of love in many ways, as I think the team knows it is the right thing to do.”

He said: “Beth and I have always been close colleagues, probably starting when she was Associate Dean, and so it was easy for us to work together. Beth brought Professor Olga Vechtomova (an expert in databases and data retrieval) into the group as well as Vu Huynh (MSci systems administrator and programmer of the MSci faculty application system). We continue to meet weekly for about two hours.”

She said: “To move the project ahead, Peter needed to interface with numerous university-wide folks to ask for data, and to clarify why we were asking for it. If it were not for his congenial persistence, things would not have moved along so well.

“I've more or less been behind the scenes making sure that what the team does is practical and useful from an academic standpoint, testing, and cracking silly jokes at our meetings.”

CAR

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Photo by Simon Wilson.

Link of the day

Santa Lucia

When and where

Libraries extended hours through December 19: Davis Centre Library open 24 hours a day except Sundays 2 to 8 a.m.; Dana Porter Library open 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Libraries open December 20-23, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed December 24 through January 4.

Paul Snyder, information systems and technology, “40 Years in Review” as he nears retirement, 9 a.m., Math and Computer room 2009.

Jay Black, school of computer science, farewell reception as he moves to Simon Fraser University, 4:00 to 6:00, Davis Centre lounge.

Architecture 443/646 student films on the theme of “madness in architecture”, 8:00 p.m., Architecture lecture hall, Cambridge.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled.

Classical Dance Conservatory Christmas show Sunday 2:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre.

UW Senate Monday, December 15, cancelled.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Finding Nemo: Advanced Techniques for Finding Web Resources” Tuesday 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Barry Levely, mapping, analysis and design, Faculty of Environment, retirement reception Wednesday 2:00 to 4:30, Environment II room 1008A.

Pension and benefits committee Friday, December 19, 8:30 a.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5. Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ at Renison University College, Thursday, January 8, 7:00 p.m.; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, Sunday, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include social work, December 15; pharmacy (for January 2010), January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

Engineering alumni ski day at Osler Bluff Ski Club, Collingwood, January 16. Details.

United Arab Emirates campus information session with director Magdy Salama, Monday, January 19, 3:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 3001.

Student drama production February 5-14 in Studio 180, Humanities building, details to be announced.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Wednesday December 10, 2008

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:37:04 EST

December 10, 2008
Award for three graduate supervisors CS prof leaves for BC, and other notes

We missed a major anniversary last week, I discovered just too late. It was December 3, 1958, fifty years ago last Wednesday, that Ontario premier Leslie Frost officially opened the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Building — to be known as "Engineering I" for most of UW's history, and renamed the "Doug Wright Engineering Building" in 1998. By any title, it's the university's oldest academic building, erected in a matter of months after the "Waterloo College Associate Faculties" bought its new campus in January 1958. Frost, a strong supporter of Waterloo, had already received a petition asking the Ontario government for full status as a university; the University of Waterloo Act would be passed in the spring of 1959.

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Award for three graduate supervisors

Three faculty members have been selected to receive the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision for this year, says a memo from the dean of graduate studies, Alan George.

They are Robin Cohen of the School of Computer Science; Alison Pedlar, recently retired from the Recreation and Leisure Studies department; and Steve Spencer of the Department of Psychology.

“The Graduate Studies Office, in collaboration with the Graduate Student Association, established this Award to recognize exemplary faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in graduate student supervision,” George’s memo notes. The selection is made by a committee consisting of the graduate dean or a designate; the president of the GSA or a designate; a faculty member nominated by the Faculty Association; and the associate deans (graduate studies and research) of the six faculties, or their designates.

“Recipients,” George notes, “will be recognized at an annual Graduate Studies Award Reception in January.” His office released these citations for the three 2008 winners, drawn largely from testimonials by their past and present graduate students:

Robin Cohen: “Several nomination letters advised that Dr. Cohen is a very effective supervisor, with patience and knowledge, putting just the right amount of pressure on students to ensure that they do well in their programs. Dr. Cohen suggests that students talk with other professors to find out about their areas of research and also encourages her students to take courses that would further their knowledge in a particular research area. She is always available to meet with her students, takes notes at their meetings for continuity, and is always very encouraging. She makes international students feel comfortable in their new surroundings. When her students attend conferences, she organizes meetings between professors from other universities and her students.

“Dr. Cohen is a very caring person who wants her students to succeed. She helps them complete scholarship applications, and organizes career meetings between her students and people at the large IT companies. A number of her students have won awards including the Alumni Gold Medal and the Governor General Gold Medal. Five of her former PhD students are either currently employed in Canadian universities including Waterloo or are leading research groups in laboratories.

“Over the years she has co-authored more than eighty journal or conference papers with her students.”

Alison Pedlar “is known for her community work in recreation and leisure. People consistently would comment on leaving her sessions feeling heard, valued, inspired and energized by her passion and commitment to improving the quality of life of all members of the community. She instilled these feelings in her students and organized opportunities for them to do their research work in the same communities. Over the last fifteen years she led research projects focused on improving the quality of life of people with developmental disabilities, mental illness and women who are incarcerated in our Federal prisons. She instilled in her students how to disseminate their research by reports, presentations and input from community members and organizations.

“Dr. Pedlar was always available for her students. She never opposed ideas but would ask insightful questions that encouraged critical thinking. She was always quick at giving feedback and she did it in a very humanitarian way that encouraged students to excel. She helped her students apply for scholarships and to publicize their research. Many of her former students are now teaching and have expressed their gratitude for her being a tremendous role model.”

Steven Spencer “attracts absolutely stellar, well-rounded, brilliant students. One student did a SSHRC postdoc at Stanford, was hired as an Assistant Professor at UCLA and is now at UBC as a tenured professor. Four of his other students are either postdocs or faculty.

“Dr. Spencer has been recognized for helping prospective students and students who he is currently supervising. Steve embodies everything that a graduate student would want in a supervisor; he is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his research, he is well respected in his field, he is an excellent teacher, he is a great mentor, he is extremely approachable, and he is very committed to all of his students. He seems to know exactly what each student requires in terms of supervision. One student he supervised was interested in a cultural area and Professor Spencer, although knowing that it would take more of his time to supervise this student, agreed to do it. He treats all of his colleagues (from undergrads to celebrity professors) with the same respect and recognition.”

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CS prof leaves for BC, and other notes

Jay Black of UW’s school of computer science will leave Waterloo at the end of the year to take a senior administrative job at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. SFU has named him to be its Chief Information Officer, effective January 5. Black (left) held a similar job at UW as associate provost (information systems and technology) from 1996 to 2003. He’s a specialist in “ubiquitous computing” and distributed systems, and has been serving as associate director of the CS school. Black and his wife Catherine, a faculty member in French at Wilfrid Laurier University, will be guests of honour at a farewell reception on Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Davis Centre lounge. “Please join us,” says Tamer Özsu, director of the CS school, “to wish them the best, sign the guest book, add a vignette, and celebrate Jay’s many accomplishments at the University of Waterloo.”

Sharon Rumpel, UW’s manager of parking services, has made an announcement that will come as good news to campus visitors, at least temporarily. It’s about parking lot C, across University Avenue from the main campus entrance, which “was taken away as a visitor lot during mid-September” because of demand for space from student permit holders. The result: many visitors had to park way down Seagram Drive near the UW Place residence complex. Lot C is being returned to visitor use during daytime hours on a pay-and-display basis ($3 in coins on entering the lot). “We expect this to continue through to the end of term,” says Rumpel, “and will advise the status of this lot next term once we see what the space allocation is like.”

The finance committee of UW’s senate will meet this afternoon (4:00, Needles Hall room 3004) to hear an update about the current year’s operating budget and talk about the “context” in which administrators will put together a budget for the 2009-10 year. Background information distributed with the agenda includes the budget approved by UW’s board of governors last spring. In it, provost Amit Chakma is expecting a deficit of just a hair less than $3 million for UW’s operations in 2008-09, with income of $403.5 million and expenses of $406.5 million. Beyond that, however, the “context” is dominated by the national and international economic crunch, including the deficit plans and “restraint measures” announced by the Ontario government, which provides the biggest single share of UW’s funding.

A few days ago I mentioned a couple of pre-Christmas charitable activities that are under way on campus, and asked for news about others. Several e-mail messages arrived as a result, and I quote:
• Jennifer Crane, distance and continuing education: "I have placed a box in our office’s lunch room that is collecting toys for the Santa’s Anonymous program. Waterloo Ringette is participating in this again this year and we have called it Alison’s Dream in memory of a very young Ringette player. This is near and dear to my heart as I coached this little girl last year and I am part of Alison’s Team. Last year we helped gather more than 300 gifts."
• Chris Mills, health studies and gerontology: "Once again you will notice a box during December, to collect the makings for Christmas stockings to be delivered to homeless shelters — simple pairs of warm socks, stuffed with the sorts of things a homeless person might use or enjoy, and that are small enough to fit in a stocking. The shelters are very supportive of the idea and each pair brings a little comfort to someone who probably has lost contact with loved ones. This year there will actually be two collection points in AHS, one outside my door (BMH 2310) and one outside LHN 2734. You may leave pre-stuffed stockings (please indicate whether for male or female, adult/youth/child) or the makings."
• Debbie Pallas, faculty of arts: "The Dean of Arts Office and the Arts Advancement Team are collecting Canadian Tire money to purchase Christmas toys for underprivileged children."
• Katherine MacLean, English Language Proficiency Program: "I am collecting new teddy bears to be donated to the Waterloo Region Sexual Assault Treatment Centre. Each bear will be loved and hugged by a child who has suffered sexual assault trauma. If you would like to donate a new bear, please drop it off by December 17 at DC 3611."

CAR

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Link of the day

Human Rights Day

When and where

Libraries extended hours through December 19: Davis Centre Library open 24 hours a day except Sundays 2 to 8 a.m.; Dana Porter Library open 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Libraries open December 20-23, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed December 24 through January 4.

Accelerator Centre “graduation” for Miovision Technologies, Thursday 9:30 a.m., 295 Hagey Boulevard, information info@ acceleratorcentre.com.

Applied Complexity and Innovation seminar: Brenda Zimmerman, York University, “Applications of Complexity Science to Healthcare”, Thursday 12:00, University Club, RSVP cmombour@ uwaterloo.ca.

UW International Spouses potluck Christmas dessert and afternoon tea, Thursday 12:45 p.m., 5th floor, St. Paul’s Graduate Apartments. Details.

UW-ACE Instructor User Group Thursday 1:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Sunshine Montessori School Christmas concert Thursday 7:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre.

Paul Snyder, information systems and technology (right), “40 Years in Review” as he nears retirement, Friday 9 a.m., Math and Computer room 2009.

Architecture 443/646 student films on the theme of “madness in architecture”, Friday 8:00 p.m., Architecture lecture hall, Cambridge.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal scheduled for Saturday, December 13, has been cancelled.

Classical Dance Conservatory Christmas show Sunday 2:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre.

Social work program application deadline for 2009 is Monday, December 15.

UW Senate December 15, cancelled.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Finding Nemo: Advanced Techniques for Finding Web Resources” Tuesday 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5. Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ at Renison University College, Thursday, January 8, 7:00 p.m.; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

St. Jerome’s University presents “Confronting Evil Today”, free three-part mini-course by faculty member David Seljak, begins Friday, January 16, 7:30 p.m., Siegfried Hall.

UW board of governors meets Tuesday, February 3, 2:30 p.m.

Positions available

On this week's list from the human resources department:

• Assistant to the dean, faculty of arts, USG 5
• Research assistant/ administrative secretary, management sciences (WATMIMS), USG 5
• Academic integrity coordinator, engineering undergraduate office, USG 6, part-time, secondment or contract opportunity
• Custodian I, plant operations (several positions)

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Monday December 8, 2008

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:41:20 EST

December 8, 2008 Site offers hour-by-hour forecasts Forum today on community social issues Student art winners, and other notes Site offers hour-by-hour forecasts

If it snows a little around 3 a.m., then goes above freezing by breakfast time tomorrow on its way to a high of 5 Celsius, you’ll know that Jim Sloan’s forecast was right — again.

Sloan is the key researcher in the Waterloo Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, based in UW’s department of earth sciences. The work of WCAS is focused on such issues as smog and climate change, and requires so much meteorological (weather) expertise that several years ago Sloan and his colleagues created a web site offering daily forecasts for the Great Lakes area, and Waterloo in particular.

“In order to do chemical transport modelling, you need to know meteorology — the fluid dynamics of the atmosphere,” he explains. “We had to set up a meteorological model.” From there, it was a small step to putting forecasts online, to provide publicity for WCAS “and as a public service”.

The world has two primary, well-developed forecasting models — massive computer programs, “tens of thousands of lines of code” — now in use. The forecasts from WCAS are developed with one of the two, WRF, with many adjustments to suit conditions and typical weather in southern Ontario.

“Waterloo is a particularly difficult region to forecast,” says Sloan, pointing to its location almost surrounded by big lakes, which moderate the temperatures and notoriously produce “lake effect” snowfalls in southern Ontario and western New York.

Zhuanshi He, a postdoctoral researcher who serves as WCAS’s meteorologist, “periodically re-parameterizes the model”, Sloan explains — that is, “tweaks it to get the best performance.” For example, the amount of sunlight that’s reflected by typical Waterloo County snow cover in the wintertime (left) affects the air temperature and can make the difference between rain and snow.

All forecasters work with the same data, gathered around the world at tens of thousands of observation stations, some on the ground and some on geostationary satellites. In a display of international cooperation supervised by the World Meteorological Organization, the data are provided to national weather agencies, such as Environment Canada’s meteorological headquarters in Dorval, Québec. The government agency calculates its own forecasts and also provides raw numbers to commercial forecasters and researchers, including WCAS.

An Internet download of the data starts about 3 a.m. each day, and after massive number-crunching on WCAS’s array of 160 computers, housed in the Sharcnet wing of the Physics building, a new forecast is produced and delivered online in the early morning.

“We’re better than Environment Canada,” Sloan boasts, “because we specifically run this for the Waterloo area.” Interpolations, done automatically as part of the forecast, can show distinct predictions for spots as little as 4 kilometres apart, with temperature and precipitation predictions hour by hour, such as the time tonight’s snow will begin.

Sloan and his colleagues like to compare their forecasts with the actual data reported afterwards by UW’s weather station on the north campus — a project of the civil engineering department, not related to WCAS. They typically find, he says, that they’ve got the temperature right, within one degree Celsius, 85 to 95 per cent of the time, which is considered quite an achievement.

Costs of setting up the forecasting service were covered out of Sloan’s research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Power Generation (which has a keen interest in smog and atmospheric data), and other agencies. Operating costs are small, he says. So is public use of the site, typically 100 to 150 hits a day, but he’d like to make it better known and attract more users.

What he doesn’t know is the long-term future of the forecasts, as he shifts his research emphasis somewhat — he’s hoping to be involved in the scientific work for an international satellite launch that’s in the early planning stages — and will officially retire from his faculty position next year.

Speaking of weather: November was "another wet month with cold temperatures", says Frank Seglenieks of the UW weather station in his monthly roundup. "After a few days that were close to 20 degrees Celsius in the first week and a high of 8 Celsius on the 15th, the temperature went south and never again got above 2.5 C. Overall the month was 0.8 degrees below average." Precipitation was above average, with 115 millimetres: "We have now had the 3rd highest precipitation for the first 11 months of any year since records in the area began back in 1915."

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Forum today on community social issues

from the UW media relations office

UW's Social Innovation Generation group, known as SiG@Waterloo, will join with community partners today to showcase regional initiatives aimed at tackling such social issues as homelessness, poverty and mental illness. The Social Innovation and Community Change Forum takes place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo.

SiG is working in collaboration with the Centre for Community Based Research, Region of Waterloo, City of Kitchener, CIGI and its affiliate IGLOO. "The forum will create an opportunity for leaders in the Waterloo Region to share stories, research and strategies," said John Lord, forum chair and founder of the Centre for Community Based Research. "Waterloo Region has been a beacon of new ideas since the 1980s, whether in mental health, affordable housing, family violence prevention, collaborative partnering or community-based research. We will look at what we have accomplished and celebrate our progress."

The forum aims to celebrate social innovation in Waterloo Region, especially an influx of new ideas and approaches; share ideas and insights about social innovation and community change; and inspire community members to expand and deepen social innovation in Waterloo Region and elsewhere.

The day is divided into four interrelated themes: passion and vision, partnerships and collaborations, places and spaces, and impact and sustainability. Each theme explores the role of research in enhancing social innovation.

The forum also allows participants to build strong networks and connections for the future.

"This region has been clearly identified as a community characterized by strategic community building and, together, we stand primed to tackle the challenges of rapid change that are sure to be part of our future," said Frances Westley, a UW professor who holds the J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation. "Meeting these challenges in Waterloo will require new, collaborative, diverse approaches to learning and working together, and it is that kind of spirit of social innovation that is being celebrated at the forum."

Besides Westley, participants include Joe Mancini, The Working Centre; Allan Strong, Self-Help Alliance, Recovery Oriented Initiative in Mental Health; Michael Bach, Canadian Association for Community Living; Paula Saunders, Independent Living Centre of Waterloo Region; and Tim Jackson, Tech Capital Partners.

SiG@UWaterloo is part of a national collaborative involving the Montréal-based J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, UW, the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, and PLAN Institute in Vancouver. The project seeks to provide practical support for social innovators in cultivating organizations and initiatives across Canada.

Founded in 1982, the Centre for Community Based Research is located in downtown Kitchener and is also celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The centre focuses on strengthening communities through social research and believes in the power of knowledge to impact positive social change.

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Student art winners, and other notes

A pair of UW students have won the two top prizes in an art competition organized by the Centre for International Governance Innovation, under the title "China in the Shifting World Order". Pictured at left is "Fragile", by BA student Christina Vannelli, which took the top prize; at right is "Red Explosion" by MFA student Ram Samocha, runner-up. The competition was held along with CIGI's recent conference on China, and the winning artworks are being purchased (the winner gets $3,000, the runner-up $2,000) for display as part of the Centre's permanent collection.

The UW police have passed along a notice that originated with another Ontario force: “Barrie Police Service request the assistance of the University of Waterloo community in locating a former University of Waterloo student, Mr. Hal Gerald Forrest. At this time, there is reason to believe that Mr. Forrest, formerly of Barrie, Ontario, may be working and/or residing within the Waterloo Region. The parents of Mr. Forrest would appreciate any information which would assist in identifying his present location. Information can also be forwarded to the University of Waterloo Police Service at 519-888-4911 or on campus at ext. 22222.”

Thursday's Daily Bulletin referred to UW's "planned Abu Dhabi campus" when, as we all know by now, the proposed campus location is in Dubai, a different one of the seven United Arab Emirates. • The drama department reports that "Mad Forest", its big spring production, will hit the stage March 18-21 and not the previous week as had been announced. • Brandon Dehart, director of the Waterloo Engineering Endowment Fund, reported in the last issue of the Iron Warrior that WEEF has approved $85,000 in grants, including $4,000 for bench equipment in a systems design teaching lab and $2,000 for equipment (including a sound level meter) for the Clean Snowmobile Team.

Finally . . . the Daily Bulletin page on Facebook, which has been in happy operation for the past year, was disabled by Facebook authorities on Friday morning. The social networking site expects its users to be individual human beings, and I guess somebody slipped them word that "UW Daily Bulletin" isn't your average human name. We'll be back on Facebook, preferably in a more legit way, as soon as somebody figures out the details.

CAR

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'All of the Christmas decorations in the Microbiology Preparation Room are made with materials found in the lab,” says the December issue of Chem 13 News, published by UW’s chemistry department for high school science teachers. Rudolph’s red nose, for instance, is a test tube cap; the antlers are rubber gloves. “Gail Grigg began this tradition,” the newsletter says. “The reindeer was the creation of Lisa Kadlec.”

Link of the day

The Hajj

When and where

Christmas luncheon buffet at University Club, December 1-23 (Monday-Friday), $19.25, reservations ext. 33801. Dinner buffet December 10 and 17, $36.95.

Fall term exams December 5 through 19. Details.

Blood donor clinic today and Tuesday 10:00 to 4:00, Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Outers Club presents Tavi Murray, Swansea University, Wales, speaking on living and working in the Antarctic, 6:00, Math and Computer room 2065.

Soft water will be shut off Tuesday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in all main campus buildings inside the ring road, as well as Village I. Water supply continues but will not be softened.

Arts faculty council Tuesday 3:30, Humanities room 373.

Live & Learn library lecture: Bruce Muirhead, history, “The Jewel in the crown: The International Development Research Centre and Canadian Development Assistance”, Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Waterloo Public Library main branch.

‘National town hall’ on Canadian engagement in Afghanistan, Tuesday 7 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Senate finance committee Wednesday 4 p.m., Needles Hall room 3004, agenda online.

UW-ACE Instructor User Group Thursday 1:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal scheduled for Saturday, December 13, has been cancelled.

UW Senate Monday, December 15, cancelled.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Finding Nemo: Advanced Techniques for Finding Web Resources” Tuesday, December 16, 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Unofficial fall term grades begin appearing on Quest December 22; grades become official January 26.

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5. Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ event at Renison University College, Thursday, January 8; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, Sunday, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

Engineering alumni ski day at Osler Bluff Ski Club, Collingwood, January 16. Details.

Friday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Friday December 5, 2008

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:57:15 EST

December 5, 2008 'Lab days' introduce kinesiology Into the cardboard heart of Ontario Promoting Lego as route to robotics
'Lab days' introduce kinesiology

from the UW media relations office

High school students from across Ontario will learn about health and human movement at UW's Kinesiology Lab Days taking place this week and next.

The annual event, hosted by UW's kinesiology department, also serves as an educational resource to hundreds of teachers of biology and exercise science across the province.

Some 1,000 Grade 11 and 12 students from 45 schools, including 11 local high schools, will learn about a wide range of human health and movement-related topics in mini-laboratory sessions.

The event was launched in 1973 to introduce the then relatively new field of kinesiology — the science of human movement. More than three decades later, UW has established itself as an international leader in kinesiology and hopes to encourage teens interested in health sciences to join the field.

"UW's department of kinesiology celebrates its 41st year as not only the first kinesiology department in the world, but as an international leader in the science of human movement," says Stuart McGill, the department’s chair. "Kinesiology Lab Days is an effective way to introduce a new generation of kinesiologists into this exciting profession and show them how they can use their interest in science to really make a difference in people's lives."

In July 2007, the Ontario government passed Bill 171, a landmark decision that officially made kinesiology a regulated health profession in this province.

The student visits begin each day with an introductory presentation by Amanda Cocksedge, recruitment co-ordinator for the faculty of applied health sciences, which includes the kin department. Her presentation on human movement takes place in the Clarica Auditorium in the Lyle S. Hallman Institute for Health Promotion.

Afterwards, students participate in lab experiences at the institute and neighbouring Matthews Hall. This year's lab topics include “Ergonomically Designed” (the science of fitting the task to the person); “Put Your Best Foot Forward” (neurological pathways and biomechanical principles involved in walking, running and jumping); “Pedal Power” (the workings of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, in photo at top); “Psyched-Up” (how psychological variables affect performance); and “Work Those Muscles” (how muscle forces are generated and quantified).

Students will learn about equipment and techniques used in many of the kinesiology department's research and teaching labs. Lab experiences range from learning to use electromyography to measuring breath-by-breath oxygen uptake. Participants can apply their new-found knowledge in creative applications that include propelling an electric car around the corridors using only electrical signals from their muscles.

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Into the cardboard heart of Ontario

I wandered over to East Campus Hall on Wednesday afternoon, just about in time to see the current exhibition at “Render”. The world of art now greatly resembles the world of music, in which single words or short phrases can just as easily be the name of the album, the song or the performer. In this case Render is the UW art gallery, “Dominion” or “Dominion City” is the show (and the city it’s about), and “Seth” is the artist.

The motto of Dominion is “Omnis temporalis”, and it's so true: the show, which has been in place since late September, will be closing Saturday, so getting there on Wednesday wasn't any too soon. I was glad to have a last-minute chance to admire Dominion and its “sister city”, Beaver.

The main part of the show consists of a number of exquisite cardboard models of buildings (left), the sort of thing you’d see in the older districts of an Ontario city, as well as some artifacts — ledgers, an old flag, a row of beat-up library books — representing traces of the community that the artist is supposedly documenting.

Mounted on one wall of the gallery are several large cartoons by Seth, the creator, who is after all primarily a cartoonist. They show off, or mock, the proud civic life of Dominion, which is presented as an Ontario community of the 1950s or thereabouts. “As with all of Seth’s works,” a news release from the gallery explained when the show opened, “Dominion City is infused with melancholy and an air of ambiguous nostalgia tinged with a healthy dose of cynical humour.” Yeah; what he said.

And then there’s Beaver, which is an even larger collection of cardboard buildings, much more crudely put together, though also with many touches of humour (I particularly liked the Perforated Plastic Grapefruit Company). I wondered whether this part of the exhibit represented Seth being cute, but Render curator Andrew Hunter assured me that no, Beaver really was the creation of a group of adolescent cousins a generation ago, preserved in somebody’s attic almost by accident.

In the course of the stroll over to ECH and back to the office, I passed two of UW’s major construction sites. East of the tracks, there’s Engineering V, which is starting to look like a real, multi-storey building, with not one but two cranes revolving elegantly far overhead. Back on the central campus, I paused to stare into the huge excavation that will some day become the Quantum-Nano Centre. Looks like something you’d see in a big city, I reflected.

I also had occasion to stop off briefly at the human resources department, which has just moved back to the General Services Complex after renovation of its office space there. For years HR has been housed in two separate areas, one to the left of the main entrance and one to the right. Now, for the first time, offices are assigned so that staff relations, recruitment and similar activities are in one contiguous area, while pensions, benefits and payroll are on the other side. Staff told me it’s working out really well.

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Promoting Lego as route to robotics

When the First Lego League Ontario holds its championship event tomorrow at St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School in Oakville, a UW faculty member and a student will be there supporting a team from an inner-city Kitchener school.

“Maud Gorbet, a Waterloo systems design professor, became involved in the competition this past September,” says Carol Truemner, communications officer for the engineering faculty. “A student, Brad Morris, was hired to help her out on his co-op term this fall.

“Maud Gorbet and her husband Rob, also a Waterloo professor, are heavily involved in the First Robotics League, and Maud's goal is to increase the number of high schools entering the First Robotics competition held at UW each year by whetting interest in students in younger grades through the First Lego League.

“She approached area schools and managed to find three that were interested in having teams of students compete in area competitions.” (Right: a youngster getting inspired by Lego during one of UW’s Engineering Science Quest camps three years ago.)

The team, made up of grade 6 students taught by Krista Weltz-Gordon at Suddaby Public School, won the area competition and will compete in the provincials tomorrow under their chosen name: the Noodle Heads. (The other two teams from Waterloo Region didn’t make the finals.)

Truemner adds that “although Maud doesn't know all the details of the school's project, it does include something related to water wells (the team was advised by the Region of Waterloo) and has a robot perform certain missions.”

The local entries in the Lego competition attracted some support this year from Research In Motion, a major local high-tech company. “Maud's goal,” says Truemner, “is to double the number of local teams that compete in the league next year and to secure UW funding — this year the funding for the co-op student's role came from leftover First Robotics funds.”

CAR

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Link of the day

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

When and where

Philosophy colloquium: Shannon Dea, UW, “Synechism and Intersexuality,” 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Comic City Film Series linked to “Dominion City” exhibition in Render (UW art gallery): “The Rocketeer” (1991) with introductory comments by Peter Trinh, 6:00, East Campus Hall gallery.

Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by Grand Philharmonic Choir, Chamber Singers, Nota Bene Period Orchestra and soloists, 7:30 p.m., First United Church, Waterloo, tickets $20 (students $10), order online; also Saturday 3 p.m., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Cambridge.

Arts Lecture Hall electrical power shutoff Sunday 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Winterfest, staff association family skating party Sunday 1:00 to 3:00, Columbia Icefield, registration closed.

Blood donor clinic December 8 and 9 (10:00 to 4:00), Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Social Innovation and Community Change one-day event with displays and panel discussions, co-sponsored by UW Social Innovation Generation, Monday 9:00 to 4:30, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Outers Club presents Tavi Murray, Swansea University, Wales, speaking on living and working in the Antarctic, Monday 6:00, Math and Computer room 2065.

Soft water will be shut off Tuesday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in all main campus buildings inside the ring road, as well as Village I. Water supply continues but will not be softened.

Live & Learn library lecture: Bruce Muirhead, history, “The Jewel in the crown: The International Development Research Centre and Canadian Development Assistance”, Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Waterloo Public Library main branch.

Senate finance committee Wednesday 4 p.m., Needles Hall room 3004, agenda online.

Accelerator Centre “graduation” for Miovision Technologies, Thursday 9:30 a.m., 295 Hagey Boulevard, information info@ acceleratorcentre.com.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal Saturday, December 13, 6 p.m., South Campus Hall, Festival Room. Details.

Social work program application deadline for 2009 is December 15, 2008.

UW Senate Monday, December 15, cancelled.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5. Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ event at Renison University College, Thursday, January 8; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, Sunday, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

One click away

• Video recap of Think Pink weekend for breast cancer
• New web site for Balsillie School of International Affairs
• Iron Warrior's take on co-op jobs and the economic crisis
• The rise of 'scholarly communication programming'
• Professors' association censures First Nations University
• Wilfrid Laurier University approves vision statement
• Economic update at U of Toronto • Globe and Mail
• Carpooling and car-sharing come to WLU
• 'User consultation group' on British universities
• More US students coming to Canadian universities
• Green computing? Measure it in megaflops per watt
• U of Guelph 'to revise budget targets'

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Thursday December 4, 2008

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:34:38 EST

December 4, 2008 How $112 million in gifts helps UW Notes: CUPE ratifies 2-year contract Notes: Aboriginal high schoolers visit

The Chapel Choir performs at yesterday's noon-hour Christmas concert in the Davis Centre great hall. Len Enns of the Conrad Grebel University College music department conducts.

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How $112 million in gifts helps UW

Jim Dam certainly didn't think learning Hebrew and Arabic would be part of his university experience as an undergraduate computer science student. But gifts to the university made the unexpected happen.

The story is told in UW’s 2007-08 “Report on Giving” — briefly in the print edition, which is being distributed this month on campus and to tens of thousands of alumni, and at greater length on a new “giving” website.

The report, telling half a dozen stories amid big bright colour photos, is this year’s successor to past “donor reports”. The word “donor” is being played down this year, says Ryan Jacobs of UW’s development office, because the emphasis this year is less on who gave the money (some $112.2 million in the course of the year) and more on who received it or how it was used at the university.

That’s where Dam (left) comes into the tale. He was chosen, the report explains, to participate in the UW-Haifa International Experience Program in Israel. “On a 12-month exchange at the University of Haifa,” it says, “Jim not only developed a competency with each language, but fell in love with a new culture.

“The program, established by Toronto-area business leaders Heather Reisman, president and CEO of Indigo Books, and Gerry Schwartz, CEO of Onex Corp., is helping fulfill two key goals for UW's sixth decade: increasing international opportunities for students and enhancing the undergraduate experience. Strong proponents of furthering Canadian-Israeli relations, Heather and Gerry established this program to spur academic and research exchanges with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members from both UW and the University of Haifa.”

Before this exchange, the report goes on, Dam had rarely left Ontario. Yet he knew that this experience was more than just a chance to immerse himself in Middle Eastern culture and history; it was an opportunity to develop his skills for the future. "My experiences have strengthened my character," he says, "and I believe I'm better equipped for living and working in Canada now, especially in a large corporation with international interests."

Readers are told that “International research collaborations are at the core of many faculty members' research, and this program supports faculty who wish to explore those connections with Israeli academics. UW computer science professor Alex Lopez-Ortiz spent three weeks in Haifa last year, meeting research colleagues and giving lectures. One of his four lectures sparked a new research partnership — exactly the kind of outcome the program's founders envisioned."

Lopez-Ortiz is one of three faculty members, and Dam is one of six students, who participated in the exchange last year. UW also hosted several Haifa students and faculty, “laying strong foundations for future international collaborations, personal connections, and cultural appreciation.”

The giving report tells readers that 17,612 donors supported UW last year, including 11,899 alumni and 937 faculty members, staff members and retirees. The money went to support programs ($32.2 million), scholarships ($14 million), chairs and professorships ($37.7 million), buildings ($27.6 million) and the library ($700,000).

More stories from the “Report on Giving” will be appearing in the Daily Bulletin over the days ahead.

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Notes: CUPE ratifies 2-year contract

Members of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793 have ratified a contract agreement with UW that’s retroactive to last May 1. A previous two-year contract expired April 30, and the union and university had been negotiating for a new one, leading to a proposal that was put to the union membership on Friday for a vote. Neil Murray, UW’s director of staff and labour relations, says he’s been told that about 90 per cent of the members — some 300 staff in plant operations and food services — voted yes. Murray says the contract is for two years, providing a 3 per cent across-the-board pay increase, retroactive to May 1, and another 3 per cent increase on May 1, 2009, which is the same figure UW’s non-union staff will be expecting as their scale increase. Murray adds that CUPE “also received the same vacation entitlement enhancement as non-union staff. We did agree on a number of language issues involving issues of overtime and apprenticeship guidelines, job posting requirements, and CUPE's continued support of a multi-workplace joint health and safety committee for UW. There were also a few anomaly adjustments and agreement to increase the shift premium by 10 cents in each year of the agreement.” The full text of the new contract will be posted on the HR website soon.

As fall term exams begin tomorrow, one student who isn’t apprehensive is Kaleigh Eichel, a member of the pioneering first-year class in the Knowledge Integration program. She’s written her exams already — early, by special arrangement — and is off to Sweden, where she’ll attend next week’s Nobel Prize presentation ceremonies. Eichel will also receive an award of her own, the Seaborg Award, earned last spring at the International Science & Engineering Fair in Atlanta. While in Stockholm, she will give a talk about her science fair project, which attracted considerable publicity and a few piscine puns. As one blog explains it: “The girl trained a 19-cent goldfish that herds its tank mates like cattle. Really. . . . The Comet goldfish exhibited altruism and an ability to survive when their habitats change suddenly.”

The UW police are looking for anybody who saw what happened late Monday afternoon at the University Avenue entrance to campus: “At approximately 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 1, a collision occurred involving a taxi cab striking a pedestrian. The victim was crossing Ring Road at the South Campus Hall crosswalk heading towards Parking lot A (University Avenue). Anyone who witnessed this collision is asked to please contact the University of Waterloo Police at 519-888-4911 (ext. 22222 on campus).”

The UW senate won’t be holding its December meeting — an annual fixture that is often cancelled because of end-of-term, pre-holiday time pressure. The senate’s executive committee met on Monday, and, a memo announces, “determined there would be no December meeting of the Senate for two reasons: there was no business held over from the November meeting that required action prior to Senate’s meeting in January, and the Committee understood that the January business of Senate should be able to be transacted within Senate’s normal time frame.” The November meeting, which ran well into the evening with discussion of the planned Abu Dhabi campus, did close with some agenda items untouched; they’ll now wait for attention in the new year.

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Notes: Aboriginal high schoolers visit

UW Aboriginal Services, located at St. Paul’s College, is hosting three Aboriginal High School Enrichment Conferences this year, offering First Nations students what coordinator Emerance Baker calls “hands-on pre-postsecondary enrichment education experiences”. Each conference is designed to involve about 30 Aboriginal students from across Ontario, she says, including some from remote and northern communities. “As each conference is high school retention focused, the theme, Imagine Yourself Here, is premised on providing Aboriginal high school students with a vision of themselves pursuing any form of postsecondary education from university to college to apprenticeship and training.” The first of the conferences, for grade 12 students, has just finished, and included everything from UW lectures to a workshop on traditional medicine led by a local elder. “The students rounded out their week with a field trip to the CanAb Festival (SkyDome Powwow) Education Day at the Rogers Centre,” Baker reports. “Friday evening’s closing ceremony was a presentation by the students of their filmmaking and drum-making accomplishments.” Grade 11 students will visit for a week in March and grade 10 students in May.

A memo sent across campus this week comes from the human resources department and is addressed to all faculty and staff members in the UW pension plan, but particularly those who have maxed out their RRSPs and are looking for a way to put aside more money towards retirement. It makes the annual suggestion that money can be invested in the Flexible Pension Plan, but only with caution — the more so since the end of compulsory retirement at age 65. "Caution is advised to those members intending to work past age 65 who have participated in the past or plan to participate now in the Flex Plan," it says. "There is a greater risk of losing your flex contributions." That's because (the rules are complicated) the pension generated by those extra contributions can be used only in certain ways, and one of the chief of them is improving the level of pension after early retirement. There are details on the HR web site.

With fall term classes over, it’s time to consider who the real stars are: the faculty members or other UW instructors who deserve to be nominated for teaching awards this year. There are two different awards, in fact, the Distinguished Teacher Award (for professors, lab demonstrators and other ranks) and the Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student (primarily for TAs). Nominations for both will be due in early February, but since a certain amount of paperwork is involved, to document the individual’s worthiness and achievements, December isn’t too early to get started. Details are on the web site of the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

And . . . now that Imprint is publishing snippets of overheard conversations, I’m thinking that somebody should be collecting snippets of Facebook “Wall” postings and notes. For instance, this item written last week: “After getting my first Gardasil shot this morning at 10:15, I went into the SLC and chilled in the piano room until 10:45. It was kind of depressing when I found out that the low low F string is missing.”

CAR

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Link of the day

Patron saint of architects and mathematicians

When and where

Holiday book sale at UW bookstore, South Campus Hall, last day.

Surplus sale of UW furnishings and equipment, 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., East Campus Hall.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “A Course Design Model That Works” 12:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

English Language Proficiency Examination 1:30, 3:00, 5:00 and 6:30, Physical Activities Complex. Details.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program information session 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Centre for International Governance Innovation panel debate: “The World Food Crisis, Which Way Forward?” 7:30 p.m., 57 Erb Street West.

Fall term exams December 5 through 19. Details.

Philosophy colloquium: Shannon Dea, UW, “Synechism and Intersexuality,” Friday 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Comic City Film Series linked to “Dominion City” exhibition in Render (UW art gallery): “The Rocketeer” (1991) with introductory comments by Peter Trinh, Friday 6:00, East Campus Hall gallery.

Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by Grand Philharmonic Choir, Chamber Singers, Nota Bene Period Orchestra and soloists, Friday 7:30 p.m., First United Church, Waterloo, tickets $20 (students $10), order online; also Saturday 3 p.m., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Cambridge.

Winterfest, staff association family skating party Sunday 1:00 to 3:00, Columbia Icefield, free for association members and adult guests, children $9, registration closed.

Blood donor clinic Monday-Tuesday (10:00 to 4:00), Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Social Innovation and Community Change one-day event with displays and panel discussions, co-sponsored by UW Social Innovation Generation, Monday 9:00 to 4:30, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Outers Club presents Tavi Murray, Swansea University, Wales, speaking on living and working in the Antarctic, Monday 6:00, Math and Computer room 2065.

UW-ACE Instructor User Group Thursday, December 11, 1:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5, the day classes begin.

Optometry continuing education “CE on the SEA” Caribbean cruise and professional upgrading, January 3-10. Details.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, Sunday, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Drama department production of “Mad Forest” by Caryl Churchill, Mach 11-14 at 8 p.m. and March 14 at 2:30 p.m.., Theatre of the Arts, tickets from Humanities box office, 888-4908.

PhD oral defences

Chemical engineering. Matthew Stevens, “Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Powertrain Development Considering Power Source Degradation.” Supervisor, Michael Fowler. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Thursday, December 11, 9:30 a.m., Doug Wright Engineering room 3517.

Chemical engineering. Jeff Gostick, “The Multiphase Mass Transfer and Capillary Properties of Gas Diffusion Layers for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells.” Supervisors, Michael Fowler and Mark Pritzker. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Friday, December 12, 9:30 a.m., Doug Wright Engineering room 3517.

Optometry, biology. Wei Shen, “Fish (Oreochromis niloticus) as a Model of Refractive Error Development.” Supervisor, Jacob G. Sivak. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Monday, December 15, 10:00 a.m., Optometry room 347.

Psychology. Gillian Munro, “Electrophysiological Indices of Information Processing in Psychopathy.” Supervisors, Jane Dwyan and Michael Dixon. On display in the faculty of arts, PAS 2419. Oral defence Tuesday, December 16, 2:00 p.m., PAS building room 3026.

Biology. Peter G. Njuru, “Physical and Biogeochemical Gradients and Exchange Processes in Nyanza Gulf and Main Lake Victoria (East Africa).” Supervisors, Robert E. Hecky, Stephanie J. Guildford and William D. Taylor. On display in the faculty of sciences, ESC 254A. Oral defence Wednesday, December 17, 2:00 p.m., Biology I room 266.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Wednesday December 3, 2008

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:40:01 EST

December 3, 2008 ACE under review; IST explains why 'Green computing statement' suggested US honour for polymer physicist ACE under review; IST explains why

Andrea Chappell, director of the Instructional Technologies and Multimedia Services group in Information Systems and Technology, reports on the Online Learning Environment Review Project

Over four years ago UW adopted ANGEL as the software for the UW learning management system that we call UW-ACE. During that time, tools for online learning have expanded. The explosion of Web 2.0 applications and in the use of mobile devices means there are new options for communication and participation, and for delivering course materials. We have seen marked increase in requests to capture and deliver audio and video as part of a course. As well, the learning management system (LMS) market has undergone significant change, including the merger of LMS market leaders Blackboard and WebCT , and the evolution of viable open system options such as Moodle and Sakai.

Probably one of the worst lines in the history of flirtation surfaced in MathNews the other day, in a top-ten list headed "How to pick up a mathie":

"Somebody call UW-ACE; looks like they're missing an angel."

Since adopting ANGEL, the vendor has embedded new functionality, including syndication (RSS) and blogs, and UW has added third party tools, such as Wimba audio recordings and iClickers. Some professors and students at UW are content with what is available in UW-ACE, while others may have higher expectations of their online learning environment. While many universities in Ontario and across Canada are discontented with their LMS situation, UW is in a fairly favourable situation. As such, we are not necessarily looking for significant change, yet it seems an appropriate time to review our needs and determine our directions beyond the near horizon.

A project is underway with the following objectives:

• Review ANGEL's fit as UW's online course environment by assessing its performance and functionality for our future needs and against a broad scan of other possibilities.

• Involve the UW community in identifying the aspects they consider important for the online learning environment; use this to establish a basis for comparing and prioritizing features and characteristics.

• Renew and increase knowledge of tools that could be adopted for the online learning environment, including commercial LMS, open LMS, and collections of applications to augment or even replace an LMS.

• Recommend to UCIST a direction for determining the next learning environment, identifying a small set of promising learning environments for further investigation, if warranted.

• Based on UCIST feedback, further investigate the short list and bring forward a final recommendation to UCIST.

The project team plans to collect input from those who use UW-ACE for academic courses as well as from those who use it for continuing education programs, professional development teams, the Living Learning program, and so on. An input session for faculty members is taking place today. Participants for this session were selected to include all Faculties and various levels of experience in UW-ACE, to get as broad as possible a feedback swath. Other faculty members may provide input by email (chappell@ uwaterloo.ca). Student input mechanisms have not yet been determined, but we are working with undergraduate and graduate representatives on how to collect their feedback.

The feedback will drive what possibilities may be explored, such as lobbying for changes to ANGEL, recommending third party additions that can be integrated with ANGEL, or even investigating other LMS to determine their potential. While this review is seen as timely and responsible, a change in LMS is recognized as a serious undertaking, to be pursued only if demonstrable advantages are compelling!

The project team includes staff from IST, Distance and Continuing Education, the Library, and the Centre for Teaching Excellence, two faculty members, a graduate and undergraduate student, and other resource team members.

The project is scheduled to finish in May 2009, with reports to UCIST and to campus along the way. For more information, please see the project pages.

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'Green computing statement' suggested

Anne Grant of the faculty of environment and Lowell Williamson of applied health sciences describe the presentation they made at yesterday's WatITis conference

Our presentation is entitled “Green IT: Walking the Walk”. There is a lot of media buzz around environmentally responsible computing, and UW is hopping on board. During the presentation, we want people to consider their technology needs, if purchasing physical workstations and servers is needed, or could another avenue be explored such as virtual servers and storage. If there is a need to purchase computing equipment, the purchaser should consider energy efficient systems that follow Enerstar or EcoLogo standards. In addition, there are eco-conscious vendors; for example, Apple claims to have the greenest MacBook ever, a laptop that is highly recyclable, energy efficient and contains less chemical content.

We will also discuss the life cycle of a system and what to do with an old workstation. Workstations become obsolete in 2-3 years, and we typically purchase a new system. However, we are suggesting that users replace the computing components, rather than the entire system, or re-use elsewhere on campus. IT departments could work with central stores to implement a campus reuse strategy. In addition, we could have a forum to notify IT staff of available equipment. The Mapping, Analysis and Design department recently donated older lab workstations to the K-W Accessibility non-profit organization. Overall, we want to express that equipment can be re-used, before being recycled.

The amount of printing in student computing labs is another priority to identify and reduce printer output. Both AHS computing and MAD use 100% post recycled paper, do not print out error or notification pages and encourage electronic documentation and storage versus the traditional file folders.

Perhaps the biggest potential for green computing is user behaviour and energy consumption. There is a myth that turning off and on workstations is detrimental to the equipment. This is simply not true. Both AHS and ENV promote turning off workstations, and all student labs are set to either sleep or shut down at a certain hour to conserve energy.

We propose creating a green computing statement or agreement to be supported by the associate deans and directors of computing. This statement could potentially include:

Taking an equipment inventory — determine current consumption. Examine virtual servers/workstations/storage (less hardware = less real estate = less cooling). Purchase energy smart (Apple Green computer; the Electronic Product Environment Assessment Tool; the EcoLogo program). Educate users. Centralized services such as the exchange mail server for faculty and staff and mailservices for students (reducing number of servers in each faculty). Turning off equipment not in use. Equipment manufacturer for take back/buy back programs (Lenovo, Dell, Apple). Demand durable and longer life cycle systems (e.g. with Vista, it is estimated that half the systems in homes and offices do not meet the minimum requirements to run this operating system, and this translates into computers going to the landfill or recycled, and new workstations to purchase). Reduce by donating, recycling, reusing, replacing parts.

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US honour for polymer physicist

by John Morris, UW media relations

A UW physics professor who received a research excellence award in Ontario eight years ago has been elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society, a leading organization of physicists, including 60 Nobel laureates.

James Forrest, who heads the polymer physics group, was recognized for his forefront work in dynamics of confined polymers and polymer surfaces.

He will receive his fellowship certificate at a presentation during the spring meeting of the APS, to be held in Pittsburgh next March. In 2000, he received an Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Award for his promising investigation into the physics of and polymer thin films and surfaces. The fundamental research could lead to significant scientific advances in physics, chemistry, biology and even health sciences.

"It is very gratifying to receive this honour in Canada," Forrest said. "In our research here, we have to compete against much bigger research groups in the United States and in Europe, so it's wonderful to have our work achieve this much attention."

He added that while there's less research funding in Canada, there's more freedom to pursue anything of interest and branch out from an original idea.

Over the last few years, his research group has published a series of thought-provoking papers on polymers. Polymers are large molecules — macromolecules — composed of repeating structural units connected by chemical bonds. Widely known as plastics, polymers refer to a large class of natural and synthetic materials with diverse properties and purposes.

His team's last paper, published in Physical Review Letters in March, drew wide attention in the field. It was the team's fourth paper in the journal, a publication of the American Physical Society. "We attracted interest from people in other fields, such as chemical engineering and materials science," Forrest says. "I find it so interesting how this field crosses into so many other disciplines."

Another paper, published in Science Magazine in February, also fuelled interest in the research community. That paper showed how some solids behave like liquids on the nanoscale. The discovery was considered a major step forward in measuring polymer substances using nanoscale technology.

Nanoscale technology involves techniques used to manipulate matter at the scale of atoms and molecules. A nanometre (nm) equals one billionth of a metre. In comparison, one human hair is about 80,000 nm thick.

Forrest began his interest polymer films in 1995 while a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph. He then worked at Chalmers University in Sweden and the University of Sheffield in England, before coming to UW in 2000.

At Waterloo, he has built up a strong physics group, working out of a $2-million facility funded by the federal and provincial governments. The facility provides a wide variety of characterization techniques to study synthetic polymer and proteins in thin films or near surfaces and interfaces.

CAR

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Davis carols today

For the 17th year, UW's music department is holding a pre-Christmas concert in the Davis Centre great hall to take advantage of its unusual acoustics and big audience of passers-by. The event will run for about half an hour, starting at 12:00 noon today.

Music chair Ken Hull notes that two of the choirs based at Conrad Grebel University College — the Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir — will take part. "At the conclusion of the program," he writes, "we will include several traditional Christmas carols and invite audience participation."

Link of the day

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

When and where

Christmas luncheon buffet at University Club, December 1-23 (Monday-Friday), $19.25, reservations ext. 33801. Dinner buffet December 10 and 17, $36.95.

Holiday book sale at UW bookstore, South Campus Hall, through Thursday.

Federal-provincial conference simulation for high school students continues, arts buildings; plenary session 1:45 p.m., Theatre of the Arts.

International TA and professor relationships, workshop sponsored by Centre for Teaching Excellence, 11:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Alumni dinner in Hong Kong 6:30, Craigengower Cricket Club, speaker David Li (PhD 1995), China International Capital Corporation. Details.

Perimeter Institute presents Ben Schumacher, Kenyon College, “The Physics of Impossible Things”, 7:00, Waterloo Collegiate Institute, ticket information 519-883-4480.

Surplus sale of UW furnishings and equipment, Thursday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., East Campus Hall.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “A Course Design Model That Works” Thursday 12:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

English Language Proficiency Examination Thursday 1:30, 3:00, 5:00 and 6:30, Physical Activities Complex. Details online; preparation sessions available Wednesday.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program information session Thursday 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Centre for International Governance Innovation panel debate: “The World Food Crisis, Which Way Forward?” Thursday 7:30 p.m., 57 Erb Street West.

Fall term exams December 5 through 19. Details.

Philosophy colloquium: Shannon Dea, UW, “Synechism and Intersexuality,” Friday 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Winterfest, staff association family skating party Sunday 1:00 to 3:00, Columbia Icefield, free for association members and adult guests, children $9, registration closed.

Blood donor clinic December 8 and 9 (10:00 to 4:00), Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Social Innovation and Community Change one-day event with displays and panel discussions, co-sponsored by UW Social Innovation Generation, Monday 9:00 to 4:30, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal December 13, 6 p.m., South Campus Hall, Festival Room. Details.

Social work program application deadline for 2009 is December 15, 2008.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Finding Nemo: Advanced Techniques for Finding Web Resources” December 16, 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5. Winter term classes also begin January 5.

‘Language as a Complex Dynamic System’ event at Renison University College, January 8; guest speaker Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan; details e-mail jpwillia@ renison.uwaterloo.ca.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

Positions available

On this week's list from the human resources department:

• Marketing and evaluation coordinator, Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, USG 8
• Business manager, Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, USG 9

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Tuesday December 2, 2008

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:36:44 EST

December 2, 2008 One-day IT conference is under way Faculty association meets, talks tenure Co-op hiring still allowed, and more One-day IT conference is under way

There’s a conference today in Rod Coutts Hall, and what it is, is WatITis — subtitled “a conference to promote collaboration among IT staff at Waterloo”. It’s the sixth annual one-day event of its kind.

The conference web site gives background: “Information Technology (IT) is an integral part of the University of Waterloo’s mission to deliver academic excellence to its students, faculty and to the greater community. As IT support staff, we are privileged to be able to play an important role in the advancement and future of our institution.

“The conference continues to promote the sharing and dissemination of the work and ideas of our computer support staff across campus, underscoring the importance of ‘collaborative IT’ in UW’s mission to provide teaching and research excellence in an academic environment. Innovation and collaboration are a cornerstone of our IT profession.

“We are pleased to be able to bring IT people together from all across campus to share our experiences and knowledge with a full day of topical presentations and discussion sessions.”

Today’s conference begins with an 8:45 keynote talk by Meg Beckel, UW’s vice-president (external relations), under the title “Making the Future” — a phrase that surfaces often in discussions of UW’s “branding” or “identity”, and just happens to be the overall theme for WatITis 2008. The day winds up with a reception at the Graduate House from 3:30 to 4:30.

In between, these sessions are on the program, four at a time so that conference participants will have to choose:

• “A Paperless University: Are We Ready?” by Carolyn Dirks, UW records manager, university secretariat.
• “And One Schema to Rule Them All: The Online Faculty Information System” by Paul McKone of the Centre for Knowledge Integration and Marlon Griffith of engineering computing.
• “Blackbaud” by Nigel Henriques of development and alumni affairs and Dave Kibble of information systems and technology.
• “Campus Email Projects Update” by Trevor Bain and Martin Timmerman of IST.
• “Capturing Screen Video Using Camtasia Studio” by Carrie Howells of the Math Faculty Computing Facility.
• “Crisis Management” by Erick Engelke of engineering computing and Jason Testart of IST.
• “Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There: Mindfulness at Work” by Marilyn Perdue of counselling services.
• “Green IT: Walking the Walk” by Anne Grant of environmental studies and Lowell Williamson of applied health sciences.
• “HALP! Something Is in My Tubes!” by Jason Testart of IST and Michael Patterson of the Computer Science Computing Facility.
• “Investigations into Web Content Management Systems” by Eva Grabinski of engineering, Terry Stewart of AHS and Megan McDermott of communications and public affairs.
• “Joberloo” by Trevor Grove and Doug Suerich of IST.
• “NextGen Wireless” by Steve Bourque of IST.
• “Primo: Introducing a New Search and Discovery Interface for the Library” by Allan Bell, Nancy Collins and Alison Hitchens of the UW library.
• “Resnet Enhancements and Directions” by Bill Baer of housing and Bruce Campbell of IST.
• “Sharing Data in a Privacy-Friendly Way” by Urs Hengartner of computer science.
• “Tracks: Time Management and Task Organization” by Daniel Allen of CSCF.
• “Velocity, Mobile + Media Incubator” by Sean Van Koughnett of UW Graphics.
• “Virtual-Simul Classrooms” by Koorus Bookan of IST.
• “What Do You Need to Know About Information Technology Infrastructure Library?” by Andrzej Gadomski of Wilfrid Laurier University.
• “World Community Grid” by Peter Schepers of IST.

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Faculty association meets, talks tenure

Issues about tenure for UW faculty members — and, especially, appeals by professors who have been turned down for tenure — continue to keep the faculty association’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee busy, a report says.

It’s one item on the agenda for the fall general meeting of the association, which starts at 2:00 today in Math and Computer room 4020.

Over the past half year, “there were two cases involving promotion or tenure which went to the appeal level,” AF&T chair Frank Reynolds of the statistics and actuarial science department says in his report. “In cases where there are problems at the department level or above, the AF&T Committee supplies the support of an academic colleague to any member who requests it. The tenure case was denied at appeal, though the AF&T committee members involved thought the case for tenure stronger than one last year where tenure was granted. . . .

“There are continuing discussions with the Administration about the interpretation of the policies governing the appeals process. It is the view of FAUW that the interpretations and practices that have evolved over time at UW have produced a good, workable system. Unfortunately, in the estimation of the AF&T Committee, in the past year the policies have been interpreted by some in the Administration without consideration for established practice. This has had unfortunate consequences for the fairness of the system.”

Reynolds reports that his committee has also been involved in several cases involving older faculty members who have received “disappointing” performance reviews: “This development was anticipated when mandatory retirement was abolished. . . . There have also been cases where it appears that Administrators have unfairly treated people who are ill, or simply asked too many difficult questions.”

On another front, “an important concern on Canadian campuses in recent years has been bullying of faculty, and UW, unfortunately, is not an exception. One worrying form of bullying has been student petitions that are sharply critical of a professor which, in many cases, turn out to be cases where a professor’s standards are perceived by the students as too high. . . .

“Finally, one case has been referred to arbitration. CAUT feels that it involves national issues and is supplying the legal services of one of its staff lawyers.”

Today’s meeting will also hear from faculty representatives to the UW pension and benefits committee, a working group on faculty performance evaluations, and other committees. The feature presentation will involve leaders of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations — president Brian Brown, of the University of Windsor, and full-time executive director Henry Mandelbaum — speaking on “The Fall Economic Statement, the 2009 Provincial Budget, and the Implications for University Funding”.

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Co-op hiring still allowed, and more

Some UW departments are worrying about heavier workloads since the announcement that there will be no hiring (without special permission, anyway) before the end of this fiscal year next spring. In that context, here's an announcement of interest from the department of co-operative education and career services: "The hiring freeze at UW does not extend to department hiring of co-op students. CECS has become aware of some UW staff and faculty who did not know that they could still offer co-op work term employment. In fact, this might be a good time to hire co-ops. Despite the hiring freeze there isn’t necessarily less work to be done. Co-ops can fill the void quite nicely on a temporary basis, and there are still plenty of students looking for January-April employment. Please call us at 519-888-4026 or go to the CECS web site and start the ball rolling."

Students getting ready for exams may want food and drink at odd hours, and UW's food services department is responding. From today until the end of next week, REVelation cafeteria in Ron Eydt Village will be open 24 hours a day. More modest hours will be in effect for a few days after that, December 13-17. Mudie's cafeteria in Village I isn't doing the overnight thing, but will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. through exams. On the main campus, there are just a few immediate changes to food services operations. Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre will run 24 hours a day for the next few day; Pastry Plus in Matthews Hall is closed now, reopening in January; and Festival Fare in South Campus Hall is closed for regular meal service, but providing a by-reservation Christmas lunch buffet. Details are, of course, on the food services web site. Some special events coming up from food services: a "Christmas celebration dinner" December 9 in Brubakers in the SLC, and December 10 in REVelation; the "Dons' Do" Christmas meal at Mudie's on December 11.

About 350 Waterloo Region high school students will participate in Canada's only Federal-Provincial Government Conference Simulation in UW’s arts buildings today and tomorrow. Organized by UW's political science department and the local association of history department heads, the simulation has been an annual event at UW for more than 30 years. This year, delegations from 17 schools will take part. "The conference is an excellent opportunity for students to become interested and engaged in politics while in high school," says John Jaworsky, professor of political science. The role of Canada's prime minister will be handled by Anna Cunningham of Kitchener Collegiate Institute (there's no word of any coalition attempts to displace here). Other students from KCI will serve as federal ministers. Students from other schools will represent provinces and territories, holding first ministers’ conferences and sessions on finance, justice, health, the environment, agriculture and economic affairs, immigration and aboriginal affairs. Working sessions take place in several rooms in the Arts Lecture Hall, Hagey Hall and the Modern Languages building; the concluding plenary session will be held in the Theatre of the Arts tomorrow starting at 1:45.

The graduate studies office sends word that December 12 is the deadline to apply for this year's Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarships, which offer as much as $40,000 plus a travel allowance for graduate study in the humanities and social sciences. • The athletics department says more than $4,000 was raised for breast cancer research by the weekend's Think Pink promotion, "well ahead of the $2,000 goal". • It was interesting to spot an ad in Friday's Imprint from the University of Toronto at Mississauga, offering rooms in its residences, just north of Dundas Street, for Waterloo co-op students on work term.

CAR

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Link of the day

Emirates National Day

When and where

Christmas luncheon buffet at University Club, December 1-23 (Monday-Friday), $19.25, reservations ext. 33801. Dinner buffet December 10 and 17, $36.95.

Holiday book sale at UW bookstore, South Campus Hall, December 2-4.

Touring Players children’s show, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, 10:00 and 1:30, Humanities Theatre.

UW Gamers present Rock Band 2 battle of the bands, 12:00, Student Life Centre great hall.

A-Z Dining Experience organized by UW Recreation Committee, Mandarin Restaurant, Kitchener, 5:00.

Society for Technical Communication workshop: “The Proposal as Project, and You as the Leader” 6:30 p.m., Davis Centre room 1304. Details.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

International TA and professor relationships, workshop sponsored by Centre for Teaching Excellence, Wednesday 11:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Alumni dinner in Hong Kong Wednesday 6:30, Craigengower Cricket Club, speaker David Li (PhD 1995), China International Capital Corporation. Details.

Perimeter Institute presents Ben Schumacher, Kenyon College, “The Physics of Impossible Things”, Wednesday 7:00, Waterloo Collegiate Institute, ticket information 519-883-4480.

Surplus sale of UW furnishings and equipment, Thursday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., East Campus Hall.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “A Course Design Model That Works” Thursday 12:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program information session Thursday 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Fall term exams December 5 through 19. Details. Unofficial fall term grades begin appearing on Quest December 22; grades become official January 26.

Social Innovation and Community Change one-day event with displays and panel discussions, co-sponsored by UW Social Innovation Generation, December 8, 9:00 to 4:30, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Social work program application deadline for 2009 is December 15, 2008.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Christmas and New Year’s holidays: Tuesday, December 23, last working day at UW for 2008. First working day of 2009 is Monday, January 5.

Winter term classes begin Monday, January 5.

Social Innovation Generation project presents “Studio Earth”, with remarks by environmentalist Severn Suzuki, sessions on social finance, social technology, political advocacy, January 11, 12:30 to 5:00, Kitchener City Hall, registration $10, call ext. 38680.

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

One click away

• 'Scholars weigh merits of western-style universities in Persian Gulf'
• The attractions of federal civil service jobs
• 'Students facing increasing difficulty funding their education'
• Students with disabilities seen as a growth market
• UW researcher in study of calcium-depleted lakes
• Institute for Liberal Studies held seminar at UW
• 'Fiscal restraint' at U of Guelph
• Universities look outside academia for presidents (Globe)
• 'Freedom of speech taking a beating' (National Post)

 

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Monday December 1, 2008

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:28:52 EST

December 1, 2008 Keystone makes a year-end appeal Next year, classes on one Saturday 'Truths about Canada' told in lecture

Entering the home stretch, as the fall term winds up, are students who will graduate next spring. The arts faculty held a late-afternoon "Homestretch Event" Thursday for its class of 2009, and about 100 of them showed up, crowding the Graduate House to the walls. "Key messages to the students," says Alex Lippert of the dean of arts office, "included to follow your passion and your career will fall into place, to remember UW on your travels, and to be a productive member of your community. The students were also given academic information— when to fill out intent-to-graduate forms and what to expect in terms of resources from the Alumni Career Advisor."

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Keystone makes a year-end appeal

Staff and faculty members received a reminder late last week that the Keystone Campaign, which has so far brought in $8.8 million in gifts to the university from current and retired employees, still welcomes their support — and can provide a 2008 tax receipt for money received before year’s end.

“It has been another incredible year for the Keystone Campaign,” says Krishna Mistry, acting manager in UW’s development office, adding that more than 2,300 people have pitched in as donors since Keystone was launched as part of Campaign Waterloo.

“Much of the success this year,” she writes, “can be credited to the hard work of our outstanding Keystone volunteers. Led by Keystone Campaign co-chairs Bob Norman, Pam Helmes-Hayes, and Steve Brown, the three Keystone volunteer working groups have achieved great things this year. From the Viva Las Vegas June event, to the treat-a-gram program, to the Run/Walk for Excellence, and the many Keystone profiles posted on our web site, 2008 will be remembered. . . .

“Thanks to everyone who supported UW and its marvellous students through Keystone this year. Looking ahead to the new year, the Keystone Campaign shows no sign of losing momentum.”

A letter from the three co-chairs, distributed as part of the year-end reminder package, notes that “People who work at the University of Waterloo have a lot in common. We know that education and experience are key ingredients in the recipe of achievement. We value innovation, discovery, and collaboration. And we share a proven passion for investing in future leaders, ensuring that today’s successes are surpassed tomorrow.

“For many of us, supporting the Keystone Campaign is how we choose to channel these values into a tangible form.”

It goes on: “Through this tremendous support, the university is well-equipped to attain great heights in its sixth decade. Yet today, during this challenging economic time, your gift is needed more than ever. . . . At UW, it’s easy to see the lives that your donation affects –– just take a look at the students you see on campus.”

The package also included a pledge card as well as a desktop calendar for 2009, a now traditional Keystone keepsake that also serves as a reminder of the campaign all through the year for those who use it. This year, in addition to the pay dates and holidays, the calendar lists the three annual Keystone events, namely Treat-a-Grams, the June party and the Run/Walk for Excellence.

Julia Wegenast, also of the development office, was involved in putting the calendar together, and adds an assurance that “the listed pay dates have been checked and re-checked for accuracy” after it turned out that the 2008 calendar shows the wrong date for December’s monthly payday.

Keystone focuses on undergraduate and graduate scholarship programs, though its totals also include givings to the university that are earmarked for everything from library books to athletic equipment, as long as the giver is a staff member, faculty member or retiree.

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Next year, classes on one Saturday

Working out a timetable for the 2009 fall term that squeezes in 60 days of classes between a late Labour Day (Monday, September 7) and the last permissible day for exams (Tuesday, December 22) wasn’t easy, says UW registrar Ken Lavigne.

The result: the university senate will be asked to approve a set of calendar dates that includes Saturday, December 5, as a regular class day. Senate was actually scheduled to discuss the proposal at its November 17 meeting, but didn’t get through much of the agenda that day and will tackle it again in December or January.

“This whole exercise was prompted by the lateness of Labour Day,” says Lavigne, noting that the last time the beginning-of-term holiday fell on September 7, the latest day it can be, was in 1998. Since then, the rules about the number of study days students must have between exams have been tightened — also by senate action — and the result was that we were confined at both ends of the term,” the registrar explains.

And shortening the term isn’t possible because accreditation for some of UW’s academic programs, as well as longstanding senate rules, require a minimum of 60 class days.

Lavigne and his staff worked out various “scenarios” for the term, he said, and some of them included major changes to orientation week, which traditionally starts on Labour Day, with classes beginning a week later. It would have been possible to make the calendar fit if orientation were shortened, or if it took place before Labour Day, but “we didn’t want to force a change to orientation without proper analysis,” he says. He’ll be asking senate to advise that a review of the orientation process, which is under way anyway, “include an examination of the length of proceedings”, so that the problem will be fixed before Labour Day falls on the 7th again in 2015.

The schedule that’s finally being proposed is “a series of compromises”, Lavigne said, noting that it does provide the minimum 12 days of fall term exams, but in reality it’ll be “a tough challenge” to fit all the exams into that length of time.

The plan, if senate approves, is for orientation to start on Labour Day as usual, and classes to begin the following Monday, September 14. The last two days of classes will be December 4 (a Friday) and 5 (a Saturday, with Monday’s class schedule in effect). Exams will start on Wednesday, December 9.

Also coming up for approval — but not so complicated — are the calendars for the winter and spring terms of 2010. Classes are to begin on Monday, January 4, 2010 (last day of classes Monday, April 5), and Monday, May 3 (last day Wednesday, July 28).

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'Truths about Canada' told in lecture

a release from UW's media relations office

John Ralston Saul, one of Canada's leading public intellectuals, will share his insights about the country's identity and future at a public lecture hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation and UW's bookstore tomorrow evening.

An award-winning essayist and novelist, Saul will give a talk entitled "Are You Ready for Three Radical Truths about Canada?" It's based on his latest book, A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada, published in September by Viking Canada.

"John Ralston Saul is considered one of the world's 100 leading thinkers and visionaries," says May Yan, director of retail services. "He has had a growing impact on political and economic thought in many countries and we are honoured to have him speak in our community."

Saul is widely known for his commentaries on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good, as well as for his critique of contemporary economic arguments. His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages. In his new book, he unveils a plan for change by challenging the conventional wisdom that has defined Canada's history to date. He argues that . . .

Canada is "a Métis nation". Peace, Order and Good Government is a misnomer that should be returned to its original phrase — Peace, Welfare and Good Government — which conveys fairness. The country's increasingly dysfunctional elite is damaging Canada.

Saul explains how recognition of the country's aboriginal nature and a return to an emphasis on egalitarianism can increase the effectiveness of the political and business elites. As a result, Canada's presence on the world stage will be strengthened. Tomorrow's meet-the-author event begins at 7 p.m. in the CIGI atrium, 57 Erb Street West. Admission is free; register online.

CAR

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After the snowfall, ready for exam season

Despite some anxious storm-watching last night, UW is open as usual today, on the last day of classes for the fall term. Exams will run December 5-19. (I note that science students are organizing a "classy day" today, with a dress-up group photo at 12:25 at the Chem-Bio link, followed by a trip to a suitable watering hole.)

A note from the registrar about what happens in case UW has a storm closing day during exams: "The make-up date chosen for examinations scheduled on a day on which the university closes is the next available day, including Sunday, on which examinations have not been scheduled." That would mean Sundays (December 7 or 14) or Saturday, December 20.

"Examinations held on the make-up date are at the same time and location as originally scheduled. Examinations could be rescheduled for times prior to that date by mutual agreement of the instructor and the students in the class. If this occurs, students must be given the option of writing on the official alternative date."

Link of the day

World AIDS Day

When and where

Staff association town hall meeting 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Christmas luncheon buffet at University Club, December 1-23 (Monday-Friday), $19.25, reservations ext. 33801. Dinner buffet December 10 and 17, $36.95.

UW Planning Alumni of Toronto 18th annual gala dinner, reception 5:00, dinner 7:00, Royal York Hotel, speaker Brent Toderian, director of city planning, Vancouver. Details.

UW Instrumental Chamber Ensembles end-of-term concert 7:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel, free admission.

WatITis 2008 one-day conference for information technology staff, “Making the Future”, Tuesday. Details.

Holiday book sale at UW bookstore, South Campus Hall, December 2-4.

Touring Players children’s show, “The Velveteen Rabbit”, Tuesday 10:00 and 1:30, Humanities Theatre.

Faculty association fall general meeting Tuesday 2:00 p.m., Math and Computer room 4020, speakers from Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

A-Z Dining Experience organized by UW Recreation Committee, Mandarin Restaurant, Kitchener, Tuesday 5:00.

Society for Technical Communication workshop: “The Proposal as Project, and You as the Leader” Tuesday 6:30 p.m., Davis Centre room 1304. Details.

International TA and professor relationships, workshop sponsored by Centre for Teaching Excellence, Wednesday 11:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Alumni dinner in Hong Kong Wednesday 6:30, Craigengower Cricket Club, speaker David Li (PhD 1995), China International Capital Corporation. Details.

Perimeter Institute presents Ben Schumacher, Kenyon College, “The Physics of Impossible Things”, Wednesday 7:00, Waterloo Collegiate Institute, ticket information 519-883-4480.

Surplus sale of UW furnishings and equipment, Thursday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., East Campus Hall.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “A Course Design Model That Works” Thursday 12:30, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program information session Thursday 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Winterfest, staff association family skating party Sunday 1:00 to 3:00, Columbia Icefield, registration closed.

Social Innovation and Community Change one-day event with displays and panel discussions, co-sponsored by UW Social Innovation Generation, December 8, 9:00 to 4:30, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Details.

Graduate Student Association semi-formal December 13, 6 p.m., South Campus Hall, Festival Room. Tickets $25 for grad students ($35 guests), available at Grad House until December 1. Details.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Friday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Friday November 28, 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:33:47 EST

November 28, 2008 Hawking is coming; heritage honour Warriors in pink for a good cause Other notes to wind up November Hawking is coming; heritage honour

Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University, probably the world's best-known physicist, has been named a "Distinguished Research Chair" at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and will be spending time in Waterloo regularly, with the first visit scheduled for next summer. "I am honoured to accept the first Distinguished Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute," says a statement from Hawking, the wheelchair-bound but cosmic-minded author of A Brief History of Time. "The Institute's twin focus, on quantum theory and gravity, is very close to my heart and central to explaining the origin of the Universe. I look forward to building a growing partnership between PI and our Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, at Cambridge. Our research endeavour is global, and by combining forces I believe we will reap rich rewards." In announcing that Hawking will visit for extended periods each year, Perimeter director Neil Turok said:"The appointment marks a new phase in our recruitment that will see leading scientists from around the world establish a second research home at Perimeter Institute. I am delighted that Stephen has agreed to accept the first of a projected 40 such visiting Chairs. We look forward to hosting Stephen, to benefiting from his wise mentorship and guidance which has been so successful in Cambridge, and to the many stimulating scientific collaborations which will undoubtedly emerge."

This year's winner of a major award from the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario is a retired — but still active — Waterloo geography professor, Gordon Nelson, who served as UW's dean of environmental studies, 1975-83. The Eric Arthur Lifetime Achievement Award was presented at a dinner November 21, where Nelson's wife, Shirley, accepted it on his behalf since the geographer himself was in the United Arab Emirates on business. Nelson is an ecologist, a geographer, a planner and a policy maker who has researched and published in the area of natural and cultural heritage. In 1984, he established the Heritage Resources Centre at UW, in conjunction with Parks Canada. He successfully obtained a heritage designation for the Grand River, one of 35 designated rivers in Canada, and is the editor of Towards a Grand Sense of Place on the history and geography of the Grand River watershed. Nelson has contributed time and expertise to many heritage-related organizations including the ACO itself as well as Community Heritage Ontario, Grand River Conservation Authority, and government and academic committees.

Sabbaticals 101: A Practical Guide for Academics & Their Families will be launched tomorrow at 2:00 at the UW bookstore in South Campus Hall. The author: Nancy Matthews, wife of UW statistics professor David Matthews and the organizer of the International Spouses group. "After the professional arrangements have been made," the publisher's web site promises, "Sabbaticals 101 will guide you through the nuts and bolts of planning and enjoying an academic leave. Issues such as housing, finances, and the settling-in blues are addressed with humour and understanding. A veteran of five overseas sabbaticals and exchanges with her family, Nancy Matthews has learned what works and what doesn’t. She has supplemented this personal experience with interviews of forty other sabbatical veterans, as well as research on cross-cultural adjustment, travelling with children, living abroad, and returning home." The book, it adds, "is filled with anecdotes, lists, and advice gleaned from adventures with the author’s husband and their two sons".

The Employee Assistance Program Committee will be hosting a highly topical brown-bag presentation on Wednesday, says Glenda Rutledge of UW's human resources department. "In light of the fiscal restraints facing our community and upcoming holiday season," she says, "the committee felt this was a timely topic to offer our staff and faculty." The theme? "Improving Your Financial Health". Heather Cudmore of Catholic Family Counselling Centre is the speaker, and "will discuss the warning signs of financial difficulties. She will discuss good money management habits to help you avoid these warning signs and if you already have recognized these signs, strategies to get your finances back on track. Come prepared to improve your finances." The event is scheduled for December 3 at 12:00 noon in Davis Centre room 1302.

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Warriors in pink for a good cause

Warrior athletes will think pink this last weekend of the fall term — and some of them will even dress in pink (left) — as part of a promotion aimed at drawing support for breast cancer research.

Proceeds from the weekend, sponsored by the Waterloo Region Record newspaper, will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario Chapter.

"Our student-athletes are very socially conscious, as are a lot of students these days," says athletics director Bob Copeland, as quoted in the Record. "We all know people who have been affected by this disease in our lives, so we are happy to take part." Jenny Mackay of athletics was interviewed about the project yesterday on radio station Dave FM, and the interview is available online.

Think Pink will involve eight varsity games and the Campus Recreation "Waterloo’s Got Talent" dance show, as well as a number of fundraising activities and promotions. Says a news release: "Don’t miss out on events such as our Warrior Chuck-A-Puck or the return of Mascot Basketball. In addition, check your daily Waterloo Region Record for a ballot to win a trip. Simply fill out the ballot and return it at any of the weekend’s games."

Events for today: Women's basketball vs. Ottawa, 6:00, and men's basketball, 8:00, Physical Activities Complex; men's hockey vs. UOIT, 7:30, Icefield, with the "Chuck-a-Puck for Breast Cancer".

For Saturday: Women's volleyball vs. Brock, 1:30, PAC; "We Are Warriors Party Zone", 5 p.m., Blue Activity Area, PAC, featuring games and activities; women's basketball vs. Carleton, 6:00, PAC; men's basketball vs. Carleton, 8:00, PAC (mascot basketball at half-time).

For Sunday: men's hockey vs. York, 2:00, Icefield (one student will have the chance to "Shoot for Tuition" plus Varsity Shooting Competition); "Waterloo’s Got Talent" dance show, 6:00 PAC; women's hockey vs. York, 7:30, Icefield (Chuck-a-Puck again).

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Other notes to wind up November

From the UW library's e-newsletter: "Over the past year, the Library has received significant support from student organizations to assist with the purchase of resources and materials for students. Student support has included donations from the Arts, Engineering, and Math Endowment Funds. The Arts Endowment Fund recently equipped the Dana Porter Library with 10 new study carrels and chairs, a donation totaling $13,099.97. In the words of Allan Babor, Arts Student Union President, 'the study carrels not only bring forth an ergonomic workspace, but contribute to the overall appeal of the library as a social and study space and will benefit the greater UW community for the next five to ten years.' The Waterloo Engineering Endowment Fund (WEEF) provided $5,000 to help the Library purchase first-year engineering textbooks to be held on reserve at the Davis Centre Library. The Math Endowment Fund (MEF) donated $14,040 to enable the purchase of study carrels and chairs for the Davis Centre Library. This gift was preceded by a $6,750 donation the previous year for the same purpose."

"Recent events have shone the light on two denizens of LHN 1719," writes Steve Manske of the Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation (LHN being the north wing of the Lyle Hallman Institute, where CBRPE makes its home). "First, PhD student Erin Hobin received both the provincial and national awards for Young Education Professional at the Ophea (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association) conference in October. Of six awards presented that evening, Erin received two. They honour her various contributions. She has continued as an occasional teacher even while studying. She has organized trips to the Caribbean and Central America to train physical and health educators. Erin wrote a successful CIHR application to collect baseline data in a Manitoba of a new provincial physical education policy. Her talent had previously been recognized through a CIHR Doctoral award."

And more from LHN: "Second, Wiworn (Peter) Sae Yang has been working with us this term, funded by an OTRU studentship. For his 4th year honours thesis, he is conducting regression analyses of YSS data. Peter submitted a poster to the recent OTRU conference based on his analyses of the relation of smoking status and smoking susceptibility to exposure to smoking in the home and cars. His poster placed first in the student competition. In fact, it was a Waterloo sweep of the poster awards. Paul McDonald has invited Peter to overview his work to the health studies and gerontology department meeting."

The engineering faculty’s e-newsletter reports that the former head of the UW Underwater Technology Team is using her fluids expertise to dive into another student team project. As interim leader of the nine-member UW Nanorobotics Group, Julianne Kline is making sure work continues on "the world's smallest radio frequency-controlled robot", which will measure the width of just three human hairs. With other key members currently scattered across North America on co-op terms, Kline keeps in touch with the team through online phone meetings. The team, which believes it's Ontario's first student-led undergraduate research group, will put its robot to the test in the 2009 Robocup Nanogram Soccer Competition to be held in Graz, Austria. Kline, a mechatronics engineering student, is designing a microfluidic propulsion system to give the robot an edge in the competition, which will require it to manoeuvre around pylons and do a happy dance when it scores a goal. Previous competitors have used a scratch/crawl or step mechanism drive to move their robots around. "Microfluidics has the potential to allow us to move much faster," Kline adds. Although the WEEF-supported team intends to achieve more lofty goals, including targeted drug delivery and wireless power, its focus right now is on the robocup competition. "We intend to win," says Kline.

It's the second and final day of this year's staff association craft sale, being held in Davis Centre room 1302, with enticements that range from stained glass to ceramics and knits. • Flyers are advertising a couple of "great stocking stuffers" from UW's food services: a "curvy, ergonomic" stainless steel water bottle for $11.95 and an acrylic-and-steel refillable mug for $9.95. • The Engineering Society will be holding its long-awaited EOT (end of term) pub tonight, and if you're invited, you probably know the details already.

CAR

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Elf at work: It's Kriselle Fernandez, a don in Beck Hall, UW Place, working on the holiday decorations that the dons group recently put in place. "Rather than celebrating Christmas or other specific religious events," I'm told, "we are celebrating a strong end to the academic term."

Link of the day

Maize Day

When and where

Blood donor clinic 9:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

myHRinfo system unavailable because of maintenance, Friday at 12:00 noon until Monday at noon.

Philosophy colloquium: Denis Walsh, University of Toronto, “Statistical Laws, Ensemble Explanations” 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Comic City Film Series linked to “Dominion City” exhibition in Render (UW art gallery): “Persepolis” (2007), 6:00, East Campus Hall gallery.

Salon des Refusés sponsored by The New Quarterly: readings, panel discussion, wine, 7:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $5, RSVP ext. 28290.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings. Details.

X-rated hypnotist Tony Lee performs at Bombshelter pub tonight, doors open 9:00 p.m., tickets $10 at Federation of Students office, $12 at door.

Explore Engineering at Waterloo Region Children’s Museum, Saturday 10:00 to 5:00, with volunteers from engineer-in-residence program including some from UW.

Out-of-town Warrior sports: Women’s hockey at Toronto Saturday. • Track and field (men and women) season opener at Western Saturday.

Badminton tournament sponsored by HAPN (Healthy Active Promotion Network club), mixed doubles, prizes, Saturday 1:00 to 4:00, Columbia Icefield.

UW Chamber Choir concert, “It Can’t Be Christmas Yet”, Saturday 7:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts (tickets $12, students $10); Sunday 7:30 p.m., Three Willows United Church, Guelph (tickets $15, students $12).

Engineering Jazz Band (“With Respect to Time”) charity concert Saturday 8 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, tickets $10 at the door, proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.

UW Stage Band concert, “Swing’s the Thing”, Sunday 2:00, Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $8 (students $5).

Staff association town hall meeting Monday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

UW Planning Alumni of Toronto 18th annual gala dinner Monday, reception 5:00, dinner 7:00, Royal York Hotel. Details.

UW Instrumental Chamber Ensembles end-of-term concert Monday 7:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel, free admission.

WatITis 2008 one-day conference for information technology staff, “Making the Future”, Tuesday. Details.

Faculty association fall general meeting Tuesday 2:00 p.m., Math and Computer room 4020.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West. Registration.

International TA and professor relationships, workshop sponsored by Centre for Teaching Excellence, Wednesday 11:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

Alumni dinner in Hong Kong Wednesday 6:30, Craigengower Cricket Club, speaker David Li (PhD 1995), China International Capital Corporation. Details.

One click away

• David Johnston video for Toronto Region Research Alliance
• 'Skyscraper City' discussion of pharmacy building and its windows
• UW still hoping for 'aquatic complex', athletics director says
• 'Smart search tool' in beta for users of Trellis library catalogue
• India's University of Petroleum and Energy Studies announces UW link
• Imprint editor on 'depth and breadth of debate'
• ECE prof explains 'Internet traffic control'
• UW graduate student investigates polar bear tourism
• Queen's U plans major budget cut
• Indian Institutes of Technology may enjoy broader role
• Architects' journal celebrates UW designs (pages 22, 27)
• Hard times at Johns Hopkins • Duke • North Carolina • Minnesota • Cornell • Harvard
• Co-op in a time of economic downturn (Globe)
• UW psychologist quoted about the roots of religion
• Canada's Most Powerful Women, Top 100
• 'Why is education associated positively with the sense of personal control?'

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Thursday November 27, 2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:31:05 EST

November 27, 2008 The CUPE contract, the Mumbai drama Grebel's Mennonite archivist retires Sabbaticals set to begin January 1

Eye-catching signs helped volunteers spread the love yesterday. The Arts Student Union organized the end-of-term stress-busting "free hugs" event, and participants included this duo making their offer on the recently renovated main floor of the Dana Porter Library. Photo by Simon Wilson.

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The CUPE contract, the Mumbai drama

Negotiators for UW's administration and the the union representing about 300 hourly-paid employees reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with the help of a conciliator from the Ontario labour ministry. Neil Murray of UW's human resources department says the leadership of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793 "will be recommending the agreement to the membership", which includes staff in UW's plant operations and food services departments. Ratification will be sought at a membership meeting to be held Friday between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. CUPE 793 has been without a contract for almost seven months now, as the previous two-year contract expired on April 30.

Several people from UW, in a delegation headed by president David Johnston, were in Mumbai, India, or on their way there yesterday when terrorists attacked two major hotels and other prominent sites in a drama that's still in progress today. Johnston himself, halfway what was suposed to be a week-long visit to India, got no farther than the city's airport before realizing the situation and cutting his trip short; he's expected to be back in Canada in a few hours. (If he had carried on to his planned hotel, he should still have been safe, he told his office by e-mail overnight; in the giant city formerly called Bombay, he was scheduled to be a good ten miles away from the apparent danger zone.) The other members of the UW contingent, arriving in Mumbai to talk with business and financial leaders about UW links with India, are also reported fine, though it's not clear when they will all get home.

Looking for a snowman, a candle or a quilt? You could hardly have this season of the year without them, and neither could you have it without the annual craft sale hosted by the UW staff association. The 15th annual sale runs today and tomorrow in the Davis Centre fishbowl lounge (from 10 to 5 today, from 9 to 3 on Friday). The indefatigable Sue Fraser of the association's social committee notes in a memo that 10 per cent of all proceeds will be donated to the UW Senate Scholarship Fund (University-wide) and the Staff Association Award. "UW staff employees/ retirees/ alumni will be selling their talented crafts," she writes, "so why not come out and purchase a few Christmas gifts? All items are handcrafted: Christmas sewn items and ornaments; handspun yarn/knitted items; totes; numerous wood crafts and tole painted items; homemade chocolates; candles; stained glass; custom jewelry, dry cookie mixes; cloth snowmen, santas and angels; quilted items; pet gifts; decorative ceramics; hand painted glassware, pottery, pressed floral art, handmade cards, seashells; natural homemade creams and lotions." In addition, "We have lots of great raffle prizes. All monies from the raffle will go directly to the Scholarship Funds. Buy a ticket and get a free cup of apple cider."

I wrote the other day about the new issue of The Boar magazine, published by the Arts Student Union, and the response was a letter from editor Ashley Csanady with the disquieting news that "our existence may soon be relegated to the realm of cyberspace," as The Boar is having trouble meeting the budget to print future issues. "Our start-up grant from the Arts Endowment Fund was used up with the most recent issue," and advertising sales aren't booming, Csanady says. She and her editorial colleagues are hoping to find sponsors for the magazine, who will be dubbed "Friends of the Boar" at a $25 donation level, Silver or Gold Boars at intermediate levels, or "Platinum Boars" at $1,000. If things don't work out by early January, a winter issue in hard copy will be abandoned in favour of electronic publication, she says.

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Grebel's Mennonite archivist retires

from a Conrad Grebel University College news release

Sam Steiner, archivist and librarian at Conrad Grebel University College, ends his 34-year service with the acquisition of three significant donations to the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, housed at Grebel.

“It's been a privilege to be immersed in the historical life of Mennonites in Ontario,” says Steiner. “I've helped many fascinating people in their research, ranging from Old Order Mennonite historians like Isaac R. Horst to radio journalists from Switzerland. The biggest change in archives despite the unrelenting increase in paper records has been the technological one — more than half of requests from patrons today are for digitized forms of sound recordings or photographs. And many of these requests come by e-mail.”

Among the donations from J. Harold Sherk are legal and business papers of Benjamin Eby and Joseph Schneider. Eby and Schneider were early Mennonite leaders in Waterloo County, with Eby considered by many to be the founder of Berlin, now Kitchener. Their papers demonstrate relationships far beyond the Mennonite community and demonstrate many of the changes that occurred throughout the 19th century in Waterloo County.

Other more recent papers and personal documents belonging to Mennonite lay leader Isador Snyder and farmer Ephraim Cressman were donated by Helen and Jim Reusser, along with diaries and letters from Florence Cressman Snyder which offer insight into 20th century Kitchener-Waterloo. Additional papers and correspondence of Earle Snyder (1893-1973), longtime professor at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, and Helen Reusser's father, will be added to the existing Earle S. Snyder collection. (Left: Steiner looks at documents with Helen Reusser — photo by Linda Huebert Hecht.)

Paul Burkholder donated the diaries of his father, Lewis J. Burkholder, a longtime Mennonite minister in the Markham area and the author of the landmark A Brief History of the Mennonites in Ontario, published in 1935. The diaries cover the years of his research and writing of this foundational history.

Steiner, who retires from his current position at the end of 2008, came to Canada from Chicago forty years ago as a political refugee or draft dodger. While Steiner’s Mennonite family had a history of ministers, he was inspired to take his own stance after attending Martin Luther King’s march to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. He graduated from UW in 1973, taking many courses at Grebel which helped him “find my way back to Christian faith within a Mennonite context.” He began at Grebel as the archivist in 1974 and as a librarian in 1976, finishing an MLS degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1978.

Steiner is the historian for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, secretary of the Detweiler Meetinghouse Inc., and a member of the Executive of the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. He has authored two books: a biography of the nineteenth-century Ontario Mennonite entrepreneur Jacob Y. Shantz (1988) and the history of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener (1995).

“Sam Steiner has made many lasting contributions in his long career,” says Jim Pankratz, academic dean at Grebel. “He, more than anyone else, defined the focus and the quality of the College library and built the archives into an unsurpassed collection of resources on Mennonites in Ontario. His own research and publications are remarkable scholarly and public service achievements.”

Steiner’s initial retirement plan is to write a survey history of Mennonites in Ontario, from the beginning of Mennonite immigration to Upper Canada to the year 2000, in cooperation with the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. This ambitious project will update the 1935 Burkholder project. He also recently accepted another three-year term as managing editor of the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online and will continue to serve as president of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada.

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Sabbaticals set to begin January 1

Many of the UW faculty members who are due for sabbatical leaves this year will be starting them as of January 1. Here’s a list of some, with a note of how they’ll be spending the sabbatical time, as reported to UW’s board of governors.

Diana Parry, recreation and leisure studies: “I have three main priorities for the requested six-month sabbatical including analyzing data, reviewing literature and overseeing a SSHRC research project. All of these activities will lead to publications in academic journals.”

Dayan Ban, electrical and computer engineering (six months): “I will take this special opportunity to focus on my research, establish collaboration with world-leading institutes, and enhance my professional abilities and get ready for my tenure application. My plan is to join the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT (Boston) and work with Prof. Q. Hu on a project of ‘coherent measurements of terahertz quantum cascade lasers’.”

Jane Buyers, fine arts (six months): “During the leave, I intend to focus on drawing. I will spend part of the time in my studio exploring the medium of drawing through a variety of processes and materials. I also intend to travel to major international art centres to research contemporary drawing practice and visit collections of historical drawings.”

Jennifer Clapp, environment and resource studies (twelve months): “I would like to take a sabbatical leave for one year in order to accomplish the following: write second edition version of my book Paths to a Green World under agreement with MIT Press; completion of book on food aid policy that I have been working on for the past couple of years for Cornell University Press; launch of new research projects on the role of speculation and trade policies in the global food crisis.”

Paul Socken, French studies (six months): “I will do research on the reception of Québec dramatist Michel Tremblay’s plays in France and edit a book on the reasons for studying Talmud in the 21st century.”

Brian Cozzarin, management sciences (six months): “I will continue my research. It relates to employee training and the effect on firm growth and productivity; testing theories of why firms collaborate on R&D.”

Grainne Fitzsimons, psychology (six months): “I will spend two months at UC Santa Barbara collaborating with two leading relationships researchers, Dr. Shelly Gable and Dr. Nancy Collins, on a new research project. I will also spend two months in continental Europe writing and collaborating with social cognition researchers Ap Dijksterhuis (Netherlands) and Paula Niedenthal (France).”

CAR

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Link of the day

America celebrates Thanksgiving

When and where

Blood donor clinic today 10:00 to 4:00 and Friday 9:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre.

Credit union seminar: Jo-Ann Spicer, “RESP Saving for Education”, 12:15, Davis Centre room 1302.

One Waterloo Campaign presents “The Queer Community Is Part of My Community” 12:30 to 2:30, Student Life Centre great hall:; includes opportunity to leave messages of support on banner.

UW International Spouses craft session (quilt a small coaster) 12:45, Columbia Lake Village community centre, children welcome, e-mail lighthousenm@gmail.com if attending.

Homestretch Celebration for graduating students, sponsored by Arts Student Union, 3:00 to 4:30, Graduate House. Details.

Exchange programs to Baden-Württemburg (Germany) and Rhône-Alpes (France) information session 3:30, Needles Hall room 1101.

Centre for Computational Mathematics information session about master’s program in computational math, 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158A.

Librarians’ Association exclusive screening of “The Hollywood Librarian”, a look at librarians through film, 6:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, free, reception follows.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

Pension and benefits committee Friday 8:30 a.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

Information systems and technology professional development seminar: Sean Van Koughnett, “VeloCity”, Friday 9 a.m., IST seminar room.

myHRinfo system unavailable because of maintenance, Friday at 12:00 noon until Monday at noon.

Philosophy colloquium: Denis Walsh, University of Toronto, “Statistical Laws, Ensemble Explanations” Friday 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Salon des Refusés sponsored by The New Quarterly: readings, panel discussion, wine, Friday 7:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $5, RSVP ext. 28290.

Think Pink Weekend sponsored by athletics department in support of breast cancer research, Friday-Sunday, with eight Warrior games, Campus Recreation dance show and other promotions.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings. Details.

X-rated hypnotist Tony Lee performs at Bombshelter pub, Friday, doors open 9:00 p.m., tickets $10 at Federation of Students office, $12 at door.

Sabbaticals 101, “A Practical Guide for Academics and Their Families”, by Nancy Matthews, book launch Saturday 2:00, UW bookstore, South Campus Hall.

UW Chamber Choir concert, “It Can’t Be Christmas Yet”, Saturday 7:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts (tickets $12, students $10); Sunday, November 30, 7:30 p.m., Three Willows United Church, Guelph (tickets $15, students $12).

Engineering Jazz Band (“With Respect to Time”) charity concert Saturday 8 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, tickets $10 at the door, proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.

UW Stage Band concert, “Swing’s the Thing”, Sunday 2:00, Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $8 (students $5).

Last day of classes for fall term is Monday, December 1. Exams, December 5-19.

Staff association town hall meeting Monday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

UW Planning Alumni of Toronto 18th annual gala dinner Monday, Royal York Hotel. Details.

UW Instrumental Chamber Ensembles end-of-term concert Monday 7:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel, free admission.

WatITis 2008 one-day conference for information technology staff, “Making the Future”, Tuesday. Details.

Faculty association fall general meeting Tuesday 2:00 p.m., Math and Computer room 4020, speakers from Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

PhD oral defences

Electrical and computer engineering. Mehri Mehrjoo, “Resource Allocation for OFDMA Wireless Networks.” Supervisor, Sherman Shen. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Friday, December 5, 2:00 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

Chemistry. Pei Chun Hang, “Investigation into Streptomyces azureus Thiostrepton-Resistance rRNA Methyltransferase and Its Cognate Antibiotic.” Supervisor, John F. Honek. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Monday, December 8, 10:00 a.m., Chemistry II room 361.

Electrical and computer engineering. Leila Rezaee, “Biomodal Gate Oxide Breakdown.” Supervisor, Chettypalayam R. Selvakumar. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Monday, December 8, 2:00 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

Systems design engineering. Lou Joseph Pino, “Neuromuscular Decision Support Using Pattern Discovery.” Supervisor, Daniel Stashuk. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Tuesday, December 9, 9:00 a.m., Engineering II room 1307C.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

Read More |  Comments

Top

Thursday November 27, 2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:31:05 EST

November 27, 2008 The CUPE contract, the Mumbai drama Grebel's Mennonite archivist retires Sabbaticals set to begin January 1

Eye-catching signs helped volunteers spread the love yesterday. The Arts Student Union organized the end-of-term stress-busting "free hugs" event, and participants included this duo making their offer on the recently renovated main floor of the Dana Porter Library. Photo by Simon Wilson.

Back to top

The CUPE contract, the Mumbai drama

Negotiators for UW's administration and the the union representing about 300 hourly-paid employees reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with the help of a conciliator from the Ontario labour ministry. Neil Murray of UW's human resources department says the leadership of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793 "will be recommending the agreement to the membership", which includes staff in UW's plant operations and food services departments. Ratification will be sought at a membership meeting to be held Friday between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. CUPE 793 has been without a contract for almost seven months now, as the previous two-year contract expired on April 30.

Several people from UW, in a delegation headed by president David Johnston, were in Mumbai, India, or on their way there yesterday when terrorists attacked two major hotels and other prominent sites in a drama that's still in progress today. Johnston himself, halfway what was suposed to be a week-long visit to India, got no farther than the city's airport before realizing the situation and cutting his trip short; he's expected to be back in Canada in a few hours. (If he had carried on to his planned hotel, he should still have been safe, he told his office by e-mail overnight; in the giant city formerly called Bombay, he was scheduled to be a good ten miles away from the apparent danger zone.) The other members of the UW contingent, arriving in Mumbai to talk with business and financial leaders about UW links with India, are also reported fine, though it's not clear when they will all get home.

Looking for a snowman, a candle or a quilt? You could hardly have this season of the year without them, and neither could you have it without the annual craft sale hosted by the UW staff association. The 15th annual sale runs today and tomorrow in the Davis Centre fishbowl lounge (from 10 to 5 today, from 9 to 3 on Friday). The indefatigable Sue Fraser of the association's social committee notes in a memo that 10 per cent of all proceeds will be donated to the UW Senate Scholarship Fund (University-wide) and the Staff Association Award. "UW staff employees/ retirees/ alumni will be selling their talented crafts," she writes, "so why not come out and purchase a few Christmas gifts? All items are handcrafted: Christmas sewn items and ornaments; handspun yarn/knitted items; totes; numerous wood crafts and tole painted items; homemade chocolates; candles; stained glass; custom jewelry, dry cookie mixes; cloth snowmen, santas and angels; quilted items; pet gifts; decorative ceramics; hand painted glassware, pottery, pressed floral art, handmade cards, seashells; natural homemade creams and lotions." In addition, "We have lots of great raffle prizes. All monies from the raffle will go directly to the Scholarship Funds. Buy a ticket and get a free cup of apple cider."

I wrote the other day about the new issue of The Boar magazine, published by the Arts Student Union, and the response was a letter from editor Ashley Csanady with the disquieting news that "our existence may soon be relegated to the realm of cyberspace," as The Boar is having trouble meeting the budget to print future issues. "Our start-up grant from the Arts Endowment Fund was used up with the most recent issue," and advertising sales aren't booming, Csanady says. She and her editorial colleagues are hoping to find sponsors for the magazine, who will be dubbed "Friends of the Boar" at a $25 donation level, Silver or Gold Boars at intermediate levels, or "Platinum Boars" at $1,000. If things don't work out by early January, a winter issue in hard copy will be abandoned in favour of electronic publication, she says.

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Grebel's Mennonite archivist retires

from a Conrad Grebel University College news release

Sam Steiner, archivist and librarian at Conrad Grebel University College, ends his 34-year service with the acquisition of three significant donations to the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, housed at Grebel.

“It's been a privilege to be immersed in the historical life of Mennonites in Ontario,” says Steiner. “I've helped many fascinating people in their research, ranging from Old Order Mennonite historians like Isaac R. Horst to radio journalists from Switzerland. The biggest change in archives despite the unrelenting increase in paper records has been the technological one — more than half of requests from patrons today are for digitized forms of sound recordings or photographs. And many of these requests come by e-mail.”

Among the donations from J. Harold Sherk are legal and business papers of Benjamin Eby and Joseph Schneider. Eby and Schneider were early Mennonite leaders in Waterloo County, with Eby considered by many to be the founder of Berlin, now Kitchener. Their papers demonstrate relationships far beyond the Mennonite community and demonstrate many of the changes that occurred throughout the 19th century in Waterloo County.

Other more recent papers and personal documents belonging to Mennonite lay leader Isador Snyder and farmer Ephraim Cressman were donated by Helen and Jim Reusser, along with diaries and letters from Florence Cressman Snyder which offer insight into 20th century Kitchener-Waterloo. Additional papers and correspondence of Earle Snyder (1893-1973), longtime professor at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, and Helen Reusser's father, will be added to the existing Earle S. Snyder collection. (Left: Steiner looks at documents with Helen Reusser — photo by Linda Huebert Hecht.)

Paul Burkholder donated the diaries of his father, Lewis J. Burkholder, a longtime Mennonite minister in the Markham area and the author of the landmark A Brief History of the Mennonites in Ontario, published in 1935. The diaries cover the years of his research and writing of this foundational history.

Steiner, who retires from his current position at the end of 2008, came to Canada from Chicago forty years ago as a political refugee or draft dodger. While Steiner’s Mennonite family had a history of ministers, he was inspired to take his own stance after attending Martin Luther King’s march to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. He graduated from UW in 1973, taking many courses at Grebel which helped him “find my way back to Christian faith within a Mennonite context.” He began at Grebel as the archivist in 1974 and as a librarian in 1976, finishing an MLS degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1978.

Steiner is the historian for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, secretary of the Detweiler Meetinghouse Inc., and a member of the Executive of the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. He has authored two books: a biography of the nineteenth-century Ontario Mennonite entrepreneur Jacob Y. Shantz (1988) and the history of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener (1995).

“Sam Steiner has made many lasting contributions in his long career,” says Jim Pankratz, academic dean at Grebel. “He, more than anyone else, defined the focus and the quality of the College library and built the archives into an unsurpassed collection of resources on Mennonites in Ontario. His own research and publications are remarkable scholarly and public service achievements.”

Steiner’s initial retirement plan is to write a survey history of Mennonites in Ontario, from the beginning of Mennonite immigration to Upper Canada to the year 2000, in cooperation with the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. This ambitious project will update the 1935 Burkholder project. He also recently accepted another three-year term as managing editor of the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online and will continue to serve as president of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada.

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Sabbaticals set to begin January 1

Many of the UW faculty members who are due for sabbatical leaves this year will be starting them as of January 1. Here’s a list of some, with a note of how they’ll be spending the sabbatical time, as reported to UW’s board of governors.

Diana Parry, recreation and leisure studies: “I have three main priorities for the requested six-month sabbatical including analyzing data, reviewing literature and overseeing a SSHRC research project. All of these activities will lead to publications in academic journals.”

Dayan Ban, electrical and computer engineering (six months): “I will take this special opportunity to focus on my research, establish collaboration with world-leading institutes, and enhance my professional abilities and get ready for my tenure application. My plan is to join the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT (Boston) and work with Prof. Q. Hu on a project of ‘coherent measurements of terahertz quantum cascade lasers’.”

Jane Buyers, fine arts (six months): “During the leave, I intend to focus on drawing. I will spend part of the time in my studio exploring the medium of drawing through a variety of processes and materials. I also intend to travel to major international art centres to research contemporary drawing practice and visit collections of historical drawings.”

Jennifer Clapp, environment and resource studies (twelve months): “I would like to take a sabbatical leave for one year in order to accomplish the following: write second edition version of my book Paths to a Green World under agreement with MIT Press; completion of book on food aid policy that I have been working on for the past couple of years for Cornell University Press; launch of new research projects on the role of speculation and trade policies in the global food crisis.”

Paul Socken, French studies (six months): “I will do research on the reception of Québec dramatist Michel Tremblay’s plays in France and edit a book on the reasons for studying Talmud in the 21st century.”

Brian Cozzarin, management sciences (six months): “I will continue my research. It relates to employee training and the effect on firm growth and productivity; testing theories of why firms collaborate on R&D.”

Grainne Fitzsimons, psychology (six months): “I will spend two months at UC Santa Barbara collaborating with two leading relationships researchers, Dr. Shelly Gable and Dr. Nancy Collins, on a new research project. I will also spend two months in continental Europe writing and collaborating with social cognition researchers Ap Dijksterhuis (Netherlands) and Paula Niedenthal (France).”

CAR

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Link of the day

America celebrates Thanksgiving

When and where

Blood donor clinic today 10:00 to 4:00 and Friday 9:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre.

Credit union seminar: Jo-Ann Spicer, “RESP Saving for Education”, 12:15, Davis Centre room 1302.

One Waterloo Campaign presents “The Queer Community Is Part of My Community” 12:30 to 2:30, Student Life Centre great hall:; includes opportunity to leave messages of support on banner.

UW International Spouses craft session (quilt a small coaster) 12:45, Columbia Lake Village community centre, children welcome, e-mail lighthousenm@gmail.com if attending.

Homestretch Celebration for graduating students, sponsored by Arts Student Union, 3:00 to 4:30, Graduate House. Details.

Exchange programs to Baden-Württemburg (Germany) and Rhône-Alpes (France) information session 3:30, Needles Hall room 1101.

Centre for Computational Mathematics information session about master’s program in computational math, 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158A.

Librarians’ Association exclusive screening of “The Hollywood Librarian”, a look at librarians through film, 6:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, free, reception follows.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

Pension and benefits committee Friday 8:30 a.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

Information systems and technology professional development seminar: Sean Van Koughnett, “VeloCity”, Friday 9 a.m., IST seminar room.

myHRinfo system unavailable because of maintenance, Friday at 12:00 noon until Monday at noon.

Philosophy colloquium: Denis Walsh, University of Toronto, “Statistical Laws, Ensemble Explanations” Friday 3:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.

Salon des Refusés sponsored by The New Quarterly: readings, panel discussion, wine, Friday 7:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $5, RSVP ext. 28290.

Think Pink Weekend sponsored by athletics department in support of breast cancer research, Friday-Sunday, with eight Warrior games, Campus Recreation dance show and other promotions.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings. Details.

X-rated hypnotist Tony Lee performs at Bombshelter pub, Friday, doors open 9:00 p.m., tickets $10 at Federation of Students office, $12 at door.

Sabbaticals 101, “A Practical Guide for Academics and Their Families”, by Nancy Matthews, book launch Saturday 2:00, UW bookstore, South Campus Hall.

UW Chamber Choir concert, “It Can’t Be Christmas Yet”, Saturday 7:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts (tickets $12, students $10); Sunday, November 30, 7:30 p.m., Three Willows United Church, Guelph (tickets $15, students $12).

Engineering Jazz Band (“With Respect to Time”) charity concert Saturday 8 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, tickets $10 at the door, proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.

UW Stage Band concert, “Swing’s the Thing”, Sunday 2:00, Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $8 (students $5).

Last day of classes for fall term is Monday, December 1. Exams, December 5-19.

Staff association town hall meeting Monday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

UW Planning Alumni of Toronto 18th annual gala dinner Monday, Royal York Hotel. Details.

UW Instrumental Chamber Ensembles end-of-term concert Monday 7:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel, free admission.

WatITis 2008 one-day conference for information technology staff, “Making the Future”, Tuesday. Details.

Faculty association fall general meeting Tuesday 2:00 p.m., Math and Computer room 4020, speakers from Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, Monday, December 15, 7:00 p.m., and school performances Tuesday, 10:00 and 12:30, Humanities Theatre.

PhD oral defences

Electrical and computer engineering. Mehri Mehrjoo, “Resource Allocation for OFDMA Wireless Networks.” Supervisor, Sherman Shen. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Friday, December 5, 2:00 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

Chemistry. Pei Chun Hang, “Investigation into Streptomyces azureus Thiostrepton-Resistance rRNA Methyltransferase and Its Cognate Antibiotic.” Supervisor, John F. Honek. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Monday, December 8, 10:00 a.m., Chemistry II room 361.

Electrical and computer engineering. Leila Rezaee, “Biomodal Gate Oxide Breakdown.” Supervisor, Chettypalayam R. Selvakumar. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Monday, December 8, 2:00 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

Systems design engineering. Lou Joseph Pino, “Neuromuscular Decision Support Using Pattern Discovery.” Supervisor, Daniel Stashuk. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Tuesday, December 9, 9:00 a.m., Engineering II room 1307C.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Wednesday November 26, 2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:59:57 EST

November 26, 2008 Campus plan ready for approval Hugs, happiness and human kindness Announcements from all over campus Campus plan ready for approval

An overhaul of the 16-year-old “master plan” for UW’s main Waterloo campus will come to the board of governors for approval in February, with promises for improved open spaces at the centre of the campus, but fewer surface parking lots around the edges.

The university senate got a preview of the document at its November 17 meeting from Joe Berridge, who heads Urban Strategies, the Toronto-based firm that developed the plan. Berridge — who also serves UW as honorary chair of the Campaign Waterloo segment for the school of planning — was a key figure when the previous plan was developed in 1992 by a predecessor firm, Berridge Lewinberg Greenberg.

The original plan has worked out very well, Berridge told the meeting, but “we were beginning to nibble into the internal open spaces” with massive construction in the past few years. That prompted a review and rewriting, and “we have almost a final product now,” he said, taking senate members quickly through a plan that looks very much like what was presented for comment from across campus earlier this fall.

Justin Williams, president of the Federation of Students, had praise for that consultation process, which included displays in the Student Life Centre and the Davis Centre. As a result of it, he said, students feel that their opinions have been taken into account.

“The campus landscape in our view needs a story line,” said Berridge. He reiterated that with recent infill construction, the campus is no longer the parkland it once was. In fact, it’s now almost an urban area, in keeping with what lies beyond it. “The city, which used to be somewhat to the south of you, has now almost entirely embraced you,” he observed. “The university will become an integrated part of the city.”

(And UW’s property is now tending to be referred to in plural terms: there’s the south campus between University Avenue and Columbia Street, the east campus along Phillip Street, the north campus beyond Columbia, and the northwest campus on the right bank of Laurel Creek.)

The university can’t keep putting up buildings on the remaining open spaces at its centre, he said. “You have to move outside the ring road, at the edges.” Inevitably that means buildings on some of the space that’s now used for surface parking — and despite efforts to get people coming to campus by bus, by bike and by the planned rapid transit line, there will still be a need to park thousands of cars somewhere. The result: parking garages.

Said Berridge: “At the same time as we invest in buildings, we’ve got to invest in the open space.” The result is a new emphasis on the “pedestrian spine” (see graphic) that already runs roughly north-south through the middle of the campus. He described it as linking “a network of strong open spaces” such as the rock garden and quadrangles, including new ones that can be defined by landscaping.

Although Berridge didn’t specifically mention it at the senate meeting, maps in the master plan document show the historic Graduate House continuing to stand — a building that was previously thought to be threatened by the pressure for building space on the engineering side of the campus.

One building that wouldn’t survive, judging from the maps, is South Campus Hall, as Berridge and his colleagues hope to reshape the main entrance to campus and put up new buildings framing the south end of the pedestrian spine. Among other things, they could provide new space for the bookstore and other services now located in SCH.

One senate member asked Berridge about “universal design”, which provides access for disabled people right along with increased convenience for everybody else. New buildings absolutely will meet such standards, he replied, adding that it’s more difficult for “historic” structures: “One has to retrofit those conditions as one can.”

Another member asked about the future of the Health Services building, designed by noted Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama in 1968, and now considered much too small for the demands placed on it. “We are aware of that problem,” said UW provost Amit Chakma, “but we don’t have a concrete plan.”

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Hugs, happiness and human kindness

“Four hugs a day, that’s the minimum,” according to a kids’ song about the vital need for touching. You should be able to reach today’s quota if you make your way over to the Arts Lecture Hall today between 11:00 and 2:00. The Arts Student Union hopes to have 1,000 people fanning out from there, “giving hugs (and high-fives) across campus”. Allan Babor, president of the ASU, explains that it’s “a chance to give back to your fellow students, at a highly stressful time, with a much needed act of kindness,” but I imagine that non-students could also benefit. The free-hug celebration drew newspaper publicity when it was held at a similar point last winter term, and there’s a video of the results on YouTube.

A more spiritual approach to matters will surface this afternoon in the Student Life Centre, thanks to the UW Compass Catholic Fellowship. The event starts at 2:30 with a talk by Rev. William Lawrence of a Catholic group called the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, which among other things provides liturgy in the traditional Latin in Ontario’s Hamilton diocese. His topic: “The Pursuit of Happiness and What Makes People the Most Joyful”. An opportunity for questions will follow.

Speaking of joy, with Christmas on the horizon there is always an increased emphasis on charitable activities across campus. My own office has a collection box for donations to the Out of the Cold program (socks and such for homeless people), and I would be glad to give Daily Bulletin mentions to other projects of this kind that are under way. Also this week: the student Legal Studies Society is collecting contributions to the local Food Bank at its office on the first floor of St. Jerome’s University; a subset of the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group is in the Math and Computer building taking orders for Krispy Kreme doughnuts (delivery on Friday) in support of the Free the Children Clean Water Campaign.

In just a slightly different warm-and-fuzzy category comes a follow-up to the article about Bob Norman, retired from UW’s department of kinesiology, that appeared in the Daily Bulletin two weeks ago. “It’s really not fair,” a reader wrote, “to post such a lovely photo of Dr. Norman without mentioning his beautiful companion’s name. And I’m dying to know if the mystery dog is a Labradoodle like my Tucker!” Norman found time, in between his musical efforts and his work helping to lead UW’s Keystone Campaign, to send an answer: “The dog, Sheba, who is now 13 and sings quite well when our quartet sings, is a Dalmatian/standard poodle mix.”

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Announcements from all over campus

Maybe you can't read every word in the flyer that's reproduced at right, so here are the essential facts, in the words of Dave Pritchard, vice-president (communications and organization) for the Graduate Student Association: "The GSA will be holding a semi-formal buffet dinner and dance on December 13 in South Campus Hall. This will be one of the biggest GSA events ever, second only to the lineup of 300 grad students at this year's Welcome Week. One compelling reason for graduate students to go is that tickets cost only $25; this is due to funding made available by the GSA specifically for the event. A second reason to check it out is that there will be live music before and after dinner, provided by Mint — a Toronto musical collective recently featured on CBC Radio One. Tickets are on sale until December 1 at the Grad House. Full details are online."

Freda Sokolowski, who has been a custodian in UW's plant operations department since February 1989, will officially retire on December 1. • The Federation of Students says nominations for its 2009-10 executive will be open January 5 through 23, with the annual election following in February. • Renison College's non-credit courses in "Arabic for Beginners" will be offered at two levels during the winter term, one for students who know the alphabet and one for those who don't.

A note that could be important to staff and faculty members wanting to check their net pay or other personal data online this Friday — payday — and over the weekend: the human resources department says the "myHRinfo" system will be unavailable because of maintenance from noon on Friday, November 28, until noon on Monday, December 1.

“As North America confronts the greatest economic crisis in 70 years,” says a news release from the Centre for International Governance Innovation, “the regulatory and security measures on the Canada-U.S. border are negatively affecting both countries’ ability to maintain their competitive edge in an era of global financial crisis and emerging economies. The report issued by the Canadian International Council calls for the urgent establishment of a Permanent Joint Border Commission to address the alarming economic consequences by the increased regulatory fees and security measures implemented after 9/11. The report, entitled A New Bridge for Old Allies, reviews the current border issues within a framework of three pillars: security, transportation strategy, and economic competitiveness and innovation. . . . Canada and the U.S. appear to be moving in the opposite direction with serious consequences at these challenging economic times. The auto industry, currently facing unprecedented financial challenges, is an example of a sector which has been adversely affected by the layering of border measures. The report urges the U.S. to work collaboratively with its Canadian partner to speed the flow of legitimate trade and people across the border.”

UW's continuing education office is offering one-day sessions on "Managing Work Expectations" tomorrow, and "Introduction to Managerial Accounting" on Thursday. • A display of commemorative banners from UW's 50th anniversary (last year), the 40th (in 1997), and the 25th (in 1982) is now hanging in a spot best viewed from the lower level of the Davis Centre library. • My flying fingers caused UW's alumni e-newsletter to be called "@Waterloo", in a mention in yesterday's Daily Bulletin, when it's really "@UWaterloo".

CAR

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Link of the day

Canada's Rich Little is 70

When and where

Emergency simulation at Wilfrid Laurier University, 8 a.m. to noon.

Heritage Resources Centre lunch-and-learn: Stephen Murphy, Parks and Research Forum of Ontario, 12:00, Environment I room 221.

Free noon concert: “Mad Songs: Music of Playford and Purcell”, 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University College chapel.

Lions magic benefit show 1:00, 5:30 and 8:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre, tickets $14.

Smarter Health seminar: Stephen Walker, University of Manchester, “Healthcare, Biobank and Research Information Systems in the UK” 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

United Arab Emirates campus information session with Leo Rothenburg, acting dean of engineering, 4:30, Needles Hall room 3001.

Columbia Lake Health Club “lifestyle learning” session: “Making 2009 the Best Year Ever” 5:30, 340 Hagey Boulevard.

Warrior volleyball vs. Laurier, men 6:00, women 8:00, PAC main gym.

In the Mind’s Eye festival (“Issues of Substance Use in Film and Forum”) films at UW Architecture building in Cambridge: “Cottonland” 7:00.

'FLOW: For the Love of Water' film at Princess Cinema tonight through Sunday; introduced 7:00 tonight by Nicola Ross, editor of UW-published Alternatives Journal, other environmental speakers on other days.

Wilfrid Laurier University presents Tariq Ramadan, Swiss Muslim scholar, speaking in Islam and Human Rights series, 7:30 p.m., Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.

Blood donor clinic Thursday 10:00 to 4:00 and Friday 9:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Staff association craft sale Thursday (10:00 to 5:00) and Friday (9:00 to 3:00), Davis Centre lounge, 10 per cent of revenue goes to scholarship funds.

Credit union seminar: Jo-Ann Spicer, “RESP Saving for Education”, Thursday 12:15, Davis Centre room 1302.

One Waterloo Campaign presents “The Queer Community Is Part of My Community” Thursday 12:30 to 2:30, Student Life Centre great hall:; includes opportunity to leave messages of support on banner.

UW International Spouses craft session (quilt a small coaster) Thursday 12:45, Columbia Lake Village community centre, children welcome, e-mail lighthousenm@gmail.com if attending.

Homestretch Celebration for graduating students, sponsored by Arts Student Union, Thursday 3:00 to 4:30, Graduate House. Details.

Exchange programs to Baden-Württemburg (Germany) and Rhône-Alpes (France) information session Thursday 3:30, Needles Hall room 1101.

Centre for Computational Mathematics information session about master’s program in computational math, Thursday 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158A.

Librarians’ Association exclusive screening of “The Hollywood Librarian”, a look at librarians through film, Thursday 6:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, free, reception follows.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, Thursday 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

Salon des Refusés sponsored by The New Quarterly: readings, panel discussion, wine, Friday 7:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $5, RSVP ext. 28290.

Think Pink Weekend sponsored by athletics department in support of breast cancer research, November 28-30, with eight Warrior games, Campus Recreation dance show and other promotions.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings. Details.

Sabbaticals 101, “A Practical Guide for Academics and Their Families”, by Nancy Matthews, book launch Saturday 2:00, UW bookstore, South Campus Hall.

UW Chamber Choir concert, “It Can’t Be Christmas Yet”, Saturday 7:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts (tickets $12, students $10); Sunday 7:30 p.m., Three Willows United Church, Guelph (tickets $15, students $12).

UW Stage Band concert, “Swing’s the Thing”, Sunday 2:00, Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $8 (students $5).

Staff association town hall meeting December 1, 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

UW Instrumental Chamber Ensembles end-of-term concert December 1, 7:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel, free admission.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, December 2, 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

Christmas at the Davis Centre: UW Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir annual concert, concluding with carol sing-along, December 3, 12:00, Davis Centre great hall.

‘Improving Your Financial Health’ seminar by Heather Cudmore, Catholic Family Counselling Centre, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, December 3, 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Ontario Ballet Theatre presents “The Nutcracker”, December 15, 7:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre.

Positions available

On this week’s list from the human resources department:

• Administrative assistant to the associate dean (outreach), faculty of engineering (secondment or contract)

Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Tuesday November 25, 2008

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:01 EST

November 25, 2008 Team presents its bacterial factory Success story for 'refer-a-student' site And a rainbow of other news today
Team presents its bacterial factory

Somil Bhargava, Erica Tiberia and Danielle Nash report on their trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has issued a challenge: can biological systems be engineered in the same way as electrical and software systems? The University of Waterloo has answered the call.

The International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, hosted at MIT, is an undergraduate competition in which student teams compete to build biological devices from the genetic level. iGEM has become a driving force in the emerging cross-disciplinary field called Synthetic Biology. This nascent area of applied science stems from applying engineering approaches to biological systems to design and construct synthetic systems with new functions.

DNA “parts” used and produced by each team are designed using a standard format to ensure compatibility during assembly. All parts submitted by each year’s iGEM teams are stored in the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. This Registry allows biological parts to be accessed and interchanged almost as easily as a set of gears or a box of screws.

At the beginning of the summer, each team receives a DNA Parts Kit containing these standardized parts from the Registry. The competition is open-ended, so each team decides on a project of their own choosing and works throughout the year to design and construct build their biological device. Teams are free to use the parts provided or to construct their own new parts. At the iGEM Jamboree, a conference held at the beginning of November, competing teams meet to present their design and results in front of a global audience of teams from around the world.

Beginning with five teams in 2004, the competition has since rapidly expanded to 84 teams from more than 20 countries in the 2008 competition. Attendance at the Jamboree reached over 800 people this year. The majority of participants were undergraduate students with vivid imaginations regarding the potential of synthetic biology. Some particularly interesting applications proposed and constructed by the participating undergrad students include synthetic blood made from bacteria, solutions for HIV and cancer utilizing specific molecular receptors, sensors for toxins in the environment, and a computational device capable of solving complex mathematical problems. This year's finalists presented projects using bacteria to emulate kidney activity, generate electricity and develop vaccines.

The UW iGEM team consists of many undergraduate students and also several faculty advisors spanning the Faculties of Science, Engineering, and Math. The team attended and presented this year's project at the Jamboree on November 8 and 9 and earned a bronze medal standard for their hard work and contributions. (Photo: some of the 15 Waterloo students who attended the event.)

This year, the UW iGEM team designed a genome-free cell expression system, which basically acts as a safe bacterial factory for producing useful compounds in response to an environmental signal. The applications of this project are numerous because it can be modified to produce essentially any protein desired, acting as a compound production and delivery system for agricultural, industrial or therapeutic use.

We are looking for motivated and innovative students to form the 2009 team. We’re wrapping up this term with some preliminary brainstorming for new project ideas, and during the winter term we will decide on a project and focus on the design phase. We will move full force into the lab phase at the start of spring term. Current team members will be holding a brainstorming session today from 5:45 to 7:00 in Rod Coutts Hall room 306. Anyone interesting in sharing their ideas for the 2009 project is welcome to attend.

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Success story for 'refer-a-student' site

by Beth Bohnert, from the @Waterloo e-newsletter for UW alumni

Engineering student Joel Koscielski (right) was referred to UW by his supervisor, Tyler Alexander (BASc '06), who knows mechanical aptitude when he sees it. That's why he pointed Koscielski to UW.

As the supervisor of a welding engineering group who is also responsible for filling co-op positions, Alexander has seen quite a few students come and go. But he couldn't help being impressed by the talent and drive that the young man brought to his summer job at Centerline, a Windsor, Ontario, manufacturer that produces custom-designed welding and metalworking equipment.

Tyler appreciated Koscielski’s natural mechanical ability and the way he applied the skills he'd learned as part of his high school robotics team. In fact, it wasn't long before Joel was handling the tasks of a full-time machinist. "Joel wanted to make the most of his experience at Centerline," Alexander says. "Some students just put in their time, but you could see Joel was looking ahead."

And when Koscielski had questions about university engineering programs, Alexander was happy to share his experiences at UW. "Everybody talks about how intensive UW's engineering program is; I wanted to make sure Joel heard about the positive aspects of the program as well as the challenges," he says.

"UW's co-op program really appealed to me," says Koscielski. "I like the hands-on aspect and the chance to solve real problems."

Alexander passed the student’s name to UW's recruitment team via the Refer-A-Student program, an initiative that allows alumni to recommend outstanding students who they believe will not only benefit from a UW education, but will also be an asset to the university and to the broader community. Koscielski applied to UW and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, he is settling in to his first term in UW's mechanical engineering program. He's looking forward to his co-op placements, where he hopes to gather perspectives on different industries before he decides to specialize. Eventually, he intends to be part of an innovative, fast-paced industry such as wind power production. And Alexander has no doubt that he will make the most of his UW experience.

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And a rainbow of other news today

"The One Waterloo Campaign is hosting an afternoon event this Thursday," writes Heather Fitzgerald, director of UW's student life office. She advises that "The Queer Community Is Part of My Community" is "open to all members of the University of Waterloo, and is an opportunity for our campus to demonstrate its collective support for the queer community on campus. Our community recognizes that when negative events occur, such as the vandalism of the Rainbow Flag during October's Queer Pride Week, the impact is felt by the entire UW community, not just the queer community. We encourage everyone to visit us on Thursday, November 27, between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. You will have an opportunity to sign your name and leave a message of support on a banner."

As announced just the other day, the new "E-way" web site, for use by departments ordering office supplies from Corporate Express, is now in operation. But "as with all new rollouts, there are a few kinks," reports Donna Foreman of the procurement and contract services department. One difficulty has prevented some users from signing in, although existing passwords are supposed to work; another problem involves return authorization numbers. "They have set up a team of IT people to work on this problem," says Foreman, adding that if users have run into other difficulties, "any issues at all", they should e-mail her — deforema@ uwaterloo.ca — and somebody will take action.

An invitation from Colin Ellard of the department of psychology: "The Research Laboratory for Immersive Virtual Environments (RELIVE) is currently recruiting participants for a study of how we explore and form preferences for different styles of houses. If you choose to participate, you will have a chance to walk around inside some virtual house interiors while wearing a head-mounted display. You will also be asked to complete some questionnaires describing your experiences in the virtual homes. We will also ask you some questions about your background (age, occupation, education, and cultural background). The study takes approximately 60 minutes and you will be reimbursed in the amount of $15 for your time. For further details, please contact us at housepreferencestudy@gmail.com. This study has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through, the Office of Research Ethics, University of Waterloo."

Frances Westley, who heads UW’s Social Innovation Generation project, gave one of the keynote addresses (left) at the second annual Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, sponsored by the Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and held in mid-November. About 200 people took part, reports Suzanne Gardner of the organizing committee. The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a lecture from media star Marc Kielburger of Free the Children. “After an engaging and impassioned speech about his own experiences living and working in developing countries,” she says, “Kielburger stayed for over an hour longer to chat with each and every attendee waiting in the massive line up to meet him! Throughout the rest of the weekend there were talks about keys to success, attracting and retaining talent, decreasing high school drop-out rates, (the ever important) revenue generation, and much more. Key leaders in the areas of health, education, and international development came together to talk about their efforts, successes and challenges. With non-stop keynotes, workshops, and panel discussions, everyone was tired out by the end — tired, but inspired.”

The engineering faculty's e-newsletter reports that Ladan Tahvildari of electrical and computer engineering will be publications chair of the 31st IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering being held in May 2009 in Vancouver. "ICSE is the premier software engineering conference," it notes, "providing a forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends and experiences in the field of software engineering."

Sheila Oberholzer, a former staff member in food services in Ron Eydt Village, died June 17, the human resources department advises. She worked in what was then called "Village II" from September 1989 to her retirement in March 1997.

CAR

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Link of the day

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

When and where

‘Pause to relax’ beach party sponsored by Arts Student Union, all students welcome, 11:30 to 4:00, Student Life Centre multipurpose room.

New faculty lunch event: “Information Resources and Support Services” (counselling, disabilities, health services), scheduled for today 11:45, now postponed to January. Details.

Music student recitals: Katherine Barth, Brittney Hall, Jesse Dyck (voice), Deanne Gingrich, David Luong (piano), Johannes Chan (violin), Matthew Attard (alto sax), 12:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel.

ICR Digital Media talk: Edmund King, M:30 Communications Inc., “Advertising in the Social Networking Environment”, 2:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Students for Life present "Silent No More", presentation by women who have had abortion; "life fair" with organizations for pregnant women, 2:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre great hall.

Faculty of Engineering O’Donovan Public Lecture: Raj Mittra, Pennsylvania State University, “Square Kilometer Array, a Unique Instrument for Radio Astronomy” 3:30 p.m., Rod Coutts Hall room 110.

Centre for International Governance Innovation book launch of Does North America Exist? Governing the Content after NAFTA and 9/11 by Stephen Clarkson, 4:00, 57 Erb Street West.

International Student Connection end-of-term dinner 6:30, Bombshelter pub, Student Life Centre, information e-mail isc.uwaterloo@gmail.com.

Live & Learn library lecture: Fraser Easton, English language and literature, “Female Husbands in the News: Same-Sex Marriage and 18th Century Media,” 7 p.m., Waterloo Public Library main branch.

Emergency simulation at Wilfrid Laurier University, Wednesday 8 a.m. to noon.

Free Hugs Day organized by Arts Student Union, based in Arts Lecture Hall, Wednesday 11:00 to 2:00.

Heritage Resources Centre lunch-and-learn: Stephen Murphy, Parks and Research Forum of Ontario, Wednesday 12:00, Environment I room 221.

Free noon concert: “Mad Songs: Music of Playford and Purcell”, Wednesday 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University College chapel.

Lions magic benefit show Wednesday 1:00, 5:30 and 8:00 p.m., Humanities Theatre, tickets $14.

UW Compass presents Fr. Lawrence, of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, “The Pursuit of Happiness and What Makes People the Most Joyful”, Wednesday 2:30, Student Life Centre great hall.

Smarter Health seminar: Stephen Walker, University of Manchester, “Healthcare, Biobank and Research Information Systems in the UK” Wednesday 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

United Arab Emirates campus information session with Leo Rothenburg, acting dean of engineering, Wednesday 4:30, Needles Hall room 3001.

Columbia Lake Health Club “lifestyle learning” session: “Making 2009 the Best Year Ever” Wednesday 5:30, 340 Hagey Boulevard.

Warrior volleyball vs. Laurier, Wednesday, men 6:00, women 8:00, PAC main gym.

In the Mind’s Eye festival (“Issues of Substance Use in Film and Forum”) films at UW Architecture building in Cambridge: “Cottonland” Wednesday 7:00.

Wilfrid Laurier University presents Tariq Ramadan, Swiss Muslim scholar, speaking in Islam and Human Rights series, Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.

Blood donor clinic November 27 (10:00 to 4:00) and 28 (9:00 to 3:00), Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Staff association craft sale Thursday (10:00 to 5:00) and Friday (9:00 to 3:00), Davis Centre lounge, 10 per cent of revenue goes to scholarship funds.

Homestretch Celebration for graduating students, sponsored by Arts Student Union, Thursday 3:00 to 4:30, Graduate House. Details.

Centre for Computational Mathematics information session about master’s program in computational math, Thursday 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158A.

Librarians’ Association exclusive screening of “The Hollywood Librarian”, a look at librarians through film, Thursday 6:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, free, reception follows.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, Thursday 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

myHRinfo system unavailable because of maintenance, November 28 at 12:00 noon until December 1 at noon.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings, November 28-29. Details.

Badminton tournament sponsored by HAPN (Healthy Active Promotion Network club), mixed doubles, prizes, Saturday 1:00 to 4:00, Columbia Icefield.

Sabbaticals 101, “A Practical Guide for Academics and Their Families”, by Nancy Matthews, book launch Saturday 2:00, UW bookstore, South Campus Hall.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, Tuesday, December 2, 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

GSA semi-formal Saturday, December 13, 6 p.m., South Campus Hall, Festival Room. Tickets $25 for grad students ($35 guests), available at Grad House until December 1. Details.

Fee payment deadline for the winter term: December 17 (cheque, money order or fee arrangements), December 30 (bank transfer).

Application deadline for September 2009 undergraduate admission is January 14 for Ontario secondary school students. General deadline, March 31. Exceptions include pharmacy (for January 2010) January 30; accounting and architecture, February 13; engineering and software March 2. Details.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Monday November 24, 2008

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:30:42 EST

November 24, 2008 Johnston in India to promote links Acting president named for Grebel Drops in a fast-flowing data stream Johnston in India to promote links

UW's president, David Johnston, is in India this week taking part in a flurry of activities aimed at developing links between Indian and Canadian campuses — including a direct agreement between Waterloo and a specialized technical university, to be signed on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, Johnston is scheduled to give one of the keynote addresses at a "higher education summit" sponsored by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in New Delhi. Canada is the designated "partner country" at this year's summit, under the title "Higher Education at the Crossroads: Imperative for Policy and Practice". Representatives of about 40 Canadian institutions, including six university presidents, are scheduled to attend.

Johnston is expected to tell the audience at Federation House, the headquarters of FICCI, that higher education needs to play a leading role as Canada and India move toward closer relations in many areas. Among the possibilities: joint work in biotechnology, environmental technology, information and communications technology, health research and nanotechnology.

The summit is being preceded by a science and technology seminar today, organized by the Canadian high commission, the equivalent of an embassy from this country to India. Johnston will speak at that event as well, along with Ravi Seethapathy of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and a number of Canadian and Indian academics.

The Canadian trip to India "is part of a collaborative effort between the two countries to increase the international experience of their university and college students," says a news release from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. It goes on: "Canadian representatives will use the opportunity to showcase the excellence of Canadian post-secondary education and encourage strategic research partnerships, student and faculty exchanges, and joint program delivery."

Says AUCC president Claire Morris: “India is currently the fourth largest source of foreign students at our universities and we look forward to the opportunity this meeting offers to increase awareness of Canada as a destination for high quality university education and opportunities for cooperation between Canadian and Indian universities.”

AUCC will also sign a memorandum of understanding with the Association of Indian Universities, representing 283 Indian universities, to promote increased cooperation.

On Wednesday, Johnston will be at the New Delhi offices of the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies to sign another memorandum, along with UPES vice-chancellor Parag Diwan. This agreement commits the two institutions to "explore the potential for cooperation and active collaboration to foster exchanges in education, training and research", which could include faculty visits, co-op work terms, and involvement of Indian researchers in projects in UW's Research and Technology Park.

Next weekend Johnston will be in the Indian city of Hyderabad to chair a working session as the Association of Commonwealth Universities, of which UW is a member, holds its Conference of Executive Heads.

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Acting president named for Grebel

Conrad Grebel University College has announced the appointment of Ronald Mathies as acting president during the study leave of current president Henry Paetkau from January 1 to June 30, 2009. (Photo: Paetkau, left, chats with Mathies.)

Mathies, who served as director and associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Grebel from 1986 to 1996, most recently worked as the executive director of Mennonite Central Committee (1996-2005) and was a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo (2006-08). He returned to Grebel in 2005 as the Rodney and Lorna Sawatsky Visiting Scholar.

“Grebel has an extremely significant mission with respect to the university, the church and its connectedness to the global community,” says Mathies, quoted in a Grebel news release. “I look forward to returning to this exciting community to engage compelling issues.”

Says Paetkau: “I’m extremely pleased to have someone with Ron’s experience and expertise serve the college during my study leave. He understands the college very well, is well known and respected in the constituency, and is a fine communicator and administrator.”

During his sabbatical, Paetkau, who has served as president of Grebel since January 2003, "will focus on issues related to educational administration and leadership, review Grebel’s governance structures and procedures and learn from sister educational institutions," the announcement said. "He also plans to explore some of the many opportunities for the college to develop international relationships and connections."

“Part of our mission is to serve the global community,” Paetkau says. “At our fall College Council retreat we identified many of the ways in which Conrad Grebel is already connecting its academic and residence programs with the larger world. There is much more we can learn from these relationships, and more ways in which our faculty and students could be enriched by an international experience. I’m very grateful that the board has granted me a study leave to pursue these connections.”

The chair of Grebel's board of governors, Bert Lobe, says, “The board appreciates Henry Paetkau's steady leadership. We are confident that his sabbatical will contribute significantly to the Grebel mission. Scholarly research, exploration of future initiatives and a period of reflection are important components of President Paetkau's sabbatical.” He adds that the board welcomes the availability of Mathies as acting president: “Ron's knowledge of Grebel and its program, his international experience and mindset, and his commitment to the church suit him well for this role."

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Drops in a fast-flowing data stream

"A watch that displays messages from your phone," the memo proposes. "Location-based content on your mobile device. A website that changes the way you shop for groceries," and I don't think it means just that it's going to point me towards the brussels sprouts more often. These innovations are, it says, 'just a few of the things VeloCity students have been developing." Those would be the inmates of the tech incubator residence that UW put into operation this fall. With the term coming to an end, the 70 students in the experimental hothouse are mounting an exhibition of their work today, from 10:30 to 2:30 in the Davis Centre foyer. ("Project pitches" to the invited and uninvited audience run on the main stage from 12:00 to 1:00.) Corporate partners, of whom the project has many, have been invited, and people from campus are invited as well.

There’s plenty doing for the clientele of the UW Recreation Committee, which includes all interested staff, faculty and retirees. A couple of special events were held last week, including a noontime workshop on “how to de-stress at work and in your everyday life”, and regular sessions continue, including the monthly “feng shui and obesity” group, which will meet again tomorrow at lunch hour. A memo distributed last week gives a preview of plans for 2009, including a couple of outings to the St. Jacobs Playhouse Theatre, an eight-week series of “simplicity circle meetings starting January 21, and a possible group purchase of Harlem Globetrotters tickets in April. The UWRC also has discount tickets and other arrangements including the Galaxy cinema, the CN Tower, Via Rail, and Enterprise car rental — details are on the web site.

The School of Accounting and Finance has announced the winners of this year’s Deloitte Tax Scholarship, which recognizes “outstanding, well-rounded students who display the core competencies of a successful tax professional”. Grant Russell, associate director of the school, says the students have “demonstrated the ability to act as leaders in their community, while maintaining an excellent academic record”. Each taking home a $2,500 prize are Catalina Anghel (2nd year, accounting and financial management program); Iris Cheung (3rd year, AFM); Roxanne Di Fruscia (1st year, AFM); Andrew Jones (2nd year, AFM); Chloe Koo (4th year, AFM); Whitney Mayfield (4th year, Math/CA program); Karl Mikelsons (2nd year, AFM); and Amy Zhang (3rd year, Biotech/CA program).

Jordan Verdone of the Warriors is the year’s top rookie in Canadian university football, as he was awarded the Peter Gorman Trophy from Canadian Interuniversity Sport during the celebrations last week leading up to the Vanier Cup championship. Verdone (right) led the Warriors in solo tackles this season with 44, and reported 52.5 total tackles, three sacks and one interception. “In only his first year Jordan has become the face of the Warrior defence,” a citation says, noting “his bone-crushing hits, hardnosed style of play, and his football intelligence”. Verdone, a political science student, becomes the first Warrior to be named CIS’s top rookie since the Gorman Trophy was first presented in 1976.

The Balsillie School of International Affairs did, as expected, announce its architect at the end of last week, naming Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) of Toronto to design its new home. The project will be directed by Bruce Kuwabara, design partner, and Shirley Blumberg, partner-in-charge. The new building is a 65,000-square-foot project, strategically sited next to the Centre for International Governance Innovation on Erb Street — “and,” a news release boasts, “on the only site in Canada bounded by three Governor General Award-winning buildings — the Seagram Museum (current home of CIGI), the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery. The new Balsillie School, with its state of the art teaching spaces and public auditorium, will be a significant addition to this exceptional institutional precinct in Uptown Waterloo.” It quotes architect Blumberg: “KPMB’s design will aspire to make the new Balsillie School the fourth Governor General’s Award-winning project in Waterloo. Having worked on the original Seagram Museum, it is particularly inspiring to be back reinventing the site as a vibrant campus for the study of international affairs.”

CAR

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Link of the day

National Home Fire Safety Week

When and where

Region of Waterloo planners' open house about draft regional official plan, 10:00 to 12:00, Environment I courtyard.

Music student recitals: Diane Filiatrault, Alina Balzer-Peters, Megan Gates, Kara Kurschinski, Jacqueline Galbraith, Sarah Schmidt (voice), Norah McKnight (piano), 12:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel.

Centre for International Governance Innovation "experts in conversation" about the global financial crisis, 8:00 p.m., 57 Erb Street West.

‘Pause to relax’ beach party sponsored by Arts Student Union, all students welcome, Tuesday 11:30 to 4:00, Student Life Centre multipurpose room.

New faculty lunch event: “Information Resources and Support Services” (counselling, disabilities, health services), scheduled for Tuesday 11:45, now postponed to January. Details.

Music student recitals: Katherine Barth, Brittney Hall, Jesse Dyck (voice), Deanne Gingrich, David Luong (piano), Johannes Chan (violin), Matthew Attard (alto sax), Tuesday 12:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel.

ICR Digital Media talk: Edmund King, M:30 Communications Inc., “Advertising in the Social Networking Environment”, Tuesday 2:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

Faculty of Engineering O’Donovan Public Lecture: Raj Mittra, Pennsylvania State University, “Square Kilometer Array, a Unique Instrument for Radio Astronomy” Tuesday 3:30 p.m., Rod Coutts Hall room 110.

iGEM team brainstorming session for future UW involvement in International Genetically Engineered Machines competition at MIT, Tuesday 5:45, Rod Coutts Hall room 306.

International Student Connection end-of-term dinner Tuesday 6:30, Bombshelter pub, Student Life Centre, information e-mail isc.uwaterloo@gmail.com.

Live & Learn library lecture: Fraser Easton, English language and literature, “Female Husbands in the News: Same-Sex Marriage and 18th Century Media,” Tuesday 7 p.m., Waterloo Public Library main branch.

Free Hugs Day organized by Arts Student Union, based in Arts Lecture Hall, Wednesday 11:00 to 2:00.

United Arab Emirates campus information session with Leo Rothenburg, acting dean of engineering, Wednesday 4:30, Needles Hall room 3001.

Wilfrid Laurier University presents Tariq Ramadan, Swiss Muslim scholar, speaking in Islam and Human Rights series, Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.

Blood donor clinic November 27 (10:00 to 4:00) and 28 (9:00 to 3:00), Student Life Centre, book appointments at turnkey desk or call 1-888-236-6283.

Staff association craft sale Thursday (10:00 to 5:00) and Friday (9:00 to 3:00), Davis Centre lounge, 10 per cent of revenue goes to scholarship funds.

Homestretch Celebration for graduating students, sponsored by Arts Student Union, Thursday 3:00 to 4:30, Graduate House. Details.

Librarians’ Association exclusive screening of “The Hollywood Librarian”, a look at librarians through film, Thursday 6:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, free, reception follows.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, Thursday 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

Salon des Refusés sponsored by The New Quarterly: readings, panel discussion, wine, Friday 7:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $5, RSVP ext. 28290.

Think Pink Weekend sponsored by athletics department in support of breast cancer research, November 28-30, with eight Warrior games, Campus Recreation dance show and other promotions.

Warrior Weekend activities in Student Life Centre, Friday and Saturday evenings, November 28-29. Details.

UW Chamber Choir concert, “It Can’t Be Christmas Yet”, Saturday 7:30 p.m., Theatre of the Arts (tickets $12, students $10); Sunday, November 30, 7:30 p.m., Three Willows United Church, Guelph (tickets $15, students $12).

UW Stage Band concert, “Swing’s the Thing”, Sunday 2:00, Conrad Grebel UC great hall, admission $8 (students $5).

Last day of classes for fall term is Monday, December 1. Exams, December 5-19.

Staff association town hall meeting Monday, December 1, 12:00, Davis Centre room 1302.

One click away

• Inside the smokestack: UW's landmark exposed (Imprint)
• Stratford asks Ottawa for grant toward UW building
• Used book store now must pay for textbook list (Imprint)
• Federal throne speech
• Libraries and the Google Library Project
• 'Student group says minorities targeted for academic fraud'
• Stories by alumnus help kids and parents communicate
• SSHRC peer review system to be reviewed; other council news
• 'Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class'
• Parkour outside the Dana Porter Library
• The 'fantastic story' of the BlackBerry
• U of T names committee on 'democracy in student government'
• After near-riots, Queen's cancels fall Homecoming
• British academic produces videos explaining classroom technology
• WLU Brantford students react to government textbook grant
• Health ministry considers bigger role for pharmacists

Friday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Friday November 21, 2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:34:37 EST

November 21, 2008 UW author reads from African novel Lectures at tomorrow's CS open house Caesar, winter, and other notes UW author reads from African novel

by Kristin Snell of Waterloo International

As we go about our daily lives, complaining about the too hot or too snowy weather, our too busy lives, and the many things that annoy us, few among us pause to think about life in a country torn apart by political turbulence, who struggle each day for survival and who cannot complain for fear of retribution. In his novel Duel with a Dictator, An African Woman’s Political Struggle, Emmanuel Acheta, now of Waterloo, provides a glimpse of life in a country under a corrupt, ruthless dictator. His main character, Paula Okappah, galvanizes the opposition against the long-reigning dictator and endures exile, harassment, torture and jail.

He'll appear at noon today, in one of the final events for International Education Week at UW. He'll read excerpts from his book, Duel with a Dictator, starting at 12:00 in Waterloo International, Needles Hall room 1101. Some copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Asked why he chose to write from a woman’s perspective, Acheta (left) explained that "women activists who resist injustice or struggle for fairness, of any kind under the sun, have always captured my heart and it almost natural that I empathize with them. I push their struggle as if my voice and perspective was their very own. I'm passionate about women's issues, especially issues that they front to better society, for example, securing prosperous and healthy families. I believe that the more women there are in leadership positions, the better the world will be. I follow human rights issues around the world, and I am an unapologetic advocate of women activists seeking to right the world.”

Born in Teso in eastern Uganda, Acheta came to Canada in 1999. He graduated from Makerere University Kampala with a degree in commerce and from Wilfrid Laurier University with an MBA. When inspiration strikes, he dedicates his early mornings to the literary word, while his days are spent working with numbers as a financial analyst in UW’s Office of Research. He also serves on the Board of African-Canadian Association of the Tri-Cities and is active in his church. He lives in Kitchener with his wife, Carol, and their daughter, Patience.

He says he appreciates the freedom of speech and the health care system in Canada but misses Uganda’s fruits, which he thinks “are among the juiciest fruits in the world”. He also feels disconnected from the rich folk stories his grandparents told him, and the sense of togetherness that comes from an extended family.

His next literary work is a non-fiction book tentatively titled My Canadian Journey: Letters to My Daughter. It is “the outpouring of a father's heart and soul to a daughter on what it means for her to grow up in this country of opportunities, and to some, a country of trials. This will be advice on living a life of hard-work, community, honesty, faith in God, and encouraging her to aspire to her wildest dreams in whatever she will seek to do.”

International Education Week will also be marked at St. Paul's College, with "international cuisine" in the Watson Student Centre at noontime today. And a display on international study opportunities winds up today in the Renison University College library.

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Lectures at tomorrow's CS open house

a release from the UW media relations office

More than 150 high school students and their parents can explore the breadth and depth of computer science research and teaching during the University of Waterloo's CS4U at UWaterloo Day on Saturday. The event, hosted by the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, is aimed at students in Grades 8, 9, 10 and 11, their families, and interested computer science and mathematics teachers. It takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre.

The participants attending the event will be acquainted with computer science and introduced to the forefront research being carried out at UW. The activities require no computer science background.

"Computer science is changing the world in more ways than anybody could have imagined," said Dan Brown, a professor of CS and director of first-year studies. "The fundamental concepts of this young intellectual discipline are reshaping the way we think — the scientist, the banker and the social worker must all think computer science. We explore what computers can and can't do, and how computer science is changing everything from origami to cellphone privacy."

While most speakers are UW computer scientists, one is a prominent software engineer at Google Waterloo. Joanne McKinley, who graduated from UW, will give a talk entitled Internet and Email in Your Pocket: The Science Behind Software for Mobile Phones.

Other topics presented by UW researchers:

How to Hide Secrets from Nosy Siblings (and Others) — Urs Hengartner Fax Yourself Around the World — Tian Kou The Ancient Art of Origami Meets the Modern Art of Algorithms — Anna Lubiw Encode a Human on a CD: Genome Sequencing for Personalized Medicine — Bin Ma What is Computer Science? — M. Tamer Özsu Meet the Smart-Walker, a Robotic Nurse — Pascal Poupart

Posters and invitations were sent to all Ontario high schools and members of Grand Valley Math Association. The math association reaches a wide southern Ontario area, including Brantford, Goderich, Milton and Stratford, and all the communities and schools in between. The event is free and lunch will be provided. Students are asked to register online.

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Caesar, winter, and other notes

The drama department’s production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is nearing the end of its run, with a student matinee today at 12:30 and public performances tonight and tomorrow at 8:00, all in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building. Tickets are $12 (students $10) from the Humanities box office, 519-888-4908. Mark Kimmich, arts editor of Imprint, had an interesting review last Friday, observing that the show “could not have been better timed. Issues of dictatorship and democracy — and the role of the plebes in the two — are echoed in our own political atmosphere.” The production is directed by drama professor Jennifer Roberts-Smith and stars Terry Reid as Caesar and Kristi Dukovich as Brutus.

Snow on lawns and snow on windshields has its delights, but not so much for those who have to live and sleep outdoors. And that’s the background for an event that will start tonight at 7:00 in the Student Life Centre courtyard. “Out in the Cold” is a charity fund-raiser and awareness-raiser, writes arts student Nick Petten: “We are raising cash donations for an organization called ROOF (Reaching Our Outdoor Friends), which provides essential services for youth between the ages of 12 and 25. The event consists of participants sleeping outside overnight for 12 hours to raise awareness and shed some light on the issue of homelessness in our Region. The act of sleeping outside overnight lets students and community members experience a very little bit what it is like to be homelessness in the streets during the cold winter months.”

With fall term exams on the horizon — well, they’re more than on the horizon; they’re more like knocking on the kitchen window — anyway, the UW libraries will have extended operating hours starting this Sunday, and running until the end of exams on December 19. Through that period, the Davis Centre library will be open 24 hours a day, except for Sundays from 2 to 8 a.m. The Dana Porter Library will be open 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. December 20 through 23, the libraries will have daytime hours only, and then will be entirely closed from December 24 until the new term begins on January 5.

Sean Roche, a fourth-year civil engineering student and forward for the men’s hockey Warriors, is the Canadian Interuniversity Sport male athlete of the week after scoring five times in two games last weekend. • The Engineering Society’s end-of-term drama production, dubbed “EngPlay”, is in production tonight and tomorrow, though I haven’t received details. • Food services is taking reservations for a Christmas buffet lunch offered in the Laurel Room of South Campus Hall December 9 through 12 (turkey, sirloin, tofu curry and Christmas pudding, $17.95, call ext. 84700).

The engineering faculty’s e-newsletter reports that Jonathan Kofman, a faculty member in systems design engineering, is the inaugural recipient of the En-hui Yang Engineering Research Innovation Award established by Waterloo electrical and computer engineering professor En-hui Yang. Yang, co-founder of RIM subsidiary SlipStream Data, donated the proceeds of his 2007 Ontario Premier’s Catalyst Award for Innovator of the Year to support research and innovation by Waterloo Engineering faculty. Kofman, whose award is valued at at least $16,000, was selected by a committee made up of representatives from Waterloo Engineering departments.”

The Pragma Council, an advisory body for the UW school of planning, met on November 13 and 14 to discuss “the management of change”, with speakers including Sheila Botting, a senior “capital markets” official with Cushman and Wakefield LePage Inc. • Beate Flint, who has been a custodian in UW’s plant operations department since April 1976, will officially retire as of December 1. • The Centre for International Governance Innovation is holding a workshop today and tomorrow in Stellenbosch, South Africa, under the title “Moving Health Sovereignty: Global Health, African Perspective”.

CAR

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Link of the day

Hello, hello

When and where

Craft, toy and bake sale sponsored by Hildegard Marsden Nursery, last day, 9:00 to 5:00, Davis Centre lounge.

Applied Health Informatics Bootcamp by Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research, Friday-Sunday at Dalhousie University, Halifax. Details.

Knowledge Integration seminar: Paul McDonald, health studies and gerontology, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Health?” 2:30, Environment II room 2002.

Comic City Film Series linked to “Dominion City” exhibition in Render (UW art gallery): “Kill Bill” I and II (2003-04) with introductory comments by Peter Trinh, 6:00, East Campus Hall.

Warrior sports this weekend: Basketball vs. Ryerson Friday, vs. Toronto Saturday, both days women’s game at 6:00, men at 8:00, PAC main gym. • Women’s hockey vs. York, Saturday 7:30, Icefield. • Swimming (men and women) vs. Niagara, Saturday 1:00, PAC pool. • Men’s hockey at UOIT, Friday. • Badminton (men and women), tournament at McMaster, Saturday. • Squash, west sectional at McMaster, Saturday. • Volleyball (men and women) at RMC Saturday, at Queen’s Sunday.

Conrad Grebel University College Eby Lecture, faculty member Marlene Epp, “Midwife-Healers in Canadian Mennonite Communities of the Past”, 7:00 p.m., Grebel great hall.

Masquerade formal event tonight, Federation Hall, sponsored by Off-Campus Dons, tickets $5 at Federation of Students office.

Lectures in Catholic Experience: Bishop Claude Champagne, “Evangelizing and the commitment to Social Justice,” 7:30 p.m., Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome’s University.

Render (UW art gallery) presents cartoonist Seth, in conversation with Chris Ware, Saturday 1:00 to 4:00, Architecture building; Seth’s exhibition, “Dominion City”, continues at Render, East Campus Hall, main campus, through December 6.

‘In Memory of Steve’ live concert (Opposite of Blue, Todd Donald, Revival Dear) and charity auction to support Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, Saturday, doors open 6:30 p.m., Humanities Theatre. Details.

UW Choir end-of-term concert, “Gloria”, Saturday 8:00, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Kitchener, tickets $12 (students $10).

VeloCity project exhibition of student work Monday 10:30 to 2:30 (project pitches 12:00 to 1:00), Davis Centre foyer.

Music student recitals: Diane Filiatrault, Alina Balzer-Peters, Megan Gates, Kara Kurschinski, Jacqueline Galbraith, Sarah Schmidt (voice), Norah McKnight (piano), Monday 12:30, Conrad Grebel UC chapel. More recitals Tuesday 12:30.

New faculty lunch event: “Information Resources and Support Services” (counselling, disabilities, health services), Tuesday 11:45 a.m., Flex lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Faculty of Engineering O’Donovan Public Lecture: Raj Mittra, Pennsylvania State University, “Square Kilometer Array, a Unique Instrument for Radio Astronomy” Tuesday 3:30 p.m., Rod Coutts Hall room 110.

International Student Connection end-of-term dinner Tuesday 6:30, Bombshelter pub, information e-mail isc.uwaterloo@gmail.com.

United Arab Emirates campus information session with Leo Rothenburg, acting dean of engineering, Wednesday 4:30, Needles Hall room 3001.

Staff association craft sale Thursday (10:00 to 5:00) and Friday (9:00 to 3:00), Davis Centre lounge, 10 per cent of revenue goes to scholarship funds.

K-W Symphony “Time for Three” string trio, Thursday 7:30, Humanities Theatre.

myHRinfo system unavailable because of maintenance, November 28 at 12:00 noon until December 1 at noon.

Think Pink Weekend sponsored by athletics department in support of breast cancer research, November 28-30, with eight Warrior games, dance show and other promotions.

UW Planning Alumni of Toronto annual gala dinner December 1, reception 5:00, dinner 7:00, Royal York Hotel, speaker Brent Toderian, director of city planning, Vancouver. Details.

Faculty association fall general meeting December 2, 2:00 p.m., Math and Computer room 4020, speakers from Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

John Ralston Saul, “Three Radical Truths About Canada”, December 2, 7:00 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by CIGI and UW bookstore. Registration.

GSA semi-formal December 13, 6 p.m., South Campus Hall, Festival Room. Tickets $25 for grad students ($35 guests), available at Grad House until December 1. Details.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Thursday November 20, 2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:30:50 EST

November 20, 2008 'Transfer agreement' for cells, chemicals Payday's coming, and so's Christmas Universities 'major players' in research

Members of the Garbage Committee set off Friday afternoon to clear the campus of litter in a One-Hour Garbage Pick-up. Starting inside the Student Life Centre, the volunteers worked their way around campus, clearing litter inside buildings and along pathways. "The Garbage Committee’s mandate is to encourage the UW community to respect our campus and keep it clean," says Johnny Trinh of the student life office, sending thanks to participants, as well as Retail Services, Plant Operations, Food Services, the SLC, Housing, and the UW Sustainability Project who assisted. Look for more opportunities next term, he says, to join in trashy activities — hmm, maybe there's a different way I could phrase that.

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'Transfer agreement' for cells, chemicals

a news release from the C4 consortium

Would kids still trade baseball cards if each swap required a ten page legal agreement?

The legal requirements surrounding the exchange of research materials can feel onerous, but a newly developed template agreement should help researchers rekindle their excitement.

Today members of C4, the technology transfer consortium that links universities across Southwest Ontario, are releasing a jointly developed Material Transfer Agreement. The new MTA will be used at McMaster, Guelph, Waterloo, Western, Windsor, and Wilfrid Laurier universities. Other universities are free to adopt this template agreement.

Legal contracts, MTAs cover the exchange of tangible research materials between organizations and researchers, when the receiver intends to use the material for research purposes. The MTA describes the rights of the provider and the receiver to both the original material and any derivatives. The most commonly transferred materials are biologicals, such as cell lines, but MTAs may also be required for other substances, including chemical compounds and novel materials.

The new C4 MTA has two variants, one for biological materials and one for non-biologicals. It is based on the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement, which is the de facto standard for MTAs in the United States. A C4 working group adapted this agreement to suit Canadian requirements.

“The adopted C4 MTA should streamline doing business for industry partners who have research relationships with the C4 universities is Southwest Ontario. Industry partners who deal with any one of the C4 universities now know with certainty what terms and conditions they can expect from any of the other partner universities. This is a good example of the C4 attempting to adopt common practices in order to increase the accessibility of research opportunities by industry collaborators,” says Scott Inwood, director of commercialization at UW ’s Intellectual Property Management Group.

The new MTA realizes C4’s joint goals of sharing best practices between institutions and reducing the barriers for others who work with C4 members. It also eases the flow of materials between C4 institutions.

Previously, each university technology transfer office had a different MTA and institutions that wanted to collaborate with multiple C4 institutions would be faced with reviewing several MTAs. Now a business that has collaborated with, for example, the University of Guelph will already be familiar with McMaster University’s MTA.

The C4 is now working on a common Inter-Institutional Agreement for C4 universities. It hopes to release that agreement this winter. The template NDAs are available on the C4 website.

C4 (“Coordinating, Cooperating, and Collaborating to Commercialize Technology”) fosters innovation in Southwest Ontario by promoting technology transfer and commercialization. the C4 members — ten universities and research institutions — coordinate their resources, cooperate with governmental and industrial bodies, collaborate in multi-disciplinary research to solve real world problems, and commercialize the results of their research.

C4’s members are McMaster, Guelph, Waterloo, Western, Windsor, and Wilfrid Laurier universities, and Robarts Research Institute, the Lawson Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. This diverse group of universities and research institutions generates hundreds of new discoveries each year. It is C4’s mission to help its members transfer these discoveries to society.

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Payday's coming, and so's Christmas

If you’ve been relying on that black-and-gold cardboard calendar issued by the Keystone Campaign to tell you when payday is coming next month — well, don’t. “The Keystone calendar has an incorrect date,” says Sandie Hurlburt, assistant director of human resources. Seems it identifies Friday, December 19, as payday for faculty and most staff. In fact, December’s payday will be Tuesday the 23rd, the last working day of 2008. Also: the eagle generally screams (as the soldiers used to say) on the last Friday of each month, but Hurlburt notes that payday will arrive a week early in January, on Friday the 23rd. Meanwhile, the biweekly payroll dates are December 5 and 19, January 2 and 16.

While we're at it, here for easy reference are some important dates that lie just ahead:

Last day of fall term classes is Monday, December 1. Exams run December 5 through 19 (including distance education exams December 5-6). Last business day of 2008 is Tuesday, December 23. First business day of 2009 is Monday, January 5.

The Balsillie School of International Affairs, a joint project of UW, Wilfrid Laurier University and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, will take a big step forward today. At a launch event and reception at CIGI, 57 Erb Street West, the school will announce the architect selected to design its new building on 3.5 acres of city land at the site of the former Seagram distillery, next to CIGI, located between Caroline and Erb Streets. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009 with completion in 2010. The announcement starts at 5:30 pm with CIGI executive director John English, of UW’s history department, serving as master of ceremonies, followed by short presentations by John Milloy, Ontario's minister of training, colleges and universities; Brenda Halloran, mayor of the City of Waterloo; Jim Balsillie, founder of the Balsillie School and co-CEO of Research In Motion; and the architect from the selected firm.

Usually the Arriscraft Lectures in UW’s school of architecture present noted or interesting practitioners from outside, but tonight’s speaker is home-grown. He’s faculty member Geoffrey Thün, whose talk, “Matters of Concern”, starts at 8:00 tonight in the Architecture lecture hall in Cambridge. Thün, who’s also a visiting professor at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, founded the architectural firm of RVTR in 2006 with partners Colin Ripley, Kathy Velikov and Paul Raff. Velikov and Thün were recipients of a 2008 Young Architects Forum Award for their portfolio of design from the Architecture League of New York. The lecture, a blurb explains, “will unpack the firm’s work structured around three primary themes: Future Ecologies, Situated Infrastructures and Emerging Inhabitations. Work presented will include a discussion of the Post Carbon Highway that examines the future of mobility on the busiest transport corridor within the Great Lakes Megaregion, and the North House Project, a major five- year research program that includes the development of an 800sf prototype shortlisted to compete in the US Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon.” Along with the lecture comes first solo exhibit of design and research work at the Cambridge Gallery outpost just steps away from the lecture hall. It runs until January 4 and includes projects being undertaken with other Waterloo engineering faculty, researchers and graduate students.

This weekend is the time, Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle Hotel is the place, and the sponsor is the Impact Entrepreneurship Group, which started at UW five years ago and is now a national player. The event: Impact’s annual two-day conference for some 500 students from high schools and universities, gathering “to learn more about entrepreneurship and hone their leadership skills”, explains second-year mechanical engineering student Xiaoxian Zhou. “This will be a great opportunity to learn more about entrepreneurship, practice real-life business skills and interact with speakers, companies and industry guests while building their network.” Speakers include Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat Linux; Leonard Brody, venture capitalist and best-selling author; and Rebecca Macdonald, founder of Energy Savings Fund. At a sponsor exhibition, participants can meet business partners, learn about the finer points of particular industries, and find “amazing job opportunities, potential future clients, legal partners, venture capitalists and mentors”. The conference is also scheduled to include an 800 person gala, workshops, “and much more”.

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Universities 'major players' in research

a news release from the Ottawa office of AUCC

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has launched a report on the state of Canadian research and development, with a particular emphasis on university research, at an event that included partners from government, the private sector and the not-for-profit sector.

The report, entitled Momentum: The 2008 report on university research and knowledge mobilization, shows universities are major players in R&D in Canada, performing more than one-third of the country’s research and contributing at least $60 billion to the economy in 2007. However, analysts agree that the world competition for talent, knowledge and innovation is fierce and Canada cannot be complacent with its accomplishments.

“The rest of the world is not standing still and the global race for research talent is becoming more and more intense,” says AUCC chair Tom Traves, president of Dalhousie University. “We expect this report to stimulate public debate on the required level and mix of support for university research in Canada.”

“This is a time when we cannot afford to cut back on public investment, but should instead see the potential for stimulating economic growth at the local and the national level by investing in people and knowledge. Having a highly skilled labour force is undeniably a major asset for any country,” notes AUCC president Claire Morris. “In these uncertain economic times, Canada must continue to improve its innovative capacity to ensure long-term prosperity,” she adds.

Momentum 2008 focuses on the importance of partnerships in university research and looks at the variety of forms collaboration takes — from university partnerships with private companies to research projects with governments, communities, the not-for-profit sector and international partners. It provides a comprehensive account of Canadian R&D, particularly the activities of the university sector and the resulting progress achieved. It also presents detailed research and analysis of national and international trends that will drive changes in university research and the Canadian R&D landscape in the future.

Momentum 2008 documents the wide range of benefits to Canadians such as new products, services, processes, policies and new ways of understanding society. The report is available online.

CAR

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Link of the day

Alistair Cooke, 100 years

When and where

International Education Week continues, with international study opportunities display all week at Renison University College library; international cuisine at St. Paul’s College Friday noon; other events as listed.

Craft, toy and bake sale sponsored by Hildegard Marsden Nursery, through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, Davis Centre lounge.

Civil and environmental engineering seminars by David L. Rosgen, Wildand Hydrology Ltd.: “Applied River Morphology, River Restoration and Habitat Enhancement”, today 10:30, Davis Centre room 1302; “Experiences from Forty Years of River Restoration”, 2:30, Humanities Theatre, RSVP ext. 33985.

Engineering exchange programs information session 11:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 208.

Career workshops today: “Writing CVs and Cover Letters” 12:00, Tatham Centre room 2218; “Getting a US Work Permit” 4:30, Tatham 1208. Details.

Music student recitals continue: Maria Heemskerk, Mary-Catherine McNinch-Pazzano, Chelsea Lau, Alan Soong (voice), Timothy Tse, Taylor Prost, Jehoon Lee (piano), Peter House (alto sax) 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC chapel, admission free; more recitals November 24, 25.

International Education Week event: “Please Chicken at My Doorknob” (key phrases in Arabic, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin) 1:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 1101.

An Unsustainable Future for Humanity: inaugural International Development lecture by biochemist Joseph Hulse, 3:30 p.m., reception follows, St. Paul's College, MacKirdy Hall. Details.

Department of English presents Audrey Jaffe, University of Toronto, “Market Character(s): From the 1801 Stock Exchange to (Almost) the Current Crisis” 4:00, Humanities room 373.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology information session 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Book launch: Marpeck: A Life of Dissent and Conformity by Walter Klaassen (formerly of Conrad Grebel UC) and William Klassen (formerly of St. Paul’s College), 4:00, St. Paul’s College chapel.

Classical studies lecture: Mike Lippman, Eckerd College, “Euripidaristophanizing in the Thesmophoriazusae”, 4:00, Environment II room 2002.

Design Camp Waterloo (bar-camp style open forum for digital designers) 4:00 to 6:00, Student Life Centre multipurpose room.

International buffet (with music and fair trade coffee) 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Graduate House.

Global Queer Cinema film series in conjunction with Fine Arts 290: “Shijuku Boys”, 1995, 6:30 p.m., East Campus Hall room 1220.

‘Mingle and Match’ session for students to meet arts alumni and hear about careers, 6:30 p.m., Laurel Room, South Campus Hall.

International Week film screenings (subtitled, free): “The Bet Collector” (Philippines) and “Kept and Dreamless” (Argentina) 7 p.m., Student Life Centre great hall.

Bad Science Movie Night sponsored by Science Society, 7:00, Math and Computer room 2065.

Warrior men’s hockey at York U, 7:00.

Bhagvad Geeta elocution competition 7:30 p.m., Student Life Centre room 2105, information phone 226-747-5305.

Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ presented by UW department of drama, Theatre of the Arts, Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., school matinee Friday at 12:30, tickets $12 (students $10) at Humanities box office.

Orchestra @ UWaterloo concert: “Alexander to Zoltan, Music of 3 Centuries”, with competition winner Martin Walker, flute (Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1), 8:00, Humanities Theatre. Tickets free at Humanities box office.

Centre for Family Business, based at Conrad Grebel UC, breakfast seminar, “Family Agendas: Spoken and Unspoken”, Friday 7 a.m., Waterloo Inn.

Pension and benefits committee Friday 8:30 a.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

Information systems and technology professional development seminar: Alan Kirker, "Words, Charts, Tables and Graphs", Friday 9 a.m., IST seminar room.

"Duel with a Dictator: An African Woman’s Political Struggle”, reading by novelist Emmanuel Acheta, of UW office of research, Friday 12:00, Needles Hall room 1101.

Applied Health Informatics Bootcamp by Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research, Friday-Sunday at Dalhousie University, Halifax. Details.

Knowledge Integration seminar: Paul McDonald, health studies and gerontology, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Health?” Friday 2:30, Environment II room 2002.

Conrad Grebel University College Eby Lecture, Marlene Epp, “Midwife-Healers in Canadian Mennonite Communities of the Past”, Friday 7:00 p.m., Grebel great hall.

Out in the Cold: overnight fund-raiser to combat homelessness, sponsored by Village Orientation Committee, Friday 7 p.m. until morning, Student Life Centre.

Masquerade formal event Friday evening, Federation Hall, sponsored by Off-Campus Dons, tickets $5 at Federation of Students office.

Lectures in Catholic Experience: Bishop Claude Champagne, “Evangelizing and the commitment to Social Justice,” Friday 7:30 p.m., Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome’s University.

Render (UW art gallery) presents cartoonist Seth, in conversation with Chris Ware, Saturday 1:00 to 4:00, Architecture building; Seth’s exhibition, “Dominion City”, continues at Render, East Campus Hall, main campus.

CS4U Day open house in the school of computer science for students in grades 8-11, Saturday 9:30 to 4:30, Davis Centre. Details.

UW Choir end-of-term concert, “Gloria”, Saturday 3:00, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Kitchener, tickets $12 (students $10).

‘In Memory of Steve’ live concert (Opposite of Blue, Todd Donald, Revival Dear) and charity auction to support Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, Saturday, doors open 6:30 p.m., Humanities Theatre. Details.

New faculty lunch event: “Information Resources and Support Services” (counselling, disabilities, health services), Tuesday 11:45 a.m., Flex lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Wednesday November 19, 2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:16:21 EST

November 19, 2008 Deans and VPs form two task forces Day of horror expected at Renison Honorary degree for Johnston, and more Deans and VPs form two task forces

a memo issued by UW provost Amit Chakma

Information technology (IT) services at UW are quite highly decentralized. In addition to the central IT department (IST), there are significant computing units in the Faculties and in the Library, and there are also staff members whose primary responsibility is IT support in numerous other units on campus. Similarly, Marketing & Communication (M&C) services are provided within the Registrar’s Office, Communication & Public Affairs, Development & Alumni Affairs, Office of Research, the Faculties, Business Operations and numerous other units.

There are advantages to decentralization. Staff members who are regularly or permanently resident within a unit can provide timely response to local service requests and are aware of requirements unique to that unit.

There are disadvantages as well. Decentralization can lead to unnecessary duplication of services and less than optimal use of resources. It can also make it difficult to establish overall institutional directions, standards and best practices.

As always, but particularly in these times of fiscal constraint, we have a responsibility to ensure that we make the best possible use of our resources. Accordingly, through this memorandum I am announcing the creation of two Task Forces as described below.

• An Information Technology Task Force whose mandate is to identify the collection of UW essential and broadly utilized IT services; determine the most efficient and effective way(s) in which those services can be provided; recommend changes to address 2) above. The members of the Task Force are Ken Coates, Tom Coleman, Alan George, Dennis Huber and Geoff McBoyle (Chair).

• A Marketing & Communications Task Force, whose mandate is to identify the marketing and communications needs of UW; determine the most efficient and effective way to meet those needs; identify the skills and experience needed to meet those needs; recommend changes needed to address 2) and 3) above. The members of the Task Force are Meg Beckel (Chair), Terry McMahon, Leo Rothenburg, Peggy Jarvie and Deep Saini.

The Task Forces will be consulting with individuals and groups on campus during the next several months, and are expected to have preliminary reports for Executive Council review by February of 2009. I am grateful to the members of the Task Forces for agreeing to serve.

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Day of horror expected at Renison

a news release from Baylor University Press

Church graveyards . . . priests struggling with demonic forces . . . the crucifix as a shield. Why do horror films so often rely on some element of religion to help tell a scary story? And what is it that we, the audience, fear? Author Douglas E. Cowan addresses these questions in his new book Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen, published in October 2008 by Baylor University Press.

A book launch event, sponsored by the Religious Studies Student Society, is scheduled for today at 2:00 in the Renison University College great hall.

Sacred Terror reveals how religion and religious images play an integral role in the success of horror flicks. When there are so many other scary things around, why is religion so often used? Cowan argues that horror films are opportune vehicles for externalizing the fears that lie inside our religious selves; what scares us reveals important aspects of who we are, both as individuals and as a society. Six basic themes of fear are explored in Sacred Terror: fear of evil; of the flesh; of sacred places; of change in the sacred order; of the supernatural gone out of control; of death, dying badly, or not remaining dead; of fanaticism; and of the power — and the powerlessness — of religion.

Sacred Terror "is groundbreaking work that will appeal to readers of film studies and religion studies as well as horror film fans. “Up to now, horror films have been largely neglected or denigrated by scholars of religion and film. [This is] a book that is both entertaining and important,” said John Lyden, professor and chair of religion at Dana College. “Proving that the genre of horror film belongs firmly in the interest of religious studies, Douglas Cowan offers an ample map of where any interested scholar might turn to revisit this ancient form of storytelling,” said S. Brent Plate, associate professor of religion and the visual arts at Texas Christian University.

Cowan received his PhD from the University of Calgary and is associate professor of religious studies and social development studies at Renison University College. The author or editor of nine books, his most recent publications include Cults and New Religions: A Brief History (2007), Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet (2005), and Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet (2004).

Established in 1897, Baylor University Press serves the academic community by publishing works that integrate faith and understanding. The Press features publications in the areas of religion and public life, Judaism and Christianity, Christianity and literature, religion and higher education, religion and rhetoric, and philosophy of religion.

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Honorary degree for Johnston, and more

UW president David Johnston is on "a distinguished list of four Canadians" who will receive honorary degrees from McMaster University during its fall convocation ceremonies this Friday in the Great Hall of Hamilton Place. Johnston will be given his Doctor of Laws degree, and will speak briefly, during the 9:30 a.m. ceremony for the graduating classes of the DeGroote School of Business, the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Arts and Science Program. Also receiving an honorary degree that morning is Janice Gross Stein, director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. Ceremonies for Engineering, Science and Health Sciences will take place the same day at 2:30 p.m., when David Brillinger, a professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an environmental activist and advocate for the Inuit, will receive honorary degrees. "David Johnston is a good friend, a man I admire and respect very much," says Peter George, president of McMaster. "He is undoubtedly the best hockey player among Canadian university presidents, past and present, and his love story with Canadian higher education and public service is exemplary and a model to us all. We are proud to welcome him into the McMaster family."

Speaking of David Johnston, this time in tandem with provost Amit Chakma, a webcast is now available online for those who missed the November 5 "town hall" meeting, or were there but want to savour it all again. The event, held in the Humanities Theatre, drew an audience of 610 staff and faculty members, the Theatre Centre reports — rather more than the "nearly 500" that I estimated in the Daily Bulletin next morning. The afternoon's focus was on economic conditions and their effect on UW, including the current "postponement" of hiring and discretionary spending. Those who arrived at the meeting before supplies ran out received a handout of background information that had also been presented by Johnston at the October 28 meeting of the UW board of governors.

And also online, as of yesterday at noontime, is the "UW in the UAE" document that was distributed at Monday's senate meeting, as background for its discussion of the planned Waterloo campus in the United Arab Emirates. "We believe," says one of its introductory paragraphs, "that the UAE is an excellent location to establish a presence within our limited resources: it is increasingly and demonstrably committed to higher education, our partners represent the highest levels of political authority, and we have built a sound business case with minimal financial and reputational risk. This initiative will enable us to exercise global leadership while advancing the guiding principles that distinguish UW as adopted in the Sixth Decade Plan."

The second issue ("fall 2008") of The Boar magazine, published by the Arts Student Union, has appeared, with articles on topics ranging from gender roles to Anne Boleyn. There's also a thought-provoking letter from editor Ashley Csanady, who writes in part, "I always felt flaky for my inability to pin down a major. That changed when I had a conversation with the Dean of Arts, Ken Coates, about his undergraduate experience. He told me that he officially changed his major four times and unofficially seven. He explained the beauty of studying the arts is that it provides students with the ability to move fluidly between interests, floating until they find a discipline's perspective that suits their unique personality, aptitudes, and aspirations. This message has been ringing in my ears ever since."

International Education Week continues, with a display about international study opportunities all week at Renison University College library, and many events specific events. Today alone brings ‘Guess Where It’s From’: currencies and objects from around the world, 11:30 to 1:00, Renison cafeteria; exchange students and exchange coordinators reception, 12:00 to 1:30, Needles Hall room 1101; Engineers Without Borders overseas programs information session 3:00 to 5:00, also NH room 1101; exchange program information session aimed at first-year and second-year math students, 4:00, Math and Computer room 5158; Heather Stager speaking on her experiences as an intern with Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, 4:30, NH 1101. Thursday events are noted in the "When and where" column at right.

The Engineering Society will hold its fiercely-fought Genius Bowl trivia competition this evening in, I think, POETS Pub in Carl Pollock Hall. • The fall book sale at the UW bookstore, South Campus Hall, continues through Thursday. • And the eagerly awaited craft, toy and bake sale sponsored early each winter by the Hildegard Marsden Nursery opens today; it'll run Wednesday through Friday 9:00 to 5:00 in the Davis Centre lounge.

CAR

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Link of the day

Osteoporosis Month

When and where

Campus Response Team CPR “pump-a-thon” 8:00 to 4:00, plus first aid live demonstrations 11:00, 12:00 and 1:00, Student Life Centre great hall.

GIS Day hosted by Faculty of Environment and University Map Library, 11:30 to 2:30, Environment I courtyard. Register.

Applied Complexity and Innovation seminar: Paul Thagard, philosophy, “Changing Minds about Climate Change”, 12:00, University Club, reservations e-mail cmombour@uwaterloo.ca.

Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research presents Marina Mourtzakis, department of kinesiology, “Integrating Medical Imaging and Health Records”, 12:00, Davis Centre room 1304.

Free noon concert: “Music of the Baroque” (flute, violin, fortepiano), 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University College chapel.

Café-rencontre du département d’études françaises: François Paré, “La recherche en sociophonétique à partir de petits corpus: le cas du sud-ouest ontarien”, 14h30, Humanities salle 139.

Career workshops: “Work Search Strategies” 2:30, Tatham Centre room 1208; “Are You Thinking about an MBA?” 5:30, Tatham 2218. Details.

Computer science Distinguished Lecture: Anne Condon, University of British Columbia, “Computational Challenges and Opportunities in RNA Secondary Structure Prediction” 4:30, Davis Centre room 1302.

Waterloo Public Interest Research Group presents “Inside the Bottle: The Facts on the Bottled Water Industry”, 5:30, Engineering II room 1303.

Engineering alumni and friends reception at MMM head office, Thornhill, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Details.

In the Mind’s Eye festival (“Issues of Substance Use in Film and Forum”) films at UW Architecture building in Cambridge: “A Safer Sex Trade” and “Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey” 7:00.

K-W Little Theatre auditions for “Henry V”, last evening, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., UW Math and Computing room 4060. Details.

Civil and environmental engineering presents two seminars by David L. Rosgen, Wildand Hydrology Ltd.: “Applied River Morphology, River Restoration and Habitat Enhancement”, Thursday 10:30, Davis Centre room 1302; “Experiences from Forty Years of River Restoration”, Thursday 2:30, Humanities Theatre, RSVP ext. 33985.

Engineering exchange programs information session Thursday 11:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 208.

Music student recitals continue Thursday 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel UC chapel, admission free; more recitals November 24, 25.

International Education Week event: “Please Chicken at My Doorknob” (key phrases in Arabic, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin) Thursday 1:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 1101.

An Unsustainable Future for Humanity: inaugural International Development Occasional Seminar Series lecture by biochemist Joseph Hulse, Thursday 3:30 p.m., reception follows, St. Paul's College, MacKirdy Hall. Details.

Department of English presents Audrey Jaffe, University of Toronto, “Market Character(s): From the 1801 Stock Exchange to (Almost) the Current Crisis” Thursday 4:00, Humanities room 373.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology information session Thursday 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Book launch: Marpeck: A Life of Dissent and Conformity by Walter Klaassen (formerly of Conrad Grebel UC) and William Klassen (formerly of St. Paul’s College), Thursday 4:00, St. Paul’s College chapel.

Classical studies lecture: Mike Lippman, Eckerd College, “Euripidaristophanizing in the Thesmophoriazusae”, Thursday 4:00, Environment II room 2002.

Design Camp Waterloo (bar-camp style open forum for digital designers) Thursday 4:00 to 6:00, Student Life Centre multipurpose room.

International buffet (with music and fair trade coffee) Thursday 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Graduate House.

Balsillie School of International Affairs launch reception Thursday 5:30 to 7:30, 57 Erb Street West, by invitation.

‘Mingle and Match’ session for students to meet arts alumni and hear about careers, Thursday 6:30 p.m., Laurel Room, South Campus Hall.

International Week film screenings (subtitled, free): “The Bet Collector” (Philippines) and “Kept and Dreamless” (Argentina) Thursday 7 p.m., Student Life Centre great hall.

Arriscraft Lecture: Geoff Thun, RVTR, “Matters of Concern”, Thursday 7 p.m., Architecture lecture hall, Cambridge.

Bhagvad Geeta elocution competition Thursday 7:30 p.m., Student Life Centre room 2105, information phone 226-747-5305.

Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ presented by UW department of drama, Theatre of the Arts, November 20-22 at 8 p.m., school matinee November 21 at 12:30, tickets $12 (students $10) at Humanities box office.

Orchestra @ UWaterloo concert: “Alexander to Zoltan, Music of 3 Centuries”, with competition winner Martin Walker, flute (Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1), Thursday 8:00, Humanities Theatre. Tickets free at Humanities box office.

Positions available

On this week’s list from the human resources department:

• ITC Asia project manager and translation specialist, psychology, USG 9
• Administrative assistant, associate provost (academic and student affairs), USG 8
• Organic chemistry senior lab instructor, chemistry, USG 9

Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
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Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
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Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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Tuesday November 18, 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:54:01 EST

November 18, 2008 Senate votes yes to Emirates campus 'It is not the same,' provost agrees Flakes in an early-season flurry

Professional planners as well as UW planning faculty and students, and high school visitors, all took part in the World Town Planning Day charrette that was held November 10. The four-hour intensive session was focused on possible ways of improving the Victoria Street corridor in Kitchener. Dan Currie, director of policy planning for the City of Cambridge (far right), sat in on this subgroup's discussions.

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Senate votes yes to Emirates campus

Senate, the university’s academic governing body, last night voted to “endorse in principle” the plan for a UW campus in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, “as it has been described to Senate to date”.

Some ten senators voted No on the motion, but perhaps three times that many voted Yes, including some who had raised pointed questions about the plan — the logistics, the finances, the morality — in the discussion that led up to the vote.

It was the longest debate Senate has held about anything in this century, running from 5:00, when provost Amit Chakma began a background briefing about the UAE project, until 7:30, well past the normal adjournment time for a monthly senate meeting.

The effort to create a UAE campus has been talked about for years, but last night’s formal vote was a milestone, and a number of senators said it should have come much sooner. “Approval from senate hasn’t been explicit and it hasn’t been timely,” said David DeVidi, philosophy professor and president of the faculty association.

This month’s discussion was an outgrowth of briefer talk about the UAE project at the October senate meeting, when president David Johnston invited questions that he said would be answered this month.

The result — distributed with the agenda for yesterday’s meeting and in several last-minute handouts — included half a dozen individual letters, a three-page statement signed by 11 student senators, and an array of 29 questions posed from across campus after an invitation by the faculty association.

Addressing the points made in most of them was a five-page “UW in the UAE” handout, concluding with a statement that “the UW administration welcomes further opportunities for education and dialogue with faculty, staff and students about this initiative.” Chakma told the senate that the document was largely put together by Erin Windibank of the university secretariat.

Among the handouts was a memo with word of a motion passed by the council of the School of Computer Science, expressing “dismay at not being consulted in a timely manner about UW’s plans for Dubai”. The dean of mathematics responded that the whole thing has been talked about openly in the math faculty for two years or more, and CS professors had plenty of opportunity to express opinions if they wanted to.

“It feels like when we ask the questions, we’re given a response that has not been very thoughtful,” complained Justin Williams, president of the Federation of Students. He said it hadn’t even been easy to get a motion onto senate’s agenda so that a yes-or-no vote about the UAE campus could be taken.

Chakma gave the senate “an undertaking” that the UW administration will try to avoid such situations in future, particularly by bringing any megaprojects forward for early discussion by the faculty relations committee. He also promised senate to come back at the next meeting with a proposal for oversight of issues affecting the UAE campus, either through existing committees or with some new body.

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'It is not the same,' provost agrees

Summarizing the UAE plans at the beginning of the discussion, the provost reminded senate that the idea is to operate “two-plus-two” programs in which students take their first two years of study at a site in Dubai, then come to Waterloo for the last two years. The initial programs are to be chemical and civil engineering (starting in 2009) and information technology management and finance and risk management (starting in 2010).

Tuition fees from students in those programs, totalling $22 million a year if enrolment targets are met, would provide 32 new faculty positions in the engineering and math faculties, the provost said. The fees would also cover other costs of operating the Dubai programs, and leave a $3 million to $5 million annual surplus that’s earmarked for capital projects on the main campus: the Engineering VI building and new space for the math faculty.

“If we can execute it well,” said the provost, “it will improve UW’s academic quality.” He added that “future opportunities” in the UAE might include programs in public health, international affairs, digital media, planning, environment and business, and science and business.

“We also believe that this is good for Canada,” said Chakma, calling the Waterloo plan “Canada’s first major overseas campus”.

Much of the discussion, both on the floor of senate and in the written questions and answers, dealt with human rights issues, and the legal and cultural differences between Canada and the United Arab Emirates. A key issue is the Emirates’ laws against homosexual behaviour.

“This is a wonderful opportunity,” said Craig Sloss, president of the Graduate Student Association, adding that he has major reservations because of the risk that gay students, faculty or staff would face, and doubts that UW is determined to protect their rights. “If I could be persuaded that if one of our students were prosecuted for consensual sodomy, our university would pack up and leave, I would be more inclined to support it.”

A graduate student in management sciences, invited to speak about her own experiences, told senate that she graduated from the UAE University (“the girls’ campus”) and has now experienced academic life in both the United States and Canada, exploding many of her own stereotypes along the way. North Americans shouldn’t accept stereotypes either, she said, insisting that life in the modern UAE is much different from life in, say, Saudi Arabia, where women are seriously repressed.

And Chakma made much the same point, declaring that “there are places that I wouldn’t go,” though he declined to name them: “any country where we have to compromise our academic freedom within the confines of our own campus, any place where there’ll be a requirement for us to teach in a segregated way, where human rights violations or safety are such that if you run foul of local authority, they have draconian rules.”

Said the provost: “I know human rights violations because I have lived through it. I am the strongest defender of human rights that you’ll ever find on the planet.” He recalled that more than a decade ago he had a job offer from the Emirates and spent several days checking out the country, coming home impressed with the quality of living, the openness of academic life — with female students as well as male — and, in particular, public safety.

“Having said that,” the provost observed, “it is not the same: it is not Canada, it is not Waterloo.”

As Waterloo becomes a global university, said dean of environment Deep Saini, inevitably “we will be doing business in places that are not like this place. Myself, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want to go to places that are different! We have a responsibility to dare to be in those places.”

Environment professors Bruce Mitchell (the associate provost, academic and student affairs) and Susan Wismer spoke about their many years of research work in Indonesia. When that activity started, the country was a military dictatorship, Mitchell recalled, and some Canadian academics thought the moral course was to stay away. But others said that Canadians could serve as “a small agent of change in an incremental way”, and that turned out to be true, especially in the opening minds of Indonesian students who came to Canada, saw what its culture was like and took western ideas home with them.

“I am a strong supporter of the university taking various forms of prudent risk,” said Wismer as last night’s debate neared its close.

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Flakes in an early-season flurry

I was away for a few days on some personal travel, got back into town on Sunday, and by mid-evening was wondering whether we'd end up invoking the winter storm closing policy on Monday morning. Such a thing has never happened in November, and of course it turned out that the snow was manageable and we even saw some blue sky by midday on Monday. Here's a reminder, though, that when full-scale winter does hit, the university will close for the day if — and only if — the Waterloo Region District School Board closes all its schools. You can decide for yourself whether to hope that happens, or hope it doesn't, any time soon.

So that was my welcome back to Waterloo: that, plus the opportunity to read up on what happened while I was away, such as the release of this year's Maclean's magazine university rankings, and public lectures by the likes of Mark Kielburger and Ralph Nader. I also have a note from Ryan Jacobs of the development office, letting me know that "UW donors and Arts alumni, faculty, staff, and retirees came out on Wednesday, November 12, for a special performance of the drama department's Julius Caesar. The Modern Languages foyer was adorned with regal royal and ivory draping and beautiful ficus plants to set the ambience for the guests. After opening remarks from Meg Beckel and Gerd Hauck, the drama department put on another extremely successful show. Guests had the chance to mingle with the talented cast and crew after the performance over a delightful dessert reception."

E-mail is also at hand from Tom Carey, founder of the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology (now part of UW's Centre for Teaching Excellence) and for several years associate vice-president (learning resources and innovation). Carey is still a faculty member in the department of management sciences, but notes that he is "on leave from UW for the next two years to work on multi-institution collaborative projects to enhance teaching and learning. The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario recently announced the new research program I am leading for them. The other half of my time involves leadership for similar projects in the U.S., including one national project and two within the state of California. We are gradually building links between the Ontario and U.S. based projects, e.g., four Ontario universities are collaborating to build a set of digital case stories on exemplary faculty practice in Academic Integrity, using the approaches we have been developing in the national project sponsored by the U.S. Dept of Education."

Here's a reminder that tomorrow will be GIS Day, where the initials stand for Geographic Information Systems. "All students, faculty and staff are invited to participate," writes Eva Dodsworth of the University Map Library, which is hosting the fifth annual event along with the Faculty of Environment. Things will run from 11:30 to 2:30 in the Environment I courtyard, she says: "Come out to talk to students, faculty and staff and learn how GIS technology is making a difference in their research and studies. Events will include GPS, and Google Earth session, cake and draw prizes." More information on this event and how to sign up for the GPS and Google Earth sessions is available online.

Kate Jessop of the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office is on a two-week trip to Kuwait, Jordan, and (yes) the United Arab Emirates to draw attention to UW programs. • Leaders of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance were at Queen's Park yesterday lobbying members of the Ontario legislature about possible improvements to student aid and the financing of universities. • The UW bookstore's fall book sale runs today through Thursday in the South Campus Hall concourse.

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Link of the day

Letts do it

When and where

International Education Week continues, with international cuisine at St. Paul’s College Tuesday supper and Friday noon; international study opportunities display all week at Renison University College library; other events as listed.

Engineering alumni guest lecture: Jim Estill, CEO of Synnex, speaks on time management and his success in the global economy, sponsored by PDEng, 11:30, Davis Centre room 1302.

UW Retirees Association fall luncheon, great hall of Luther Village, remarks by former UW president James Downey, tickets $25, information 519-885-4758.

iDVD and iWeb drop-in demonstration of Apple iLife software 12:30 to 1:30, Campus TechShop, Student Life Centre.

Joint Health and Safety Committee 1:00, Commissary room 112D.

Career workshops today: “Career Interest Assessment” 2:30, Tatham Centre room 1112; “Success on the Job” 3:30, Tatham 1208. Details.

Centre for Teaching Excellence workshop: “Keeping Track: Learning Technologies for Staying on Top of an Information Overload” 3:00, Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library. Details.

Exchange program information sessions aimed chiefly at first-year and second-year students: AHS, today 3:30, Lyle Hallman Institute room 1633; Science, today 5:30, CEIT room 1015; Mathematics, Wednesday 4:00, Math and Computer room 5158.

Poetry Slam sponsored by Arts Student Union, 6:30 p.m., Graduate House.

‘Economic Outlook 2009’ by Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics, 6:30 p.m. at Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West.

International Week film screenings (subtitled, free): “The Kite” (Lebanon) and “Let the Wind Blow” (India), Tuesday 7 p.m.; “The Bet Collector” (Philippines) and “Kept and Dreamless” (Argentina) Thursday 7 p.m., Student Life Centre great hall.

K-W Little Theatre auditions for “Henry V”, auditions continue tonight and Wednesday 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., UW Math and Computing room 4060. Details.

Craft, toy and bake sale sponsored by Hildegard Marsden Nursery, Wednesday-Friday 9:00 to 5:00, Davis Centre lounge.

‘Guess Where It’s From’: currencies and objects from around the world, International Education Week event, Wednesday 11:30 to 1:00, Renison UC cafeteria.

Exchange students and exchange coordinators reception, Wednesday 12:00 to 1:30, Waterloo International, Needles Hall room 1101.

Applied Complexity and Innovation seminar: Paul Thagard, philosophy, “Changing Minds about Climate Change”, Wednesday 12:00, Burgundy Room, University Club, reservations e-mail cmombour@uwaterloo.ca.

Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research presents Marina Mourtzakis, department of kinesiology, “Integrating Medical Imaging and Health Records to Understand Detrimental Changes in Metabolism and Body Composition in Cancer Patients”, Wednesday 12:00, Davis Centre room 1304.

Free noon concert: “Music of the Baroque” (flute, violin, fortepiano), Wednesday 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University College chapel.

Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen: Religious Studies Society book launch for Sacred Terror by Renison UC faculty member Douglas Cowan, Wednesday 2:00, Renison great hall.

Café-rencontre du département d’études françaises: François Paré, “La recherche en sociophonétique à partir de petits corpus: le cas du sud-ouest ontarien”, mercredi 14h30, Humanities salle 139.

Engineers Without Borders overseas programs information session Wednesday 3:00 to 5:00, Needles Hall room 1101.

Computer science Distinguished Lecture: Anne Condon, University of British Columbia, “Computational Challenges and Opportunities in RNA Secondary Structure Prediction” Wednesday 4:30, Davis Centre room 1302.

Waterloo International presents Heather Stager speaking on her experiences working as an intern with Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, Wednesday 4:30, Needles Hall room 1101.

Civil and environmental engineering presents two seminars by David L. Rosgen, Wildand Hydrology Ltd.: “Applied River Morphology, River Restoration and Habitat Enhancement”, Thursday 10:30, Davis Centre room 1302; “Experiences from Forty Years of River Restoration”, Thursday 2:30, Humanities Theatre, RSVP ext. 33985.

Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology information session Thursday 4:00, 295 Hagey Boulevard suite 240.

Orchestra @ UWaterloo concert: “Alexander to Zoltan, Music of 3 Centuries”, with competition winner Martin Walker, flute (Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1), Thursday 8:00, Humanities Theatre. Tickets free at Humanities box office.

CS4U Day open house in the school of computer science for students in grades 8-11, Saturday 9:30 to 4:30, Davis Centre. Details.

PhD oral defences

Computer science. Zheng Qin, “Vector Graphics for Real-Time 3D Rendering.” Supervisors, Michael McCool and Craig Kaplan. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Friday, November 28, 1:00 p.m., Davis Centre room 2314.

Combinatorics and optimization. Ashkan Aazami, “Hardness Results and Approximation Algorithms for Some Problems on Graphs.” Supervisor, Joseph Cheriyan. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Monday, December 1, 10:00 a.m., Mathematics and Computer room 5136.

Germanic and Slavic studies. Ching-yi Lin, “Learning German Vocabulary: An Investigation into Learners’ Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies.” Supervisor, Barbara Schmenk. On display in the faculty of arts, PAS 2419. Oral defence Thursday, December 4, 10:00 a.m., Humanities room 373.

Electrical and computer engineering. Ayed Algarni, “Operational and Planning Aspects of Distribution Systems in Deregulated Electricity Markets.” Supervisor, Kankar Bhattacharya. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Thursday, December 4, 1:30 p.m., CEIT room 3142.

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin

Communications and Public Affairs
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
+1 519 888 4567

Contact us | http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca | © 2008 University of Waterloo

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