Daily Bulletin, Wednesday, April 6, 1994

SNOW?  What snow?  Why, this is nothing -- when I was a lad . . . well,
fifteen years ago today, to be precise, was the Great Blizzard of 1979,
which (according to the Gazette of the following week) closed down UW for
the first time ever.  It was a Friday, and an exam day.  Some students did 
turn up to write their exams in the PAC, but those who didn't make it got 
a second chance the following week.

BOARD ACTIONS:  UW's board of governors yesterday approved 1994-95 tuition
fees (up 10 per cent, except for some graduate students where a quirk in
the calculation makes the percentage hike a little higher) and the new
"student services ancillary fee".

The board also elected a new chairman for itself:  Peter Sims, a Kitchener
lawyer.  He takes over May 1, succeeding Paul Mitchell.

The dean of research, Arthur Carty, gave a report on grant funding from the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.  The total that UW is
getting from NSERC for the coming year is down about $900,000 from last
year's level, he said, noting that competition is getting tougher and money
is tighter.  Canada-wide figures for comparison are not available yet.  On
the other hand, Carty said, 15 of 20 new applicants from UW did succeed in
getting grants, "an indication that we're attracting young people of high
quality."

HAPPENING TODAY:  The faculty association holds its annual general meeting
at 2:30 this afternoon in Math and Computer room 5158.

The University Faculty & Staff (Waterloo) Credit Union Ltd. holds its 
annual general meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Flamingo Room, South Campus Hall.

A brown-bag lunch sponsored by the Professional Women's Association starts
at 12 noon in Math and Computer room 5136B.  Linda Kellar of counselling
services and Phyllis Forsyth of classical studies (the provost's advisor on
academic human resources) will speak on "Harassment: Why Are We Silent?"

Recreation and leisure studies graduate students hold their second annual
research symposium today in Matthews Hall (information: ext. 3013).

Computer Science Days bring bring mathematically-inclined high school
students for a Waterloo visit on several days between now and the end of
the school year; the first visitors are due in today.

AND THE PRESIDENT speaks tonight: James Downey is the speaker for this
year's one-and-only Faculty of Arts Lecture, starting at 7:30 in the
Humanities Theatre.  His title is "Epiphanies Now and Then: The Process and
Prospects of Educational Reform in Canada".  Says a publicity blurb:
"Professor Downey, as the title of his lecture indicates, does not subscribe
to Big-Bang theories of educational change.  He does, however, believe that
what is not made better will inevitably become worse."  He's likely to draw
on his experience as co-chair of a Commission on Excellence in Education
that prepared two major studies for the New Brunswick government between
1991 and 1993.  Admission to the lecture is free, with no tickets needed.

CONVOCATION DATES:  I made a small typographical error in yesterday's
Bulletin, on the subject of May convocation dates.  (Question:  Doesn't
anybody ever proofread this thing?  Answer:  Oh, sometimes.)  It was fairly
clear what I was trying to say, and a correction has been made on the
permanent copy of the Bulletin on UWinfo, but for the record, here are the
convocation dates this spring:  environmental studies, applied health
sciences and independent studies on Wednesday, May 25; arts on Thursday,
May 26; science on Friday, May 27; mathematics on Saturday, May 28 (morning);
engineering on Saturday, May 28 (afternoon).

FINALLY, a happy birthday to Bill Futher of the computing services department.
Note from a colleague: "If anyone wants to see if Bill still has what it 
takes to make delicious apple fritters, he'll be working at this Saturday's 
Elmira Maple Syrup Festival."

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
888-4567 ext. 3004      credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca