Daily Bulletin, Monday, May 30, 1994

CONVOCATION'S OVER.  As I drove onto campus today I saw Cam Elliot of plant
operations up in the cherry-picker taking down the last of the festive
banners, and that means things are back to routine.

A feature of Saturday morning's convocation ceremony was the presence of a
television crew from the CBC program "Venture", which is doing a story about
Waterloo's computer science graduates and the impression they make on the
software world, especially Microsoft Corp.  Jim Fox of the UW news bureau,
who helped make the arrangements for the CBC crew, says he doesn't know yet
when the program will air.

Friday afternoon saw the presentation of the year's second Governor-General's
Silver Medal, to Paul Bridger, graduating with a BSc in physics.  He shares
with Wendy Sherk of health studies, who got her degree on Wednesday, the
honour of having the top standing in an undergraduate program at UW this year.

Memorable remark from Luke Young in his valedictory address on Friday,
speaking to parents and families on behalf of brand-new science graduates:
"Now we're coming home, and we've learned how to argue!"

Finally, a note about David John's talk at the Thursday convocation session,
which I briefly reported in Friday's Daily Bulletin.  It wasn't baseball he
mentioned, it was basketball, says Martin Timmerman of computing services:
"It was because I play basketball with David John that I took the time to
attend convocation yesterday.  He invited the audience to look to the heavens
to see the basketball hoops on the ceiling.  Aside from the basketball
anecdotes that I could directly relate to, he talked about the thrill of
discovering new knowledge, of being proud of Waterloo, of enjoying his work
and of the need to enjoy life and have fun.  A real upbeat talk."

CAMPAIGN WEEK continues, with several noontime activities today:

     "A Walk Through Time", sponsored by the science departments.  "Meet
     us at the bridge across Laurel Creek," says the invitation -- that would
     be the bridge opposite Environmental Studies.  From 11:45 to 1:30,
     it's "Phun with Physics" at Conrad Grebel College, "Life Begins",
     "Colliding Continents" at St. Paul's, hot dogs at Renison, "Jurassic
     Lark" at St. Jerome's, "Do It Yourself Earthquakes" at Notre Dame,
     and volcanic chemistry at the health and safety building.

     The Incredible Croquet Challenge on the lawn of Grad House, sponsored
     by the arts faculty.

     Tours and "a cheap lunch" at St. Paul's college (but watch out for
     the colliding-continents folks).

     A tour and talk at the greenhouse woodlot on the north campus, 
     conducted by Paul Eagles of the recreation and leisure studies
     department.  A van will leave Matthews Hall at 12:10 and bring
     participants back there after the tour.

PENSION MEETING:  All members of the UW community are invited to attend the
seventh annual "information meeting concerning the UW pension and benefits
plan", tomorrow from 9 to about 10:30 a.m. in Needles Hall room 3001.
It's sponsored by the pension and benefits committee.

Says a memo: "UW's Consulting Actuary, the Committee's Resource Person and
members of the Committee will be present to comment on and answer questions
about Fund performance, investment strategies (both North American and
international), and general market conditions.

"Members of the UW community will also have the opportunity to raise
questions/make comment on the Committee's recent decision to extend, by one
year, the reduction in contribution levels for both employees and the
University which resulted in the reduction of two unpaid days for staff
and faculty. . . .

"For some time now, the Committee has been conducting an in-depth review of
the insured benefits portion of UW's pension and benefits plan.  The
Committee intends to present and discuss the directions it proposes to
take with respect to prescription drugs, out-of-country travel, semi-private
hospital coverage, etc.  These 'directions' reflect the Committee's
commitment to address the issue of rising costs in such a way as to avoid
negative effects on employees and the University."

FINALLY, birthday greetings to John Thompson, dean of science.  And best
wishes to the many co-op students who today begin employer interviews, with
an eye to finding jobs for the fall work term.  Interviews continue through
June 15.

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