Friday, January 7, 1994

MERRY CHRISTMAS to those who live their religious or cultural lives by
the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox churches.  (And regards to Muslims,
who will observe the festival of Miraj-un-Nabi tomorrow evening and Sunday.)

RETIREMENT MARKED:  Pat Taylor, long-time secretary to UW's deans of
engineering, is about to retire.  In her honour, friends will hold a
reception Tuesday, January 18, from 3:30 p.m.  Anyone wanting to attend
is asked to notify Linda Chapman at ext. 6076 by the end of next week.
Contributions toward a retirement gift can be sent to Jeff Weller in the
dean of engineering office.

ENGLISH REQUIREMENTS:  A proposal to tighten UW's admission requirements
for students of a non-English-speaking background will be back on the
agenda for this month's senate meeting.  The proposal was tabled in December
after several questions were raised about its fairness and the meaning of
some details.  When the senate executive committee met this past Tuesday,
it heard enough answers to feel comfortable returning the plan to senate.
If it's approved, students whose first language isn't English and who have
been in Canada less than five years would have to pass the Test of English
as a Foreign Language, Test of Written English and Test of Spoken English.
At present, the cutoff is three years.  UW's pass mark on the TOEFL is 
600, representing a score at the 89th percentile.

STAFF TRAINING:  A brochure should be out in a week or so announcing the
programs available through the Staff Training and Development program this
term, the personnel department says.  Among new things: a series of
brown-bag lunches at which the popular John Cleese videos on management
will be shown.  Among old things: the FrontLine and Working programs, for
management and non-management staff, as well as a new "interpersonal skills
for non-management professionals" course that draws on both FrontLine and
Working.  

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs
credmond@watserv1    ext. 3004