University of Waterloo

Daily Bulletin

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Thursday, July 13, 1995

UW's in Maclean's again

Readers of Canada's national newsmagazine have no excuse for not knowing that Waterloo is a nursery for computer wizards and high-technology companies. Rob Leitman of the computer science department puts things succinctly in a newsgroup posting I noticed this morning:
The UW Computer Science program is in a Maclean's article yet again, this time as a sidebar to the top five software companies in Canada. For some reason, the photo of Ian Goldberg was left out of this one.

The maple leaf we sever

So long to the giant maple tree that has spread its branches in front of the Graduate House (formerly the Schweitzer farmhouse) since long before there was a University of Waterloo. "It was time to take it down," says Brian O'Riley, supervisor of the plant operations grounds section. He noted that as long as 20 years ago, cables were installed to help support the old tree, thought to be 90 to 100 years old. "It's been dying back for the last three or four years," he said, and seemed to be posing a danger.

So Tuesday morning a crew started cutting it back ("the branches were dead inside, all right") and yesterday they took down the trunk until nothing more than a stump stands where once was a 40-foot tree. (The last stage of the work was done with the help of a "cherry-picker", and led to some minor damage to the house's patio railing.) Bill Halverson, manager of the Grad House, has put aside a large piece that will warm the club as a Yule log next December; the rest of the tree will end up as wood chips on campus paths, O'Riley said.

A group in chemical engineering has been interested in planting a tree as a memorial to a dead classmate; that site, which faces Engineering I, will now be available to them for a new maple.

Meetings on human resources

A letter has gone out to all faculty and staff members from one of the "working groups" set up by the university's Commission on Institutional Planning. The working group on "human resources" is inviting comments, and has set dates for three open meetings: The working group is considering such issues as workloads, recruitment, salaries, performance evaluation, training, and "institutional flexibility to adapt".

Research grant deadlines

The UW office of research has issued a nine-page, fine-print list of research grant programs that have deadlines this summer and early fall. Copies have been sent to faculty members all across campus.

Doing "research relevant to the Air Force"? There's money available. Studying "the use and prevention of misuse of alcoholic beverages"? The Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation awaits your application. And so on. Besides specialized programs, the list includes the annual grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Medical Research Council.

The research office at ext. 6033 or ext. 5108 has more information.

Happening on this hot day

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca

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