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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Tuesday, March 26, 1996

A party for the retirees

Plans for a convocation-style ceremony in honour of this year's 338 early retirees have been cancelled, and there's going to be a big party instead. The celebration is set for Thursday, April 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Federation Hall.

The idea of a ceremony in the Physical Activities Complex, the day before spring convocation late in May, was "daunting for some people", says Catharine Scott, director of human resources. "There was a lot of concern that it was too ceremonial. . . . Clearly we were on the wrong track with that."

The idea had come from a committee representing retirees and some of the major departments that would be involved in recognizing the staff and faculty who are leaving. Once the grumbling was heard, the committee was called together again, Scott said, and asked to "rethink" the plan and go "far afield" to consult about what would be best.

What they found, she said yesterday, was that most people wanted "a more informal affair", a party at which the people who are leaving can hear the good wishes of their colleagues who are staying behind at UW. There was also a feeling that the May date was too late, because many early retirees will be gone from the university before that.

So here's the plan: two hours of wine and cheese, with a cash bar and "only a couple of speeches", Scott promises. Faculty and staff who are retiring -- the SERPs, as they're coming to be called -- will get direct invitations to the bash. Their family members are also welcome. Everybody else is being invited through a general announcement, and RSVPs will collected through department secretaries so party organizers have a general idea of how many people will show up.

Parking lot codes vanish

Elaine Koolstra, manager of parking services, sends this note:

Parking Lot D, Needles Hall, has been reopened as a visitor pay parking lot with an attendant on duty as of March 11, 1996. Prior to this access to the lot was by card or codes. Because of the quantity of codes that were issued during this time and due to the possibility of misuse we will be cancelling all codes effective April 8, 1996. Persons who currently use a code should contact the Parking Services Department at ext. 3100.

Computing directions statement

The University Computing Committee has published the final version of its "Computing Directions Statement" for UW, which is available on UWinfo under "Documents". The statement now goes to UW's Commission on Institutional Planning as one of the "working group reports" it will consider.

The final version isn't much different from the draft that was made public for comment a few weeks ago, says Bill Wilson, chair of the UCC and associate dean (computing) in the engineering faculty. One of its recommendations has more or less been adopted already in the administrative reorganization of UW that was announced last week: appointment of a senior person (an associate provost) in charge of information technology matters.

The report also says UW should "investigate the feasibility of an integrated, campus-wide student computing environment which is accessible from both on-campus and off-campus" and "refine the list of standard hardware, operating systems, applications software and networks to be supported by the University".

Feds hold annual meeting

The annual general meeting of the Federation of Students will be held at 7:30 p.m. today in the multi-purpose room of the Student Life Centre. All Federation members -- which is to say, nearly all full-time undergraduate students -- are entitle to speak and vote at the meeting. On the agenda: raising the Fed fee by a nickel, to $23.60 per term, and amending various Federation by-laws.

The day after the Oscars

Happening today:

A St. Bede Lecture tonight at Renison College, given by Michael Bird. (Yesterday's Bulletin said the lecture was on Monday night, because I believed what I was told; but I was told wrong, and it's tonight at 7:30.)
Another open house at the UW observatory, and maybe a chance to see Comet Hyakutake. Time: 8 p.m., on the third floor of the Physics building.

Oh, about those birthdays

Following the note about the coinciding birthdays in the school of optometry, we had a note about coinciding birthdays in the school of accountancy -- four or five people all born on a May 19. Now comes this note from Bob Fowler in the classical studies department:

Interesting about all those people born on May 19 in Accounting and Business. Sally Haag and I here in Classical Studies also share a birthday. Even more curiously, it's May 19.

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

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