Daily Bulletin

Thursday, December 18, 1997

University of Waterloo • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Lights in the darkness

The parties continue and the candles are being lit. There's one week to go until Christmas, and just five days until the beginning of [Candle]

Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. The two holidays coincide this year, along with festivals of several other faiths less prominent in North America -- all of them reflections in their various ways of the winter solstice, with the shortest day and longest night of the year. (The solstice will come, to be pedantic about it, at 3:07 p.m. on Sunday.)

Christmas parties on campus today range from the end-of-term mature students' luncheon at the University Club (information ext. 2429) to the invitation-only banquet for friends of St. Jerome's College this evening. Graphics copy centres will close at 5:00 this afternoon for the graphic services departmental Christmas dinner.

There's also the big party starting at 3:00 for faculty, staff and graduate students in the faculty of applied health sciences, to take place in the new "fireplace lounge" in Matthews Hall. That's the culmination of a festive week in AHS that has included "Christmas classic" films at noon-hour, a cookie contest, a "decorate your workshop" contest, and a major tree decorating party. "We have a massive live tree," my informant tells me. "It was a 20-footer, but we had to chop it a bit to fit it indoors, by the fireplace lounge." Also worth seeing is the mural painted on the games museum windows by student Michelle Schultz.

Let me repeat that not everything is Christmas. The early childhood education centre in the psychology department, having had its Christmas orgies last week, is holding Chanukah parties this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

Beyond the festive lights lies solemnity again. As the lunar and solar calendars turn in their separate cycles, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which was with us in January, begins again December 31.

Electronic theses are displayed

A public viewing of the library's Electronic Thesis Project yesterday morning was less than a big hit. "We offered a demo and nobody came," says Christine Jewell of the Dana Porter Library's reference and collections development department.

She said all graduate students should have received e-mail invitations to the demonstration. "The Electronic Thesis Project Team was hoping to show the results of our pilot project and to engage graduate students in a discussion of issues associated with electronic submission, storage and distribution of theses." She said another demonstration will be offered in the winter term.

The Electronic Thesis Project is an experiment in putting graduate students' theses (master's and PhD) on the World Wide Web in PDF format, where people can refer to them without all the hassle of finding one of the few paper copies in a library. There's currently a test database of 17 theses, in fields from history to computer science. Search software lets users search the abstracts of the theses, either by keyword, or with a restriction to author, department, or faculty fields and either as a simple or compound search.

Warrior coach is named

Chris Triantafilou will be the new head coach for the football Warriors, the athletics department announced yesterday. As an assistant coach for the past dozen years, Triantafilou has been the heir apparent since it was announced earlier this month that ten-year coach Tuffy Knight wasn't returning next fall.

"There is no question that we are pleased to give the opportunity to Chris, who has very much been part of the new-found success in football here at Waterloo," said Judy McCrae, director of athletics. "He has contributed immensely to the on- and off-field experiences of the program. He has the interests of the student athlete at the centre of his philosophy. We think that he will be a good addition to the OUA coaching fraternity."

Triantafilou is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University and a Level 3 certified coach, and has worked in professional football camps.

His comment: "I am very excited about the new challenge that lies ahead for me and the football program. I am looking forward to investing the knowledge and experiences that I have gained over the years with coach Knight at Waterloo. I want to add to the foundation and future growth of Warrior football. Maintaining the strengths and health of the football program is my objective."

A couple of other notes

Robert Solomon of the University of Western Ontario law faculty speaks at UW this afternoon, on legal issues that affect counsellors and other people providing student services. The session runs from 12:30 to 4:30 in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's College. Information: ext. 6264.

Tomorrow morning, four co-op students who are finishing work terms in information systems and technology will give a "show-and-tell" for IST staff members (8:45 a.m., Math and Computer room 2009). On the program are Dana Lampi with a Web-based "virtual tour of IST"; Sean McLeod speaking on "Polaris-Unix Connectivity within the Faculty of Science"; Sean Speers on "Computer Training Alternatives"; and Margaret Vobel on "The Physiological Effects of Our Emotions and Attitudes", such as the effects of job stress.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY December 18, 1956: The board of governors of Waterloo College Associate Faculties meets and is still discussing what kind of program to offer -- perhaps technical training with students going on to other universities for their degrees.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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