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Daily Bulletin

Friday, December 19, 1997

University of Waterloo • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Students need meningitis shots

Local health authorities are advising everybody aged 12 to 22 -- a group that includes a majority of UW's students -- to get vaccinations in the next few days against meningococcal meningitis, an infectious disease of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. An estimated 50,000 people need the vaccinations in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding townships.

Four people are in hospital with the same strain of meningitis, and there have been 11 cases in the area this year, strikingly more than usual, the Waterloo Region health unit says.

Students in local high schools are being assigned to clinics for their free shots this Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. There will be "catch-up" clinics December 24 and after Christmas. University students and other young people who aren't in high school can go to any of the clinics on any day.

Health officials say a clinic visit will take about an hour, what with paperwork, waiting time, the shot itself, and a 20-minute rest afterwards because a small number of people feel faint after getting the vaccination. The vaccine takes 10 to 14 days to take effect and is thought to be 85 per cent effective in those who get it.

Clinics will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. December 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 (until 3 p.m. only), 27 and 28 at four local high schools. The nearest to campus is Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, on University Avenue west of Fischer-Hallman Road. Other sites are Bluevale Collegiate in Waterloo, Grand River Collegiate and Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener.

An information line in the health unit can be reached at 883-2289.

There are no plans so far for the meningitis vaccine to be available on campus, says Denise Angove of UW's health services, although that could possibly happen in the new year. But she said it's important for students to get the shots, from the free local clinics. (Take along your Ontario Health card and your WatCard to prove that you're a local resident.) Students who are currently away from Waterloo will have to see a physician and get a prescription for the vaccine, she said. In that case there will be a charge for the vaccine, which can be reclaimed through the student health insurance plan.

It's payday for everyone

People on all three of UW's payrolls -- monthly, biweekly and "casual" -- get paid today, making a whole lot of pre-holiday spending possible over the weekend. Here's a reminder of when the eagle will scream again: Monthly payroll, January 23 (a week early) and February 27; Biweekly payroll, January 2; Casual payroll, January 9.

A cut in provincial income tax rates is due January 1, and there will doubtless be changes in Canada Pension deductions and so on. Carol Wooten of UW's payroll office says she doesn't have full information yet, but it'll be distributed to staff and faculty member when she gets it.

Solution, and another puzzle

I've heard from several people who solved Wednesday's "pencil test" correctly, including one who articulated his reasoning so thoroughly that I was dizzy by the time I had read it. (And he appears to have solved the puzzle without using all the available evidence, which goes to prove something.) Anyway, the correct answer is indeed that it was Professor Chung who used the red pencil.

To further beguile your time, let me present "PhD Pursuit", as devised by one of my devious-minded colleagues here in information and public affairs. Again, there are no prizes. The idea is to identify which academic department was responsible for each of the following genuine UW PhD thesis titles.

  1. An Experimental Study of Mixing in a Ventilated Room
    1. psychology
    2. mechanical engineering
    3. systems design engineering
  2. Nonlinear Programming Using an Expander Lagrangian Function: A Water Resources Management Case Study
    1. earth sciences
    2. civil engineering
    3. systems design engineering
  3. H-infinity Control of Acoustic Noise
    1. applied math
    2. physics
    3. systems design engineering
  4. Modeling of Circular-Grating Surface-Emitting Lasers
    1. physics
    2. electrical and computer engineering
    3. systems design engineering
  5. Examining Aggressive Behaviour from a Group Perspective
    1. kinesiology
    2. psychology
    3. systems design engineering
  6. The Role of Image and Language in Formal Hierarchical Communication in Organizations
    1. psychology
    2. management sciences
    3. systems design engineering
  7. The Abstract Media Model
    1. English
    2. fine arts
    3. systems design engineering
  8. Influence of Pavement Reflection on Target Visibility
    1. civil engineering
    2. planning
    3. systems design engineering
  9. Deviant Labels and Generic Social Processes: Inter-Group Relations of a Hunting Dog Club
    1. sociology
    2. recreation and leisure studies
    3. systems design engineering
  10. Coastal Resort Morphology as a Response to Transportation Technology
    1. civil engineering
    2. geography
    3. systems design engineering
  11. The Reflective Instructor with Deliverate Apprentice Architecture
    1. philosophy
    2. management sciences
    3. systems design engineering
Correct answers tomorrow.

The talk of the campus

I learned this morning that two of the people injured in the Fredericton plane crash on Wednesday were UW students. Parag Shanbhag of mechanical engineering and his brother, Maneesh Shanbhag of electrical engineering, are both recovering from injuries.

It'll be a little more than a month before marks for fall term courses are available. Grade reports will be handed out starting January 26, the registrar's office says. (Faculty members who taught this term have to submit marks by January 2, the first day after the long holiday.)

And . . . this may come as a shock, but Santa Claus doesn't exactly live at the North Pole. His true identity is revealed in the November-December issue of the staff association newsletter. Seems he's really Andy Norris of UW's graphic services department, who appears in the red suit each year at the association's Winterfest. His elves? Those would be daughters Ashley and Katie.

It'll be a quiet weekend

Today is the last day of exams for the fall term, and it's party night at the Graduate House with the Pandemonium Blues Band. But just about nothing is scheduled on campus Saturday and Sunday. The libraries will be closed both days, and open again on Monday. Most UW offices and services will be open Monday too (though not the bookstore and computer store), but many staff will be taking a day's holiday to begin the long Christmas break early. Compliments of the season, then, to everybody for whom today is the last working day of 1997; see you in the new year.

Here's a reminder that Monday's Daily Bulletin will have full information (or as full as I can make it) about UW services and events over the Christmas and New Year's break, and will be available on UWinfo all through the holiday.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
December 19, 1973: Paul Cornell resigns as dean of arts; Pat Rowe takes over as acting dean. December 19, 1988: Don Brown -- "Brownie" from his early days in the athletics department, and later in central stores -- dies of heart failure.

December 20, 1962: The university senate approves the curriculum for a one-year post-degree Bachelor of Physical Education program.

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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