Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, February 19, 1997

Jim Kalbfleisch (James G. in formal contexts), with desk atypically clear

Kalbfleisch: five more years

A nominating committee has been at work, and its report came to the UW senate in closed session Monday evening and to a special meeting of the board of governors executive yesterday. Then came this word from the president of the university, James Downey:

"I am pleased to be able to announce to the University community that Dr. Jim Kalbfleisch has been renewed as Vice-President Academic & Provost for a second five-year term, beginning July 1, 1998. A unanimous recommendation from the Nominating Committee was endorsed by Senate on Monday night and approved yesterday by the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors acting for the Board.

"The members of the Nominating Committee, elected by their constituencies were as follows: Gordon Andrews, James Brox, Catherine Coleman, Hannah Fournier, Jim Frank, Ryan Gunther, John Hepburn, Lynne Magnusson, Stephen Markan, Geoff McBoyle, Helga Mills, Lisa Ann Wannamaker, Frank Zorzitto.

"The Committee sought the opinion of the several groups that make up the University community, and based on those findings and their own assessment of the performance of the Vice-President determined that there was very strong and general support for his reappointment.

"I am pleased at the outcome of the review process and grateful to members of the Committee and to all who participated. It is my own view that Jim has done a splendid job in the most difficult of circumstances. It is gratifying to learn that this judgement is so widely shared."

Ottawa creates fund for research

The minister said Ottawa is putting $800 million into the Foundation, which "will be carefully invested to accumulate interest. The Foundation will, thereby, be able to provide about $180 million annually over the next five years to support important research infrastructure. . . . Investment decisions will be made solely by a board of directors, the majority of whom will be drawn from the private sector and the research and academic communities."

Said the budget speech: "Through partnerships for individual projects, be it with the research institutions themselves, with the private sector, or with the provinces, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation's resources could very well lead to up to $2 billion in needed investment. The fund will help provide our universities, colleges and research hospitals with the laboratories and equipment they need to complement their own efforts at innovation, laying the foundation for tomorrow's jobs as well as today's."

Martin also announced the renewal of federal spending on the "Networks of Centres of Excellence" and the Industrial Research Assistance Program.

A program of spending on "infrastructure", such as roads, was also announced, but the finance minister said research can be considered "infrastructure" too: "We we must broaden our notion of infrastructure. We must take it beyond its traditional meaning, to include the components of future economic success -- post-secondary education, knowledge, innovation, for example. These are the building blocks of the new wealth of nations and it is in this infrastructure as well that government must invest. If we fail to do so, we will fail the country of tomorrow. We will short-change the next generation."

Tax relief for students

The finance minister announced that the grace period before student loan repayment begins is being increased to 30 months, from the present 18 months, and that the annual contribution limit to Registered Education Savings Plans is being raised to $4,000, "in order to help parents save more in RESPs". He also said that the "education credit" is being increased, to $200 a month, that the income tax deduction for student fees will now include ancillary fees as well as just tuition fees, and that there is new money for summer job programs.

And there was this additional announcement:

Under the current rules, some students or their parents cannot take advantage of these tuition and education credits because they do not have sufficient income in a particular year to utilize them. This is often the case for those who do not have supporting parents or for people who enroll in an education program later in life in order to reorient their careers or to retrain themselves. Therefore, we are changing the rules so that students who are not able to use these credits in the year of study will now be able to do so by carrying them forward to be offset against future income.

Said the minister: "As a result of the measures just announced and those put in place by last year's budget, the combined federal and provincial tax assistance for a typical student will rise from $900 to over $1,200 per year -- an increase of one-third."

Reaction is favourable

James Downey, president of UW and this year's chair of the Council of Ontario Universities, issued a statement on behalf of COU along the same lines. "The minister of finance has obviously set out investment in postsecondary education as the key theme for this budget, and he is on exactly the right track," said Downey. "I am encouraged that there seems to be a general reawakening to the importance of public support for higher education and research."

There was a caveat from the Canadian Association of University Teachers: "Future plans will have to address the need for new funding for researchers themselves. Research facilities without researchers cannot be part of the government's future plans. We also think that the government's plans for the future must provide assistance for the humanities and the fine arts in Canadian universities which is notably absent from this budget."

Other notes today, briefly

• Classes resume in the faculties of mathematics and engineering, after the two-day reading break. Across the rest of the university, the break continues all this week.
• The human resources department says there are spaces still available in a couple of "teamwork" sessions scheduled later this month in the staff training and development program: "Advantage" on February 26 and "Basic Principles" on March 5. "Staff may sign up on an individual basis -- it is not necessary that they enroll by group in a department," says Tricia Loveday in HR, who can be reached at ext. 2078 by anyone who would like to sign up.
• Visitors from the National Ballet School will be on campus today, based at the Carousel Dance Centre in East Campus Hall. (Yes, UW still has some dance activity, including not just Carousel but courses that are part of the fine and performing arts option.) The NBS visitors will be holding auditions for youngsters this morning, a teachers' workshop in the afternoon, and then master classes.
• I've learned of a small error in the "Today in UW History" item that appeared February 6. I referred to Carl Pollock as the first chair of UW's board of governors. He was, in fact, the second chair, taking over in 1966 from the founding chair of the board, Ira G. Needles.

CAR

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