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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Tuesday, January 28, 1997

In charge of the residences

Ever since Ron Eydt retired last summer, having been Warden of Residences almost as long as UW had existed, the question has been: who can replace him? The answer is now clear: nobody.

Instead, two positions have been created, says an announcement from Bud Walker, UW's director of business operations. Gail Clarke will become "director of housing and residence administration" and Leanne O'Donnell will become "director of residence life". Says a memo from Walker:

Both individuals have a number of years' experience at the University, Gail with the Research Office and the Department of Housing and Residences, and Leanne with the Federation of Students and the Department of Housing and Residences. As Director of Housing and Residence Administration, Gail is responsible for all aspects of admission, administration, business operation and facilities management for all residence operations. As Director of Residence Life, Leanne is responsible for all aspects of student life in residences including advising and support services, programs, policies and practices.

The plan's on the Web

Text of the draft report from the Commission on Institutional Planning, released yesterday for discussion, is now available through UWinfo. You can find it at http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infoprov/Planning/draft_plan/draft.cover1.html, or simply by choosing the list of departments and then "Institutional Planning Commission".

In yesterday's Bulletin I gave the report a once-over-lightly, and quoted a few words in particular from its Recommendation 14. That one is of special interest, as bearing directly on UW's academic programs, and it deserves to be reproduced in full:

Review programs and course requirements to ensure that undergraduates systematically acquire the knowledge and skills to develop their potential, compete successfully in the changing job market, and contribute productively to society, including

a thorough and comprehensive understanding of their chosen discipline,
an appreciation of the interdisciplinary context of their studies,
an awareness of, and appreciation for, a diversity of viewpoints,
critical thinking skills,
the ability to access, evaluate, and use electronic information,
strong interpersonal and communication skills, and
well-honed problem-solving skills.

Right after that, the report goes on to call for "a learning environment in which teaching and research are fully integrated, so that undergraduates attain maximum benefit from attending a research-intensive institution".

Staff will talk about pay

Karen LeDrew, president of the staff association, has also announced that the association is planning an open meeting about staff pay "in early March", with the date yet to be announced. It will be, she said, "a feed-back session (the executive will be listening) for staff to make suggestions with regard to compensation measures in light of the current fiscal reality". Staff bargaining for 1997 salary increases, due May 1, should be starting shortly.

LeDrew said all members of the staff association executive "will be pleased to respond to questions or concerns about compensation and other staff issues". That would include herself; the association's newly-appointed vice-president, Lynn Judge; past president Mark Walker; president-elect Charlene Schumm; treasurer Linda Lingard; secretary Stephen Sempson; and directors Rita Cherkewski, Gail Clarke, Cathy Hale, and William Rowe.

Interdisciplinary group will meet

A gathering has been called today for something new calling itself "Interdisciplinary Forum", and describing itself as "a group aiming to promote communication between diverse disciplines". Says organizer John Wilkinson: "We would like to see faculty, grad students, and undergrads involved from as many areas as possible."

The speaker at today's colloquium -- 5:30 p.m., Humanities room 373 -- will be Iwona Irwin-Zarecka of the sociology department at Wilfrid Laurier University, talking about "Memory Criticism: How Do We Know Right from Wrong?"

Other things happening today

The "Bridging the Gap" series, "intended to provide a forum to expose Waterloo engineering students to non-technical issues", presents Larry Smith of the economics department at 11:30 this morning in Engineering Lecture room 112. He'll speak on "Engineer as Free Agent: Marking Your Career Your Enterprise".

Co-op students are poring over job posting #6, which was made available yesterday. The co-op department sends a reminder that its "Introduction to Self-Assessment" workshop begins tomorrow morning at 9:30; also at 9:30 tomorrow is the second "Interview Skills" workshop; and presentations on "Researching Occupations" and "Information Interview" will happen tomorrow at 10:30 and 11:30 respectively.

Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793, representing unionized staff in the food services and plant operations departments, has its monthly meeting tonight at the Waterloo Brewers Hall, with an agenda item of unusual importance: nominations will be received for the annual election of officers, which will be held at next month's meeting.

New classroom will be opened

Notice is on hand of an event February 12: the official opening of ACCESS, "the Accounting and Environmental Studies Smart Classroom", in Environmental Studies I room 132. "The ACCESS Classroom," it says here, "is a 50-seat, state-of-the-art teaching facility designed to deliver university courses, professional development seminars and other programs to audiences on campus, across Canada and around the world. The fully interactive, multi-purpose site is equipped for video conferencing and for high-resolution data projection. The ACCESS Classroom is intended for use by the local community as well as by the University of Waterloo." The opening celebrations on February 12 will start at 3 p.m. in the nearby ES I courtyard.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
January 28, 1994: UW is closed because of an overnight ice storm.

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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