Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, July 2, 1997

Beneath thy shining skies

And now here we are in high summer, back to work and back to class. A few new classes start today, by the way, as it's the first day of the "J" term, what's left of it. Time was that "summer school" was a big deal on this campus, with hundreds of teachers, in particular, coming for upgrading courses. But markets change, and all that remains of the J term now is some five courses offered for specific groups by some of the church colleges. Classes begin today for two of them, Peace and Conflict Studies 302C and Religious Studies 295.

The talk of the campus

Geoff McBoyle

Wilfrid Laurier University has announced the name of its next president, to take office September 1. He's Bob Rosehart, who has been president of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay since 1984. Rosehart is a UW graduate (chemical engineering and St. Paul's United College) and was a chem eng professor at Lakehead in the 1970s before getting into administration. "His open, friendly style will contribute to the strong sense of community that is a Laurier trademark," says Betty Sims, chair of the WLU board of governors. Rosehart will succeed Lorna Marsden, WLU president since 1992, who is becoming president of York University.

My apologies to anybody who was confused by a version of Friday's Daily Bulletin that said the UW libraries would be open, but also closed, on Sunday. A correction was made as soon as possible.

Solar race car finishes 7th

Again as the race drew to a close, Midnight Sun put in a good showing, coming second in Friday's one-day showings and again in the one-day results for Saturday, last day of the race.

In the overall standings, Cal State's total elapsed time was 28 hours, 41 minutes and 34 seconds while UW's was 32 hours, 22 minutes and four seconds. Cal State's average speed was 43.29 miles per hour (69.69 kilometres per hour) while UW's was 38.38 mph (61.79 km/h).

In second place overall was defending champion Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while a joint entry from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley was third.

Midnight Sun IV, described as UW's largest student project, was built by a core team of 15 students drawn from engineering, science and mathematics, plus about 100 volunteers.

Waterloo Web site of the day

Lots of Web pages for courses have headings like "Course objectives, requirements and grading", but not too many also have this heading: "Safety rules -- PLEASE READ!" Of course, there aren't too many courses like Earth Sciences 390, which expects students to spend a week at Whitefish Falls, between Sudbury and Manitoulin Island.

The instructor, Mario Coniglio, explains why a web page is a useful tool for a field school course:

Many of the students were not in my classes in the winter semester (the field school runs at the end of the winter semester). I needed a way to get current information on logistics, schedule and so on to everyone without having to make several class visits. Once they know the information is conveniently arranged on the home page the students happily click their way along. The typical questions asked regarding accommodations, costs, course requirements and so on are all handled.

The technical component on the home page is meant to give students the geological component they should have before the field school, although I cover some of the basics in the first evening meeting once we are in the Whitefish Falls area. There are also field photographs (requiring a decent monitor) to encourage students to be prepared for the types of observations they will be expected to be comfortable with.

One of the interesting features is that I've included an essay (fiction) describing a typical day in the field. The essay was meant to be a bit funny but also to carry a really important message which is to dress properly for potentially hard field conditions. Since using the home page, students have come well prepared, and I wish I had stocks in Goretex!

Another interesting feature is that my dog Leda is the designated field school mascot and her photograph is magnificently displayed, although she is getting on in years (14) and may be on sabbatical come next field school.

Happening on the middle day of the year

The Computer Science Graduate Students Association today brings in Larry Yaeger of Apple Research Labs as the next speaker in its Celebrity Lecture Series. He'll talk at 2:30 today (Davis Centre room 1302) on "Computational Genetics, Physiology, Metabolism, Neural Systems, Learning, Vision, PolyWorld: Life in a New Context". A second talk is scheduled for tomorrow -- same time, same station -- on "Combining Neural Networks and Context-Driven Search for On-Line, Printed Handwriting Recognition in the Newton". The Apple and the brain. . . .

The Interdisciplinary Forum group presents a talk today by Karin MacHardy of the history department, on "Facts, Language, and Empathy in History". The talk starts at 5 p.m., with discussion to follow, in Humanities room 334. All are welcome. The Forum holds such events monthly: "a person who is well-informed and passionately interested in a subject delivers an introductory lecture. This is followed by a discussion. . . . These meetings are open to all students and faculty."

CAR

July 2, 1953: Gerry Hagey becomes president of Waterloo College. July 2, 1975: The failure rate in first-year engineering has reached 23 per cent, the Gazette reports -- up from not quite 6 per cent in 1968.

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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