Daily Bulletin

Thursday, July 10, 1997

First-year acceptances flood in

The goal set by the deans this year was to have 3,730 full-time first-year students when enrolment is officially counted on November 1. As of the end of last week, 4,015 students had said they were coming in September -- almost 8 per cent higher than the target.

"In general, the faculty deans will be quite happy with these numbers," Burroughs said yesterday, "and now we just have to figure out how to teach them effectively!" He said UW had sent out more offers of admission than in previous years, in an effort to "err on the 'over' side" and maybe get a few more first-year students onto campus than last year.

The faculties where he expects a sizeable number of extra students are engineering, mathematics and science. Engineering currently has 854 acceptances for 745 first-year places. But that's normal: a fair number of students drop out of engineering every September.

Science has 725 acceptances (as of July 4) for 600 places, and math has 939 acceptances for 830 places. Environmental studies isn't far behind, with 854 acceptances for 745 places.

That leaves two faculties where acceptances haven't hit target yet. In arts there are 946 acceptance for 1,002 places -- but, Burroughs notes, arts always has 80 or 90 "woodwork people", students who "come out of the woodwork" in September by transferring from part-time study to full-time, or from other faculties, so that target is easily reachable. As for the last faculty, applied health sciences, the latest count was 243 acceptances for 267 places, and more offers of admission have been going out to make sure the goal is reached.

"Keep in mind, these are confirmations," Burroughs warned. "When they get their bill at the end of July, that will change a few people's minds!"

CUPE local briefs its members

Stewart, of the plant operations department's mechanical section, was among the 700 delegates last weekend to a CUPE convention in Toronto to discuss what's being called an "emergency" for the labour movement. Sid Ryan, president of CUPE, told reporters after the convention that "it's not looking good in terms of the avoidance of a province-wide strike."

But strike action is a long way off, Stewart says, noting that what the unions want is "for the government to sit down, as they did with the doctors", and work out amendments to the law. "Negotiating a bill is the proper process, not just slapping it out!"

Bill 136, the Public Sector Transition Stability Act, offers "tools" for public sector employers during mergers and amalgamations of municipalities, hospitals and school boards. CUPE feels especially threatened, saying its right to negotiate and strike is being replaced in many cases with arbitration that employers could invoke when they felt like it. Stewart noted that other unions are in full support of CUPE's opposition to Bill 136, ranging from teachers to the Canadian Auto Workers and the Ontario Federation of Labour.

At a meeting of CUPE 793 last night, he briefed members on what's been happening, and it was decided that detailed information about the proposed law will be distributed to union members all summer. "Then, if there's any decisions coming to be made down the road, at least you're knowledgeable." Third reading of the bill won't come until "well into the fall", he said, so there's plenty of time for the government to consider amendments.

Symposium honours former dean

A. N. Sherbourne

Sherbourne, who came to UW from Cambridge in 1961, "is well known for his research in structural mechanics, and has published widely in this field," says colleague John Roorda in announcing the symposium. "He occupied a number of important academic posts while he continued his teaching and research. . . . He played a key part in the phenomenal growth of the engineering faculty of the University of Waterloo in the early years." Sherbourne was warden of residences 1965-66, and dean of engineering 1966-1974.

News on a lively campus

Co-op students, the ones who now have fall term jobs, continue to be scheduled for "acceptance of employment meetings" with their coordinators. "Remember that these meetings are mandatory," a memo from the co-op department says. "Check the schedule posted in Needles Hall for your appointment." Meanwhile, "continuous phase" job posting #2 is on the boards now and expires this evening at 8:00.

Something was missing in the UW Shop ad in yesterday's Gazette, says marketing coordinator Brendan Beasley. "It seems I had forgotten to put the date in!" The Shop's summer sale will run July 23-25, he says. "Retail Services apologizes for this omission and any inconvenience it may have caused."

School children are learning a new way to sneeze, thanks to the early childhood education newsletter distributed from UW's psychology department. A note in the April issue "urges parents to teach their children to cough and sneeze into their inner, upper arm and practice the technique themselves. Most of us have been taught that it is polite to cough into our hands by covering our mouth or to sneeze into the air by turning our head but this increases the number of germs spread through the air and direct contact."

I notice a sign on the Thomas Cook Travel outlet in South Campus Hall, announcing that it no longer issues Via Rail train tickets.

The Institute for Computer Research has published the schedule of its short courses for this fall, most of them with $500 price tags. Among the titles are "Software Engineering Practice: An Industry Perspective", September 16-17, and "Radio Frequency System and Circuit Design for Wireless Communications", November 4-5.

Waterloo Web site of the day

If you're thinking of St. Jerome's College for your university education, but you can't visit the place to see it first-hand, the next best would certainly be a "virtual reality tour", as provided on this web site with views of the quad and other exterior areas of St. Jerome's, a couple of rooms inside, and even some key buildings across the creek on the main UW campus. Says Dave Augustyn at St. Jerome's:

Via the WWW, a grade 12 student in Wawa could "see" whether the campuses appeal to her. Combined with academic and residence information, these 3D tours may provide reassurance and assist students in making the choice to attend St. Jerome's. Many SJC grads have accessed the VR sites to see the new Community Centre and some of the other changes that have occurred since they graduated.

Each VR [virtual reality] node was created using specialized software which "stitches together" 18 panoramic photos (taken at 20 degree intervals).

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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