Daily Bulletin

Tuesday, March 18, 1997

Top teachers of the year

• Howard Armitage, director of the school of accountancy.
• Conrad Hewitt, of the faculty of mathematics central teaching staff.
• Ian McKenzie of geography (receiving the DTA specifically reserved for non-regular faculty members).
• John Smith of the physics department.

The Distinguished Teacher Award is given "in recognition of continued record of excellence in teaching at the University of Waterloo. It is open to all those who teach students at the University of Waterloo and is not limited just to those holding faculty appointments. The Selection Committee will look for intellectual vigour and communication skills in the interpretation and presentation of subject matter. The teacher's human quality and concern for and sensitivity to the needs of students is an obvious criterion. the Selection Committee will look for a clear indication that the nominee has favourable and lasting influence on students. Evidence of successful innovation in teaching would support a nomination, but it is also clear that excellence in teaching does not necessarily require innovation."

FAUW head Fred McCourt of the department of chemistry was introduced at last night's senate meeting as the new president of the Faculty Association of UW. He has been FAUW's vice-president and chief salary negotiator. The annual meeting of FAUW, at which acclamations and election results are usually officially announced, is scheduled for April 9.

The issue: who controls fees?

"It really doesn't matter what we decide here," UW president James Downey told the meeting. "Fees will be deregulated." That's a clear plank in the Ontario government's platform, he pointed out.

The provost, Jim Kalbfleisch, said the issue, as far as he was concerned, was not how high fees would be, but who would set them. "What regulation means is that the government sets the fees, and what deregulation means is that the universities set the fees." He'd prefer to have the universities in control, he said.

Not everyone agreed. "I don't want to let Mike Harris off the hook, so I'm going to support the motion," said Robert Le Roy of chemistry. And Ian Macdonald, president of the faculty association, said, "Post-secondary education is a public good, and it ought to be publicly funded, primarily."

Said Bellabarba: "It's the responsibility of the government to deal with accessibility issues," including the level of fees. "We feel the government should be responsible and held accountable."

Kalbfleisch told the meeting that deregulation does not have to mean "substantial increases" in fees -- after all, fees for international students were deregulated across Ontario this year, and most of them went down, rather than up, as universities started competing more keenly for students. "There may come a day," he said, "when we want to be able to adjust fees downward in one area and upwards slightly in others," to attract students to one program or another.

The motion was defeated on a 25-23 vote, with most (but not all) of the student senators supporting it along with a fair number of faculty members.

As for the actual fees . . .

Also on the agenda this afternoon: the "fifth decade" plan for UW, a report from the building and properties committee (which has been looking at the development of UW's north campus), and other matters.

Shutdown day at Windsor

The biggest issue in the strike by some 270 members of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 1001 is pay for part-time and casual staff in U of W's food service operations. Negotiations between CUPE and the university management broke down again on Friday.

The Windsor faculty association says it's up to individual professors whether they keep teaching or honour the union's request to help close the university. Some faculty members were making plans last week to meet their classes off campus.

Meanwhile, back at Waterloo

The human resources department advises that "the location of the office dealing with Income Securities (Old Age Security and Canada Pension) has changed. The office at 15 Duke St. East in Kitchener has closed, but assistance can be obtained at Human Resources Development Canada, 409 Weber St. West, Box 9011, Kitchener N2G 4L6. While application forms for benefits can be obtained from that location, appointments must be scheduled through 1-800-277-9914." There's also information about government retirement programs on the human resources web pages, accessible through UWinfo.

Two lecture tonight: Ann Roberts of the fine arts department will lecture on "Echoes of the Goddess" (7 p.m., East Campus Hall room 1219). Michael Bird of Renison College will speak in the St. Bede Lecture Series, on "Laughter and After: Humour on the Spiritual Journey" (7:30, Renison chapel).

Department heads received a memo yesterday from David Dietrich, assistant director of human resources, reminding them about the University Health Insurance Plan: "Participation in UHIP is mandatory for anyone who has a formalized relationship with the University and is not eligible for Ontario Health Insurance. . . .UHIP may be overlooked for internationals who have a formal relationship with Waterloo but are not registered students nor workers hired for remuneration. Typically these are international post-doctoral fellows, researchers and visiting professors." More information: ext. 6120.

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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