Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, November 26, 1997

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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If you know a good teacher

. . . 'tis the season to think about nominating him or her for one of UW's Distinguished Teacher Awards. The annual deadline for nominations is always the first Friday in February (this year, that would be February 6), but the people in the teaching resource office, who administer the process, are keen to make sure that students who are here for the fall term also have a chance to be involved.

By my count there are 77 faculty members and other UW teachers who have received the DTA since it was first presented in the spring of 1976. And what makes a "distinguished" teacher? The official criteria sound like this:

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.

Awards are based on the nominations received each year -- but, says a question-and-answer sheet on the program, "Quality of nominations is more important than quantity. That is, supportive letters from a number of persons are more indicative of the nominee's favourable and lasting influence than a single letter with hundreds of signatures appended. Serious consideration for awards is usually limited to files containing a great deal of more cumulative evidence and support than the required minimum."

The DTAs are one activity at Waterloo that leave just about everybody happy. I have twice been involved in nominations for professors whose teaching I knew personally, and it was a great experience. Tom Brzustowski, who as vice-president (academic) in the late 1970s chaired the first few DTA selection committees, said reading the nominations, with their evidence of terrific teaching in so many parts of the university, was his favourite part of his job.

There's no nomination form. "A nomination can be made in a typed or legible handwritten letter, approximately 1 to 2 pages in length, . . . mailed, hand delivered or faxed into the office. We can not accept nominations that have been e-mailed; a letter must include a signature." Letters should be addressed to Jim Kalbfleisch, the current VP (academic), and sent to the teaching resource office in the Math and Computer building.

More information about the awards is available on the teaching resource web site.

Special honour for a postdoc

For the fourth time in a decade, a prestigious Polanyi Prize has been awarded to a recipient from UW. Julia Wright of the English department is among five winners this year of the Polanyi Prize, awarded to top scholars and researchers planning to continue postdoctoral studies at Ontario universities.

Wright will apply her expertise in the Romantic period to analysing attitudes to imperialism in India and Ireland in the early 19th century.

The Ontario government established the Polanyi Prizes 11 years ago in recognition of the achievement of John Charles Polanyi, of the University of Toronto, who was named co-recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in reaction dynamics. Each year, the prizes can be awarded in the fields of chemistry, literature, physics, physiology or medicine, and economic science -- the same fields in which Nobel Prizes are given. The prizes are worth $15,000 each.

Previous UW winners were Marcia Wehlau, who received the 1996 Polanyi Prize in physics; Elizabeth Meiering, chemistry, 1995; and Thomas Steele, physics, 1989.

What's happening at UW today

The bookstore says its customers can "save 26% on just about everything" in honour of UW's 40th anniversary -- not 40 per cent for the 40th, but 26 per cent for the 26th of November, I guess. "Offer applies to all products excluding textbooks, electronic products, special orders, Springer Sale books, computer hardware & software, reduced sale merchandise or other merchandise discounts."

And Brubaker's restaurant in the Student Life Centre also has deals today -- "From 11 a.m., while supplies last, we will be serving meat pies, pizza, pasta, fruit pies, soft tacos and deli roll sandwiches for 97 cents each."

Authors of two local books will be signing their volumes in the bookstore today, but the times as announced yesterday were apparently reversed. Geoff Hayes, with his new book about the history of Waterloo County, will be there from 11:30 to 12:30; Ken McLaughlin, with his book about the founding of UW, from 12:30 to 1:30.

The Women's Association of UW has a literary double bill at noontime today. Rota Lister of the English department will speak on "Where Have the Great Women Writers Gone?", and her presentation will be followed by general "book talk". The event starts at 12 noon in Math and Computer room 5158.

The InfraNet Project presents "International Partnerships in the Software Industry" and "Electronic Commerce" today: a lunchtime seminar (with a $40 tariff) and then a "distinguished seminar" by Christian Trudeau of Bell Emergis, starting at 2:30. The action is in Davis Centre room 1302.

Canadian poet Sylvia Legris will read from her work at 3:30 this afternoon in the common room of St. Jerome's College.

The talk of the campus

Winter term schedules and fee statements for undergraduate students are still available. Students in arts, environmental studies, mathematics and science (except optometry) can get their documents in the registrar's office, and starting December 1, the paperwork for students in applied health sciences will be there too; for the rest of this week, it's still in Matthews Hall. Optometry students should check their mailboxes; engineering students, their department offices; Renison and St. Jerome's College students, their college offices.

The bike centre will be having a bike auction in the atrium of the Student Life Centre beginning at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Says Ted Harms, one of the centre's keen volunteers: "These bikes are fixed up and ready to roll for anybody who's looking for good and cheap transportation. Bikes will be available for viewing beginning at 10:30 a.m., and payment by cash or cheque only is expected upon sale. All money raised goes to the Bike Centre to purchase new tools and supplies."

[UBC shield] They had some excitement yesterday at the University of British Columbia, where a section of the campus has been closed for the past week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting. To no one's surprise, a student crowd demonstrated against the event, and particularly against the leaders of Indonesia and China for human rights abuses in those countries; things got unruly and police used pepper spray on the demonstrators. "I did that myself too when I was a student," prime minister Jean Chrétien said about the demonstrations. "But now I'm not a student any longer. We had to run the meeting properly."

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY November 26, 1996: UW holds its "first annual general meeting" in the Theatre of the Arts.

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