Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Monday, September 8, 1997

Something different, as classes start

Fourth-year accounting students are plunging right into a tough, team-based competition this morning as fall term classes begin. The 160 students will be participating in UW's first accounting case competition. Dubbed "Watcase," the event will keep their noses -- protected a bit by traditional green eyeshades -- to the grindstone for four days.

The idea is to bring the "real world" more directly into the students' education, says accounting professor Sally Gunz. In teams of four to five members, the students will analyse the accounting and business needs of a local company and try to produce the best solution to the firm's needs -- by Thursday afternoon.

The identity of the company that is opening its doors and books to the students will not be released until the case is under way. Gunz did say that it's a local family-run, mid-sized consumer products manufacturing operation that is facing many challenges. The company's situation presents "interesting issues" across a wide spectrum of areas the students have been studying -- including finance, accounting, tax, auditing and management. "What they will uncover in this case will not be solvable by referring to any single textbook," Gunz explains. "It calls for them to pull together everything they have learned, and then some."

The students' performance in the contest will count for 10 per cent of their grade in each of the required accounting courses this fall.

They will form into teams and receive instructions this morning, tour the company on Tuesday, work out their approaches to the case on Wednesday, and present their reports to an "internal" examining panel on Thursday. The five finalist teams will present their work again on Friday, this time to an "external" examining panel. The overall winning team will be announced at a reception at the Walper Terrace Hotel Friday night.

The company owner hopes to gain fresh insight and solutions to his firm's problems from this exercise, says Howard Armitage, director of the school of accountancy. He regards Watcase as a vital educational and professional experience for the students. "The competition will help our students develop their case preparation and presentation skills, and it will give their studies more breadth and integration."

Football season starts with a win

The Warrior juggernaut is rolling. The UW football team -- ranked #1 in Canada before they even played a game this season -- won easily on Saturday afternoon at University Stadium, as TSN reports:

Waterloo handed their cross-town rival Wilfrid Laurier a 24-1 pounding on Saturday. Jarrett Smith had 22 carries for 216 yards and scored a touchdown to lead the offense. The only other TD came from QB Ryan Wilkinson, on a seven-yard run in the second quarter.

Windsor, who will come to town next weekend as the Warriors' second opponent in league play, lost to Western 29-10.

There were a number of other interuniversity sports events on the weekend, for which I haven't yet received results. I do believe that a Warrior baseball exhibition game in the SkyDome was one of the events cancelled Saturday because of the funeral of the Princess of Wales, shown on the Jumbotron scoreboard.

A few administrative notes

With classes beginning today -- hey, aren't you late for Chemistry 120? -- there are two more days of registration in the Physical Activities Complex. Starting Wednesday, registration moves to Needles Hall. Late fees are being charged now, at $10 for the first day and $3 for each additional day.

The library has a long schedule of tours and orientation events over the next few weeks. Today, for instance, there are guided tours of the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries at 10:30 and 1:30, and of the University Map and Design library at 11:30. Specialized sessions start later in September with "Electronic Database Searching: The Basics" on Tuesday of next week.

The co-op and career services department is starting another round of career seminars, aimed mostly but not entirely at co-op students. Tomorrow, "resumé technique" seminars are being offered: co-op arts at 12:30 in Physics room 313, co-op science at 2:30 in Engineering Lecture room 101, co-op math at 4:30 in EL 101.

The talk of the campus

Memo on Friday from registrar Ken Lavigne: "I am pleased to announce the appointment of Gwen Sharp to the position of Associate Registrar, Records for the period September 15, 1997, to August 31, 2000. Gwen brings significant registrarial experience to this position. From 1978 to 1987, Gwen worked in the Math section of this office and was Administrative Assistant from 1980 to 1987. She has also worked in Distance Education and is currently the Administrative Assistant, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science."

Well, that was a lively party at noontime on Friday as the arts faculty (and many friends from other parts of UW) celebrated the 35th birthday of the Modern Languages building. It's hard to say who was the best sport -- or the best actor -- among the many staff and others who mugged in period costumes, although I'd say the applause and laughter peaked when the hippie wedding appeared. Also of note Friday: the remarks by UW president James Downey, in particular his observation that Waterloo frequently leads through "inadvertent innovation".

Also inadvertent, though not innovative, was a name I got wrong in Friday's Daily Bulletin. One of the software developers behind Polaris (son of Watstar) is Ray White, not Ray "Wight".

And hey, that was quite a picture of the Matthews Hall addition, shown in Saturday's Globe and Mail as part of a full-page feature on architecturally interesting Canadian buildings of the past year.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY September 7, 1996: The football Warriors defeat Windsor 33-1, giving coach Dave "Tuffy" Knight his 138th victory, a record for a Canadian university football coach.

September 8, 1980: Novelist Harold Horwood arrives at UW as the year's writer-in-residence.

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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