Daily Bulletin

First look for 3,838 newcomers

SL 101, first held last year, is a mid-summer day of orientation for new students and their parents, and a chance to do some Waterloo paperwork before the September rush. (Fees can be paid today at the Physical Activities Complex.) The day will help "relieve student and parent anxiety" and cut down on September lineups, says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services).

Major features of Student Life 101:

• "Up Close and Personal": Students begin their campus tour at Federation Hall, the largest on-campus pub in North America.
• "Meet The Students": Students visit the Student Life Centre, "the living room of the university," to check out information booths, learn more about the Federation of Students and watch the new video about UW.
• Presentations will be held on "Learning Diversity," with a panel of students with various backgrounds and interests, and "Making the Transition", from living at home to campus life. Also, a live demonstration will be held on adaptive technology, including voice recognition and output systems.
• There will be information booths at Federation Hall on such things as student awards; financial aid; the library, counselling and retail services; housing; textbooks, course materials and computers; health; graphic services; food services and nutrition counselling; parking and police; co-operative education; disabled student services; and off-campus dons aiding students in the transition to independent living.

The 3,838 preregistrations for September represents 101.7 per cent of the fall enrolment target (3,775). And so it needs to be, since there's always some attrition from preregistration through September to the official enrolment count on November 1. Besides, preregistrations are still coming in, and all the faculties are expecting to meet their targets.

Attrition is particularly a factor in mathematics, which at the beginning of last week had 927 preregistrations against a November target of 870 full-time first-year spots.

The figures for other faculties: applied health sciences, 333 (for 267 spots); arts, 964 (for 1,002 spots); engineering, 739 (for 750 spots); environmental studies, 288 (for 281 spots); science, 587 (for 600 spots). The preregistration statistics are as of July 27, the registrar's office says.

About 85 per cent of the new first-year students are coming from Ontario secondary schools, and the other 15 per cent from other provinces, other countries, community colleges or the workforce.

Time to think about NSERC grants

"There is some flexibility to the August 17 deadline" in the case of new faculty who won't be here until the fall, but in general, missing the deadline will reduce researchers' chances of getting grants next year from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, says the memo from grants manager Liz Vinnicombe. By that date, NSERC wants "advance material" including something called Form 180, "Notification of Intent to Apply for a Research Grant".

Vinnicombe, at ext. 6033, can provide copies of the forms and instructions. Her memo also tells researchers what they need to do if they intend to apply this year for a "major facilities access grant", to provide "facilities or research resources that are significant in size, value or importance".

Meanwhile, NSERC has issued a list of new operating grants provided to UW researchers this year. They include a $135,000 grant to a team in chemical engineering headed by Joao Soares. Other sizeable sums are coming to Peter Bernath of chemistry (two grants totalling $134,000); Flora Ng of chemical engineering ($98,000); John Hepburn of chemistry ($94,000); Elizabeth Irving of optometry ($92,000); and Tong Leung of chemistry (also $92,000). Victor Snieckus, also of chemistry, who is leaving UW this year for Queen's University, was awarded grants totalling $91,000.

The figures listed are as they were allocated in the spring. NSERC increased many of its grants in a "budget reallocation" exercise in June.

Police officer goes to sea -- reported by Barbara Elve

Responding to a help wanted ad placed in a law enforcement journal by the University of Pittsburgh, Ethier was offered a contract as a security officer aboard the SS Universe Explorer, a traveling exchange program for some 650 students from 200 universities around the world. From September 10 through December 19, he'll join the Semester at Sea Program, keeping the peace during 50 days at sea and 50 days at ports of call, including Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Israel, Turkey, Italy and Morocco.

On this first day of exams Business hours for two of the graphics copy centres are reduced this week. In the Dana Porter Library, the copy centre will be open only from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., for the rest of the summer. In Environmental Studies, the copy centre will close at 4:30 this week; next week, hours will be extended to 7:15 p.m. "to accommodate deadlines", a memo from graphics says. Hot and cold water will be turned off in Environmental Studies II from 8 to 9 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday), the plant operations department warns. The Student Life Centre is looking for vendors for its autumn craft show, November 4-6. Applications can be picked up from Nancy O'Neil in the SLC office.

Not only will Ethier be part of the student life team, he'll be expected to attend classes in Comparative International Studies, a required course for all students. He looks forward to gaining a better understanding of other cultures through the course, by meeting students from around the world and visiting their countries. "It's an opportunity to challenge myself."

Although he has taken diversity training programs with both the ministry of corrections and the Waterloo Regional Police, Ethier believes his first-hand experience with global diversity will enhance his ability to communicate effectively with students at UW. "It's a pretty important factor in my type of career," he observes. "I'm excited about what I'll be able to bring back and apply to the job."

Ethier was a correctional officer for five years before joining the UW police force two years ago. He was attracted to the university environment because "there's more chance to communicate with people, it's a more sociable atmosphere, a different clientele."

Just married in June, Ethier will be accompanied by his wife, Crystal, for "a 100-day honeymoon".

UW web site of the day

"Tales from Underground" is not something from a horror movie. It's what happens when Kyle McKenzie gets started telling about his speleological activities -- speleology being the science of caves.

"I created my cave page way back in 1994 for two reasons," says McKenzie, a recent MA graduate from the school of planning who is now working in UW's office of research, not to mention keeping busy with the Outers Club and other activities.

"The first was that I couldn't find any caving pictures on the web at the time. The second was that I was giving slide shows a few times a year to interest people in joining my caving trips and wanted a more permanent venue for the images. The result was one of the first caving sites on the web. Since then a lot of caving material has gone up on the web. I'm working on a major upgrade now, including some Quicktime V.R.s to show 360 degree panoramas inside one of the caves. I just got back from a major expedition to caves in three states and hope to put a lot of new pictures on the site soon.

"I've added a section with stories of past caving trips and few technical articles relevant to caving. Many of these were first published by the UW Outers Club News, as some of the trips were organized through the Outers Club. The layout is still fairly sparse, but I plan to spice things up in the future as time permits. For now I'm concentrating on getting more photographs on line and developing the Quicktime V.R. files."

CAR

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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