Daily Bulletin

Canada has fewer professors

The total was 34,613 in 1996-97, down by 7.1 per cent from the record level of 37,266 four years earlier. Ontario's decline was 10.8 per cent. (Some of that drop can be attributed to the special early retirement program conducted at UW in 1996.)

An excerpt from the Stats Canada report:

While the number of faculty has declined 7.1% over the past four years, the number of full-time and part-time students has decreased only 2% (on a full-time equivalent basis). However, this gap may narrow when part-time faculty increases are taken into account. Data on final part-time faculty numbers will be released early in 1999.

The decline in the number of full-time faculty was not distributed evenly among either ranks or sexes. Since 1992/93, the number of full professors fell 2.8% and the number of associate professors was down 2.4%. At the same time, there was a 19.7% decline in the number of assistant professors and lower ranks.

Men took the full brunt of the declines among full-time faculty. In 1996/97, there were 26,172 men teaching in university, down 10.7% from four years earlier. During the same time period, the number of women increased 6.3% to 8,441. Significant gains were recorded by women faculty in the ranks of full professor (+23%) and associate professor (+19.8%).

In constant 1996 dollars, average salary between 1992/93 and 1996/97 declined by 3.1% to $73,943. This decline was primarily due to the replacement of retiring faculty at the top of their salary scales with newly hired or promoted faculty at or near the bottom of their salary scales. The smaller decline for female faculty reflects their increased representation in the higher ranks.

Despite gains through promotion, the continuing higher concentration of women in the lower ranks is reflected in lower overall average salaries. In 1996/97, the average salary of women faculty was $64,976, compared with $76,801 for men. Within each rank, however, women's average salary was 5-6% less than men's salary. Much of this difference is explained by the over-representation of female faculty among new hires and new promotions. Men on average have spent 60% more time than women at their current rank.

However, he admits, adjunct faculty members are prolific publishers and can make good teachers because they worry less than full-timers about curriculum planning and research. Also, he says, studies show that students rate adjunct professors as highly as they rate full-time faculty.

Computing courses set for January

• Introduction to Windows 95
• Introduction to Unix
• Introduction to PowerPoint
• Introduction to Excel
• Learning More About Microsoft Word
• Introduction to Mathcad
• Introduction to LaTeX
• Introduction to SAS
• WebBoard for Instructors
• Enhancing Your Course Web Page
• Creating Web Forms
• Keeping Up with Your Research Literature -- Electronically!

A holy season for Muslims

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, and so it moves through the secular year; it's a striking coincidence that it overlaps the Christmas season this year and begins just as the Jewish festival of Chanukah comes to an end. The timing makes it difficult for UW's Muslim Students' Association to do much in the way of special observances, as it's done in some previous years when Ramadan fell in the middle of a term.

During the month-long observation, Muslims are expected to fast during daylight hours. Says Abe Elmasry, a UW electrical and computer engineering professor who is recognized as a leader of Muslims in Canada: "Fasting is abstaining completely from eating, drinking and sexual relations from the break of dawn till sunset. It is performed once a year for the duration of the lunar Islamic month of Ramadan. It is a matchless Islamic institution, which teaches one the principle of sincere devotion to God." After dark, families and friends gather for refreshments, visiting, and worship.

Ramadan is by no means a grim time, I learned when I wrote about it in the Daily Bulletin a couple of years ago. A Muslim who works on campus provided this perspective:

Ramadhan is not a month of self-denial. On the contrary, it is the month of mercy, love and enjoyment.

It is the month of mercy because in this month, God (Allah) forgives our sins and listens to our prayers. He bestows upon us love, kindness, good health and prosperity. He also encourages us to show the same virtues to all of mankind. It is a month of enjoyment because Allah encourages us to give to the poor and share our wealth and pray and break our fasts with family and friends.

Muslims are privileged to have this opportunity to gain God's mercy and guidance and all they are required in return is to stay away from evil deeds and to treat mankind with kindness. Staying away from food and water during daylight hours is not even a sacrifice. It is an act of the cleansing of the soul and body. It also helps us appreciate how people in the third world countries feel without food, and so, in this month, we are encouraged to give to charity. Any good act done in this month counts as 70 such acts in other months.

Lastly, it was in this month that the holy book The Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammad through Gabriel. The book is our constant guide. So you see, Ramadhan is a blessing not a chore, and when it ends, Muslims feel a degree of sadness, because we have to wait another 11 months for another "shot of the good stuff".

Notes on the last day of fall

On campus, today's another quiet day. Tomorrow will be the last day of fall term exams and this month's payday for faculty and most staff members. And here's a reminder that Wednesday is the last day of work for 1998 and also the last day students can register for the winter term without paying late fees. There were lineups at the cashiers' office on Friday, and a crowd of cars illegally parked outside Needles Hall, as students handed over the money before heading home for the holidays.

A schedule of hours for the food services department indicates that the Village I cafeteria closed for the season yesterday. Also closed this week: the Davis Centre "Bon Appetit" food fair and the Modern Languages coffee shop, as well as outlets that had closed earlier (Matthews Hall, Optometry, the Festival Room). Still open: Ron Eydt Village, Double U's in South Campus Hall (today and Tuesday); Tim Horton's in the Davis Centre, Brubaker's in the Student Life Centre, and Pastry Plus in Needles Hall (today, tomorrow and Wednesday).

Headline of the day from American higher education: "Yale invests $6 million into fish taco business".

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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