Daily Bulletin

The search for a president

Said the memo:

Following the announcement that President Downey will not seek a second term, the Presidential Nominating Committee met on Friday, February 13, 1998, to consider the task before it. The Committee has promised regular communications to the campus about its activities as it begins the process of finding a President to take office at UW July 1, 1999.

The Committee is considering whether to engage a consultant to assist in the process.

The Committee intends, as the first step in a series of consultative processes, to extend invitations to many individuals and groups within the University soliciting opinions and comments on the issues challenging the next President and the qualities UW's fifth President should have. If you would like to provide input now, you are invited to contact any Committee member.

A day to talk about budgets

The finance committee meeting starts at 2:30 in Needles Hall room 3001. Chief item on the agenda: a first look at the university's budget for 1998-99, if the provost has been able to pull together enough specifics to make the discussion mean anything. When the committee met a month ago, the situation was pretty much fog, as the minutes indicate:

The Chair expressed the hope that the political 'doublespeak' contained in the announcement distributed with the agenda would be clarified before the Committee's next meeting, including what is meant by 'professional' program. In general terms, he speculated that grants would be frozen in 1998-99 and perhaps increased by 1% the following year depending on what the connection with OSAP means; he also speculated that the Board would be asked to approve increases in tuition fees in the coming months. At least one member felt that graduate tuition fees should not be increased further because such increases directly tax research grants and have a negative impact on research capacity.

For the country as a whole, the big questions involve possible tax cuts and new spending on social programs now that everybody agrees the deficit is under control. For students and universities, interest will centre on the Millennium Scholarship Fund, possible new federal funding for research, and other targeted support for higher education.

"If the No. 1 problem is jobs and the No. 1 solution is education," Martin told Southam this week, "then as a government we'd better be prepared to deal with the problems that lie in the way of people getting an education. And the single biggest problem is the question of student debt."

Martin is walking a narrow line, since the national sport -- second only to women's hockey -- is arguing about federal and provincial constitutional jurisdictions. And it seems pretty clear that education belongs to the provinces, not to Ottawa. But with the exception of Québec, most provincial governments may not mind at all if Ottawa decides to spend money in their back yards. Ontario's education minister, Dave Johnson, in effect threw out a challenge to Martin last week: the provincial government is making at least some gestures towards improving student aid programs, and now will you do the same?

Happening today, and not happening

At 11:30, the statistics and actuarial science department presents a talk by Rafal Kustra of the University of Toronto, on "Functional Brain Imaging". Location: Math and Computer room 5158.

The UW Bowl Game starts at 12 noon in the Student Life Centre. It's a Jeopardy-style contest matching SLC turnkeys with those know-it-alls, the Federation of Students executive. "Spend your lunch hour viewing the first UW Bowl," says an invitation from Nancy O'Neil of the SLC office. "We're hoping this is going to be an annual event."

Noon-hour "Chew on This" events continue for the benefit of employer representatives who are at UW for co-op job interviews. Today's speaker is Ed Sudicky of earth sciences, talking about "The Role of Computing in Environmental Earth Sciences". Thursday, the series winds up with John Michela of psychology, on "Quality Practices in Canadian Business".

Student Matthew Dick will talk about "The Multilateral Agreement on Investment: NAFTA on Steroids", at 12:15 in Conrad Grebel College's "blue room". The talk is sponsored by peace and conflict studies.

Tomorrow morning, graphic services outlets will be opening late because of meetings. The copy centres will be closed from 8 to 8:45 a.m.; the graphic design office, from 8:30 to 10:30. Urgent requests: call ext. 3452 for help.

The financial planning seminar scheduled for Thursday, sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, has been cancelled. Johann Reis of health services sends word that the speaker cracked several ribs in a recent skiing accident and isn't going anywhere for a while; he's hoping to reschedule.

Arts students hear about jobs

In its third year, Transitions is "a job search strategies conference", sponsored by the Arts Alumni Group and the Arts Student Union. This day-long event is designed to prepare arts students for the transition from university to career, says Woods, and to equip them with specific job search strategies. "Finding that first job after graduation requires perseverance and a positive attitude. Arts alumni who have met the challenge of finding that first job will share their personal experiences and advice."

While the conference is of immediate interest to graduating students, all students can benefit, she says. In fact, most experts agree that in order to maximize success, the job search process should begin in first year.

Along with practical advice, the conference will include a panel of alumni sharing their experiences in finding their first job, in fields that include counselling services, financial services, marketing and communications, and the food industry.

Registration for the day is $20. Information: cwoods@watarts.

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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