Daily Bulletin

Graduate enrolment shows growth

Here's how things look: the number of full-time undergraduates is up (not down), the number of part-time undergraduates is down (not up), and the number of graduate students is up, up, up.

Statistics provided by the registrar's office on Wednesday had some mistakes in them, associate registrar Gwen Sharp advised yesterday. (It was good to learn that Sharp, who suffered serious injuries in a car crash in Guelph almost a year ago, is now back to work part-time and catching up on a year of changes.) She said there are 12,936 full-time undergrads in the fall 1998 term, which represents a 0.4 per cent increase from last year's figure of 12,887. And there are 3,317 part-time undergrads, which is a drop of 5.0 per cent from last year's 3,492.

Meanwhile, graduate enrolment figures are up in both categories, says Lynn Judge, director of graduate studies services. Full-time graduate enrolment showed a 3.0 per cent increase, from 1,520 last year to 1,566 this year. Part-time graduate enrolment is up 18.8 per cent, from 218 to 259.

The increase in graduate enrolment and full-time undergraduate enrolment almost, but not quite, cancels out the drop in the number of part-time undergraduates, so that total enrolment at UW is down from 18,117 last year to 18,078 this year -- a drop of 0.2 per cent. The figures don't include co-op students who are away on work terms.

Homecoming brings basketball tournament

The Warriors are hosting teams from Brock University, University of Guelph, University of New Brunswick, Sheridan, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Winnipeg and St. Francis Xavier of Nova Scotia.

Games will be played in the Physical Activities Complex main gym at 12:00, 2:00, 5:00 and 7:00 today and tomorrow, and 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Sunday. The Warriors will be in tonight's game (vs. Winnipeg) and tomorrow's 7 p.m. game (vs. Laurier or New Brunswick); when they play on Sunday depends on the scores Saturday.

UW students get in free; tickets for others are $7 (kids and students $4) for each two-game session, or there's a tournament pass for $20 (kids and students $15).

. . . and cross-country, and social events

. . . and the big red dog Steve Brown in the bookstore sends word of something else special: "Clifford the Big Red Dog has been a staple character in children's books for a couple of generations now. The books roughly appeal to the 4-8 year old crowd, and the author Norman Birdwell has made them even more appealing by illustrating them with hilarious drawings. . . . "This Saturday, the Kids Club of the University of Waterloo Bookstore is hosting a party for Clifford, who is going to show up for the fun. This marks the culmination of Children's Book Week in Canada (which the Bookstore is celebrating by having a 15% off sale on all kids' titles). The party will start at 2 p.m. and last about an hour. Any kids planning on coming to the event should call Olga at ext. 3914 so that we have some idea of the numbers."

§ The national cross-country championships, Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. Distance runners from across the country will compete on a scenic course around Columbia Lake at UW's North Campus. It's been a pretty good year for the cross-country Warriors so far; at the Ontario championships two weeks ago, the UW men's team, led by Alastair Lawrence, placed 5th, and the women were 7th, paced by Lynn Coon. The forecast is for a coolish day -- great for running if those showers hold off.

§ The Corel Applied Health Sciences Homecoming Fun Run of five kilometres around the UW ring road. Registration is at 9:30. The ring road will be closed to clockwise traffic until about 11:30 a.m.

§ A Community Skating Party from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Columbia Icefield.

§ The "Return of the Big Tent" at Federation Hall with the Friday night "Swing Homecoming", and Riverworks performing on Saturday night.

§ Warrior alumni competitions in basketball, hockey and swimming.

§ Special events at St. Jerome's University: a Friday night skating party at Rink in the Park, a Saturday wine and cheese event and Saturday 5 p.m. Mass.

The number to call for more information about Homecoming is ext. 5310. Homecoming headquarters in the South Campus Hall concourse will be in operation today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Student programmers compete here

The three-member teams have a maximum of five hours to solve six or more computer programming questions. They're competing for three spots in the World finals, to be held April 8-11 at Technical University Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Last year, a UW team reached the finals, held Atlanta, and placed third (and first in North America) in the contest. In 1994, a UW team won the world championship.

"Hosting the regional competition represents a challenge for us -- we expect 90 teams and nearly 400 people to attend," said Gordon Cormack, computer science professor and coach of the two UW teams in the event. "In addition to uniforms, food and accommodation, each team of three requires one computer work station, with enough elbow room to work together." The competition will pretty much take over the available labs on the third floor of the Math and Computer building tomorrow.

The UW competitors are all computer science students. On the A team they are Viet-Trung Luu, Ondrej Lhotak and David Kennedy (graduate student). Luu was a member of the team representing UW at the 1996-97 world finals (fifth place), while Kennedy was on the UW team at the 1997-98 world finals (third place). Lhotak has served as a reserve team member and was a 1996 finalist in the Canadian Computer Competition for high school students.

UW's B team will be formed of Graeme Kemkes, Donny Cheung and Jeff Shute. Kemkes represented Canada at the 1997 and 1998 International Informatics Olympiad (IOI) for high school students, while Cheung was on Canada's team at the 1996 IOI. Shute was a member of the UW team at the 1997-98 ACM East Central Regional Competition (third place).

Says Cormack: "Both teams are capable of qualifying for one of the three finals entries allocated to the East Central region. But we expect competition for those positions. McGill, who were in the Eastern region last year, defeated MIT to advance to the finals last year and placed 17th. Case Western Reserve and Dayton, who advanced to the finals last year, are returning."

And football, and food, and more

"The WaltonSteins", "a twisted tale about family secrets and lies", comes to the Humanities Theatre on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Described as "an almost entirely true one woman show created, co-written and performed by Frannie Sheridan", it depicts her parents' marriage following their Holocaust experience. Finding they faced prejudice in Canada, they converted to Catholicism, warning Sheridan and her siblings never to reveal that they were Jewish. Members of the family actually threatened legal action when they learned of Sheridan's plans to reveal their secret in her play. An expose of "racism and its toll on human life", the play was co-written and directed by Lynna Goldhar-Smith, with original music by Laurie Lesk. First performed in Ottawa in 1997, the play has traveled throughout North America, and a feature film is said to be in the works. The performance is sponsored by the Waterloo County Holocaust Education Committee in cooperation with the Jewish Student Associations at UW and Wilfrid Laurier University, with tickets -- $8 for students and seniors, $12 for others -- available from the Humanities box office.

Meanwhile, three events of some interest today:

• A "faculty and fellows forum" at 12:30 at Conrad Grebel College: "Photographs as a Source for the Historian -- The Case of MCC Kitchener, the Canadian Office". The speaker is Linda Huebert Hecht.
• The University Club offers "Meal with No Middle", from 5 to 8 p.m. -- "choose up to a total of five dishes in any combination", from such things as asparagus or shrimp chowder, grilled Tandoori chicken salad, lamb tenderloin and cilantro pesto, Indonesian pork satay, Oreo cheesecake, banana chocolate spring roll, . . . Reservations go to 888-4088.
• Anne Marie Donovan, instructor in UW's drama department, is also the artistic director for NuMus and a mezzo soprano who will be heard in the "Alphabaret" concert of 26 A-to-Z songs, tonight at 8 in the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery.

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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