Daily Bulletin

There may be snow on the roof . . .

Another strange phenomenon this morning, reported to me on good authority: "it looks like a Calvin Klein bivouac" outside the Student Life Centre. Something to do, I suspect, with Feds Week. The Federation of Students have all kinds of special events happening, including a free "all ages" barbecue at the Bombshelter pub at noontime today, with "live music and juggling".

But back to the "snow on the roof, fire in the furnace" metaphor. The UW retirees' association will hold its annual wine-and-cheese party this afternoon, from 3 to 6 at the University Club. Social events are an important part of the group's role, but not all by any means, says its new president, Lynn Watt.

The retirees' group at UW is unusual in representing both faculty and staff members, says Watt, who was a professor of electrical engineering and long-time dean of graduate studies. Most Canadian universities have separate groups for retired faculty and retired staff, he says.

"As the general population ages," Watt writes in the latest UWRA newsletter, "like most retirees in Canada UW retirees are 'bombarded' by a mass of information about finances, health, diet, travel, and lifestyle. UWRA's mission is not to duplicate this experience, nor to replace other information channels that provide details about campus events and problems.

"UWRA's task is to bring specific issues to the attention of the membership that are associated with the fact that the members are 'UW retirees'. UWRA will still offer opportunities for socializing to those retirees who want to avail themselves of these functions, but the more important role is now to represent the interests of all retirees to the University, and to inform the membership of issues that should be brought to their attention."

'Dead Man Walking' author speaks

Prejean's lecture is the sixteenth Annual Devlin Lecture and part of the 1998-99 St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience lecture series. The 7:30 lecture was originally scheduled, but she agreed to add a 2:30 talk because interest seemed so intense. More than 200 local high school students are expected to be attending the afternoon event.

Recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Sister Helen Prejean has become an internationally known opponent of capital punishment. Her book was on the New York Times best seller list for 31 weeks, reached the International best seller list, and has been translated into nine languages.

Prejean's involvement with residents in the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans in 1981 led her to prison ministry, where she counselled death row inmates in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. She has accompanied three men to the electric chair and witnessed their deaths. Since then, she has devoted her energies to lecturing, organizing, and writing about capital punishment. She also has befriended murder victims' families and helped found Survive, a victims' advocacy group in New Orleans.

She is now at work on a book about women's struggles for equality in the Roman Catholic Church. In June 1995 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which she uses to conduct her research.

The Annual Devlin Lecture began sixteen years ago from a special endowment left by Ken Devlin to cover the costs of an annual free lecture. The Devlin Lecture is offered as one lecture in the Centre for Catholic Experience series.

Accessibility centre open house

Librarian Jane Forgay with some of the accessibility centre's equipment.

Then at 4 p.m., students are invited to an open house at the offices of Services for Persons with Disabilities in Needles Hall room 2051, where there'll be a chance to meet the staff and other students, and find out about help provided by the office. Refreshments will be served.

Among the newer tools at the Accessibility Centre are a ZoomText Xtra magnification program and NaturallySpeaking Preferred voice recognition program on a Pentium II system, which aid students who prefer large print or need to give dictation. For students who learn best by listening, the Centre offers voice output programs such as ASAP for DOS and JAWS for Windows, MegaDots -- a Braille transcription program with voice output -- and Kurzweil 1000, which scans and downloads text, then reads it aloud.

A number of lower-tech devices continue to serve as useful adjuncts, says Jane Forgay, librarian at the Centre. Included in this category are the books on tape program, 4-track tape players, a Perkins brailler, as well as study tables with natural light and good task lighting.

Assistance to students with disabilities is also provided through the Research, Information and Transcription Team (RITT) by two students employed with the work study program. RITT team members will assist in fetching books, turning pages, reading aloud, and putting information into alternative formats.

Co-op postings for winter jobs

Interview season means resume season, and UW's graphics department is ready, says marketing manager Colette Nevin. "Course note production is in full swing" in the most prominent copy centre, Graphics Express in South Campus Hall, so she's suggesting that students who want to avoid lineups when they get their co-op documents copied should try one of the other centres. They're open in the Davis Centre, Engineering II, Math and Computer, the Dana Porter Library, Environmental Studies II, Humanities, and Village I. "Graphics has," she adds, "a comprehensive range of popular resume stocks that comply with co-op guidelines."

Despite word of layoffs at Nortel, considered Canada's biggest high-tech research company and a major source of co-op jobs, following its recent merger with California-based Bay Networks, UW co-op officials are confident that students will not be affected.

Co-op and career services director Bruce Lumsden says he has received no information from Nortel to indicate any changes in its longstanding relationship with the university. After discussing the situation with field coordinators, Lumsden expects the layoffs will not affect co-op students directly.

"While the announcement's quite vague," he admits, "they're very committed to co-op. They hire over 250 students a year -- that's a strong commitment, so I don't see that really changing."

Although Lumsden notes that emphasis at the corporation will be shifting from voice communication to data transmission, he believes "there's still lots of work to be done at Nortel."

Much more on a busy Wednesday

Charity run events continue at St. Jerome's University; today's highlight is a pool tournament at The Cove (actually that's in the Student Life Centre, not at St. Jerome's) from 6 p.m. to midnight.

The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group presents a session tonight on trans-national corporations and "their stranglehold over our lives". Star of the show: Tony Clarke, author of The Silent Coup: Confronting Big Business Take-over of Canada. The evening includes a showing of the new film "Beyond McWorld: Challenging Corporate Rule". Things start at 6:00 in the multi-purpose room of the Student Life Centre.

Native students and other interested folks are invited to an "information session and social" tomorrow, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1301. "Speakers from the university and Native communities will discuss services and issues of interest to Native students."

Also tomorrow, food services sponsors a coffee break as a fund-raiser for research efforts of the Alzheimer Society. "Information pertaining to this disease as well as donation boxes will be made available at each of our locations" tomorrow, says Joanne Buchholzer, marketing manager in food services.

The winner of this month's draw in the Dollars for Scholars raffle was Sue Fleischaker, a receptionist in the distance and continuing education office. She wasn't on campus to get her prize immediately, raffle organizer Meredith McGinnis advises me: she "is currently on a leave of absence in Santiago, Chile, where her husband is on an exchange program". (The forecast high in Santiago today is 20 Celsius.) By the way, a whole new Dollars for Scholars raffle is about to start; watch for information and ticket sales very shortly.

The kick-off session to organize registration and coaching for the Putnam mathematics competition will be on Monday, September 28, at 7 p.m. in Math and Computer room 5158, says a note from the coach of UW's team in the big annual contest, Christopher Small. To write the Putnam, you can register with Chris Donovan in Math and Computer 5107 or at the kick-off session. For more information, get in touch with Small, a faculty member in the statistics and actuarial science department: e-mail cgsmall@uwaterloo.ca or phone ext. 5541.

And finally . . . oh, I made the same mistake in yesterday's Bulletin that I've made maybe ten times before, referring to the proud faculty of applied health sciences as "applied health studies". As usual, I apologize.

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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