Daily Bulletin

St. Jerome's chancellor takes third term

"Chancellor Sweeney has been a fabulous ambassador for St. Jerome's University," says board chair Brian Eby. "He has continuously gone far above and beyond the call of his office. He has spoken well at numerous events and on many occasions, advancing the interests of St. Jerome's University and thrusting it into the limelight of the higher education scene."

Sweeney began his career as a teacher and principal in Toronto and later became the first director of education for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. He represented the riding of Kitchener-Wilmot in the Ontario legislature beginning in 1975, and in 1980 entered the provincial Liberal cabinet, subsequently leading the ministries of community and social services, municipal affairs, and housing.

After retiring from the legislature in 1990 and becoming chancellor of St. Jerome's in 1991, he chaired the Waterloo Regional Government Review and the Ontario School Board Restructuring Task Force. Now, besides acting as chancellor, he serves on the board of St. Mary's Hospital and works with a group concerned with housing for the homeless in Toronto.

Among the challenges he sees ahead, an important one is battling the public perception of the humanities as less valuable to society than the sciences or engineering. Tight funding presents another challenge hinging on the first. "I don't think there's enough money for the universities to do a good job of educating. It's a problem for all public institutions, but if the public doesn't think the institution is worthwhile, the issue won't get the attention of the political people."

Sweeney believes universities should be speaking up for human values more than they do. "The global economy was supposed to make life better for everyone, but instead it's left many people in its wake: the homeless, the poor, the unemployed. An institution like a university can stand up and say this is wrong: that profit is not the whole answer, and that the profit motive is destroying us. We have people with the knowledge, the expertise, the intellect to try and find a better way."

St. Jerome's distinguished grad named

The award will be presented at the 1998-99 Catholic School Board Lecture on March 19. Monika Hellwig will deliver the lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University, at UW. The evening will include the award presentation, the lecture, a break, and a question period. Admission is free and all are welcome.

St. Jerome's University Graduates' Association began awarding the Father Norm Choate distinguished graduate award in 1986 to recognize St. Jerome's grads who have made outstanding contributions to their church, community, or field of endeavour. Previous recipients include Chris Gadula, Mark Curtis, Paul Tratnyek, Margaret and Terry Downey, Gail Young, and Joe and Stephanie Mancini.

Fate of gold sticker in question

"This sticker was originally developed so that a reliable visual check of a student's registration status could be done before a service was provided," notes registrar Ken Lavigne. "This sticker includes the term and year of registration; for example, Winter 1999 appears as W99."

However, times have changed and electronic functions may make the gold sticker obsolete. "The use of various on line functions available through the WATCARD office and others suggests that this validation sticker may no longer be needed," says Lavigne. "Before any decision is made, we need to know which organizations on campus still rely on the viewing of the ID card and validation sticker before a service is provided."

Any department or organization that relies on use of the sticker is asked to contact Lavigne by Friday, February 26, indicating what activity or service is involved. He can be reached at klavigne@nh1adm or at ext. 2263.

Chew on This and more...

Winners of this month's Dollars for Scholars draw are Frank and Eva Psota of Sault Ste Marie, parents of first year science student, Erin Psota. If you didn't win $1,000 in February, take heart, there are nine more chances for your ticket to be drawn this year. And proceeds go to a good cause: UW scholarship funds.

Today's Chew on This lunch presentations offers a serving of architecture for employers on campus conducting student interviews. "Dwelling as an Art Form at the Millennium" is the subject of a talk today from noon to 1 p.m. by UW architecture professor Marie-Paule Macdonald.

Starting at 1:30 p.m. today, human resources staff will be taking part in a training program, leaving the office "minimally staffed" for the remainder of the afternoon. Staff will be available again on Friday morning, says pension and benefits director David Dietrich, who asks for patience in the interim.

McNeil Consumer Products will be on hand today for an employer information session from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Flamingo Room at South Campus Hall. Graduating and co-op math students are welcome.

Ross Fair, who earned his BA and MA in history at UW, will speak tonight at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Schneider Haus on "Model Farmers, Dubious Citizens: Pennsylvania Germans in Upper Canada, 1783-1850". Seating for the Annual Fellows Lecture is limited, and can be reserved by phoning 742-7752. Fair was the 1998 Edna Staebler Research Fellow at the museum.

The Hildegard Marsden Co-operative Day Nursery still has a few spaces left in its extended PD day program on Friday, March 26, and Easter Monday program on April 5. The programs run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the nursery gymnasium for children two and a half to six years of age. Registration is limited to eight children, and the cost is $27.50 per day. For more information, contact the nursery at ext. 5437.

Provisioning the campus for the next-generation Internet is the subject of an information systems and technology (IST) open house tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1302. "This presentation will describe the technologies that comprise the current and intended campus network and its underlying transmission systems."

And this just in from Martin Timmerman: The Waterloo Warriors men's basketball team won their fourth consecutive game with a 71-58 victory over the visiting Windsor Lancers on Wednesday night. Waterloo used a balanced offensive attack, led by Mike Stroeder's 16 points and Mano Watsa's 13 points plus a stifling defense to give them the victory. Waterloo's victory was the 20th of the season and improves their record to 6-5 in OUA West league play, tied for fourth place.

Barbara Elve
bmelve@uwaterloo.ca

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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