Daily Bulletin

Co-op's online plans collapse

Bruce Lumsden (left), director of CECS, called the announcement "a surprise move . . . a pretty sudden decision". Said Lumsden: "The company, owned by the Chicago Tribune conglomerate, gave the university no warning of the change in direction. It has told the university it has decided to follow new strategic directions not involving software development relating to co-operative education/student services."

The project has already been much delayed. An announcement in June said things might now get rolling after the Tribune takeover of Academic Software: "If all proceeds as well as is expected, the development should carry on through the fall 1999 term with a possible pilot run following the completion and testing of the modules." Now it's hard to know when students can hope to see interview schedules on-line and submit their applications and resumés electronically.

Dave Thomas of the co-op department was due to give a progress report on CECS.online to the Co-op Student Advisory Group on Wednesday afternoon. Instead, he and Lumsden arrived to break the news that the project was off. "There was initial shock," said Lumsden. But he added that the situation is "not a crisis", since the department does have a computer system that works, even if "it doesn't do all the things we want it to do."

Said Lumsden: "While this is a very disappointing, it does not deter the commitment of Co-operative Education and Career Services and the University of Waterloo from addressing the needs for a next generation of CECS computer support systems. The existing system, Access, will be maintained, will be improved wherever possible in the short term, and will be Y2K compliant.

"The CECS department and IST will begin immediately to develop a list of short term options -- the basis for a long-term strategy -- to meet the needs of the students, employers and the university."

Right now, the existing computer system is matching students (in most co-op programs) with jobs for the winter term. Ranking day was Tuesday, and results of the matching process will be posted Monday afternoon at 3:00.

Students in architecture follow a different schedule from other co-op students -- a schedule that's taking many of them to Toronto today for an interview blitz. "In the past," explains Olaf Naese of the co-op department, "a significant number of the Toronto employers asked students to travel to Metro to be interviewed. This caused a major problem for the students since their classes and study activities were severely disrupted over a number of days throughout the interview period. Since over 65 per cent of the architecture students receive work term employment in the Toronto area, it was important to come up with a solution acceptable to all participants.

"The answer was to formalize the Toronto interviews and schedule them all on one day. This way the school's faculty and students could plan around a specific date. A bus will leave early on Friday morning to deliver students to Toronto for the 8:30 a.m. interview start time. Rooms have been set aside at the Toronto Board of Trade in which interviews will be conducted."

Naese says 24 architectural firms will be interviewing more than 50 students in Toronto. Three CECS staff members will be going along for the day.

Homecoming weekend starts today

The highlight of Homecoming each year is the Naismith Classic basketball tournament. This year's 32nd annual Naismith brings three Canadian university teams, one college, and three American teams to compete with one another and UW's Warriors. Games start at noon today and continue through to the championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Physical Activities Complex. The Warriors are hosting teams from Aquinas College (Michigan), Brock University, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Point Park College (Pittsburgh), Sheridan College, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Windsor.

After the Warriors' evening game Saturday, a reunion and dance in the Festival Room of South Campus Hall will celebrate the 1974-75 edition of the Warriors, who won the national basketball championship. Tickets were for sale in advance at $6 a head.

Men's competition will pause on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. when the Warrior women's basketball team will play a league game against Brock. Other athletic events in the course of the weekend are the Warrior basketball alumni game (Saturday at 9:30 a.m.), a Warrior swim meet (starting at 11:00 Saturday in the PAC pool), and hockey against Windsor at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Columbia Icefield.

And then there's the Yates Cup football game for the OUA league championship. Officially a home game for Wilfrid Laurier University, it pits WLU's Golden Hawks against UW's Warriors, and will start at 3:00 Saturday at University Stadium. UW's athletics department has tickets (students $5, others $10) while they last.

But Homecoming is more than just sports. On an environmental note, Wade Davis, celebrated cultural anthropologist, will give a keynote speech tonight on "Extinction or Survival: The Global Crisis of Diversity." Davis is best known for his book The Serpent and the Rainbow, an investigation into the Voodoo culture of Haiti.

For families, there's a Community Skating Party from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Columbia Icefield, while the UW Kids Club will present readings and book signings by author Allen Morgan and illustrator Michael Martchenko, beginning at 2 p.m. in the bookstore.

A number of continuing education sessions were planned for alumni who are returning "home" to UW, on such topics as "Career Management Strategies for a Changing Workplace", storytelling and various software packages. They've all been cancelled for lack of registrations, Dave McDougall of the alumni affairs office said yesterday.

But for the fitness-minded, there's still an opportunity to join the Corel Applied Health Sciences Homecoming Fun Run of five kilometres around the ring road, starting at 9:30 a.m. The ring road will be partly closed on Saturday morning: vehicles can travel only counterclockwise, using the outside lane.

Students and the young at heart can hear Big Rude Jake, a musical mix of New Orleans sound, punk rock, rockabilly and jazz, on Friday night at the Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre. That's a change from the original venue, Federation Hall. Alumni "Extravaganza Night," featuring a retro music DJ, will be Saturday at Fed Hall. Tickets for both nights are available at the Federation of Students office in the SLC, or the alumni affairs office in South Campus Hall.

Homecoming, of course, also features alumni class reunions, including the math class of 1989 and a 30th anniversary reunion of independent studies alumni.

'Indiana Jones' will speak

Entitled "Extinction or Survival: The Global Crisis of Diversity," Davis's presentation is the keynote address for a three-day conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Global Community Centre of Waterloo Region. Alumni and others celebrating UW's Homecoming are also invited.

Sponsored by the environment and resource studies department and the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, "Biodiversity and Multinationals: Finding a Moral Solution" is a conference for "everyone who cares about people and the planet," said event coordinator Jennifer Hutson.

From Venezuela to explore the swamps of the Oronoko River with the Warao tribe to the Arctic to observe the narwhal migration with the Inuit, Davis has led an audacious life. With a remarkable talent of converting scientific data into enjoyable narrative, Davis's talk -- like his books -- will be "an alluring mix of travelogue, information, reflection and storytelling". Says Hutson: "His talk is certain to captivate both the scientifically minded and lay person."

A native of British Columbia, Davis is a scientific consultant for Warner Brothers, which is producing a film on the struggle of the Penan of North Borneo to preserve their forest homeland. He is described as "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all life's diversity." Davis has written extensively on topics ranging from Haitian voodoo to the global biodiversity crisis. His article "Vanishing Cultures" appeared in the August 1999 issue of National Geographic. In 1997, he was short-listed for the Governor General's Literary Awards (nonfiction) for his book One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest.

Compliments of WordsWorth Books, a book signing follows the presentation featuring Davis's latest book, Rainforest: Ancient Realm of the Pacific Northwest. The public is invited to meet and talk with the author after his talk.

Most of the Global Community Centre conference is being held in Davis Centre room 1350. Some highlights of the program:

Saturday and Sunday all day: an information fair. About 25 organizations committed to social and economic justice globally will provide information about world issues and related domestic topics, including a conference bookstore and Bridgehead shop.

Saturday, 9 a.m.: "Biodiversity and Multinationals: The Big Picture." 11 a.m.: "NAFTA, Mexico and the Corporate Tomato." 1 p.m.: "Canadian Biodiversity Issues." 3 p.m.: "Genetically Modified Organisms and the Public's Right to Know."

Saturday, 9:30 a.m.: "Fair Trade and Ethical Consumerism." 11 a.m.: "Roundtable in effective activism."

Other things are happening

Flu shots are available at health services this morning (from 9:00 to 1:00) -- it's the last flu shot clinic of the season.

The department of statistics and actuarial science presents a talk today by Robert Gentleman of the University of Auckland: "Computational Algorithms for Censored Data Problems Using Intersection Graphs". He'll speak at 3:30 in Math and Computer room 5136.

On Saturday, for the fourth time in seven years, Waterloo is hosting the East Central Regional competition in the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. 103 teams from Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana are registered to compete for three berths in the World Final Competition, to be held this spring in Orlando. Coach Gordon Cormack, of the computer science department, says Waterloo, as usual, is entering two teams: the "A Team" of Ondrej Lhotak, Donny Cheung, Jeff Shute, and the "B Team" of Nick Harvey, Chris Allen, Neil Girdhar. Says Cormack: "All are computer science undergraduate students. Waterloo is the reigning World Champion, won the World Championship in 1994, and place in the top ten in the World Final in each of the last seven years." The East Central contest starts at 10 a.m. Saturday. Standings can be seen live via the contest web page.

A discussion group on the cult-psych book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is scheduled for Sunday evening at St. Paul's United College. "This is not a St. Paul's workshop but a discussion group through the United Church chaplaincy program," says student chaplain Sandra McCarl. "All are welcome to attend." The session, which starts at 8 p.m. in Wesley Chapel at the college, includes a video by the book's author, John Gray.

Advance note: The winner of the 1999 Giller Prize, announced this month in Toronto, will read from her award-winning first novel at St. Jerome's University on Monday. Bonnie Burnard, whose novel A Good House captured the $25,000 award, will present a sample of her prose at 4 p.m. in the St. Jerome's Common Room. The reading, supported by the Canada Council, is free and open to all.

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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