Daily Bulletin

The ivy is in full display, turning the abstract sculpture of the Engineering Lecture Hall into a canvas for autumn's colours. Photo by Barbara Elve.

No budget cut this year, provost says

In a memo addressed to the UW board of governors -- to be discussed by the board's executive committee when it meets this afternoon -- provost Jim Kalbfleisch says expenses have gone up by $2.7 million since the budget was approved last spring. That includes money for salary increases beyond what was budgeted, extra money for scholarships and student aid, and a big boost in the price of natural gas.

UW's total spending in the current year is now estimated at $201.8 million.

The budget already included plans for a deficit, and "without a significant improvement in income, mid-year budget cuts would have been required," the provost's memo says.

"Since May, estimated operating income has increased by $4,254,000. The largest component of this is $2,900,000 in domestic tuition income due primarily to higher first-year acceptances. Also, international tuition income is about $900,000 higher than predicted. . . .

"The estimated operating deficit has been reduced to $525,000 or 0.25% of total income. There are still areas of uncertainty, such as Winter 2000 enrolments. However, it appears that no general budget cut will be needed this year.

"The accumulated operating fund debt reached a high of about $19 million in 1996 following the 15% grant reduction and large early retirement program. It had been reduced to $2.964 million by April 1999, and a payment of this amount is included in the 1999-2000 budget. With no further changes, the accumulated debt at the end of this year will be about $0.5 million. Of course, as the year progresses, we will attempt to reduce this further.

"In 2000-2001, funding no longer required to repay the accumulated debt will be available for the anticipated increase in pension contributions from 25% to 50% of the normal level."

Today's meeting of the board executive committee starts at 2:30 in Needles Hall room 3004. Chiefly the meeting is held to set the agenda for the next meeting of the full board of governors (October 25). Agenda items, besides the budget update, include the "preliminary design" for a planned new residence, between Village I and Ron Eydt Village, with a budget of $14.5 million.

Waterloo rocks this week -- by Barbara Elve

As part of the Celebration of Earth Sciences Week, October 10 through 16, the UW Earth Sciences Museum at will conduct walking tours of uptown Waterloo leaving from the Bauer parking lot across from the Waterloo Recreation Centre off Father Bauer Drive.

Earth sciences curator Peter Russell, with the assistance of Bill McIntyre, will guide the two-hour walks. Tours will be limited to 20 people per group. The tours will be offered today and Wednesday, at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., rain or shine. To book a place on the walk call ext 2469.

Earth Sciences Week is a North American initiative promoted by the American Geological Institute and Canadian Geoscience Council in association with other organizations.

Midnight Sun heads for Australia

Fresh from North America's top solar competition -- Sunrayce 99 -- the UW team has shipped out its vehicle to Darwin, on the north coast of Australia, where the 3,010 km-race begins. Midnight Sun V, which is powered solely by electricity from solar panels, finished in 10th place in the Sunrayce last summer.

The World Solar Challenge, stretching from Darwin in Australia's north to Adelaide in the south, has been held every three years since 1987. Competitors include family teams, multinational corporations as well as high schools and universities. The gruelling race passes through several distinct climates that present difficult conditions for the solar cars: Tropical Darwin, outback desert and Mediterranean Adelaide.

"We will be a strong and successful competitor in the challenge," said Connie Kwan, business manager for the Midnight Sun V and a computer engineering student. "Besides competing in the race, one of our main aims is to educate the public about the possibilities of solar power."

The goal of the UW Midnight Sun V solar car project is to design and build a high-efficiency electric race car capable of travelling on regular roads. The car has been built for speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour and has been tested at 100 km/h.

"Significant student involvement from all departments of the faculty of engineering, as well as other departments across campus, compose the race and design team," Kwan said. The team's total budget is about $325,000. Student organizers have received donations both from private and public sponsors, including local companies and numerous UW departments and faculties, particularly the faculty of engineering.

A briefing about health research

The institutes -- "ten to fifteen" in specific fields of research, according to the CIHR web site -- are roughly modelled on the National Institutes of Health in the United States. They are to take over from the MRC and other federal agencies next year, and will, if the government keeps its promises, have more money to spend than the MRC's present budget. Each news release about an MRC grant these days begins with the statement that MRC is "building health research capacity towards the creation of the CIHR".

"By the year 2001," the releases keep saying, "CIHR funding for health research in Canada will have reached $484 million, doubling the 1997-98 federal commitment to health sciences research."

"Research is at the core of better health and the federal government recognized it as a sound investment," Friesen said earlier this year. "It is a solid first step in the transformation of the MRC into the CIHR. The CIHR will build on a strong base in our universities, health centres, governments and, voluntary and private sectors by linking researchers from different disciplines in new and more productive ways to focus on health issues that matter most to Canadians."

The listed objectives for the new Institutes:

• promote the creation and translation of new knowledge into better health, health care and economic development;
• forge an integrated health research agenda across disciplines, sectors and regions;
• create a robust research environment that would keep our best and brightest scientists in Canada;
• anticipate emerging health threats and accelerate discoveries.

UW, although it lacks a medical school, receives some MRC grants, for work in such fields as optometry, kinesiology, health studies and clinical psychology, and will be looking for increased support under the new Institute system.

Notes to begin a short week

Leaders of the Council of Ontario Universities held a news conference Friday morning in Toronto to talk about growth. COU had already warned that a 40 per cent increase in the number of Ontario high school graduates can be expected within a decade. Friday, university presidents reported that "a dramatic first-year enrolment increase of 6.6% has occurred" this fall, the highest year-to-year increase in a decade. "These enrolment increases confirm a strong demand for university education in the knowledge-based economy," said Paul Davenport, chair of COU and president of the University of Western Ontario. "This is the first wave of an overall surge in demand that could result in an increase in enrolments of close to 90,000 over the next decade."

The football Warriors lost to Western 20-17 on Saturday afternoon, in a game marked by dramatic plays -- including a Mustang interception of a Ryan Wilkinson pass late in the fourth quarter that could have brought a Warrior victory instead of a defeat. The team is now 3-2 on the season.

The computer science department will hold a seminar on undergraduate research at 5:30 tonight in Math and Computer room 4041, for students interested in "getting involved in research activities" in the department or going on to do graduate research.

Oktoberfest is in progress around Kitchener-Waterloo, and Village residents needn't feel left out even if they never leave home. It's Festhall Night tonight at Mudie's eatery in Village I.

The career development seminar series continues, with "Create Your Own Future: The Enterprising Edge" today at 3:30 and "Successfully Negotiating Job Offers" Thursday at 10:30, both in Needles Hall room 1020. The career resource centre on the first floor of NH has more information.

Happening later this week:

• An opening reception Thursday at 5 p.m. for Virgil Burnett, retired fine arts professor, whose "Sculpture and Painting 1995-1999" is being shown in the fine arts studio gallery, East Campus Hall.
• Mozart's "The Magic Flute", produced by Second Company (the same crowd who did that stunning "Sweeney Todd" during the summer), Friday and Saturday in the Humanities Theatre.
• "The Spirituality of Simple Living", a talk by Philip D. Shano of the Guelph Centre of Spirituality, Friday evening at St. Jerome's University.
• A reception and dinner Friday evening at the University Club to honour Mike Yovanovich, retiring from the department of mechanical engineering.

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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