Daily Bulletin

Board sees residence proposal

The residence -- to be built on the present parking lot F, between Village I and Ron Eydt Village, as seen on the map at right -- was given approval in principle at the board's last meeting, on May 31. Information presented to the board today gives a summary of the plan:

"A layout for the building had been developed by the University Architect and Housing personnel to reflect the preferred format as indicated by various surveys and analyses: a four bedroom suite that includes a living area, kitchen/eating space, two bathrooms and two storage closets. A group of 12 suites would provide living space for 48 residents who would be supervised by one Don. Twelve suites would constitute one wing. Total gross floor area would be 135K square feet including space for common/recreational areas, laundry facilities, mechanical rooms and electrical systems. The business case for the facility . . . employs funds from income realized from UW's other existing residence facilities."

The building and properties committee is reporting to the board that it advertised in several newspapers last spring, looking for companies that wanted to handle the project. "The President's Advisory Committee on Design met in July to review the responses of 30 architectural teams and subsequently selected six teams, representing a breadth of styles, to interview for the project. The Walter Fedy Partnership was selected by PACOD on the basis of Fedy's proven ability to meet schedules (September 2001 occupancy is critical) and their collaborative approach."

At this afternoon's meeting, the board will also be asked to approve a contract of $2,550,000 for renovations to the East Tower of the UW Apartment complex. In that tower, 120 one-bedroom apartments are to be replaced by 240 single rooms, with each pair of rooms sharing a kitchen and bathroom. The work is to be finished by September 2000.

In other business, the board of governors will see an update to UW's 1999-2000 budget, and look at the financial statement for 1998-99. A discussion of the progress report on UW's 1997 planning document, "Building on Accomplishment", is also on the agenda. In closed session, the board will discuss a "property matter" and some other items.

Company funds insurance chair

The contribution from Munich Reinsurance Company (Canadian Life Operations) of Toronto will be matched by an equal amount raised by UW, creating funding of $2.5 million for the initiative.

A celebration to launch the chair begins at 10:00 this morning at the Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Toronto. Among the guests at the event: Sharad Mehra, who this year became the 1,000th UW graduate in actuarial science and who is employed by Munich Re.

UW president David Johnston says in a news release that the university has made a major commitment and investment in actuarial science education and research. "Actuarial science is a fundamental pillar of the knowledge-based society. The Waterloo program is leading edge in research, teaching, service to industry and enhancement of the actuarial profession."

Actuarial science professor Robert Brown said Munich Re and its president, James Brierley, who is a graduate of the UW program, "have been strong supporters." The gift, Brown said, is a "recognition of the maturity and importance of our program to the profession and the industry."

The chairholder, who will be "someone internationally renowned in actuarial circles", will be named later. UW proposed the establishment of a Chair in Insurance as a means of retaining its leadership role and expanding its expertise, Brown said, adding that the chairholder will expand the university's ability to do basic and applied research in areas related to insurance. The person will be instrumental in attracting top-ranked graduate students who can then work as research assistants. As well, the chairholder will be available for the dissemination of applied research to a wide range of practitioners, as well as leading seminars and colloquia involving students at all levels.

Among the changes planned to UW's actuarial program are expanded course offerings including economics and corporate finance and asset and liability management, and a professional lecture series on actuarial issues.

UW graduates about 60 new actuaries each year, and gives more PhDs in actuarial science than any other institution in North America. The actuarial science faculty includes eight actuaries on full-time appointments, as well as several prominent adjunct professors and frequent part-time and short-time faculty appointments. Waterloo is also the home of the Institute of Insurance and Pension Research, funded by annual contributions from corporate sponsors.

Munich Reinsurance Company is described as "the largest reinsurance company in the world with more than $200 billion in assets. It operates in more than 160 countries, serviced by offices in more than 60 countries around the world." Munich Re and its Canadian subsidiary are the leading reinsurers in Canada both in life insurance and related services and in property and casualty insurance. subsidiary, Munich Reinsurance Company of Canada."

Engineering design competition

UW teams took "most of the top prizes" last winter, in such categories as entrepreneurial design, explanatory communication and team design, and Karray, who is advisor for UW participants in the Ontario and national contests, is hoping for similar success this year. The competition will be held at the University of Toronto in the last week of February. Says Karray:

The Ontario Engineering Competition is an annual event that draws university students from around the province. OEC promotes excellence, innovation and ingenuity in engineering design and communications.

First and second place winners in each category will be expected to represent the Ontario Engineering Competition at the national Canadian Engineering Competition,usually hosted within one or two weeks after the Ontario Engineering Competition.

The teams from the University of Waterloo have become in recent years the ones to beat, given their outstanding track record in this competition. This year alone, a record number of 28 students making up 12 teams from UW participated in the Competition, held in Windsor February 26-27. As in the previous years, the teams from UW captured most of the top prizes and went on to compete with success in the Canadian Engineering Competition.

To continue on this success, we urge students from all discipline in Engineering to participate in the events by submitting their entries. The Dean of Engineering will sponsor two official UW teams for each category, with (ideally) one team coming from each of the two streams. Even if you are not sponsored by the Dean, you can still enter OEC 2000 on your own.

The six categories in the OEC and CEC are Entrepreneurial Design of a marketable product not currently available; Corporate Design for a solution to a problem faced by a company; Editorial Communication of a viewpoint on the social impact of a current technological issue; Explanatory Communication of a complicated technical process; Parliamentary Debate; Team Design for building a prototype used to solve a complex design problem (only first/second year students qualify).

Applications to take part should be submitted to Karray by November 18. He can be reached at karray@watfor.

Other events and notes

The "Chew on This" series of lunchtime sessions for co-op employers continues, with Bruce Lumsden, director of co-operative education and career services, speaking at 12:15 in Needles Hall room 1020.

The Institute for Computer Research presents a talk at 1:30 p.m. (in Davis Centre room 1304) by John Hart of the University of Washington; he'll speak on "The Quest for Procedural Texturing and Shading in Graphics Hardware".

A team of UW debaters placed 12th among 41 entries at a weekend tournament at the Royal Military College in Kingston. Andrew Drummond and Jonathan Bida, along with another UW team consisting of Mark McKerlie and Michael LaCroix, were trying for the Leger Cup, representing the championship of central Canada. In the debating rounds, Drummond placed 5th as individual best speaker. In a separate competition, public speaking, Bida was ranked 6th.

Canadian Blood Services nurses and needles will be in the Student Life Centre again today (and Wednesday and Thursday) for the regular blood donor clinic. "Please consider giving the gift of life," an announcement pleads.

Steven J. Strong of Solar Design Associates in Massachusetts will speak this evening on "Solar Electric Architecture". His talk is sponsored by several departments -- mechanical engineering, architecture, environment and resource studies, electrical and computer engineering -- and starts at 7:00 in Arts Lecture room 113. "Buildings must be environmentally responsible," Strong writes. "Buildings of the 21st century will rely on renewable resources to produce some or all of their own energy," and he'll concentrate on one example, photovoltaics -- in effect, the same technology that propelled UW's Midnight Sun V solar car across Australia over the past week. "This seminar," Strong promises, "will present a world overview of building-integrated PV activity, including a description of component and systems development from the US, Europe and Japan."

Training about the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System is available tomorrow, in the form of a one-hour video and brief quiz. Things start at 10 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1304. Says the official memo from the UW safety office: "All university employees, volunteers, part-time employees and graduate students who have not previously attended a University of Waterloo WHMIS sessions are required to attend." Alternate dates: November 2 at 2 p.m., November 9 at 10 a.m. Angelo Graham in the safety office (phone ext. 6359) can provide more information.

"War and Peace in the Global Village" is the title for this term's Stanley Knowles Lecture in Canadian studies, to be given Thursday night by Mel Watkins, noted economist and founder of the "Waffle" movement in the New Democratic Party. Watkins will speak at 7:30 Thursday night in the Humanities Theatre.

Elaine Carpenter writes from UW's parking office: "You have probably noticed by now that we have lost the use of the staff entrance at parking lot H. We need to replace existing lines which have breaks in them due to age and hope to have this finished in the next two weeks. Until then we have programmed cards from the staff entrance to work at the visitors' entrance gate. The bollard gates within parking lot H are open to allow staff to make a right hand turn and enter the staff permit parking section of the parking lot. Hopefully the repairs will be completed quickly -- until then, the change in entrance is necessary."

"It's time," a note says, "for the Bike Centre's annual Hallowe'en Ride, on Sunday, October 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the north campus." Prizes have been arranged from such local businesses as Cyclepath, Princess Cinema, WordsWorth Books, and Blue Dog Bagels, not to mention the WatCard office, and the grand prize of an ecological knapsack plus a $25 gift certificate is courtesy of UW Retail Services. To qualify for a door prize, three laps must be completed of a 5-kilometre loop around Laurel Creek and Columbia Lake; for a chance to win the grand prize, seven laps must be completed. This is not a race, just a "ride", and participants have six hours to complete the seven laps. The event is open to all students, staff, and faculty, and the fee is $25. With that you get an event hat, a goodies bag, the post-ride meal, and a chance to win a prize. For more information, pick up a registration form at the Bike Centre (Student Life Centre room 101A, ext. 5174) or the turnkey desk.

Looking ahead a little further: the annual East Asian festival at Renison College will run November 2 through 6, with exhibitions, literary and cultural talks, a business seminar and a day of cultural celebrations and demonstrations. Watch for more information in the next few days.

Finally . . . I said in yesterday's Bulletin that of UW's pension fund, "some $115 million is in real return bonds, and the rest, just about half a million dollars, is in stocks and other investments." An unusually attentive reader sent e-mail to ask, "You meant to type 'about half a billion dollars', right?" Right.

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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