Daily Bulletin

Students tour the clammy campus

Tie guard captains have pitched their tents this week in front of the Pink Tie on the west side of the Math Building -- not to guard the Tie, the symbol of pride for the math faculty, but to "protect the people who try to take the Tie away because they're stupid and might hurt themselves," says Marsha Cunningham, who's sharing watch duties with Ryan Jenkins. Since Tuesday the pair has maintained 24-hour surveillance, taking turns sleeping and conducting night-time checks of doors leading to the roof of the Math building. "Our traditional rivals are engineering students and Phillip Street Co-op residents," says Cunningham. Two years ago, security was breached by "someone who rappelled off the roof and got a couple of pins out. But they didn't get the Tie."

"Basically," says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services), "it's a physical introduction to all Frosh by their faculties to the PAC, either the Davis or Porter Library (depending on which faculty), Registrar's Office, Counselling, Career Services, Health Services and Disability Services.

"First year students often don't discover these services until well on in their first year. This tour will put a place and a warm and welcoming face to each area. The expected 2,500 to 3,000 students will move very quickly through the areas but there is no doubt there will be a crowd in Needles Hall on those two days. Some areas will be giving them a small memento of their visit. Health Services for example will be making power shakes and handing them to various students as they pass through. Disability Services has ear plugs for each student.

"This is part of the 'required programming' which PACO outlined last year. Each faculty must ensure that each Frosh is made aware of the Student services available to them and actually introduce them physically to their locations."

Also today: a "campus-wide sleep-in" this morning; social events in the afternoon and at dinner time, ranging from the environmental studies "day at Laurel Creek" to the engineering "Meet the Tool" excitement; and then this evening, Monte Carlo Night in the Student Life Centre. "Tonight will transport you back to Casablanca," organizers promise, adding the sartorial advice: "Dress to impress."

Today also brings two more performances of "Single and Sexy": at 3:00 and 4:30 in the Theatre of the Arts.

Tomorrow: more of the campus-wide tours, more social and charitable events, and the English Language Proficiency Exam.

For teaching assistants: In faculties and departments across campus, graduate students are being trained today for their role as teaching assistants. Training programs vary widely, from a two-hour session in the faculty of applied health sciences to a two-day event in engineering. A session in math, running from 9:30 to 2:30 today, includes student speakers, a skit, a session on sexual harassment issues, a "practice marking session", and pizza. Sociology got a head start on TA training with a session yesterday; history and geography will both wait until tomorrow.

What the fall term will bring

She says the goal on campus will be $140,000, which is a trifle more than the 1998 goal of $135,000. In fact, by the time the books were closed last December, UW givers had come up with $143,382, Lamont says, but she's determined to hit the $140,000 figure before the proper deadline date this year. The campaign will run October 1 through 15.

Across Kitchener-Waterloo, the United Way goal for 1999 is to be announced next week; Lamont says it'll be somewhat ahead of the $4,560,000 that was raised in 1998. The United Way supports some 80 programs offered by 50 member agencies, from the Canadian Mental Health Association to the Independent Living Centre, from Reaching Our Outdoor Friends to St. John Ambulance.

That's just one example of events and activities scheduled for the weeks just ahead. Here are some other major events that have come to my attention in the past few days:

• A reunion of engineering alumni from the classes of 1964 and 1969, Saturday, September 18.
• St. Jerome's University will hold the installation of its new president, Michael Higgins, in Siegfried Hall on the afternoon of Sunday, September 26. The ceremony is by invitation, but a St. Jerome's Day Mass, which follows at 7 p.m., is open to all.
• Jake Sivak, UW's new dean of graduate studies, will give the Clair Bobier Lecture in Vision this year at the UW school of optometry, of which he was director until last spring. He'll speak October 21 on "Developmental Strategies and Optical Limitations of the Eye: A Case for Evolution?"
• Economist Mel Watkins will be at UW October 28 to give this year's Stanley Knowles Lecture in Canadian studies. Topic: "War and Peace in the Global Village, A Canadian Perspective".
• A "Fall Saturday Tour" for high school students is expected to bring two or three thousand teenagers and their parents to campus on October 30. The event is "not an open house", says Tina Roberts, director of undergraduate admissions. Some departments will have booths in the Student Life Centre, and there will be one-hour presentations, but the emphasis is on two-hour campus tours leaving from the SLC.

Federal consultations on research

It also says "innovation" should be made explicit as the fourth mission of Canadian universities, along with the traditional three -- teaching, research and community service -- and it says ideas created at universities should be commercialized through the university and industry.

Says Gilles Cloutier, deputy chair of the ACST: "Canadian university researchers who perform leading-edge, innovative research and who wish to commercialize their inventions deserve access to the best commercialization support possible. We also must ensure that the jobs and economic growth resulting from these innovations are realized by Canadian taxpayers who fund the research."

But the Canadian Association of University Teachers sees it differently. The report is "shocking", said CAUT when it was issued last spring. "The recommendations would jeopardize socially valuable research that may not be profitable, while encouraging research that makes money for the private sector but may be trivial."

Ottawa announced last week that it "will consult with representatives from academic institutions, provincial governments and the private sector before developing a response to the work of the ACST's Expert Panel. Dr. Thomas A. Brzustowski, President of NSERC (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), will lead these consultations in September and October."

"What we want to find out is whether the Panel's recommendations will achieve the government's objectives," said Brzustowski, who was UW's vice-president (academic) from 1975 to 1987.

A background document, defending the report in its final form, says that "The Panel's report deals only with university research that is supported in any part by federal funds. The objective of the recommendations is to provide the greatest possible economic return to Canadian taxpayers on the investments they make in university research. This return takes the form of new economic activity when research results produce new high value-added goods and services. Commercialization of university research creates good jobs and social benefits, for example, through improvements in health care made possible by the application of medical research discoveries.

"The approach to the commercialization of university research in the report hinges on the choice made by university researchers who make discoveries, create inventions or develop new ideas. The report endorses researchers' rights to publish their results, or make them public in some other way. The report's recommendations only affect researchers who decide to protect their discoveries for potential commercial development. . . .

"In cases where researchers own [intellectual property] that they want to see commercialized, the report recommends disclosure and assignment to the university. Universities would be held accountable by governments for maximizing returns to Canada. . . .

"Universities must be able to provide the best possible service to researchers who engage in research-based innovation. The report recommends that new targeted money be provided to universities in an amount equivalent to 5% of their total federal research funding to help them provide that service and invest in the improvement and protection of IP. . . .

"The Panel heard that there was such a strong cultural bias against innovation in some university departments that potential innovators were afraid of putting their academic careers in jeopardy. It was for that reason that the Panel recommended that innovation be identified as the fourth mission of the university, or at least explicitly included in the traditional three missions of teaching, research and service, wherever it fits. . . .

"The report endorses a researcher's right to perform basic research and publish. Indeed the report recognizes these as legitimate activities that contribute to Canadians' economic and social well being."

In search of a dean of science

John Thompson's term as Dean of Science expires on June 30, 2001 and, accordingly, a Dean of Science Nominating Committee, as required by Policy 45, The Dean of a Faculty, is being constituted.

Nominations are requested for the following seats on the Nominating Committee (at least three nominators are required in each case):

• One faculty at-large member elected by and from the regular faculty of the Faculty of Science.
• One staff member elected by and from the regular staff of the Faculty of Science.

Nominations should be sent to the Chief Returning Officer, University Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 22. Elections will follow if necessary. Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat, extension 6125.

We want to encourage all staff and especially members from the Faculty of Science to consider this opportunity and submit their application. Preferably, the staff representative will come from Science. For additional information regarding the Dean of Science Search Committee, refer to Policy 45. For consideration, by September 23, 1999, please forward the following information to Charlene Schumm, Office of the Registrar, NH 2017 (or by email to cschumm@admmail.uwaterloo.ca): Name, department, extension, email address, years of service at UW, any relevant information, and indicate why you wish to represent Staff on this committee. The confidential information that you provide is a key factor in the final selection of the Staff representative by the Nominating Committee. Individuals interested in providing representation who are not currently members of the University of Waterloo Staff Association may join by contacting Barb Yantha (Ext. 3566 or staffasc@mc1adm).

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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