Daily Bulletin

Admissions team ready for the Fair

Hummel, who is manager of undergraduate recruitment and publications in the registrar's office, says about 100 volunteers from her office, the six faculties, and other UW departments will be taking shifts at UW's booth in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend. Friday from noon to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 to 6 and Sunday from 10 to 5, they'll be saying hello to prospective students and their parents and answering questions about what UW has to offer.

"Last year," says Hummel, we handed out about 25,000 publications, and we are anticipating about the same this year." Interested students can fill out an address card and will be mailed a UW "viewbook", the key publication in getting potential students to take a close look at the place.

The Fair is a major part of UW's student recruitment activity, replacing visits to individual high schools in the Toronto area. To get top students from the big city, Waterloo is competing with some universities that are closer to home, including the University of Toronto, and faces a challenge in persuading them to venture west of highway 427. Hummel says the UW booth at the Fair will be 100 feet long this year -- up from last year's 80-foot presence "to incorporate important information like where Waterloo is! Kids in Toronto seem to think we are four hours away!"

The UW booth will be "a very strong presence" again this year, she promises: "all black with red and gold, great lighting, and our volunteers are all wearing black golf shirts." Last year's UW booth made a big impression, she adds, to the point that other universities have been asking what consultant designed it. The answer: it was all done by UW's own staff, and sorry, they're not available to help other institutions.

Search by keyword on UWinfo

Users can now "search for keyword" under the "Departments, groups, programs, topics" index that is the main way of getting from the home page to the information that's available on more than a quarter of a million web pages at Waterloo.

The "Departments . . . topics" index is an alphabetical list of major headings for web-based information at UW. For example, it includes each department ("History" or "Central Stores"), research groups ("Confocal Microscopy"), clubs and student projects ("Formula SAE Car", services that are frequently asked about ("Examinations"), and UW policies ("Moving Expenses"). You can use it to look up The New Quarterly or Payroll or Photonics Research Ontario or Salary Disclosure or the Psychology Clinic.

I'm the lucky person who gets to maintain that list on behalf of the UWinfo operations committee, and I want to thank Glenn Anderson of information systems and technology, who's done the work to transform the alphabetical index into a database. Using the button on the UWinfo home page -- or, if you prefer, a separate search page -- you can type in a keyword such as Shale or Simon or Software or Sociology and, let's hope, find a link to the web page that has what you're looking for.

The UWinfo home page also offers full-text searching of the UW webspace through AltaVistaCanada.

New curriculum in E&CE -- by Barbara Elve

The changes respond to pressure to introduce new courses in communications, devices, and computer software areas, explained Bill Wilson, undergraduate officer in E&CE, plus the need by the department to maintain its core program, and to do both with limited financial and human resources.

Students in electrical and computer programs both take their technical electives in the fourth year. "Certain fourth year courses increase and decrease in popularity. We had to decide where to allocate resources. Do we cut courses because they're not currently popular? We have a dynamically changing student population -- as well as the courses they want to take. We don't just want to focus on the trendy courses at the expense of others."

In weighing the demands with the resources, the department "made a conscious strategic decision to maintain a full and healthy electrical program, as well as a computer program. We won't just react to student demands, but will also be proactive in taking a long-term view," Wilson said.

The department has seen student interest shift drastically in the past. It was developed as an electrical engineering department, but the computer engineering stream was introduced some 12 years ago, said Wilson. "Originally, there were about twice as many students in electrical. That has flipped, with two-thirds to three-quarters in computer. Now the challenge is to retain a viable electrical program."

With enrolment in some important courses falling very low, the department has decided to make better use of its teaching resources by bringing students from separate co-op streams together on campus in their final spring term. Normally, students in the program are divided into separate groups, or streams, which alternate between work terms and on-campus study terms. Under the restructured system, all fourth year students will be on campus during the final spring term, on work terms the final fall term, and on campus again for the final winter term.

"The merging of the 4A streams in the spring term has many advantages in terms of improved fourth year program flexibility and management and in terms of some task savings, which allow the department to retain courses that may otherwise need to be dropped," Wilson noted in a report to the engineering faculty last spring.

"The shifting of the work term has no negative effect on co-op job placement, and in fact, it could be beneficial." Although co-op will have to find jobs for some 50 per cent more 4A students in the fall term, fewer positions will be needed in the spring term when jobs are often more difficult to find.

The changes will also allow for the introduction of a fourth year design project. As an "enhancement of program quality," a three-course sequence will include design concepts, the design project and a symposium for the formal presentation by design teams of their projects and posters. "We're excited about this," said Wilson, "and feel it will be an important addition to our program."

The response so far has been "quite positive", he added. An information session last spring provided information on the changes for students who will be affected. "There was some uncertainty and concern, but overall, enthusiasm."

Note from graphics about billing

So says Yvan Rodrigues, information systems manager for graphics, who reports "the successful implementation of a Printing Management System" in the department. He says: "The information system from Programmed Solutions, Inc. was purchased this year to bring the way Graphics manages its work into the electronic age."

Previously, he says, graphics used "pen, paper and filing cabinets" for its records. "The new system brings these databases online, and adds much functionality as well. Its modules include Estimating, Job Planning, Customer Invoicing, Job Costing, Scheduling, Purchasing, Inventory and Data Collection. Better able to serve its customers, Graphics is now able to estimate jobs with faster turnaround, track jobs-in-progress quickly and with ease, and better document how departments are being charged for services."

The system also produces invoices that are mailed to departments once a graphics job is completed. Says Rodrigues: "We have created the new invoices to better inform our customers of what they are being billed. Previously, only a copy of the requisition without pricing was returned to the customer, so departments sometimes found it difficult to determine how much they were spending."

He emphasizes that the new invoices aren't really requests for payment. "They are for informational purposes only."

The next few months, says Rodrigues, will be spent "settling into the system and the revised workflow". Linda Norton, director of graphics, adds a note: "We thank our customers for their patience as we all adjust to the new system. Graphics customers can look forward to features such as checking job status, requesting quotes, and reviewing their account history through a web site in the future."

Technical note: "The implementation of this system also introduced a few technical firsts to UW: The first use of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 as a Database Management System (DBMS) in a production environment, and the first use of Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition and Citrix Metaframe (known as thin-client/server technology) for the purpose of application distribution in a production environment. The latter allows an application to high-powered server (similar to mainframe-terminal topology) while the client computers view their application remotely. This allowed Graphics to use legacy hardware such as old 486-class computers to operate the new system at the speed of the latest servers, as well as making a windows application available to Macintosh and Unix computers."

What's happening at Waterloo

And at 4:00 in the Humanities Theatre, students who will be graduating next spring are invited to "a job information and feedback session" sponsored by the co-op education and career services department, either tomorrow or Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. "Session topics will include employment interviews for the fall term, employer information sessions, and Career Fair 1999." The same session will be offered tomorrow, same place, same hour. (Yes, this announcement looked pretty strange in yesterday's Bulletin, thanks to several repeated words. Sorry about that.)

The Survey Research Centre presents a seminar today by Steve Manske of UW's centre for behavioural research and program evaluation. He'll speak (at 2:30 in Matthews Hall room 3119) on "How to Set Up Surveys in Sawtooth Software".

The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group is running a lecture series this fall on "Waging Peace in the 21st Century", with the first talk scheduled for 7:30 tonight in Davis Centre room 1304. The speaker is Setsuko Thurlow, well known as the author of "Silent Flash of Light" and other writings about the atomic bombings of two Japanese cities 1945, and about peace, disarmament, multiculturalism and the women's movement. A retired social worker, she'll speak on "The Meaning of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Survivor's Perspective".

Among the current needs of the local Volunteer Action Centre is volunteers for two programs with Community Justice Initiatives -- one involving "a circle" to support women re-entering the community after serving federal prison sentences, one involving facilitators for sexual abuse survivor or offender support groups. "Volunteers for both programs receive excellent intensive training." More information: the VAC is at 742-8610.

UW's team placed 28th out of 115 teams at Saturday's Corporate Challenge event, says Nancy Heide in the community relations office. "We are very pleased with that score. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun interacting with people from other companies in the region."

. . . And finally, food services says there will be free fortune cookies today at Bon Appetit in the Davis Centre.

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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