Daily Bulletin

Susan Parsons, the new general books buyer in UW's bookstore, is introduced briefly in today's Gazette. Guess what hugely popular book Parsons isn't selling this week? That's right, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is not available at the UW bookstore. "The publisher lost our order," Parsons laments, "and we won't have any for several weeks," until books from the third printing are shipped. She figures the young wizard will still be a hot seller for the Christmas rush.

Student Life 101 set for August 14 -- by Barbara Hallett

Designed to ease the transition to university by providing information on both academic and student services for new students, Student Life 101 offers a day-long series of events for some 4,000 students and their families.

As part of the program this year, a new session is being added for students who will be looking for housing in the community. According to first year student life coordinator Melanie Hazelton, "So, you're living off campus?" will be offered twice at Student Life 101 to "ease the blow for students who are apprehensive about living off campus, and for their parents who are concerned about issues such as safety."

The university has set a target enrolment of 4,100 first-year students in September. There are 2,869 spaces in residence available for first-year students.

Information about living off campus will be presented in "a fun, interactive way," Hazelton adds, with a game "Who Wants to be an Off-Campus Student?" modeled on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Off-campus dons will attend the sessions -- at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. -- to answer any questions. The dons will also run events during orientation week to help newcomers meet other first-year students living off campus, and will plan activities for off-campus students throughout the fall term.

As well, says Hazelton, "First-year students living off campus are matched with an upper-year student who lives nearby. These upper-year students serve as friendly, approachable resources who give lots of information and support during (the) first crucial months at university.

"Students living off campus tend to feel more isolated. We want them to feel connected and let them know what supports are available."

A full slate of Student Life 101 activities includes opportunities to meet other first-year students, upper-year students, faculty and staff, as well as the presidents of the Federation of Students and the university. There will be a giant barbecue, tours of the campus and introductions to co-op, health services, counselling services, and adaptive technology. Students can also avoid the September crunch by getting their WatCard and parking pass, and buying books in advance.

Student Life 101 is "designed by students for students," and some 50 student volunteers -- decked out in the traditional yellow T-shirts -- will meet visitors.

While Hazelton is now a veteran of Student Life 101, having worked with the program since 1997, her enthusiasm has not waned. "I love the actual day," she says. "The first-year students are so excited to be here; it's very energizing."

Happening today The blood donor clinic continues at the Student Life Centre, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Friday. The Wellness Centre will offer a display today in the SLC great hall -- sorry, I don't have details. The teaching resources and continuing education office offers a workshop today under the title "The Juggling Act: Balancing Roles". It runs from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in Math and Computer room 5158, with four faculty members (Hugh Chipman of statistics and actuarial science, Geoff Hayes of history, Richard Hornsey of electrical and computer engineering, and Jennifer Stolz of psychology) talking about the balance among research, teaching and personal life.

Architect named for co-op building

Parent said the job is going to MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, subject to approval by the university board of governors when it meets in October. The Toronto-based firm was chosen by the President's Advisory Committee on Design and recommended to the president of UW.

Says Parent: "In the interim the architects will be working on siting and schematic design. This will be presented to PACOD and the Building and Properties Committee for review and included in the recommendation to the Board of Governors at the October meeting."

It was announced in February that a co-op building would be put up with the help of government SuperBuild funding. A building for co-op and career services would give the department a new home after 28 years on the increasingly crowded first floor of Needles Hall. The new building is expected to provide about 43,000 square feet of space -- about as much as in the present Engineering Lecture Hall. Its price is about $8.7 million.

Dennis Huber, associate provost (general services and finance), said then that details were still being worked out, but a possible site is somewhere between the Dana Porter Library, the Physics building and the Graduate House.

Says Parent's announcement: "MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects have done a number of interesting projects in Ontario, the United States of America and Europe. Locally, they designed the Grand River Recreation Centre and Lyle S. Hallman Pool, in Kitchener. A few of their projects in Ontario are: the Ottawa Public Library and Community Centre, Ottawa; Victoria Village Community and Cultural Centre, North York; and Renovations to Innis College, University of Toronto, Toronto. The firm has also worked on a number of planning studies."

More than $1 million for two faculty

The CFI money comes under the "New Opportunities" program to support research by young faculty. It's matched in each case by money from the Ontario Innovation Trust.

One project is led by Brendan Frey of the computer science department, with co-applicants Dale Schuurmans, Michael Godfrey, Changbao Wu, Michele Mosca, David Toman, and Ken Seng Tan. They're receiving $302,700 from CFI, plus $302,700 from the OIT, Barker said.

Title of their project is "Computing Infrastructure: A Collaborative Environment for Algorithm Development, Simulation and Historical Data Warehousing". The project is also receiving in-kind contributions of $14,721 from Sun Microsystems and $136,629 from Dell Computer Systems.

The other project is led by Mathilakath Vijayan of the biology department, who has received $163,861 from CFI, plus $163,861 from the OIT.

Title of that project is "A State-of-the-art Facility for the Development of Biomarkers for Stress Detection in Aquatic Animals, and for Environmental Monitoring". The balance of the award consists of a cash contribution from UW itself of $48,600, and in-kind contributions of $33,504 from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Canada) Ltd. and $7,525 from Beckman Coulter Canada, Barker said.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Yesterday's Bulletin
Copyright © 2000 University of Waterloo