Daily Bulletin

UWinfo under new management

Said a memo from provost Jim Kalbfleisch and associate provost Jay Black:

UWinfo . . . has been the responsibility of an informal operations committee since 1993. In recent years, no staff or other resources have been assigned to UWinfo. . . . The web is increasingly important for both external and internal users in gaining access to information and services. It is time to provide resources and a more formal administrative structure for UWinfo, to add features not now available (such as a search engine), and to strive for a common look and feel in UW's web sites whenever possible. Work needs to begin now to redesign the home page and other central web pages. Accordingly, the following steps are being taken:

1. Operational responsibility for the overall management of UWinfo is being assigned to Information & Public Affairs (IPA). A three-person team (including Chris Redmond and Avvey Peters), with the assistance of a technical staff member from IST, will have day-to-day operational responsibility for UWinfo. Some one-time funding is being provided for equipment, design expertise, etc.

2. A small steering committee chaired by the Director of IPA (Martin van Nierop) will guide the evolution of UWinfo. The membership will include the Associate Provost for Information Systems & Technology (Jay Black), the Associate Provost for Academic & Student Affairs (Gary Waller), a Faculty Dean (Alan George), and a technical expert (Carol Vogt). The mandate of the steering committee is as follows: to guide a facelift of basic graphics, content and architecture of UWinfo and other central web pages; to develop guidelines for visual standards, user-interface standards, and other policies and procedures related to UWinfo as an information source and access mechanism to UW business systems; to assist in promoting and encouraging consistent and appropriate presentation of information and systems on UW web sites; to provide advice on the evolution and management of UWinfo, identify strategic directions and initiatives for it, and negotiate adherence to guidelines as they are articulated.

3. A technical advisory group is to be established in the Fall. It will consist of individuals from the Faculties and academic support departments who are responsible for operational support of the campus web. The group will operate informally to exchange information, to identify and resolve common technical concerns, to suggest strategic directions, and to provide a forum for identifying and encouraging consensus. The technical advisory group will be chaired by the Director of IPA and will report through him to the steering committee.

Work in parking lot C yesterday -- multiple photos by Barbara Hallett

Parking lot will get new trees

C lot, south of University Avenue and west of Seagram Drive, is the largest "student" (pay-per-day) parking lot on campus, and will have 809 spaces when it's redesigned and repaved, Carpenter says. The previous figure was 782. As of September 1, parking there will cost $2 a day, up from $1.50 for the past four years.

The lot was built three decades ago, and "I don't believe it's been resurfaced in any fashion since 1971," Carpenter said. That's a good life span for a parking lot, she says, and this year's work is intended to last for a similar period. She mentioned better pavement and improved drainage, as well as a redesign to move the entrance gate further inside the lot and reduce lineups on Seagram Drive and University Avenue at peak periods.

The general design of lot C will be like what was done four years ago at lot A, on the opposite side of Seagram Drive.

That brings us to the topic of trees. "We are adding trees to replace what we had to remove," Carpenter promises, although right now the old ones are gone and the new ones haven't arrived yet, which gives the site a bleak look.

Says Carpenter: "A lot of those trees were sickly, because of the snow being piled up on that berm. The salt had eroded them." Besides, they were firs, which grow low to the ground and provide "a great hiding spot", hence a threat to personal safety. The new trees to be planted along the border of C lot will be locusts, "at least two dozen" of them, which grow higher and provide a good view both for pedestrians and for the security cameras that will be installed.

Ground cover will also be planted along the boulevards at the edge of the parking lot, she said.

The total cost of parking lot construction this year, including the complete overhaul of C lot and some paving work at UW Place, will be "less than a million", Carpenter said. Like all maintenance of parking lots at UW, it will be paid for from parking revenue (last year $1.6 million), not from the general university budget. "I'll be paying for that for a couple of years," Carpenter said.

Other notes today It's payday today for faculty and most staff members, and today's cheques include retroactive pay representing the May 1 salary increases. (Well, people who work here haven't been receiving "cheques" for many years now, but you knew what I meant.) The University Club's "Taste of Canada" dinner and wine-tasting is scheduled for tonight. As this year's Shad Valley program at UW winds up, the Shads of yesteryear are organizing a pub get-together on Monday night -- 7:00 and onwards, at East Side Mario's just east of campus. "Send a quick note saying you're coming," suggests third-year computer science student Peter McCurdy, who was a Shad at Sherbrooke in 1997. "You can also let me know if you want to be informed of any future WatShadPubs." He can be reached at pcmccurdy@uwaterloo.ca.

Health research institutes named

Health minister Allan Rock and CIHR president Alan Bernstein announced the list after it was given approval by the CIHR board, which is taking over responsibility for the work previously done by the Medical Research Council, and has been promised a sharp increase in the funds available.

A CIHR news release said the new organizations "will bring together, in a virtual way, researchers that are widely separated by geography and discipline, to focus on issues that affect the health of Canadians".

Here's the list of research institutes: Aboriginal People's Health; Circulatory and Respiratory Health; Cancer Research; Gender and Health; Genetics; Health Services and Policy Research; Healthy Aging; Human Development, Child and Youth Health; Infection and Immunity; Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction; Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis; Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes; and, Population and Public Health.

More from the news release:

"The concept of these virtual institutes is uniquely Canadian," stated Dr. Bernstein. "Scientific Directors will be guided by an advisory group of Canadians and international experts and supported by the best researchers wherever they conduct their work in Canada or abroad."

Consider diabetes, which affects tens of thousands of Canadians and their families, particularly within Canada's Aboriginal population. Its economic cost to Canada is estimated to be in excess of $25 billion a year. Working together, several Institutes could develop a broad, multidisciplinary research agenda to address diabetes.

Biomedical researchers would examine the molecular mechanisms of the disease, while clinical researchers would look at what treatments are most effective. Health services researchers would develop models for providing the best possible care to people with diabetes, while researchers into the health of populations would assess factors relative to diet, environment or socioeconomic status that may contribute to diabetes or its devastating complications. . . .

Recruitment of Scientific Directors and Institute Advisory Board members begins immediately. It is anticipated that the Governing Council of CIHR will approve these appointments and confirm institute operations in the coming months.

The selection of these 13 institutes was made by the current Governing Council following a broad consultative process with the voluntary sector, universities, hospitals, governments and the private sector, culminating in advice provided by the Interim Governing Council of CIHR.

CIHR's current budget is $365 million. It will grow to $475 million in 2001-2002, double the funding received from government in 1997-1998.

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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