Daily Bulletin

UW retirees will meet today

They include Don Brodie, dean of science 1982-1990, now representing retired faculty and staff in the Keystone Fund campaign; Bob Whitton, first editor of the Gazette and long-time media relations manager, now heading the communications committee for the association; Jay Howard, long-time mechanical engineering professor, the retiree representative on UW's pension and benefits committee; and Harold Ellenton, physics professor who started work at UW the day it opened for business, July 1, 1957, and retired in 1994, who is UWRA's treasurer.

And then there's Lynn Watt, who will finish four years as president of UWRA at today's meeting. Watt was, first of all, a professor of electrical engineering from 1966 to his retirement in 1990 -- but he also served as dean of graduate studies 1969-70, 1972-83, and 1987, and acting dean of research 1988-89. He chaired the committee that wrote the 1972 University of Waterloo Act, and served on countless other UW committees (and Ontario-wide councils too) over the years.

In 1996, he was made an Honorary Member of the University, with a citation pointing out that "Dr. Watt is nationally recognized for his contributions to public policy issues related to research funding, federal and provincial Centres of Excellence, graduate studies, and graduate planning and appraisal. His record of service at the university, provincial and national levels is exemplary." After retirement he continued to work on province-wide research issues.

As he finishes his years heading the retirees' association, he'll turn that role over to Muriel Shepherd, who's retired from the dean of arts office. (The past president of the association is Dave Copp, retired from the research office and the co-op and career services department.)

Today's meeting will include committee reports and the election of new executive members, but "not much business", to allow for plenty of social time, says the UWRA's membership chair, Esther Kipp, also retired from the dean of arts office.

At last count the association had 145 life members and 139 yearly members, its newsletter reports, and many are involved in activities that range from a bursary fund to a project collecting "oral history" interviews about UW's early years. At the meeting today, Shepherd and the co-chair of the oral history project, Steve Little (retired as UW's secondary school liaison officer), will report on it. The association also sponsors social events such as theatre trips; Kipp will be leading an outing to "Mom's the Word" at the Grand Theatre in London next Wednesday.

This afternoon's meeting starts at 1:30 in the west quad lounge of Ron Eydt Village.

Funeral is set The funeral service for Aileen Proudfoot, who died in an accident on UW's north campus on Friday night, will be held Friday in Montréal, her family has announced. A memorial service will likely be scheduled later in Waterloo. A memorial fund is being created to provide a student bursary at Beaconsfield High School, where she graduated last year. The funeral will be at St. Columba by the Lake Church, 11 Rodney, Pointe Claire, at 2 p.m. Friday. Sujeet Chaudhuri, the dean of engineering, and other UW representatives will attend.

Student builds an Access interface

Access is the venerable system that provides job information and interview schedules to co-op students. The co-op department and information systems and technology department are hoping to have an official web interface for it ready some time this summer, as the Bulletin reported yesterday. And presumably they'll guarantee that it's reliable, something the anonymous student isn't promising.

He (not she, the text makes pretty clear) says this on the home page of the site, which is housed on an off-campus web server:

WARNING! I make no guarantees to have all information, or the most accurate information. Use at your own risk. If you drop a resume in the wrong bin, it's not my fault, you should have checked first. . . . It might be a good idea to download the code, as I have just recieved word that this url has been posted to uw.cs. newsgroups, and if CECS gets wind, they might, oh, I don't know . . . make me shut the site down and sue my hairy, hairy ass.

Who is Shandy? "I don't really want to give out my name, if that's OK with you. I'm an undergrad CS student. I guess that's as much as I can say."

What does the E in Studio E mean? -- from the Gazette

But it could easily stand for e-mail -- how digital images from the studio can be delivered -- or effects, as in the special tweaking available with digital enhancement. Not to mention elated, which is how customers feel when they learn their portraits can be processed e-mmediately.

As the newest endeavour of UW's graphics department, Studio E -- located in the Pixel Pub on the ground floor of the SLC -- delivers high quality digital portraits, passport photos, images for PowerPoint presentations, and conventional film portraits. The new service will be put to the test during convocation in June, when it will offer drop-in portraits of grads, their families and friends.

Providing a studio "aimed at giving customers what they want" is the goal of the service, says Bowen, who can ensure that flexibility with digital technology. That means fast portraits which are cheaper, as well, because they require less time and fewer supplies to process. The results can be printed on photographic quality paper in a variety of formats from wallet size to 8 by 10 sheets. Or, if a client needs a portrait for publication, the image can be e-mailed anywhere.

"You see it, you like it, we send it," says Bowen.

Not only can students, faculty and staff bring their families to Studio E for portraits, a traveling digital service can be booked for such special events such as formals, awards ceremonies or other occasions.

A correction, as usual; and more

And an update has arrived to an event I mentioned yesterday: the employer information session for Nortel Networks, happening today in Davis Centre room 1301, will start at 5:30, not 5:00. It's open to both co-op and graduating students.

A workshop for teachers, on "Assessing Group Work", will be held at 12:00 today. "In this workshop," an announcement says, "we will present various techniques for assigning individual marks for both the product and process of group work. As a large group, we will also generate advantages and disadvantages for each technique. Be prepared for a highly interactive workshop and consider examples of assessment strategies for group work that you have used as instructors or experienced as students." Participants were asked to preregister; the teaching resource office (ext. 3132) should know whether there's any last-minute space.

The monthly series of forums on intellectual property issues continues with a session today on "Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership Arising from Sponsored Research", at 12 noon in Needles Hall room 3001. The forums are sponsored by UW's technology transfer and licensing office.

Representatives of the Canadian Psychological Association will be visiting UW's psych department today -- "to talk to us about what CPA is doing for academic psychology", says department chair Mark Zanna, "and to ask us what we'd like CPA to do for us in the future". A meeting is scheduled for 2:30 today in the psych conference room, PAS room 3026. (Among issues currently occupying the CPA: proposed revisions to the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists.)

Here's a reminder that ballots in the staff association election are due back to the association's office by this Friday.

Marg Letter, long-time and well-known member of UW's human resources department, is about to retire. A reception in her honour is scheduled for next Wednesday, May 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Club. Neime Cahit in HR (phone ext. 2524) is taking RSVPs.

The UW Bike Centre says it will hold an auction of used bicycles next Thursday, May 25, at 12:30 in the Student Life Centre courtyard. "A variety of bikes will be available, from road to mountain, 1 speed to 21, and they're all in good working order," says Ted Harms of the library staff, a perennial Bike Centre volunteer. "These are bikes that have been turned over to the UW police for a variety of reasons. If the attempt to match the bike with its owner fails, it's turned over to the Bike Centre. Volunteers then fix them up and get them back into a rideable condition."

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