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Daily Bulletin

Mathies and no mistake about it: Paulina Rozanski, left, and Justyna Pociejewska, first-year math students, tied one on as orientation gets rolling yesterday. (Photo by Barb Hallett.)

Carnival today, chapel tonight

That's Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student affairs), who says there have been no troubles in orientation so far and lots of joys. Yesterday, for instance, it was "very exciting" to watch infant engineers get their hard hats, and rewarding to see at least one audience give a standing ovation to "Single and Sexy". Monday night, said Scott, Villagers held a pep rally in the main gymnasium that ended with a mighty version of the national anthem: "a phenomenal event".

She paid tribute to the upper-year students who are orientation leaders, "a very well organized and creative group of people -- it's the leaders that make the difference."

Some of UW's new first-year students have already met the person they're going to marry, or the one they're going to go into business with after graduation. That's the kind of thing that happens during orientation, which today features residence events until late afternoon, then faculty events in the evening.

Highlights: a "carnival" on the Village green through the midday hours; "Hawaiian escape" for Renison College students for most of the day; and the first community supper and chapel service for Conrad Grebel College students, with a barn dance in the early evening. Tonight brings scunts and treasure hunts for several faculties, movie night (a "dry" event) in the Village I great hall, and some late-night parties.

There's just one performance of "Single and Sexy" today, at 4:30 in the Theatre of the Arts, aimed chiefly at arts students (though everyone is welcome).

Orientation week often introduces inside jokes that will last four years, or a lifetime. Tonight, for instance, environmental studies students get to meet the Big Banana. And I'm not sure I should be asking, but what does "Under da sea" mean on the T-shirts for applied health sciences orientation?

And also in the category of things I didn't know in time: some first-year students have actually been here since Sunday, as the Village residences arranged to spread the move-in over two days. It all went beautifully smoothly, says Bud Walker, director of business services, who's responsible for residence operations.

Week is called 'sexually charged'

Promoting a supportive environment for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) newcomers to campus is the goal behind a button campaign being carried on by GLOW this week. Several hundred buttons with the phrase "Gay Friendly" have been manufactured and distributed to this year's orientation leaders and dons, says math student Nigel Flear.

He writes: "UW is traditionally a very tolerant and accepting environment for LGBT students. This attitude, however, isn't emphasized during frosh week. Many events and activities are sexually charged, and all too often they suggest that heterosexuality is the norm. After seven days of sexual innuendoes, the frosh-week experience leaves most LGBT students feeling like they are isolated, surrounded by homophobia and ignorance." The button campaign is meant to raise awareness by using leaders and dons as positive examples. "By seeing leaders promoting gay-friendly attitudes," says GLOW, "gay students will feel more comfortable with their sexuality, while straight students will increase their understanding and awareness of gay issues."

Flear notes that GLOW has had tremendous success with button campaigns in the past, with many students wearing phrases like, "Straight but not Narrow", "Honorary Lesbian", and, "I'm Not Gay but My Boyfriend Is." The current campaign uses a phrase that both straight and gay leaders can wear without revealing their sexual orientation.

The GLOW Centre in the Student Life Centre will be open during orientation week for students to drop by, hand out, and find out more about the group.

Cancer seminar "Cancer Coverage in Ontario Daily Newspapers" is the topic of a seminar to be given at 12:30 today by Megan MacDonald of UW's health behaviour research group. She'll speak in Matthews Hall room 3119, as the cancer control seminar series continues.

Former grad student aids Grad House -- by Barbara Hallett

A donation of $2,500 from Kevin Erler was made to the GSA last winter with "no strings attached as a means of thanking the GSA for the financial and moral support it provided during Kevin's intellectual property lawsuit against a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering," said GSA president Bob Bishop.

"This lawsuit has now been settled out of court and the terms of the settlement have not been disclosed," he added. The money was used by the GSA to purchase and install two small televisions, one large television and a satellite system. "The equipment will be up and running in time for the Olympics.

"In addition to the equipment purchased using the funds from the donation, the GSA has also purchased some new DJ equipment, including speaker stands, a dual CD player, and an intelligent lighting system," said Bishop. "This equipment will be made available for bookings at the Graduate House for a nominal fee. It will also be used at our popular GSA mixers."

Other renovations have included repainting the front porch and replacing the kitchen floor. During the third week of September, the second floor patio will be closed for repainting.

Bishop invites everyone on campus to stop by the Grad House to check out the improvements during the first two weeks of the term. Affiliate memberships are available for $15 per term to undergraduate students and anyone else who is not already a member of the Graduate House. Affiliate members can participate in all the events organized by the GSA, and may also book the Grad House for special events.

Advice for profs on class atmosphere

• Introduce yourself to your class. In addition to telling students how you wish to be addressed, say something about your background: how you first became interested in the subject, how it has been important to you, and why you are teaching this course. Genuinely convey your enthusiasm for the field and the subject.
• Ask students to fill out an introduction card. Have students indicate their name, campus address, telephone number, electronic mail address, year in school, and major field of study.
• Learn students’ names. By learning your students’ names, you can create a comfortable classroom environment that will encourage student interaction. Knowing your students’ names also tells them that you are interested in them as individuals.
• Give students an opportunity to meet each other. Ask students to divide themselves into groups of three to five and introduce themselves. Or go around the room and ask all students to respond to one question, such as "What’s the one thing you really want to learn from this course?" or "What aspect of the course seems most appealing to you?"
• Ask students to interview each other outside of class. If your course has a writing component, you might ask students to write a brief description of their partner. The class could agree on the interview questions beforehand or each student could devise his or her own items.
• Divide students into small groups. Give groups a small task, such as a brainstorming exercise, then place responses on the board for discussion and interpretation.
• Encourage students to exchange phone numbers. If all students agree, ask them to write their name, telephone number, and electronic mail address on a plain sheet of paper and make copies of the roster for them. Encourage students to call their classmates about missed classes, homework assignments, and study groups. Or have students complete index cards and exchange them with two or three classmates.

Other tip sheets from TRACE deal with such topics as course design, facilitating group discussion, using visual aids and supervisory relationships. The tip sheets are available on the TRACE web site.

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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