Daily Bulletin

Nick Cercone contemplates extra switches that have been added to connect CS department computers in the course of the renovations

Spiffy new labs in the Davis Centre

"We were able to fairly well renovate the northern half of the third floor of the Davis Centre," says Cercone, adding that although Davis is only 14 years old, the work was badly needed. "We were having two PhD students, and three master's students, per office," he says. As for the tatterdemalion environment: "I was tired of trying to bring in people from industry -- I wanted to make them much more professional."

With the renovations, there are more and tidier offices for grad students, who will even have "lockable drawers!" Cercone says happily. "They have space for private work, they have space for camaraderie when they need it."

So far the project has moved the database lab and renovated the labs for the computer systems group, software engineering, scientific computing and networking. The scientific computing lab has already been dubbed "the green room" since it got a coat of paint.

Coming in the second phase, says Cercone: work on the artificial intelligence lab, construction of a new bioinformatics lab, expansion of the graphics lab to add a video studio, improvements to the programming languages lab and software architecture lab. Other labs will get some attention in phases three and four.

"What we hope at the end of another year," says the department chair, "is to come out with 14 gleaming, shining, state-of-the-art labs."

The work is especially important, he said, because CS has already expanded its graduate program from about 140 master's and PhD level students to 190, and will soon reach 225, thanks to the Access to Opportunities enrolment expansion program.

Funding for the renovations is coming as part of the Bell University Labs project, which was originally put forward under the name of Bell Emergis. A launch is planned this spring for the Bell program, which is bringing UW some $27 million over three years from Bell Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund.

Planning school longs for a studio

The planning school is among the first academic units to complete the internal program review process that UW introduced in 1997. A report on the findings was brought to the university senate in January.

Some key lines from the report:

Of the 30 undergraduate and graduate planning programs in Canada, the School of Planning at UW is the only program to offer each of Bachelor (both regular and coop), Masters and Doctoral degrees, and all three are accredited by CIP. It is one of the largest planning programs in the country, and attracts very good to excellent undergraduate students (median incoming average approaches 80%), and excellent graduate students. The School focuses on several themes: natural environment, human and built environment, and planning policy and practice. . . .

Teaching improvement and enhancement are being emphasized by the Director, and over the past three years there has been a steady improvement in the evaluation by students of course instructors.

Most faculty in the School have active research programs, and the number and quality of publications have been increasing. . . .

In the words of the Review Team, "the School's emphasis on the common themes present in natural, human and built environments successfully brings people with very diverse interests together to discuss and collaborate on a wide range of planning issues." The Review Team also noted a "very strong link between the School and the professional planning community," and that "through excellent promotional materials and school visits, the School is a formidable ambassador for the planning profession."

Concern has been expressed by both the School and the Review Team regarding the inadequate amount of studio space. The Review Team concluded that "a studio setting is essential to planning education", and encouraged the School, Faculty and University to determine how this need could be satisfied.

The School will always face a challenge of achieving balance between having courses taught by full-time faculty, and by having professional planners teaching on adjunct appointments. The use of professional adjuncts helps to ensure that the professional practice aspects of planning are addressed in the curriculum, but such adjuncts are not available for all the other tasks required to run a program (advising students on research projects, serving on School, Faculty and University committees, etc.). The School is well aware that at times it has over relied on adjuncts, and is systematically striving to attain an appropriate balance.

While some faculty are involved in world- or national-class research, some others have very modest research programs. Opportunities for enhanced research programs, or alternative duties, could be explored in the future.

Memos from the registrar

Student examination reports for full-time undergraduate students that were on campus in the fall term and are here again full-time for the winter term are available for pick-up. Pick-up locations are as follows: engineering departments, for engineering students; engineering undergraduate office, for engineering exchange students; Renison College or St. Jerome's University for students registered in those colleges; registrar's office, Needles Hall, for all others.

The last day to file a "Notice to the Registrar of Intention to Graduate" form is March 1, 2001 for undergraduate students expecting to graduate at spring convocation. These forms are available in the Registrar's Office, second floor, Needles Hall, or from department offices. A printable version of this form is also available on the web. Spring 2001 Convocation dates are June 13, 2:00 p.m., Applied Health Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Independent Studies; June 14, 2:00 p.m., Arts; June 15, 2:00 p.m., Science; June 16, 10:00 a.m., Mathematics, June 16, 2:00 p.m., Engineering.

Class Enrollment (formerly called pre-registration) for undergraduate students for the Fall 2001 term is the week of March 19, 2001.

Both the hard copy and the electronic copy of the 2001-2002 Academic Calendar should be available around the second week of March 2001. The hard copy calendar can be picked up in the Registrar's Office and the electronic copy of the calendar will be available on the web. Students will be asked to present their WatCards at the time of picking up the printed calendar.

The talk of the campus

Geography professor Jim Bater (right) is filling in as acting dean of environmental studies for a few weeks, the provost's office says. Geoff McBoyle, dean of ES for the past four years, is recuperating from surgery. Bater was previously dean of ES from January 1984 to June 1992.

I've been asked to mention that the February issue of the human resources newsletter is now available on-line in PDF format. This issue has its emphasis on Registered Retirement Savings Plans. There's also an article about a job-sharing arrangement, apparently stunningly successful, in UW's office of research, as well as other HR notes.

An invitation from the local Volunteer Action Centre: "Join a Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region committee and share your skills with an organization that builds houses in partnership with low income families. Volunteers with many abilities are invited to become part of a committee which provides support to partner family homeowners. Everything from assistance with budgeting, home repair, house management as well as emotional support is needed to help families become independent. Individuals with a background in volunteer management can become involved with a volunteer committee, while others may be interested in a new committee formed to reach out to churches who may want to become involved." More information: 742-8610.

Happening today at UW:

• Administrative assistants and similar folks from UW departments are invited to a meeting (10 a.m., Davis Centre room 1302) about the casual payroll and plans for streamlining the procedures involved, now that the human resources department has agreed to keep running it every two weeks.
• The first in a series of cognitive science forums is scheduled for 2:30 in Humanities room 373. Carolyn MacGregor of systems design engineering will speak on "Cognitive Issues with Interactive Technology: Experiences in the Use-IT Lab".
• David Black of communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University speaks this afternoon on "Media Criticism in the Public Interest: Ten Things Time-Warner Doesn't Want You to Know". His talk starts at 3 p.m. in the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group office, Student Life Centre room 2139.
• This evening brings the 15th annual haircutting pub at Renison College: alumni reunion from 7:00 to 9:00, pub from 8:30 until 1 a.m. Money raised will go to the HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre.
• "Fiesta! A Youth Challenge International Fundraiser" starts at 9:00 this evening in the Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre. "Come on out for a great time while contributing to a worthwhile cause," suggests Brennan Vogel, one of the organizers. "The price of admission is $5. Expect to see some of the finest musicians that Waterloo's musical community has to offer. There are some great door prizes."

A note from the co-op department: "Architecture students taking part in co-op employer interviews -- one copy of résumé package to dropoff slot by 8:00 p.m."

Activities Saturday include Fit Fest in the Physical Activities Complex and, starting at 8 p.m., Blues Night at the Graduate House with the Pandemonium Blues Band.

Sports this weekend: the basketball Warriors host Lakehead in doubleheaders both tonight and tomorrow. Both nights, Waterloo's women play the Nor'Westers at 6 p.m. and the men follow at 8 p.m. Other Warriors teams are on the road. The hockey Warriors visit York tonight and Guelph on Saturday afternoon; the women's volleyballers are at Ottawa tonight, and both volleyball teams play at Queen's tomorrow afternoon; the squash team is at Toronto for the league championships over the weekend; the track and field team is in Toronto tomorrow for the York Open.

Advance note: the teaching resources and continuing education office will give a workshop on "Teaching Dossiers, Part 2" in two separate sessions next week. Participants can choose Wednesday afternoon or Thursday afternoon, starting at 3:00 in either case. More information is available from the TRACE web site.

Finally, advance word of this year's Bernoulli trials from statistics professor Christopher Small:

The competition will be on Saturday, March 3, starting at 9:00 sharp. If you enjoy mathematical problem solving then the Bernoulli Trials may be for you. Participants are presented with a series of mathematical problems in the form of statements. Each student has 10 minutes to figure out whether each statement is true or false. As no written proofs are handed in (only an answer of "true" or "false"), the winner of the competition is usually someone with a good combination of mathematical insight and inspired guesswork. The format is a double knockout. Contestants proceed from round to round. You can proceed to the next round if you have at most one mistake. After two mistakes, you are eliminated, but are encouraged to stay and cheer on the ever-shrinking group of surviving students. The winners and runners-up receive cash prizes. A buffet breakfast is provided free of charge, and there is no charge for participating. To participate, you must be a full time student at Waterloo. The program you are in does not matter. You must register so that we have an idea of how many people will be involved. Send me an e-mail with your name, year of studies, student id. I look forward to hearing from you.

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 © 2001 University of Waterloo