Daily Bulletin

Drama professor and set designer Bill Chesney offers some pointers to Jessica Bowman. She's one of the students in his scenic painting course preparing the sets for the production of "totally durang-ed" in Studio 180. The show runs Wednesday through Saturday and again next week. Photo by Barbara Elve.

Students vs. employers, round two

It puts students and employers on opposite sides, facing off in a 12:00 ball hockey game in the Physical Activities Complex main gym.

Simon Woodside, a math student who's one of the organizers of the Yes campaign and the proposed society, calls today's encounter the "second termual" competition. Last term the game was soccer, but the goal was the same: "to foster a closer relationship between employers and students". And to drum up support for the society from student voters, of course.

A "networking social" in the Bombshelter pub will follow the game.

In the Federation referendum, all full-time undergraduate students will be asked: "Do you support the creation of a Co-op Society that will represent co-op students to the CECS Department and provide services to Co-op students' which would result in the transfer of representation of Co-op students, on solely Co-op issues, from the Federation of Students as called for in the Co-op Society Proposal?"

And co-op students will be asked: "In the event the above referendum passes, do you support the introduction on the fee statement of a refundable fee for all undergraduate co-op students of $2.50?" Electronic voting begins Friday.

Meanwhile, Woodside tells more about today's game: "Nortel is driving their players in from Ottawa to join ringers from RIM, CyberPlex, Cisco, Sybase, Communitech and KickStarts. The student team will be made up of students quickest to respond to the call, and promises to counterbalance their opponents' experience with youthful energy.

"Who will win? The student, or the CEO? Both, in fact, win in co-operative education. This symbolic game is aimed to highlight the benefits of the co-op program at UW. The players will determine who wins the soccer game, but when it comes to co-op everyone wins."

Board hears about UW's progress

The 38 points are the recommendations of "Building on Accomplishment", otherwise known as the "Fifth Decade Report", which was written to guide UW's development for the period from 1998 to 2007. It was the work of a Commission on Institutional Planning, a group of a dozen faculty, students, staff, and alumni, who originally set to work in 1994 and issued their final plan in September 1997.

There have been two progress reports since that, summarizing what's been done about the recommendations: one in October 1999 and a second one that was presented to UW's senate last month and is now coming to the board of governors.

"Clearly, we can't implement all 38 recommendations at once," says president David Johnston in a memo to the senate and board. "Furthermore, over the decade since they were crafted, things change and some of them may have less importance over time; new priorities may also emerge. . . . We should develop a sense of where we are making good progress and why, and where we are not and why not."

Johnston says UW seems to be making good progress on some of the recommendations, such as #2 ("actively seek additional revenues"), #19 ("review the multiplicity of undergraduate programs"), and #32 ("continue the policy of maintaining the physical environment").

On the other hand, he says, not so much is being done about expanding graduate enrolment, increasing international involvement, or achieving one goal that always seems to be in the distance, #27: "Reduce the time spent in committee meetings."

Most of the recommendations have several sub-sections. In today's presentation to the board, Johnston and provost Alan George will cite examples of what's being done in those dozens of different areas -- and examples of areas where, as Johnston puts it in his memo, "money is a large part of the problem."

The board presentation is to start at 12:30 in Needles Hall room 3004. It will be followed by a second presentation, on preliminary plans for the Fiftieth Anniversary Fund. The regular meeting of the board begins at 3:00, and includes a budget update, word on the possibility of the school of architecture moving to Cambridge, approval of a design for the new co-op building, and other business.

Teaching award deadline Friday is the deadline for nominations for this year's award for Distinguished Teaching by a Registered Student. It'll be the third year for the award, which recognizes work by teaching assistants and other students who take a role in the classroom. More information is available from the teaching resource office at ext. 3132.

Environmentalist starts visit today

Holtz -- who says her Quaker faith is very influential in the work she does -- was the senior researcher for the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax before becoming a private consultant specializing in energy, resource, and environmental policy and sustainable development issues. She is also an adjunct professor in the environmental planning department of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

She has served on the Auditor General of Canada's Panel of Senior Advisors, on the NAFTA Selection Committee for the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation, as vice-chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Research Council, as a director of the Canadian Nature Federation and Friends of the Earth Canada, on the National Advisory Board of the CEDAR Balanced Fund (an ethical investment fund), and on the editorial board of the UW-based environmental journal Alternatives. She is also a founding member of the Canadian Environmental Network, a consultative group linking organizations with members across the country.

She has worked widely as an advisor, reviewer, facilitator, and mediator. She was a member of the three-person Georges Bank Review Panel on hydrocarbon drilling and exploration in offshore Nova Scotia, the Regulation Review Panel for electricity regulation in Nova Scotia, and a consultation panel for solid waste strategies. She was also involved in mediation of a waste management strategy dispute, and facilitated Environment Canada's national waste management strategy consultation meetings.

"As Environmentalist-in Residence," says Greg Michalenko of the ERS department, "Susan Holtz will meet with student groups, visit classes, confer with graduate students, participate in a public event, and visit community organizations. The Environmentalist-in Residence program each year brings noted environmental experts and activists to the UW campus to work directly with students and build additional links between the university and community in ways that serve the public interest."

And a little of this and that

Today brings a large-scale job fair at Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., co-sponsored by UW and several other post-secondary institutions. What's it for? "To meet employers who are currently hiring; to investigate career options and current jobs; to offer your résumé to several employers; to present your skills and qualifications in person." Organizers promise "over 185 recruiting employers in a single location", and there will be free shuttle buses from the Student Life Centre every half hour from 9:30 to 2:30.

An instructional web courseware developers support group -- "iWeb" -- has been meeting under the auspices of the LT3 learning centre, and will have a session today on "Making Sense of XML". Cindy Poremba of LT3 promises to do her best to "give beginners an introduction" to the XML markup language (is that a fair way to describe XML?).

After the board of governors meeting today, board members will be heading for the Village I great hall, and so will dozens of students. The occasion: "a special dinner in honour of the many dedicated and hard-working student leaders who contribute their time and energy to improving the quality of student life. The occasion will provide an opportunity for members of the Board of Governors and the University administration to get to know these students." The student services office is hosting the event. Watch the Gazette, not tomorrow but next week, for a list of the student guests.

Quick preview of some of tomorrow's events:

• The personal safety advisory committee meets at 9:15 in Needles Hall room 3043.
• Central stores holds its twice-a-month surplus sale at East Campus Hall, off Phillip Street, from 11:30 to 1:30.
• A TexMex garage and bake sale is planned in the Environmental Studies I foyer, to help fund the Environment and Resource Studies 475T trip to the southwest later this month. Besides garage sale items and homemade treats, there will be a raffle ("at high noon") for more than 100 prizes. "Fund-raising bird-a-thon sponsorship forms will also be available," I'm told.
• The career development workshop series continues with sessions on "Letter Writing", "Résumé Writing", and "Selling Your Skills". Check with the career resource centre in Needles Hall for times and places.
• Novelist Catherine Bush (Minus Time and now The Rules of Engagement) will read at 4:00 at St. Jerome's University -- the fireplace lounge in Sweeney Hall, rather than the usual location.
• In the first event of a Mennonite Authors Reading Series, Conrad Grebel College presents Sandra Birdsell at 7 p.m. in the chapel.

And I have a note from the engineering alumni office to say that there are some spaces available in "a curling funspiel at the Elmira Golf Club" scheduled for February 17. "The day includes three 6-end games, a hot lunch and prizes for only $25 per person," says alumni officer Martha Foulds, on behalf of the Waterloo Area Chapter of engineering alumni. More information: phone ext. 6838.

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