Daily Bulletin

Demolition crews are gutting the interior of Wellesley Court at UW Place (formerly North Court of the Married Student Apartments) as part of the renovations to create four-bedroom apartment units, with shared bath, kitchen and common space. Work is expected to be completed by the end of June, in time for students to take up residence in September. Similar changes were made last year to the complex's East Tower, now renamed Beck Hall.

Research attacks downtown problems

UW will collaborate with the City of Cambridge, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, the Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo, the City of Waterloo, the City of Kitchener, and the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries to understand the dynamics of the deteriorating city cores, and to generate solutions to the problems.

Funding of $600,000 over three years has been promised by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, with community partners contributing $300,000 and additional private sector support of $200,000.

The project will open a storefront site in downtown Kitchener in the spring, said Rick Haldenby, director of the school of architecture.

Another SSHRC grant will allow UW to participate in a project to assess housing for discharged psychiatric patients using a process that can serve as a model in other regions.

With a grant of $584,879, UW will work with the University of Western Ontario, Concordia University, Wilfrid Laurier University, and community partners based in London, Ontario, including social service professionals, community volunteers, and the actual users of supported housing.

The SSHRC funds are provided through its Community-University Research Alliance program "to help community organizations and university researchers combine forces to tackle issues that they have jointly identified as priority concerns."

New terms for three officials

"Professor Bruce Mitchell has been reappointed as Associate Vice-President Academic for a three-year term beginning August 1, 2001. Dr. Mitchell is responsible for the coordination of international activities, including the development of appropriate strategies to enhance and facilitate international connections. He serves as Advisor to the Vice-President Academic & Provost on Interdisciplinary Programs, is Chair of the Interdisciplinary Programs Board, and oversees the review process for academic departments and undergraduate programs. He is a member of Deans' Council and Executive Council."

"Professor Jay Black has been reappointed as Associate Provost, Information Systems and Technology for a two-year term beginning May 1, 2001. Dr. Black oversees the administration and long-term planning of all information systems and information technology across the University. He is responsible for developing policies and procedures that concern IS/IT and works closely with academic support areas to develop appropriate support for the effective use of information technology in teaching and learning."

"Professor Gary Waller has been reappointed as Associate Provost, Academic and Student Affairs for a one-year term beginning May 1, 2001. Dr. Waller assists with administrative and policy issues regarding academic and student affairs. He also works with the Relations Committees and provides liaison with student leaders and with the Federated and Affiliated Colleges. A major area of responsibility is the management of several academic support departments, including the Library, Co-operative Education and Career Services, the Registrar's Office, Distance and Continuing Education, TRACE, the Audio-Visual Centre, and Space Utilization and Planning."

Engineers triumph UW entries won "most of the top prizes" in the Ontario Engineering Competition over the weekend, says team coach Fakhri Karray of the systems design engineering department. That includes a clean sweep of the prizes in the "entrepreneurial design" category of the competition. Tomorrow's Bulletin will have detailed results from the OEC.

Man wanted in sexual assault

The man is described as having a "medium build", height 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 (173 cm to 178 cm). He was wearing a dark bomber jacket and balaclava helmet, black jeans and black leather gloves.

The assault took place Tuesday evening about 8:20 along a footpath in the zoo area of Waterloo Park, just south of the UW campus. Anyone with information is invited to call Waterloo Regional Police at 653-7700 or CrimeStoppers at (800) 222-8477.

UW police are still urging people to use caution: "Do not walk alone. Be alert to your surroundings. Keep to well used areas." The WalkSafe program can be reached at 888-4949.

Johnston's report urges 'learnware industry'

Johnston was chair of an Advisory Committee for Online Learning which reported last week to the federal-provincial Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. Responses came from Brian Tobin, the federal minister of industry, and Glenn Hagel, Saskatchewan's minister of post-secondary education and chair of the Postsecondary Expectations Consortium of CMEC.

The report, titled The E-learning E-volution in Colleges and Universities: A Pan-Canadian Challenge, calls on governments, universities, colleges and businesses to "accelerate and coordinate efforts to offer Canadians online post-secondary education".

Said a federal news release:

The report also encourages the further advancement of the learnware industry based on Canadian educational applications.

"This report serves as a strong foundation for future discussions on how online learning can better meet the needs of learners in Canada by providing access anywhere and at any time," said Mr. Hagel. "Its recommendations will be analyzed by my colleagues from the provinces and territories and should figure prominently on the agenda when CMEC meets in April."

"Knowledge and skills are among Canada's most important national resources," said Minister Tobin. "There are huge economic and social benefits to Canadians from a concerted approach to developing online courses and learnware products. Canada is well-positioned to be a world leader in online learning, and this report will serve as a valuable guide."

"The action plan arising from a mandate given to us by the two orders of government conveys a sense of urgency," said David Johnston, Chair of the Advisory Committee and President of the University of Waterloo. "Our students must have Canadian online content, and we must capitalize on the opportunity to build a learnware industry. Otherwise, we risk students taking courses from non-Canadian sources less responsive to our local, regional and national interests."

The report advocates the use of online learning through Internet or Intranet to meet individual needs, incomes, languages and learning styles. Recommendations include: making the Internet more accessible and affordable, especially broadband service; training faculty to make better use of educational technology in teaching; creating a comprehensive source of information on all Canadian online learning resources; developing more quality online Canadian learning content and; increasing research in learning, both traditional and online.

The Advisory Committee for Online Learning was established by the CMEC Postsecondary Expectations Consortium and Industry Canada in July 2000 to advise governments, universities and colleges on a coordinated approach to online post-secondary learning in Canada. The 19-member committee included presidents of colleges and universities, as well as senior business executives.

On-line voting continues The Federation of Students election and referendum, which began Friday evening, continue today and all this week. Voting takes place on-line, and will close at 4 p.m. Friday. The news web site UWStudent.org reported over the weekend that Federation officials had "disqualified" the committee campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum on establishing a Co-op Society as part of the Fed structure. The disqualification was the result of statements made by the Yes committee in their publicity in Friday's issue of Imprint.

Ready for a reading break yet?

Some students and some researchers will be off on field trips, temporary placements and other adventures. If you know someone whose plans for reading week might be worth a report in the Gazette or Daily Bulletin, I'd very much appreciate hearing about it.

Meanwhile, this week has Valentine's Day in the middle of it, and there will be some special events to celebrate. Two notes in particular:

• "In honour of Valentine's day, the UW Navigators are presenting an interactive exhibit focusing on various aspects of love," says Jeff Carter of that Christian group. "The display will be in the Student Life Centre February 12-14, and a discussion will be held in the SLC on Tuesday at 5:30. And for anyone who needs a hug, volunteers will be staffing the hugging both (yes, hugging booth) around midday during the exhibit."
• Today through Friday, the Techworx stationery store in South Campus Hall holds a "Baroque-n Hearts Sale". "The play on words," says marketing manager Jason MacIntyre, "has to do both with the fact that Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and that the sale features architecture supplies at 15 per cent off."

Today, the bookstore will hold a sale of "Wordsworth Classics" in the South Campus Hall concourse. "Poetry compilations and many reference dictionaries will also be available," I'm told.

At the Kitchener Public Library, today's noontime speaker is Jeanne Kay Guelke of the UW department of geography. Her talk, starting at 12:00, draws on her continuing research about "The Bible and Ecology".

A "speaking circle" will be held at 1:30 this afternoon in Math and Computer room 5136. More information is available from Alastair Farrugia, afarrugia@math.

And a major event later this week: Naresh Singh, the current Canada Trust Walter Bean Visiting Professor in the Environment, will speak on Thursday at 4:00 in the Humanities Theatre. His talk will be based on his work about poverty and sustainable livelihoods. Admission to the lecture is free, but space is limited: call ext. 4973 to reserve a seat.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
Friday's Bulletin
Copyright © 2001 University of Waterloo