Daily Bulletin

Shovels are waiting, says grounds foreperson Les Van Dongen. Any morning that snow falls on campus, "casual" shovellers are wanted. The job pays $8.50 an hour. Anyone interested should show up any snowy morning at 7:30 ("dressed to work outside") at the grounds section in the General Services Complex courtyard, near the smokestack. Would-be shovellers, and anybody with questions, can check in with Van Dongen in advance -- phone ext. 4010. And how did the grounds crew cope with day after day of heavy snowfall during the Christmas holiday? "We had people in Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, on the 27th, to get ready for the basketball tournament, Saturday, Sunday, yesterday . . . the guys got some overtime, anyway!" And by Tuesday morning, when the campus officially reopened, most roads, parking lots, sidewalks and stairways were clear.

Students get web interface this summer

"On Wednesday, December 13," says Mason, "we loaded the first set of undergraduate applications from the Ontario University Application Centre. The graduate studies office has also started to enter applications for fall 2001. Acknowledgement letters will follow shortly."

The Admissions System will be followed by other modules that will eventually cover every aspect of registration and record-keeping, including scheduling, course changes, mark submission and transcripts.

Mason says training for staff in the registrar's office and graduate studies office began in December and will continue this month. "In February, training will be provided for individuals in other areas who currently use the STUDINQ and APPGRID applications to support their work in admissions. These computer applications are gradually being replaced by a series of reports built with the Cognos reporting tools. Please note that this training relates to admissions only. STUDINQ will still be the source of student record information until the summer of 2001. Individuals who should attend this training will be contacted shortly."

Meanwhile, he said, detailed planning continues for "the major student records, financial aid and student financials cutover" in June. And there's news that will gladden hearts across campus: "We now have a tentative rollout plan for the introduction of the web access for faculty and students."

The SISP team -- drawn from departments across campus -- announced in November that "Coop students on-campus for Spring 2001 will be able to enroll in Winter 2002 classes over the web beginning in July 2001." By this fall, they're now saying, students will be able to use the web to check their accounts and update phone numbers and addresses, and faculty will be able to see class lists through the web. "Unofficial transcripts" and past grades will follow in October, and exam schedules in November.

Architecture likes Cambridge plan -- by Barb Elve

When he was first approached with the idea of relocating to Cambridge earlier this fall, Rick Haldenby admits his initial response was, "We can't do that -- it's totally unrealistic." Since then, the level of community support in Cambridge has convinced him to reconsider the idea of a satellite site beside the Grand River in the downtown Galt section of the city.

Preliminary discussions suggest the proposal will be "very attractive", he says. A formal proposal is being prepared by business leaders who have asked the city of Cambridge to be a partner as well.

"It will be presented to senior university officials very soon," said Haldenby. "There's a desire on all sides to have a decision made as soon as possible, possibly by the February meeting of the board of governors."

The school of architecture has been suffering space woes for more than a decade, he adds, and "we've been trying for years to find a way to deal with this. Our interest as a school would be to stay on the south campus, as a beacon related to the university entrance. The problem is that I don't know that there's a way to make the project happen on campus."

Advantages of relocating to Cambridge would be the school's location in an urban setting in "a beautiful site on the river". The vacant land being considered for construction of an 85,000 square-foot building is "a brownfield site" -- formerly occupied by a plant that produced coal gas -- with "some industrial waste that has to be cleaned up". Haldenby is confident that this obstacle can be surmounted, and points to the "extraordinary level of community support" and the "opportunity to be involved in the process of designing a new building" as plusses for the proposal.

The biggest concern, he says, is separation from the campus and what that means in terms of student access, teaching collaborations, and other issues around support services. "It's the most controversial aspect of the project." However, there are analogous situations across North America, he adds, including that of the Université Laval school of architecture, which is located on a satellite site.

"The affiliation with UW is not in question. I see this as a process whereby the university is expanding its presence in the region -- a satellite which gives the university a new dimension. We feel a part of UW; we always have and always will."

Some highlights of the fall term

• Letter from the Plains of Abraham
• Five 'major thrust areas' for research
• No growth without 'appropriate funding'
• Provost Jim Kalbfleisch takes early retirement
• Co-op building to go near Arts Lecture Hall
• UW mourns vice-president Ian Lithgow
• Huge physics institute comes to town
• Distance education office moves to Kitchener
• Cuts to employee health and dental benefits
• UW places first in provincial scholarships
• UW 'best overall' again in Maclean's
• UW checks 'feasibility' of a campaign
• Group campaigns for co-op society
• Engineering Lecture will bear Coutts name
• Exams postponed by snowstorm

Notes on the first day of classes

The monthly cancer control seminar series continues. Today, Susan Miller of UW's Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation will speak on "Identifying Best Practices for Group Smoking Cessation" (12:30 p.m., Matthews Hall room 3119).

This year's FASS show ("2001: A FASS Oddity") is just a month away, and the writers are thinking they'd like to turn over the script to a cast and crew. The result: auditions for FASS 2001 will be held tonight, tomorrow and Friday, between 7 and 10 p.m. in Humanities room 378. As the show's name suggests, Faculty, Alumni, Students and Staff are all welcome. "We've sold a bunch of tickets already," producer John Milne warns, so there will indeed be an audience for the show, to be staged February 1-3 in the Humanities Theatre.

GLOW, the Gays and Lesbians of Waterloo, will hold its "coming-out discussion group" on Wednesdays again this term, starting tonight. "We starts at 7:00 p.m. now," a memo notes, "we don't have a set time when the social starts, and we are meeting in Modern Languages room 104." Topic tonight for the first of the winter series: "What I Did Over the Holidays".

"Read to me!" says an invitation from the local Volunteer Action Centre. "Share your love of reading with a child by becoming involved with two exciting new programs at the Kitchener Public Library. Reading Buddies meet once a week with a beginning reader (grade 1-4) at the library and read stories aloud. This opportunity will take 1-2 hours a week and is available after-school and on evenings/weekends. Visiting Library for Kids volunteers share stories with preschoolers in child-care settings and at community centres. Visits take place every two weeks on weekday mornings and late afternoons and last about 45 minutes. Helping a child to become a reader is an adventure you will not want to miss." For more information, the VAC can be reached at 742-8610.

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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