Daily Bulletin

His last day: James Downey, past president of UW, is winding up his stint as acting vice-president (university relations), a post he's now held for almost a year, managing the planning for UW's Fiftieth Anniversary Campaign. The new VP, Laura Talbot-Allan, is due for work Monday morning. Staff in the departments that have been reporting to Downey (development and alumni affairs and information and public affairs) will fete him at a party at the Graduate House this afternoon.

Staff salary increase is approved

That's the same figure that was announced earlier this week as the scale increase for faculty members, although staff and faculty have very different salary systems.

An announcement of the staff figure came yesterday from the provost's advisory committee on staff compensation, whose recommendation has been approved by the provost to go to the board of governors.

The committee says it finished its discussions yesterday afternoon after meetings that began in January. "The process followed by the Committee was that defined by Policy #5, 'Salary Administration, Non-Union Staff'. In its deliberations, the Committee carefully considered a variety of issues and data (e.g., staff salaries in the local community and among other universities), as well as the University's financial situation in the coming year, in order to ensure that the Committee arrived at an equitable compensation agreement for staff members."

Here are its recommendations, as listed in the memo that will be coming out:

• Effective May 1, 2001, the salary job values for regular staff members be adjusted upward by 2.65%.
• Effective May 1, 2001, the merit program be run for regular staff members and merit funds be distributed based on the staff member's performance and position in the range and according to the stated performance goals of the salary program.
• The eligibility date for staff members who are no more than three years from retirement (normal or by agreement with the University) to substitute one week of vacation for a 2.0% salary increase continue until May 1, 2007.
• Effective May 1, 2001, the hourly rates for Janitors and Housekeepers be adjusted upward by 2.65%.
• At the request of the Staff Association or the University, these recommendations can be reconsidered by the Committee at any time during 2001-2002.

Under the merit increase program, individuals' pay increases won't necessarily be 2.65 per cent, but may be higher or lower depending on their performance appraisals and on where they are in the salary range. The average pay increase for individuals is expected to be about 4 per cent.

This year's $100,000 salaries listed

President David Johnston, who arrived midway through 1999, is at the top of the list for the first time. James Downey, who was president before him and served as acting vice-president (university relations) for much of last year, is now in second place. Jim Kalbfleisch, provost until the end of December, and Alan George, dean of math and now acting provost, come third and fourth.

The number of names has gone up to 202 from last year's figure of 150, largely because the annual salary increase for faculty members pushed many people just over the reportable level. Of the 202 salaries above $100,000, 97 are less than $105,000.

Twenty-five of the people on the list have administrative positions -- president, vice-president, dean, college head, associate provost, university librarian or something similar. The rest are faculty members (including 11 former deans or associate provosts, and two who became administrators on January 1, 2001). New on the list this year are the director of co-op education and career services and the president of Conrad Grebel College.

Here are the top ten names, the positions they held during 2000, and their salaries (figures are to the nearest dollar):

See correction Tuesday, April 3

• David Johnston, president, $256,743 (plus $25,077 in taxable benefits)
• James Downey, acting vice-president (university relations), $215,000
• Jim Kalbfleisch, vice-president (academic) and provost, $177,333
• Alan George, dean of mathematics, $171,162
• Doug Letson, former president of St. Jerome's University, $150,018
• Michael Higgins, president of St. Jerome's, $140,076
• Gary Waller, associate provost (academic and student affairs), $138,412
• Phelim Boyle, professor of accounting, $137,972
• Carolyn Hansson, vice-president (university research), $131,280
• Geoff McBoyle, dean of environmental studies, $130,419

Environmental engineers show projects

There's also a project entitled "Preventing Walkerton: Water Treatment Strategies for Small Systems", from a student team calling itself Stoop Dude Inc.

One of the projects deals specifically with the UW campus. Martin Cote, Michael Ditor and Mark Watling have a presentation titled "Total Water and Waste Management for the Columbia Lake Townhouse Development". Says their abstract:

Using the existing Columbia Lake Townhouse community in north Waterloo as a template, a preliminary Total Water and Waste Management (TWWM) plan was developed to service the community with drinking water, wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater control, and waste management. By treating water and waste onsite, this final design will allow the community to function without dependence on a typical municipal water works infrastructure and with minimal waste output.

An additional component of the design was to provide guidance for the implementation of a Community Management Plan (CMP). This plan would address contingencies associated with the TWWM plan such as monitoring, operation and maintenance scheduling, and community education. If successfully implemented, the CMP would work to ensure optimal performance and longevity of the development as a whole.

Drinking water will be supplied from the underlying aquifer and treated using chorine. Wastewater will be treated in a biofilter septic tank system and discharged directly into the subsurface using shallow pressure trenches. Stormwater runoff quantity and quality will be managed with several at-source controls. Solid waste remaining after removal of compostable, recyclable, and reusable materials will be incinerated onsite using a low emission waste oxidizer.

The presentations, supervised by civil engineering professor Monica Emelko, will run from 1:30 to 4:30 this afternoon in Davis Centre room 1304.

Sex and the spirit: lecture tonight

"In the Christian tradition, the Incarnation -- the fact that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us' -- has important implications for what it means to be human," Vanin says. Her talk tonight is entitled "The Incarnation: Challenges for Sexuality and Spirituality." The event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's, free of charge. All are welcome.

Vanin argues that if we believe that God embraced Jesus in all his humanity as well as his divinity, then God must be present to all of our humanity as well, including our sexuality. "This is a new and exciting area of sexual ethics."

The Studies in Sexuality, Marriage, and the Family program was established some 30 years ago to train teachers in the areas of family life and sex education. It has expanded into an interdisciplinary degree-granting program that offers students a systematic approach to understanding sexuality and family relationships. Vanin, who received her doctorate from Boston College, teaches courses in sexual ethics, Roman Catholicism, Christian feminism, and ecological spirituality, and carries out research in theology, ethics, religion and ecology, and women and the Church.

Vanin's lecture is the last event of the 2000-2001 season of the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience.

From the city of seven gates The studio theatre in the Humanities building seats 60 at most, and I think 59 of the chairs were occupied last night for an experimental production of (mostly) Jean Anouilh's "Antigone". I say "mostly" because the show is actually three scenes from Anouilh prefaced by one scene from the original "Antigone" written by Sophocles 2,400 years ago. For various reasons I have a soft spot for this amazing play, and it was most interesting to see the interpretations provided by four student directors from their last year of drama studies. The pay-what-you-can production continues tonight and Saturday night at 8:00.

For some, the last day of classes

And speaking of exams, here's a note for those who need it: the English Language Proficiency Examination will be offered Thursday, April 5, at 7 p.m. in the Physical Activities Complex.

"In the past, you knew them as Watcom," says Bob Hicks of the information systems and technology department -- not bothering to mention, because his audience is well aware of it, that Watcom grew out of UW in the early years, through the Computer Systems Group. "Over the last few years," he goes on, "they have successfully transformed themselves into a leading provider of mobile and wireless solutions." They're now "iAnywhere Solutions", a division of Sybase Inc., and a manager from the company will be speaking today at IST's Friday morning professional development seminar.

"How Safe Are Crops and Foods? How the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel Addressed This Question." That's the title for a noon-hour session today (12:30 p.m., actually) in room 250 at Conrad Grebel College. Speaking will be Conrad Brunk, philosophy professor at Grebel and co-chair of the "expert panel" which reported a few weeks ago. The panel urged Canadian regulatory agencies to adopt the controversial "precautionary principle" as a framework for assessing new technologies, including genetically modified foods.

Al Evans, retired faculty member from St. Paul's United College, speaks at the Kitchener Public Library this afternoon (2:00 at the main branch) on "Logotherapy: Healing Through Meaning".

Star students in the faculty of arts will be honoured this afternoon: the dean hosts a reception for students whose name appeared on the dean's honours list in the past year. The party runs from 4:00 to 6:30 in the Festival Room of South Campus Hall.

UW's stage band will make beautiful music -- well, lively music at the very least -- tonight in the great hall of Conrad Grebel College. The band's spring concert includes "Engine No. 9" by Les Hooper and "Samba Samba" by Bob Lowden, among other works that justify the concert's title: "Spring Into Jazz". Michael Wood -- "percussionist, vibist and drummer" as well as teacher -- conducts. The music starts at 8:00, and tickets are $8, students $5.

Advance note: Peter Burroughs, UW's director of admissions, will speak on "Secondary School Reform in Ontario and the Double Cohort" at noontime on Wednesday, April 11. The talk is sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, which sent out a green flyer the other day asking for RSVPs (addressed to Johan Reis in health services). The flyer also notes the next EAP program after that: "Talking and Negotiating with Your Teenager", on April 25.

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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