Daily
Bulletin

A drier day than today, at the rock garden south of the Math and Computer building. Photo by Barbara Elve.

Psychiatrist joins health services

He will see patients only by referral from a physician, says the medical director of health services, Barbara Schumacher. Appavoo's practice is open to students, staff, faculty and UW alumni, and an arrangement has been made with Wilfrid Laurier University to make appointments available to WLU students as well, Schumacher said.

Appavoo has a special interest in sleep disorders, and worked for more than a decade in a Winnipeg sleep clinic, she said. "He is also interested in eating disorders, and problems related to homosexuality, and he is interested in doing an ongoing psychotherapy practice."

For the past three years he has been in practice in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He was one of the doctors who answered an advertisement that UW placed in the Canada-wide Medical Post, looking for a psychiatrist, and was the successful candidate for the job, Schumacher said.

Appavoo isn't actually employed by UW, but is "an independent professional" paid, like other doctors, by OHIP, the University Health Insurance Plan, or other insurers. He then pays a portion of his earnings to UW to cover the expenses of the health services clinic.

The previous health services psychiatrist, who left at the end of 1999, was there only two days a week. "She was fully busy and occupied," Schumacher recalls, adding that she is "confident" that Appavoo's hours will soon be fully booked.

Anyone wanting information about psychiatric consultations or assessments and psychotherapy can get in touch with Chris Strome at health services, phone ext. 6748.

Fund appeal emphasizes scholarships

"The Annual Fund provides crucial support for scholarships, bursaries, teaching, research, and a myriad of other worthwhile projects," UW president David Johnston writes in the brochure. He tells potential donors that "your involvement makes an important difference."

Much of the brochure is taken up with lists of "priority" projects -- some across the campus, some in individual faculties or colleges. There's a special emphasis on the need for scholarship money: "Waterloo Engineering falls far behind other leading Canadian Engineering Schools in the number and value of entrance scholarships it is able to offer. . . . In 2000, the Science Faculty was only able to offer $5,000 scholarships to our top students, while other institutions were able to offer up to $20,000."

Among the university-wide priority projects listed are the new Centre for Environmental and Information Technology; counselling services; continuing education; "enhancing learning with interactive technologies"; internationalization initiatives; the new co-op and career services building; a proposed Research Centre for the Study of Co-operative Education; services for the disabled; and improvements to the Theatre of the Arts.

The six faculties are all stressing scholarships, as well as such other projects as the new architecture building, an accountancy wing to be added to the Humanities building, teaching equipment, and new equipment in the optometry clinic.

Still another section of the brochure mentions the needs of athletics, the library, graduate studies and co-op and career services.

"Contributions to the Annual Fund can be designated to any priority project of your choice," the brochure says, with a reminder of the tax deduction that comes from a charitable gift receipt.

"A number of improvements have been made to this year's brochure," says Bob Copeland, associate director for the annual fund in UW's development office. "The overall theme of this year's brochure highlights individual donors, and includes their testimonials about the importance of 'giving back'. The testimonials provided are very powerful and engaging."

Graduates from all fields get jobs

In the three years since its inception, the Ontario University Graduate Survey continues to show that the already impressive employment rates and skills match of university graduates are climbing to even higher levels.

Graduates of undergraduate degree programs who have been out of university for two years are posting employment rates of 97.2%, while those six months out of university are employed at a rate of 94.6%. These numbers exceed the already impressive numbers reported in the previous two surveys, and are relatively consistent across all disciplines. Moreover, it is evident that average incomes are very good and continue to increase, thus reinforcing compelling evidence that university graduates are gainfully employed and making significant contributions to the provincial economy.

Not only do university graduates get jobs, the majority agree that the skills required in their jobs are related to their university education. Those out of university for two years noted a skills-match level of 83.3%, up 2.3 percentage points over last year. For those graduates six months out of university, the skills-match level reported was 77.3%, an increase of 3.3 percentage points over last year.

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and the Council of Ontario Universities co-sponsored the survey, which was conducted by the Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC). The survey examined the employment experiences of 1998 graduates of undergraduate degree programs in Ontario, six months and two years after graduation.

Notes in the last few days of May

The career workshop series continues, with "Selling Your Skills" today at 3:30 and "Are You Prepared to Work Outside Canada?" tomorrow at 2:30. The career resource centre, on the first floor of Needles Hall, has more information.

The Canadian New Media Awards will be given out tonight in Toronto, and at least one nominee comes from UW. That would be Rex Turgano, creator of the Green Pages web site, who's just graduated with a degree in environmental studies. He's nominated in the "Volunteer of the Year" category.

Coming this Friday: an outing to the Paramount Canada's Wonderland amusement park, organized by the Math Grad Committee. "We will be chartering a bus," organizer Jennifer Massie notes. "We are selling tickets for $35 if people wish to take our bus, and $25 if they can provide their own transportation and want to meet us at the gate. Tickets are being sold at the Math Grad Committee office, Math and Computer room 3029."

The other day I mentioned this term's student programming contest, and said it would be happening on Friday, June 1. There was an error in the information I received, it turns out. Like previous such contests, it'll be held on a Saturday -- this coming Saturday, June 2. More information is available on a web site maintained by Gordon Cormack of the computer science department, who coaches UW's teams in the Association for Computing Machinery international competition each year.

Coming next week is the second annual Commuter Challenge event, this year pitting Waterloo Region against the City of Hamilton in a key aspect of greenness. "Employees will be encouraged to carpool, ride the bus, bike, or walk to work for three days," says Patti Cook, UW's waste management coordinator. Why? "To encourage healthier and sustainable transportation choices." There will be more information in the next few days.

Looking ahead: the Matthews Golf Classic is scheduled for June 18, at the Grand Valley Golf and Country Club, and the event isn't full yet. Jan Willwerth, in the information systems and technology department, would like to hear from more participants (phone ext. 2376).

And finally: target figures for this fall's admissions are a work in progress, and there have been a couple of changes since I reported the new expanded targets a few days ago. The target for engineering, which last week was 790, is now 781; the figure for environmental studies, which was 303, is now 301. Total goal for full-time first-year students this fall: 4,322.

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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