Students vote this week Undergraduate: On-line polls open tomorrow morning so students can vote on a proposal to expand the Student Life Centre and recreational facilities, with a $13.80-per-term fee to pay the costs. Electronic voting will run through Thursday. A final forum to discuss the issues will be held at 4:00 this afternoon in the Student Life Centre great hall. Graduate: Mail-in voting continues (through November 30) in a referendum on a proposed $20-a-term fee to create a "graduate endowment fund".

UW lists its community links

The list is available on the web in PDF format, and was put together by Nancy Heide in the information and public affairs office. It's titled "University of Waterloo Speakers and Sources".

It includes a 20-page list of people from the university who are available to speak to community organizations -- mostly faculty members interpreting some of their research work for general audiences, from "Headache" to "Tourism" and "Wetlands". But it also covers services that might be of interest to the community. Just as a sample, here's the G section from the index:

Games, Elliot Avedon Museum and Archives of, 14
Gays & Lesbians of Waterloo, 5
German Contest, 6-7
German Day, 15
girls, science and technology workshops for, 15
government, lectures on, 12
Graduate House restaurant, 19
Graphics, 20
Great Northern Concrete Toboggan, 9
Ground Zero Restaurant, 19
group counselling, 11
Gustav Bakos Observatory, 14

Says the introduction: "The sources section of this Guide will assist you in identifying resources the University of Waterloo offers that are available to the public. Most are free of charge; otherwise, costs are listed in this guide. Many campus departments listed here maintain excellent sources of information and research on their websites. Access their websites from the University of Waterloo homepage at www.uwaterloo.ca. The University of Waterloo welcomes you to come to our campus and take advantage of the many resources we have to offer.

"The speakers section of this Guide will inform you of University of Waterloo faculty and staff members who are willing to speak to your group or organization on a wide range of topics. This section, formerly published in a booklet called the 'Speakers Bureau', makes finding a speaker a simple task. Hundreds of individuals are listed and most will speak to your group at no charge. Contact them directly to make speaking arrangements for your next event."

The "Speakers and Services" on-line brochure can be reached right now from a button on the UW home page. It will be permanently available through the Information and Public Affairs web site.

The "Special Report" in Saturday's local daily paper was headed "Well Connected: How Our Campuses Shape City Life". It included notes on everything from Wilfrid Laurier University's new Brantford campus to the university-industry connections at UW, WLU, the University of Guelph, and Conestoga College.

Readers were told about UW's observatory tours, free concerts, weekly Gays and Lesbians meetings, and museums. Features included an explanation of how university research works, and a report on the year-round use of college and university facilities.

It's the second "Special Report" in a month that has put the spotlight on universities. On October 25, the Record published a 32-page "Technology Spotlight" in which article after article referred to the UW connections of local high-tech companies.

That supplement also included a double-page ad from UW itself, reproduced at right -- about a quarter of its original size.

"These are exciting times at the University of Waterloo," says president David Johnston in one column of the ad. "Waterloo continues to look to the future," says another. "There is a strong indication," says a third, "that UW's successful generation of spin-offs is attributable to UW's intellectual property ownership policy."

The double-page ad notes some recent developments on campus -- including research funding and construction -- and describes many of the connections between UW and local business and industry. It also offers a summary of the recent "economic benefits study" done for UW by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Let's talk about numbers of students

"We have grown significantly," Chakma told a meeting of department heads on November 1, "and I would suggest that we have to grow even more, in spite of the pains that you all have to go through in coping with that growth."

Two factors are pushing UW towards enrolment growth. On the one hand, the pressure has to do with money -- with not much chance of higher government grants per student, the university could use the grants and tuition fees from additional students to ease its financial squeeze.

On the other hand, there's growing demand for university spaces in Ontario. According to last year's estimates, the number of students across the province needs to increase by some 40 per cent within a decade, and heavy enrolment this September and last year suggest that either the target is higher than that or the time frame is shorter.

Complicating any enrolment planning is the so-called double cohort, which will arrive in the fall of 2003 when -- because of changes to the high school curriculum -- this year's grade 12 students and this year's grade 11 students both graduate at the same time.

UW announced last week that to answer questions about university admissions in light of the huge high school graduating class in 2003, there will be a special "Double Cohort Night" next Monday, November 26. Students and parents are invited to the information session and panel, which will explore the double cohort question, as well as the new Ontario curriculum and how UW will be meeting the needs of students applying in 2003. Chakma, president David Johnston, registrar Ken Lavigne and others will speak at th event, which will start at 8 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts.

Today's senate meeting starts at 4:30 in Needles Hall room 3001. Besides Chakma's briefing on enrolment management, there will be a presentation on graduate student affairs, an annual report from the University Committee on Student Appeals, a proposal for a health informatics option in the faculty of math (there's already one in applied health sciences), a proposal for a Master of Engineering degree as an alternative to the research-oriented Master of Applied Science, and other business.

Policy change stresses vacation -- a memo from the university secretariat

The following has been added to Section VI.B. of Policy #6:

In highly unusual circumstances, the business of the University may require extraordinary vacation carryforward. On these occasions, a staff member may request approval to carry forward more than ten days. Department heads who agree with such requests must obtain the approval of the Provost prior to May 1.

Other notes and coming events

The annual Scholastic book fair continues today, tomorrow and Wednesday in the Early Childhood Education Centre in UW's psychology department.

Speaking at noontime at the main branch of Kitchener Public Library, in KPL's Monday lecture series, will be Paul Karrow of UW's department of earth sciences. His topic: "The Ups and Downs of the Great Lakes".

The career development workshop series continues: at 2:30 today, "Selling Your Skills", and at 10:30 tomorrow morning, "The Work Finding Package". The career resource centre on the first floor of Needles Hall can provide more information.

An information session on international work opportunities is planned for 7:00 tonight in Davis Centre room 1304, sponsored by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group. "If you are aged 18 to 30, adventurous and motivated," an announcement says, "then join an international team and travel to remote regions of Nicaragua, Vanuatu, Costa Rica and Guyana. Work overseas for five to ten weeks, with local people, on powerful community-based projects." Youth Challenge International will tell more at tonight's open meeting.

Don't worry, be happy: the employee assistance program presents a session this Thursday on "Managing Anxiety". It's a half-day (afternoon) session led by psychologist Martin Antony. A green flyer was distributed to staff members recently inviting them to sign up; approval from the employee's supervisor is needed.

CAR