Bob Cressman, a popular member of staff in the information systems and technology department, who was responsible for Windows 95 and Windows NT support, died suddenly yesterday. "He collapsed during his noon walk in the woods," a colleague wrote last night, "and could not be revived. His family has been contacted, and further details will be provided as they become known to us."

It's still hard to hire female profs

And that, said Roger Mannell of the recreation and leisure studies department, is likely a big reason why just 9 of the 52 proposed faculty appointments that it reviewed last year were going to women. (The committee reviews "proposals", not actual hirings, because in some cases UW might make an offer that was then turned down by the potential professor.)

Nine out of 52 is 17 per cent. In the previous year the figure was 16 per cent; before that, 21. "It's been up and down," said Mannell at Monday's senate meeting, adding that in general the representation of women is "not very good".

But, he pointed out, it varies greatly by faculty. In arts last year, 4 of 10 proposed hirings were of women; in AHS 1 out of 2, and in environmental studies 1 out of 3. At the other extreme, in engineering there were no women out of 13 proposals. (Figures for the other two faculties: math, 1 of 16; science, 1 of 8.)

"This indeed is a serious problem," said the dean of arts, Bob Kerton. "The issue was brought to my attention at a recent faculty relations committee meeting," said provost Amit Chakma, "and I'm going to be looking into it."

Several members of senate noted that UW probably hires a fair proportion of women considering how many women are in the pool of PhD graduates in the fields where most hiring is going on, such as computer science and engineering. The only way to see a big improvement, said the dean of graduate studies, Jake Sivak, will be to increase the number of women who earn graduate degrees.

Other senators mentioned that women who are qualified for faculty positions -- especially the very best ones -- are in high demand, have their choice of university, and might not be attracted by Ontario's relatively low salary levels. And Mary Thompson, who recently served a term as acting dean of math, mentioned one other problem: the difficulty of finding positions together in a small city for a couple who are both academics. Perhaps UW and neighbouring universities could cooperate to make it easier for such couples to find jobs close together, she suggested.

UARC reported that of the 52 proposals it reviewed in 2000-01, 42 went to Canadians (or permanent residents) and 10 to foreigners. Eleven were appointments with tenure, 34 were for probationary terms and 7 were for definite-term appointments.

Ad from UW in today's papers "Congratulations, University of Waterloo," says a full-page ad in the Globe and Mail and the Record this morning. The ad is trumpeting UW's recent successes in the Maclean's magazine ratings of Canadian universities. The ad lists some of the people UW can thank for its success, from alumni and co-op employers to staff members (for "tireless dedication"). It was paid for by "friends" of the university -- Ernst & Young and Manulife for the ad in the Record; Deloitte & Touche, RBC Financial Group, Royal LePage and Towers Perrin for the ad in the Globe's business section.

Race relations lecture tonight

The topic of her speech will be "Race to the Top? -- Mapping the Course of Intercultural and Race Relations in Canada." The speech begins at 7 p.m.

Before her recent appointment, Mock chaired the Advisory Committee on Canada's preparations for the UN World Conference Against Racism, and was a member of the Canadian delegation that was sent to the conference in Durban, South Africa. She has extensive experience in issues of race, gender, and discrimination, and for the past 12 years has been the national director of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada. She is also a registered psychologist and certified teacher specializing in human development, interpersonal communication, multiculturalism and race relations.

The "2020" series has been running since 1999. "The motivation for this initiative rose out of the observation that in this age of ever-accelerating progress and constant change, people rarely have the time to stop and think about the direction of society and their role within it," said Wafi Abdulla, one of the organizers and an arts student majoring in political science and economics.

"While some individuals may contemplate what the newest changes and trends for the next month and perhaps even the next year will be, the vast majority do not consider the changes and trends that will emerge in the decades ahead. By bringing high-profile visionaries as speakers to UW to discuss their views on the direction of society, the series has inspired attendees, and shown them how they can best participate in and contribute to the development of Canada, and indeed the world."

Tomorrow . . . It's the deadline for nominations and applications for this year's President's Circle Awards for Volunteerism, given each year to recognize volunteer work both on and off campus. "Office Hours", a play by Norm Foster ("a Canadian comedy") is being presented by the Engineering Society, Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00, in Environmental Studies II room 284. Tickets are $6, on sale now at the EngSoc office in Carl Pollock Hall. It'll be Buy Nothing Day, according to the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group; a talk on the subject, by David Black of Wilfrid Laurier University, is scheduled for 12 noon in Student Life Centre room 2133. The UW Stage Band will give its fall concert ("College Jazz") at 8 p.m. at Conrad Grebel University College.

Maybe the year's busiest day

Voting is winding up in the Federation of Students referendum. Students can vote either on-line or at campus polling stations, until 4:15 this afternoon. (Locations: Arts Lecture Hall; Biology I room 266; the foyer of Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University; Carl Pollock Hall foyer; the great hall of Village I; the third floor of Math and Computer; and Davis Centre room 1301.) The ballot asks undergraduate students whether they wish to contribute an additional $13.80 per term to pay for an expansion of the Student Life Centre, construction of an additional gym at the Columbia Icefield, construction of a fitness and conditioning facility at the Icefield, and construction of a women's hockey dressing room.

Steam (heat) will be turned off in the Physics building from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for maintenance work, the plant operations department advises.

Health services will be closed for staff training in the morning, opening for the day at 12:30 p.m.

The annual Farvolden Lecture in the department of earth sciences will be given in the Humanities Theatre at 2 p.m. This year's speaker is Frank Schwartz of the Ohio State University, speaking on "Big Projects and Big Science: Lessons to Be Learned". After the lecture there will be a research poster display by graduate students -- oh, and refreshments.

"The Virtual Field Station" is the theme of the "design café" sponsored by the LT3 learning centre, starting at 11:30. David Rittenhouse of the University of Calgary will demonstrate a CD-ROM and web-based tutorial for biology students. The presentation can be seen live by professors here (in the LT3 offices in the Dana Porter Library) and over the Internet by similar groups at several other institutions across Canada.

A half-day session on "Managing Anxiety", sponsored by the employee assistance program and the staff training program, will take a number of staff members away from their desks starting at 1:30 today. (Hmm, I wonder if that's what the "panic disorders" sign is referring to.) Led by psychologist Martin Antony of McMaster University, the workshop promises to "review and discuss practical strategies". It's being held in the Davis Centre.

Suzanne Stevenson of the University of Toronto will speak on "Conversing with a Computer: The Statistical Side of Semantics", in a talk sponsored by the Women in Mathematics Committee (3:30, Math and Computer room 5158).

Jan Narveson of UW's philosophy department will speak on "The Trouble with Theological Terrorism", in a session sponsored by the Philosophy Undergraduate Society, starting at 4:00 in Environmental Studies II room 173.

An information meeting for students in the arts faculty, about third year abroad programs, will start at 4:30 in Humanities room 334.

A meeting of the faculty association's "council of representatives" is scheduled for 5:00 today in Davis Centre room 1568 (inside the Davis library).

The Entrepreneurs Association of UW presents a talk today by Lloyd Darlington, who heads the "Emf!sys" operation within the Bank of Montreal. His topic: "Maintaining an Entrepreneurial Environment within a Large Corporation". The event starts at 5:30 in Davis Centre room 1302.

Cabinet minister Don Boudria, who's a UW graduate, will host a gathering of Waterloo alumni in the West Block of the Parliament Buildings (right)in Ottawa, 6 to 8 p.m. The event was postponed from an earlier date after the September terrorism crisis, and is considered to be an important one for UW's alumni relations and public image in the national capital.

"Antelope Country" is the title of this week's presentation in the school of architecture's weekly series, "24 Academic Positions". Tonight's speaker is faculty member Don McKay (7 p.m., Environmental Studies room 286).

And the Korean film series continues tonight with "The Day a Pig Fell into the Well", at 7 p.m. in East Campus Hall room 1220.

The talk of the campus

Jude Doble of UW's alumni affairs office says there's special offer until mid-December on frames for UW diplomas: "The UW Gold Metal Diploma Frame is on sale at 25% off regular price. Sale price is $38.99 plus tax. Also there is no shipping fee from now until December 21. If an order is placed by December 14, our supplier is quite certain that he can send it anywhere in North America before December 25. Of course, they can also be picked up at the office in South Campus Hall between 8:30 and 4:30. Orders can be phoned in at ext. 2038."

Word from the university secretariat: "At its October 30 meeting, the Board of Governors approved the appointment of Dr. Mike Lazaridis, President and co-CEO, Research in Motion Ltd., as a community-at-large member of the Board with a three-year term, from May 1, 2002, to April 30, 2005." There are ten such "at-large" seats on the 36-member board of governors.

Also from the secretariat: "The Senate by-elections for one full- or part-time graduate student, and one full-time ES/IS undergraduate student, closed Tuesday, November 20, at 4 p.m. The results are as follows: Graduate student (term to April 30, 2002): Amer Dawoud (Systems Design Engineering) is the successful candidate with 46 votes; Angela Garabet received 33 votes. ES/IS undergraduate student (term to April 30, 2002): Nayan Gandhi (Planning) was elected with 26 votes; Stephen Gardiner received 14 votes."

Students can make a little extra money shovelling snow this winter, as long as they can get up early. Says a note from Les Van Dongen in the grounds section of plant operations, written day before yesterday: "The nasty dusting of white stuff on the ground this morning reminded me that it is probably time again to advertise for snow shovellers for the coming winter. The rate of pay is $8.50 per hour. We need people at 7:30 in the morning whenever there is an inch or so of snow on the ground. We provide shovels. Interested people need to be dressed to work outside. They can contact me at ext. 4010."

A memo went out to staff and faculty members a few days ago, reminding them about the provisions of UW's flexible pension plan which allows extra "voluntary tax-deductible contributions" to the pension fund. The letter, from the human resources department, warns about the "use it or lose it" provision in the plan, and notes that people who do want to make such contributions for the 2001 tax year have to do it by December 14. More information is available on the web.

One of UW's teams placed first in the regional ACM programming competition a few days ago, and now it turns out that Waterloo's other team placed fourth rather than ninth. How did that happen? A memo from the judges, based at Ashland University in Ohio, explains: "After the contest completed, a possible error in the judges' solution for Problem A was brought to the attention of the judges. They found that their solution was indeed incorrect and hence those teams that were judged to having solved Problem A correctly were in fact incorrect. (But in the same way the judges' were incorrect!) Two teams that had programs judged incorrect were, in fact correct. Since it is now impossible to return the programs originally judged correct, it would be unfair to change those judgements. However, all runs judged incorrect have been rejudged and the two new correct runs have been added to the scoreboard. Note this does not change the ranking of the top three teams. However, it does boost one team to fourth place." That would be UW.

The United Way campaign on campus officially ended October 31, but money has continued to trickle in. "Thank you, everyone, for a tremendous effort!" says a message on the campaign's web page. It gives figures as of November 20: $162,012 received in gifts, pledges and the proceeds of special events. That's 108 per cent of the $150,000 goal. Gifts came from 493 faculty and staff members, 106 retirees, and 16 graduate students.

And finally . . . a happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans and quasi-Americans among us, and to any Bulletin readers in the United States today.

CAR