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Architecture launches lecture series

The year-long title is "24 Academic Positions", representing 24 faculty members who make the architecture school what it is. Every Thursday evening over the next two terms one faculty member will present some aspect of his or her research or creative work "to the entire School audience", a news release explains. Every one of the seventeen full-time faculty will be participating, along with two professors emeritus and five adjunct faculty.

"Not only are these lectures a departure for the School," the release says, "but taken together they make a series that is rare in any academic community and perhaps unique at the University of Waterloo. Included over the course of the series: presentations of architectural projects and planning proposals; reports on building techniques and practices; accounts of research into form and its digital representations; industrial designs; historic accounts; literary work; a consideration of the psychology of space; technical case studies; and a story of architectural research and expert testimony."

Sixteen of the lectures will accompany exhibitions installed for a week in the lobby of Environmental Studies II, where the architecture school makes its home. A special space is being built there to accommodate them.

"The range of lectures and exhibitions is a testament to the School's versatility," says architecture director Eric Haldenby. "We hope you will be able to attend one or more of these lectures and participate in an on-going educational experiment."

The series begins tonight with "Entertainment Architecture: Technology + Design", a talk by adjunct professor Rick Hopkins. The lectures will be given at 7:00 each Thursday night in the "green room", room 286, of Environmental Studies II. The related exhibitions will open at 5 p.m. on Thursdays and run for six days in the ES2 lobby.

Buffy rules: Samantha Nguyen and Ron Tsang were spreading the word about the UW Buffy Watchers' Club at Clubs Day on Tuesday at the Student Life Centre. Just beginning its third year on campus, the club boasts more than 200 members who gather to watch episodes and snack on pizza. The attraction? According to Tsang, "Vampires are a metaphor for the obstacles of life."

Alarm sounds in the art gallery -- from yesterday's Gazette

In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, UW art gallery curator Carol Podedworny describes "Cathexis" (2001) as a work in which three fire bells are poised over three boxes, warning "we might not want to unleash what is contained within."

Adeney's "search for the roots of our longings, our dreams, our destructive passions" includes "Secrets and Desires" (1997), a collection of boxes encapsulating such enigmatic contents as "ceramic eggs, larvae and insects in various stages of metamorphosis". In "Power Source II" (1997), the interior of boxes is not visible, but suggested by an array of "electrical references" including cords, plugs, and outlets.

"Contained energy as internal human struggle" also appears as metaphor in "Faultline" (1999) and "Stations of Memory" (2000). "We cannot see what is inside yet we know it must be powerful, even violent, contained as it is behind metal, rivets, wire cord and chains," Podedworny writes.

UW writer and editor Linda Kenyon has contributed "a fictive response to the work in the exhibition . . . (using) the works in the exhibition as a springboard," adds Podedworny. The short story "Signs of Forced Entry" is printed in the catalogue.

Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday; and 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Also today The Midnight Sun solar car team is looking for new participants. "All students are welcome, regardless of faculty or program," says recruitment coordinator (and systems design engineering student) Chris Urbaniak. "No experience necessary." There's a meeting at 5:00 this afternoon in Ground Zero in the Student Life Centre, for anybody who would like to know more. Auditions for Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", the first drama department production of the season, begin today. Auditions start at 3:45 today, and again Monday, in Humanities room 180. Anybody interested should have a word ahead of time with the drama department, phone ext. 5808. With a major career fair scheduled for next Wednesday -- I hope to have some information soon to pass along -- the co-op and career services department is offering a workshop today on "Making the Career Fair Work for You". It starts at 1:30 in Needles Hall room 1020. Campus recreation registration has been going on for a couple of days, but there might be space left in some programs. If there is, anybody interested can register today between 9:00 and 3:00 in Physical Activities Complex room 2039.

Climbing the corporate ladder -- from the UW news bureau

She will be "touching on issues such as: secrets of a rising star, leadership, women in business (mother of two), and how her accounting education and background have helped her in various capacities," said Jackie Rumyee, ASEC fourth-year class representative. Maidment's career includes a stint as chief financial officer of Mutual Life -- now Clarica -- where she played a major role in planning the company's demutualization.

The event takes place beginning at 4 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building.

The talk of the campus

Research funding at UW in the past year was $83 million, vice-president (university research) Paul Guild told the university senate on Monday, and he expects a higher figure in 2001-02. "We could easily poke through $100 million," he said. Besides existing projects, "we have some very strong applications" for new grants from major federal and provincial programs, Guild said. Research is now the third largest component of UW's finances, behind government operating grants and tuition fees.

Mark Walker, currently an instructor in the biology department, has been named assistant registrar in charge of engineering and science, the registrar announced a few days ago. Before moving to biology, Walker headed the organic geochemistry laboratory in the earth sciences department. "He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD in biology from Waterloo," says a memo from registrar Ken Lavigne, "and has played a leadership role in the Staff Association, serving as president in 1996. He is keenly aware of the needs of our students and those of the faculties he will serve." There are two other assistant registrars: Gwen Sharp in charge of mathematics and applied health sciences, and a vacant position in charge of arts and environmental studies. ("Recruiting continues.")

There should be no more of those tangles duct-taped to walls and ceilings in Ron Eydt Village, as the last of UW's residences were wired for the Internet this summer. That includes the half of REV that wasn't previously done, plus the Columbia Lake Townhouses and the Minota Hagey Residence. Resnet now brings the wired world right into students' rooms, without the need for individually strung lines to a cable outlet way down in the lounge. Meanwhile, there's been some talk this week on the newsgroup uw.network about the limits imposed by the Resnet system on just how much bandwidth any one residence user can take up. "The number of Resnet connections in use has not yet stabilized," Roger Watt of information systems and technology reported. "It has now reached 2,958 of a possible 4,083 and grows daily. We are not yet at the point where the bandwidth is saturated during the day and evening hours most weekdays. I anticipate that we will be able to liberalize" the limits, but "it is still about two weeks too early to make a well-informed recommendation."

Here's an intriguing note from math student Aylwin Lo: "So what does it take to be a real man? Examples these days seem scant, and the perception on campus seems to be that most men are as well rounded as the Math building. It's about time someone scraped two cents together on the topic, and with that formidable task in mind, the initiative has been put into a brand new publication on campus with the aim of showcasing, in print, the art and literature of men. What's that, you say? Men? Yes, men. Inspired by other annual publications, the as-of-yet unnamed journal is looking for submissions from men both real and aspiring, as well as volunteers of either gender. Submissions blurring genders will also be welcomed. Questions and submissions should be directed to asklo@uwaterloo.ca and/or lsmmchug@uwaterloo.ca."

Advance notes of two events: the annual open house for distance ("correspondence") students is to be held Saturday, September 29. And the staff association says it will hold a "town hall meeting" at noon hour on Wednesday, October 10.

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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