April 18, 2002

Thursday, April 18, 2002

Ex-student is May 8 speaker
Summer opportunity at St. Jerome's
What AHS graduates do, really
A few other bits and pieces

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Universities compete for media attention

[Cheng gestures]

Ex-student is May 8 speaker

Two years ago she was just finishing a term as president of the Federation of Students, after earning a degree in systems design engineering. And now she's been invited to speak from one of UW's most respected pulpits.

Christine Cheng (left) has been announced as the speaker for the tenth annual Friends of the Library event, scheduled for noon-hour on Wednesday, May 8. She follows television personality Pamela Wallin, who spoke last year, as well as several UW researchers and other people with something important to say. The series was inaugurated by James Downey, speaking less than a month after he took office as UW's president, in the spring of 1993.

The campus community is invited to attend the event, which now bears the name of "Authors Event" and celebrates the work of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Says a news release announcing the event: "In our 10th year, who better to to be our featured speaker than one of our former students who certainly will be one of the leaders of tomorrow? Christine Cheng is a recent UW graduate, BASc '99, and has just completed her MA in public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University."

Her talk on May 8 will be under the title "Transforming Technology: A Social Dilemma."

The library office says organizers are still looking for authors, artists and musicians whose work needs to be recognized on that day: "The display of the creative works of our campus community is an integral part of the Authors Event. If you are an artist, author, musician, designer, etc., and have had work published in 2001 please contact Mary Stanley in the library office, ext. 6019 or mstanley@uwaterloo.ca, and she will ensure that your work is include in the display."

Summer opportunity at St. Jerome's

Here's an idea for a vacation: a Vacation with Ideas, this summer at St. Jerome's University.

"Make an unhurried escape into the world of ideas and immerse yourself in great works and enduring themes," say organizers. "Read, converse, listen, and reflect. Meet new friends. Linger over meals and live comfortably in our residence. Explore the delights of Waterloo region and enjoy a trip to the Stratford Festival. Walk the shady campus grounds. Re-energize your spirit and revitalize your mind."

Vacationers have a choice of two "lively summer seminars" -- with no exams -- each exploring a different idea:

"The Idea of Love" (Saturday, July 13, to Thursday, July 18) considers "the idea of love through the ages in an effort to gain a perspective on what love is and what it means to us now. Using Plato's famous dialogue on love as our point of departure, we will explore the expression and meaning of love in its various guises, from classical 'ideal' love to 'courtly love' to 'love at first sight.' Our dialogue will range from earthly love to spiritual love, from Dante's Beatrice to Quixote's Dulcinea, from Renaissance songs and sonnets to modern poetry. To enrich the discussion, we will attend a Stratford Festival performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which dramatizes the story of young tragic lovers whose expressions of longing have become the ideal expressions of an ideal love." The core text will be Plato's Symposium; other selections, considered as excerpts only, will be provided to all participants.
"Fighting the Face of Evil" (Sunday, July 28, to Friday, August 2) explores the idea of heroism, from the classical heroes who could challenge fate and summon the gods to their cause to modern hero Frodo Baggins: "small, innocent and armed only with his resolution. Using Tolkien's Frodo and the continuing fascination with Lord of the Rings as our point of departure, we will follow the thread of classical, medieval, renaissance and modern ideas about heroism, from Oedipus and the Sphinx, to 'the horror' of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. A trip to Stratford for a performance of Shakespeare's Richard III -- a knowing and cunning vision of evil -- will enhance discussion of the hero and anti-hero." The core text will be the first volume of the Tolkien trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

Facilitator for the seminars is John Greenwood, a Philipsburg, Ontario, writer and editor who has taught in the cultural history program at the UW school of architecture, as well as in the departments of English at the University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario and Carleton University.

The registration fee -- $540 plus tax per session -- covers reading materials and instructional costs, lunch for four days, dinner and a performance at the Stratford Festival, and a closing banquet and lecture. Accommodation and meals are available for an additional cost. Enrolment in each session is limited to 12 people. For more information, contact Harry Froklage at St. Jerome's, froklage@uwaterloo.ca or 884-8111, ext. 255.

What AHS graduates do, really

Here's a letter I received by e-mail this week, from an alumnus whose name is not to be used with it:

"One of my favourite daily rituals is to read the Bulletin to keep in touch and I think you do a great job representing what's really out there in the UW community. That's why I feel the need to share some information that may not have been available to you when you wrote the article on April 11, 2002 concerning 'AHS students find jobs'.

"I started off in science at UW and when I switched over to AHS Kinesiology program I got a lot of the following comments: So you going to be a personal trainer? Are you going into physiotherapy? Are you going to become a gym teacher? These are all legitimate, rewarding employment opportunities, but the possibilities an AHS degree affords a graduate have grown substantially.

"There's a stereotype of an AHS graduate out there, and I think there was a missed opportunity to showcase a broader, more technical range of employment that can be achieved with an AHS degree. Take these places of employment for current AHS graduates as an example: GM, Ford, Honda, The Boeing Company, Ontario Power Generation, WSIB, Hospitals and major pharmaceutical companies.

"While positions held in the listed companies are health related; there's a key element that must be noted. Companies are recognizing the need for better polices in health and injury prevention and are using Waterloo graduates to do it. Being part of a large corporation there's an abundance of opportunity for an AHS graduate to showcase their ability to learn new tasks and perhaps move up the corporate ladder and do something "outside" of the health profession. AHS can contribute to the talent we so often hear about at career fairs that will build tomorrow."

A few other bits and pieces

It's another warm day, with a forecast high of 26 (that's 79 for followers of the old-time religion). Don't know about your building, but there seems to be a bit more air here in Needles Hall than we had yesterday, thanks to efforts from the plant operations department. Word is that the phone was ringing off the hook in the powerhouse yesterday afternoon with requests for ventilation. . . .

There was an open meeting in the science faculty yesterday, one of several being held by the finance office across campus to discuss new regulations about the administration of research funds. I was told yesterday that some researchers are far from happy about what they see as new constraints on transferring money from one project to another. Discussion at the meeting was "forthright", says one person who attended. . . .

Co-op students who are still looking for spring term jobs should attend an end-of-term meeting today, at which the co-op and career services department will give information and advice. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. in Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall room 101. (A repeat session is scheduled for Monday at 1:00 in Arts Lecture room 116, for those who can't get to the meeting today.)

Tomorrow's the deadline for nominations for executive committee positions in UW's staff association. The association is looking for a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and two directors -- plus a president-elect, to learn the ropes in the coming year and serve as president in 2003-04. Last-minute and nomination forms are available from the association office at ext. 3566.

A couple of meetings today:

The senate scholarships and student aid committee, 9 a.m. in Needles Hall room 3004.
The joint health and safety committee, 1:30 p.m. in Health Services room 126.

But the meeting of the senate research council that had been scheduled for this afternoon has been cancelled.

Scheduled for 12 noon today, in Davis Centre 1302, is a session sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program: "Being a Friend When Your Friend Has Cancer". The speaker is Nancy Leach Schaeffer of HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre.

Spy expert Wesley Wark, who spoke here in January, is back tonight, giving a talk sponsored by the local branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. Wark, of the history department at the University of Toronto, is co-editor of the journal Intelligence and National Security, among other distinctions, and will be speaking on "September 11 and the Future of Canadian Intelligence". The talk starts at 7 p.m. at the University Club; admission is free.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
April 18, 1985: A fire hits the basement of Chemistry II about 5:30 a.m., doing extensive damage to laser chemistry laboratories.