![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
New chair celebrated todayGovernment and industry representatives will be on campus this morning to launch UW's newest research chair, the university's news bureau says.The chair is in "filter and switch technologies", and will be held by Raafat Mansour of the electrical and computer engineering department. Total funding is $1.85 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Com Dev Ltd., the news bureau says. Today's event starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Davis Centre lounge. |
That advice comes from a gathering of associate deans meeting, in response to a request from the provost, to review how the six faculties handle marks problems. They are advising that each faculty does need rules on the subject, but that they don't have to be the same across campus.
Undergraduate council meetingThe undergraduate council will meet at 1:30 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3004.On the agenda, besides the issue of marks changes:
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Such incidents are rare anywhere at UW, the associate deans say in their report, but they're possible, and rules need to be established ahead of time. Their brief report is accompanied by many pages of background on informal procedures and related issues gathered from across campus. There's also a proposal from the faculty association -- which supported the unsuccessful grievance in the math case last year -- offering its own proposed procedure.
In October, provost Amit Chakma referred the whole topic to the undergraduate council, as well as the graduate council. "I would appreciate receiving specific recommendations," he wrote. The undergrad council includes associate deans and faculty members from each faculty, administrators and student representatives.
The report from the associate deans that comes to today's meeting makes three points:
1. It is not appropriate or necessary for a uniform procedure re: changing class grades. Given the significant differences among Faculties in the way in which they operate, both academically and administratively, it does not seem reasonable (or, in fact, doable) to require uniformity. One size does not fit all.However, while recognizing the rarity of such occurrences, each Faculty must (to maintain program integrity regardless of the frequency of the event) have both the ability to make and a mechanism for making changes to class marks submitted by instructors. The details of the procedures should be left up to each Faculty to determine and agree upon. With the exception of the Faculty of Mathematics, none of the Faculties have formal procedures for changing class grades. Further, none of the Faculties, including Mathematics, have a pro-active procedure for reviewing grades (i.e., an oversight role) in order to determine whether there are issues -- this should be addressed by each Faculty.
2. Details that should be common to all procedures. Based on the data compiled re: current procedures, there appears, in all Faculties, to be no consistent mechanism for identifying problems before the grades are submitted to the Registrar's Office. Although the details should be left up to each Faculty, Faculty-wide procedures should incorporate a mechanism for review of all class grades submitted. Currently, in all Faculties, instructors submit class grades to a support person in their unit who then forwards the grades to the Registrar's Office. . . . No review of the grades is done at the unit level. This review/oversight opportunity should occur at this time and at the unit level. It would also make sense for the review to be conducted by someone in an academic position (e.g., department Chair or Undergraduate Chair). . . .
3. Role of Deans and Committees. Aware of the subjectiveness of grading, and academic freedom issues, each Faculty should identify procedures to be followed in the event that an issue arises and cannot be handled informally. Who or what body should be the solomon should also be left up to each Faculty to determine. Although the Dean's authority in such matters is acknowledged, it may make sense for the Dean to appoint a small committee (e.g., Dean, Associate Dean, Chair or determine the makeup of the committee depending on the course under review [e.g., choose past instructors]) or authorize an existing committee to make the decision. . . . If the decision is to change the marks against the judgement of the instructor, it must be recognized that the marks are now submitted by the Faculty (as opposed to the instructor).
Voting will resume after reading week, with the polls open February 22 through March 1, the Federation office says.
The Feds' election committee made the decision yesterday morning on the instructions of students' council, after council was told at a Sunday evening meeting that one of the vice-presidential candidates -- David Huynh -- seemed to have been left off the ballot and there were eligible student voters who weren't on the voting list. It's the opposite of what happened in the November student referendum, in which thousands of names were on the voters list that shouldn't have been there.
Voting had opened Friday at 4:30 p.m. and was supposed to run for a week. Students are electing a president and three vice-presidents (student issues, administration and finance, and education) for the Federation, as well as some students' council members and an at-large representative on the university senate.
Says an announcement released after lunch yesterday by Brandon Sweet, Federation staff member and chief returning officer for the election: "The decision to postpone the election was based on two factors, one relating to an error in the VPSI ballot that excluded one of the four candidates as a possible choice for voters, and the other relating to a voter's list that was generated before some students had finished paying their fees, resulting in their exclusion from the list.
"The Elections Committee felt that this course of action was fairest to the candidates affected by the VPSI ballot problem, the candidates as a whole, and the electorate at UW."
In its ruling, the committee said the problems bring "the credibility of the election into question".
Also tomorrowStaff association town hall meeting, 12 noon, Arts Lecture Hall room 124.Ash Wednesday services: Roman Catholic, 12:00, 5:00 and 7:00, Notre Dame Chapel, St. Jerome's University; Anglican, 12:00 and 7:00, St. Bede's Chapel, Renison College. "Free lunch and great technology", presentation from Apple Canada, 12 noon, Davis Centre room 1304. |
Strong, president of Solar Design Associates Inc. in Harvard, Massachusetts, is considered the pre-eminent authority on the integration of renewable energy systems in buildings in North America. He has won the American Solar Energy Society's Charles Greeley Abbot Award for outstanding achievement in the advancement of solar energy.
His free lecture, "Solar Electric Architecture", will take place at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in Davis Centre room 1351. The next day, he will give a similar lecture at the University of Toronto. Both lectures are sponsored by ARISE Technologies Corporation of Kitchener.
"The last two decades have brought significant changes to the design profession," said Ryan Kennedy of ARISE Technologies. "In the wake of traumatic escalations in energy prices, shortages, embargoes and war along with heightened concerns over pollution, environmental degradation and resource depletion, awareness of the environmental impact of our work as design professionals has dramatically increased."
Visionary architects, Kennedy said, have come to understand that it is no longer the goal of good design to just create an esthetically pleasing building -- a building must be environmentally responsive as well. So instead of using a little less non-renewable fuels and creating less pollution, buildings of the 21st century will rely on renewable resources to produce some or all of their own energy.
One of the most promising renewable energy technologies is solar electricity or photovoltaics (PV). These solid-state devices make electricity out of sunlight, silently with no maintenance, pollution and depletion of material. Kennedy said that interest in the building integration of photovoltaics is growing world-wide. Such integration means the PV elements become part of the building itself, often serving as the exterior weathering skin.
Strong will present a world overview of building-integrated PV activity including a description of component and systems development with many built examples of solar electric architecture from the United States, Europe and Japan. He says these early PV-powered buildings provide a window into the coming new era of environmentally responsive, energy-producing buildings where the elegant, life-affirming technology will become an integral part of the built environment.
Events today, briefly"Meeting the New UW Web Site Standards", presentation and discussion for web page creators, 10:30 a.m., Math and Computer room 2009.Teaching resources workshop, "Motivating Students: Creating an Inspiring Environment", 12 noon, Math and Computer room 5158. Arts faculty council meeting, 3:30, Humanities room 373. "An intellectual discussion on university funding", involving student leaders and representatives of government and the universities, co-sponsored by UW's Federation of Students, their Wilfrid Laurier University counterparts and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance: Paul Martin Centre at WLU, from 2 to 4 p.m. "The purpose of this discussion," writes Ryan Stammers of the Feds, "is to have an open dialogue among various stakeholders in the education system about funding issues and its effects on today's students. We hope to create an open and comfortable atmosphere that will be conducive to an effective and informative discussion." Alumni reception at the Canadian consulate in Boston, 6 to 8 p.m., starring UW president David Johnston and alumnus and president of Cyberplex Dean Hopkins (whom I mistakenly called "Dan" in yesterday's Bulletin). |
People have been asking why the university flags are flying at half-staff. The answer: Mourning for Princess Margaret, sister of the Queen, who died Saturday. It's become a UW custom to lower the flags when the federal government does so, says Lois Claxton, secretary of the university.
By late January, 93 out of every hundred co-op students who were supposed to be at work this term actually had jobs, the co-op and career services department reports. A chart says 313 students (including 175 from math and 102 from engineering) were still unemployed for the winter, while 4,149 students did have jobs. "The figures speak for themselves," writes co-op director Bruce Lumsden. "We have approximately the same number of students scheduled to go out to work this winter term as last year. The increase in unemployed students is a direct result of the recent economic downturn." He notes that unemployed students have each been assigned a coordinator: "We will continue to work with these students over the next few weeks to secure employment."
The local division of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind brings its annual crocus sale fund-raiser to campus today. Potted plants have been on sale in local malls for the past several days, and today a South Campus Hall location is added. "The cost of these counter/desk top plants is $4.00 a pot or three pots for $10," a news release notes. "The first flower of spring is available in the colour purple. These plants will bloom year after year and can be planted in your garden. These decorative potted plants will brighten up your office, desk or windowsill, and they will make great Valentine's Day gifts."
Today is Shrove Tuesday, a.k.a. Mardi Gras, a.k.a. Pancake Tuesday, and there are a couple of places on campus to eat the traditional pancakes. One is Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, promising pancakes with fruit sauce for lunch. The other is Ground Zero in the Student Life Centre, with an all-day special of "four fluffy pancakes (regular or blueberry) and a coffee or pop" for $2.99.
![[Gong xi fa cai!]](/1997/feb/cny.gif)
In an interesting coincidence, today also brings the Chinese
new year, the Year of the Horse,
and food services will be celebrating that one with a New Year dinner
from 4:30 to 7:00 both at Mudie's and in the Ron Eydt Village cafeteria.
A note from the local Volunteer Action Centre: "Promoting healthy body image and self-esteem to young teens is just one of the reasons people get involved with the Eating Disorders Awareness Coalition of Waterloo Region. Others want to let people know that there is help and support available in our community. What they all have in common is the commitment to the organization's purpose: to promote positive body image and self-acceptance through education and awareness of eating disorders, weight and size prejudice. They are currently inviting others who share this belief to join their Board of Directors. This position has a flexible time commitment of approximately 1-2 hours a week." For more information, the VAC can be reached at 742-8610.
Finally, the Daily Bulletin wouldn't be complete as a record of life at Waterloo if I didn't mention Math Gala Girl, who's been the topic of much conversation in the Math and Computer building and got some press in MathNews a few days ago. It seems flyers appeared around MC from an anonymous female arts student who said she wanted to expand her social life beyond the arts side of the campus, and would somebody take her to the Math Grad Ball on March 9? There's no word on whether she actually ended up with a date, but she did answer some questions by e-mail for MathNews: she has a dress (black) ready for the event, she'll choose the roast beef, and yes, she has a sister. Meanwhile, mathies are buying their Grad Ball tickets ($45) at noon hour in the MC third-floor hallway.
CAR
TODAY IN UW HISTORYFebruary 12, 1969: The faculty association holds a tribute for recently retired president Gerry Hagey, and it is announced that the Hagey Lectures will be established in his honour. |