February 20, 2002

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

The last Descartes competition
Seeking more international students
Civic talks for four more weeks
Happening on campus today

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

The universal day of symmetry, and more about 2002

[Even one with blue tresses]

Hours away from receiving their Iron Rings, and a few more hours away from the legendary Iron Ring Stag, this crowd of soon-to-be-graduate engineers felt they had to visit the president's office as part of yesterday's celebrations. That's UW provost Amit Chakma, directly under the Exit sign, posing with them.

The last Descartes competition -- by Barbara Elve, from today's Gazette

The UW-sponsored Descartes Contest, which has challenged the mathematical problem-solving skills of more than 200,000 senior secondary school students across Canada and around the world since 1968, will be written for the last time this April.

Administered by the UW mathematics faculty with the help of hundreds of high school math teachers, the contest, geared to the Ontario Grade 13 math curriculum, will end with the elimination of Grade 13 this year.

"Since we're losing a grade, we'll have kids write the Euclid Contest in Grade 12," said Peter Crippin, director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, which administers math competitions for elementary and secondary school students. Like the Descartes, the Euclid is primarily a problem-solving paper, he adds, but is based mainly on the Grade 11 and 12 Ontario math curriculum.

In the Descartes, students test their knowledge of basic calculus and concepts in linear algebra, said Crippin. A new revised version of the Euclid, to be introduced next spring, will incorporate some of that content, and will be more national in scope. Sifting through the Grade 12 curricula of school boards across the country to assemble the new Euclid is "an immense job", he adds.

[In front of blackboard]
Peter Crippin, director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, and Ron Dunkley, former director of the Canadian Math Competition, prepare for the last writing of the Descartes Contest by the last Grade 13 students on April 17.
Over the years, the Descartes has been written by secondary school students from Canada, U.S.A, the Caribbean, Germany, Israel, the Philippines, the former Soviet Union, Australia, Botswana, Ireland, Great Britain and China. Last spring some 10,000 students participated in the competition, which is marked by their high school math teachers.

Designed to stimulate students' interest in problem-solving, the Descartes has also been used by the math faculty in identifying candidates for entrance scholarships. Although writing the Descartes is not currently required for admission to math programs at UW, if you have good Descartes marks and are applying for admission, "it would help," said Crippin.

In assessing the impact of the competition, he believes the Descartes has been the most important influence in the Ontario math educational scene in the past 35 years. It motivated teachers and students and encouraged interaction between high school and the university. "It made teachers and students aware than mathematics is more than just mechanical calculations -- that it involves thinking and problem solving. It gave students a vision of what they could be, and what teachers could shoot for, and made the University of Waterloo a major contributor to the Ontario mathematics community."

Seeking more international students

The registrar's office is advertising today for six new jobs in undergraduate admissions -- part of a UW effort to increase the number of international students, as well as students from other provinces.

The idea dates back at least to the 1999 "Beyond Borders" report on internationalization. Said that report:

In November 1998, 235 full-time undergraduate visa students were registered at UW (including its federated University and affiliated Colleges), representing 1.8% of the total full-time undergraduate population. This percentage is low in comparison to other Canadian universities, for which visa students consist, on average, 4.6% of total full-time undergraduate registration. In 1998, there were 215 (not all paying full fees) full-time graduate visa students, representing 13.7% of the total graduate student population and placing UW above the average of 11.3% of full-time graduate students at Canadian universities and 8.2% at Ontario universities.

Registrar Ken Lavigne (right) notes that a $50 "evaluation" fee is being charged, starting this year, to "non-OSS" students seeking to enter UW. That includes international students, as well as those from other provinces, and students within Ontario coming from the work force or community colleges rather than from the high school system.

The revenue from those fees will pay for the new staff members, who will be "admissions specialists", according to Positions Available listings in today's Gazette and on-line.

Says Lavigne: "The University has committed to maintaining a high profile across Canada and to increasing the number of international undergraduate students. Such commitments require proper resources in both recruitment and admissions.

"Non OSS admissions are not automated. In order to manage these cases accurately in a timely manner, more support is needed for admissions officers and committees. We considered allocating the revenue to the faculties based on applicant volume but all agreed that concentrating resources on the Registrar's Office would allow us to achieve our goals."

Peter Burroughs, the director of admissions, touched on similar issues in his report to this month's meeting of the UW board of governors. "All Canadian universities," he wrote, "are striving to recruit the best students and are doing so by redefining their curriculum, offering lucrative and guaranteed scholarships, offering guaranteed residence, and investing heavily into innovative recruitment strategies."

Among UW's innovations lately, he said, are "enhancement to international recruitment initiatives including improvements to the website, enhanced participation at international fairs, a post-fair recruitment seminar in Seoul, Korea, and an enhanced inquiry management system. Ask the Warrior is also providing international students with answers to their questions."

His report doesn't go into detail about the reasons Waterloo would want more international students, but "Beyond Borders" does. First of all, it says, the presence of foreign students will "diversify and enhance the learning environment for the benefit of domestic students, the University, and the nation". More recently, provost Amit Chakma has pointed out that students from overseas -- whose fees are not regulated by government -- are a source of revenue, even profit, that can support the university's other activities.

The exam schedule
The final exam schedule for the winter term is now available on the web. Paper copies will be distributed to the usual places on campus later this week, says Ann Wendt of the scheduling branch of the registrar's office.

Civic talks for four more weeks

The UW Civics Research Group is hosting a second round of four "Civic Dialogues", beginning tonight and continuing the next three Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

"What is 'good' and what is 'bad'? -- and how do we tell the difference?" is the focus of tonight's dialogue at 70 King Street East (the old TD Bank building) in downtown Kitchener.

"The question arose in our last dialogue as we discussed the range and diversity of values involved when attempting to make decisions democratically," explain dialogue organizers. "Most of us likely attempt to achieve 'good' -- but how often do we question what this means, either individually or collectively?"

Sessions "are open to anyone who wishes to attend and will be focused on discussion among citizens of different backgrounds without attempts to achieve consensus on ideas or actions." Information on the dialogues -- including a note on "practical norms of civility" -- can be found on the web. RSVPs are requested at thegroup@civics.ca.

The first series of four dialogues, held on Wednesday afternoons in January and February, attracted some 10 to 20 participants at each discussion, representing "a pretty good cross section" of university students, faculty, "concerned citizens", municipal planning staff, local media and representatives from non-governmental organizations, said Dan McCarthy, a PhD student in planning and a member of the Civics Research Group.

Happening on campus today

A few other things are scheduled, even though half the campus is already in "reading week" mode and the other half will be there shortly. Classes are cancelled in all faculties tomorrow and Friday for what somebody has dubbed "speed reading week". Meanwhile:

Children's performers "The Potato People" have two shows in the Humanities Theatre today, at 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.

A surplus sale of UW equipment and other unneeded items -- from a ping-pong table to a blackboard -- will start at 11:30 today at central stores, East Campus Hall. Purchases are cash only.

"Making Photo Panoramas" is the topic of today's seminar in the "iWeb" series sponsored by the LT3 technology centre. Says the centre's events listing:

By taking a series of photos while pivoting from one spot, you have the makings of a very nice panorama shot. Glenn Anderson of IST returns to iWeb to talk about the software and processes used in making panoramas (for print or online), including QTVR.

The session is scheduled for 11:00 in the "Flex lab", Dana Porter Library room 329. More information is available from Anderson (ext. 3327) or from Andrea Chappell, also of IST, at ext. 3779.

Also from LT3 today: there will be an information session at 1:30 (also in the "Flex lab") for engineering faculty members and graduate students who might want to know more about Learning Technology Innovation grants. The next deadline for LTI grant applications is February 25.

Another open meeting for faculty members, in preparation for the coming vote on Memorandum of Agreement provisions about layoffs, will be held at 3:30 this afternoon in Math and Computer room 4060. The last meeting in the series is scheduled for February 28, at 4 p.m. in Humanities room 280. Voting will run from February 25 through March 8.

There's a talk today which I absent-mindedly announced a day early; my apologies, and here's the announcement again, and it really does mean today this time. Bob Bernstein of the University of Ottawa medical school will speak this afternoon under the title "What Can the IT-Enabled Health System Be and Do?" His talk, sponsored by the InfraNet Project and the Education Program for Health Informatics Professionals, starts at 4 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302.

And . . . the food services department will hold its 13th annual "town hall meeting" for all staff members later today. "It's the only chance we have all year," says food services director Mark Murdoch, "for all our staff to come together at one meeting." They'll hear about "progress to date and plans", including some coming renovations and new outlets, and there will be time for questions and answers, Murdoch added. Because of the meeting, most food services outlets will be shutting down in midafternoon, though you can still get something to eat at Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, at Brubakers in the Student Life Centre, and at Tim Horton's in the Davis Centre.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
February 20, 1969: The UW senate approves creation of a "division", later to become a faculty, of environmental studies.