February 26, 2002

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Staff pay hike beats inflation
Talking student aid: need or merit?
Photocopiers due for replacement
Happening today and soon

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Urging a gold medal for UW distance student Beckie Scott

Staff pay hike beats inflation

A two-year salary settlement for UW staff was approved yesterday by the provost, as recommended by the staff compensation committee. It now goes to the board of governors for final approval. A written memo is going out across campus this morning with the details of the agreement.

Staff salary ranges will go up by 3.0 per cent on May 1, a number that's described as the total of 2.6 per cent -- "equal to the cost of living" -- plus 0.4 per cent as an "Excellence Award in recognition of the dedication and commitment consistently exemplified by UW staff". In 2003, the scale increase will be the cost-of-living increase plus another 0.4 per cent Excellence Award.

Performance appraisals take on a new urgency now that the staff pay increase has been settled. Individual performance ratings are a major factor in calculating individual increases for May 1. The human resources department is reminding managers and department heads that written appraisals for each staff member are due March 15.
That doesn't mean a 3 per cent pay increase for each individual staff member. Individuals can get more than 3.0 per cent, or in some cases less, depending on the merit program "grid", which bases increases on a staff member's performance rating and his or her position in the range for the job.

The memo from the compensation committee to the provost, dated yesterday, says that "Having considered a number of issues and data, the Staff Compensation Committee believes [its] recommendations reflect an appropriate compensation package for staff given the University's financial situation, the Memorandum of Salary Settlement between the University and the Faculty Association, and in recognition of UW staff members' dedication, hard work and continued commitment to excellence in the performance of their jobs."

Here are the recommendations, as approved:

May 1, 2002 to April 30, 2003. That the salary job values for regular staff members be adjusted upward by 3.0%. This 3.0% is comprised of a 2.6% pure range adjustment (equal to the cost of living [CPI]) and a 0.4% Excellence Award (in recognition of the dedication and commitment consistently exemplified by UW staff).
May 1, 2003 to April 30, 2004. That the salary job values for regular staff members be adjusted upward by an amount equal to CPT plus a 0.4% Excellence Award.
May 1, 2002; May, 1, 2003. That the merit program be run for regular staff members and merit funds be distributed based on staff members' performance and position in the range and according to the stated performance goals of the salary program.
Note: The merit program is designed to provide approximately 1.5% on average. Over the last six years, this has varied between 1.4% and 1.7% depending on the overall compa-ratio of staff and the amount of turnover in the system. Staff members are encouraged to visit the following website to gain a full understanding of the salary program.
That the option to exchange one week of vacation for a one-time 2% increase in salary when within three years of retirement be extended until April 30, 2009.

Non-union janitors and Village housekeepers, who are paid fixed hourly rates without a merit program, will get an increase of 3.0 per cent on May 1, 2002, and "an amount equal to CPI plus 0.4%" on May 1, 2003.

Talking student aid: need or merit?

UW president David Johnston told the university senate last night that there's a division of opinion among top management over whether to follow the University of Toronto's lead in spending more on bursaries -- student assistance money based on need -- and less on scholarships, based on merit.

Johnston said he and provost Amit Chakma, along with people from four other universities, went to a recent meeting called by U of T president Robert Birgeneau to discuss moving in that direction together. But they weren't convinced, and when they reported back to UW's deans, the reaction ranged from "mild enthusiasm" to hostility, Johnston said.

Birgeneau's idea, he explained, involves "attempting to move more financial aid for undergraduate students into needs-based", as opposed to scholarships that reward achievement. There might be other, "non-monetary", ways of recognizing top students, such as giving them access to special seminar classes or summer research jobs, Johnston noted.

"It's premature for us to indicate whether that plan is attractive to us or not," he said.

The issue came up again at last night's senate meeting when kinesiology professor Ian Williams, long-time chair of the committee on scholarships and student aid, presented its report. The committee is calling for a program of 1,000 scholarships for top first-year students each year, with an average value of $4,000. That would bring the bill for the scholarships to $4 million annually, up from the present figure of about $1 million.

The recommendation follows another survey of students who were admitted to UW but chose not to come here. A total of 1,294 students who turned down Waterloo for September 2000 answered the survey, including 228 who ended up at Toronto, 172 at Guelph, 145 at Queen's and 31 at McGill.

Almost two-thirds of them were receiving scholarships from the universities they chose to attend, and 30 per cent of them said they decided against UW because they weren't offered a scholarship here. The average value of scholarships the students were getting at other universities was $3,971. As for UW, "values typically range from $1,000 per year to $6,000 per year, with the lower awards most common and the average at $2,060 University wide."

Says the report: "One could imply that UW acceptance rates are directly related to the number and size of UW's entrance scholarships. Of the six Faculties, Math has the highest success rate in attracting students; still, six out of ten offers are declined."

A year ago, the committee reported that it had been looking into a so-called "scholarship grid", a chart that offers a guarantee: "If an applicant has an average of x percent, he/she is guaranteed to receive n dollars. In the sample grids prepared by the Registrar, the endowment required to fund a grid ranged from $50 million to $80 million, and the cash flow required ranged from $3 million to $5 million."

It says offering a first-year scholarship to all students with an average of 90 or higher would require 963 scholarships.

So it's recommending . . .

That the average value of UW entrance scholarships be $4,000.
That the number of UW entrance scholarships available be increased to 1,000 (from 433).
That UW develop an endowment fund to support an institutional scholarship program in addition to those managed by the Faculties.

In discussion of the report, some senators were sceptical. Attracting top students needs "strategy" rather than a blanket promise of scholarships to students with marks at a certain level, said the dean of arts, Bob Kerton.

Weather station thinks warm
There may be snow in today's forecast, but spring is coming,and the UW weather station is running its annual contest asking us to guess when. The winner will be the person who most accurately predicts the date and time when the temperature first hits 20 degrees Celsius this spring. "It has been the warmest winter in 32 years," says weather station coordinator Frank Seglenieks in electrical and computer engineering. "Does that mean spring will come around faster than in the past?" Details of the contest are available on the weather station web site; the entry deadline is tomorrow afternoon at 2:00.

Photocopiers due for replacement

Most of UW's photocopiers are to be replaced this summer, says Iris Strickler of UW Graphics, as "the current contract for the fleet of copiers on campus is ending."

Strickler said that includes public (coin & WatCard) copiers and departmental copiers. "This means that all copiers other than Xerox equipment across campus will be replaced with new equipment. A tender is already in process."

She said environmentally-friendly toner, two-up or double-sided copying, and energy efficiency "are some of the criteria that we will be evaluating in our selection of a new vendor".

That should please the members of the Federation of Students environment commission, who announced last week that they're working with library and graphics staff to make two-sided copying available in the libraries, as a conservation measure. (The commission will be holding a meeting tonight at 6:15 in the Conrad Grebel University College cafeteria.)

As plans go ahead for the new copiers, Strickler said, "I am also pleased to note that Graphics is getting a very good response from departments that have been requested to complete a survey to further assist us in selecting products that best suit their needs. I hope that staff who received our request and have not yet done the survey will find a chance to do so before March 1."

Happening today and soon

Faculty members have started voting online on ratification of three new articles in the Memorandum of Agreement, dealing with the eventuality of faculty layoffs. Polls remain open through March 8, and there's one more information meeting scheduled, Thursday at 4 p.m. in Humanities room 280.

And student voting -- for Federation of Students leaders, students' council members and a student representative on the UW senate -- continues through Friday. In addition to online voting, there will be polling stations from 9:15 to 4:15 today through Friday at nine locations on campus: Matthews Hall foyer, Carl Pollock Hall foyer, Optometry third-floor lounge, Davis Centre outside room 1301, Math and Computer third floor, Environmental Studies II room 165, PAS room 3006, Arts Lecture foyer, and Biology I student lounge.

The electrical and computer engineering department will hold a "graduate program open house" today from 11:00 to 2:00, in Davis Centre rooms 1301 and 1302, to tell senior undergraduates more about research and graduate study in E&CE.

With Black History Month winding down, the bookstore will have a special event today from noon to 1:00. Special guests include Karolyn Smardz, speaking on the history of the Underground Railroad in Canada, Caribbean student Asha Stewart, and local author Adwoa Badoe, who will read selections from her book The Pot of Wisdom and lead an African dance workshop.

In the co-op department, students who were matched with jobs yesterday should be attending "acceptance of employment" meetings with coordinators today. They can also find room in a workshop on "Successfully Negotiating Job Offers", starting at 2:30 (the career resource centre has more information). And students who weren't matched with jobs should be, well, watching the bulletin boards, as more jobs are posted in the "continuous phase" of interviews.

Today brings a talk in the Distinguished Lecturer Series sponsored by the Guelph-Waterloo Physics Institute -- not, as I managed to say yesterday, the Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry. It's definitely physics. Melissa Franklin of Harvard University is the speaker, at 4 p.m. in room 113 of the University of Guelph's MacNaughton Building. Topic: "Measuring This Particular Elegant Universe: From Top to Bottom". Says an abstract: "The talk will be about measurements made and proposed and proton colliders, of massive objects, from top quarks W bosons to bottom quarks, and of forces at small distances, including gravity and about the people who do the measurements, with and without moustaches." (I am not making this up.) A wine-and-cheese reception follows the talk.

The women's basketball Warriors play a key game tonight, a quarter-final against the Guelph Gryphons, having earned a playoff spot by finishing in third place of the OUA West. The game starts at 7:00 tonight in the Physical Activities Complex main gym.

Youth Challenge International, described as "a non-profit, international youth organization . . . to foster youth and global development", is looking for people to take part next year in projects in such lands as Nicaragua, Guyana and Vanuatu. "Want to learn more?" a memo asks. "Come to a slide show presentation by a recent participant and hear personal stories from the field." The event starts at 7:30 tonight in Math and Computer room 4020.

High school students who want to learn what it would be like to be an engineering student will be on campus tomorrow shadowing undergraduate engineers. The Shadow Day program, sponsored by the Engineering Society, pairs more than 100 shadows with UW students to attend lectures, have lunch on campus, and learn about the co-op program. Students will have an opportunity to find out about extracurricular activities and admissions procedures, and faculty members will provide information about each engineering department at information seminars.

Tomorrow also brings a workshop -- "Teaching Dossiers, Part 2" -- sponsored by the teaching resource office. It runs from 10:00 to 11:30 in Humanities room 373, and the same workshop will be offered on Thursday afternoon at 2:30. If there's still space available, TRACE at ext. 3132 will be taking reservations.

The "lunch series" in the Computer Store continues tomorrow with free food (if you book in advance with n2fernan@uwaterloo.ca) and a presentation about Samsung monitors and printers. The session starts at noon in Davis Centre room 1302. computer store lunch

And there are two significant lectures tomorrow evening:

Ernie Regehr, director of Project Ploughshares (based at Conrad Grebel University College), speaks at 7:00 in the great hall at Grebel: "Responding to Terrorism and Global Violence".
David Kirk, retired professor of sociology, gives this year's Spinoza-Meir Lecture at 8:00 in Needles Hall room 3001:"Pierre Van Paassen (1895-1968): Canada's Anti-Nazi Journalist and Champion of the Jewish People".

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
February 26, 1971: Presidents of UW and the faculty association sign the "Matthews-Dubinski" agreement, defining salary procedures and the relationship between the university and its professors.