![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, October 31, 2002
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Jack-o'-lanterns in a row]](/images/2002/1031pumpkins.gif)
The faces of Renison College:
In preparation for Hallowe'en, pumpkin carving was among the events
at "Harvest Day", held last week as stress relief following midterms.
The day was organized by the Renison Academic Student Council.
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![[Chakma]](/images/2002/1031chakma.gif)
But what about next year and the years to follow? Chakma
(left) hinted that he would say something
about UW's financial prospects during the confidential session at the end
of the board meeting, which included an agenda item headed "Resources".
In open session, he touched on the subject as part of a general
review, in which he pointed out that in recent years UW has balanced
its budgets through a combination of enrolment growth, tuition fee
increases and spending cuts.
Without "income diversification", he said, the university would continue to face annual cuts of around 4 per cent in its general spending, since government grants don't make any provision for increases in the cost of living, including salary hikes and the ever-higher costs of books and utilities.
Although tuition fees were on the printed agenda, they weren't discussed specifically. The 2003-04 level of fees is expected to come to the board for approval at its next meeting in February.
As for last year, the 2001-02 audited financial statement was presented at Tuesday's meeting, and shows that $388.8 million passed through UW's books. The financial statement no longer breaks that down into multiple funds, but about three-fifths of the total is in the operating budget. (The rest is research, business operations, building funds and trust funds.) "The operating side of the university did finish the year with a net surplus," said Judith Brisson, the Guelph optometrist and community volunteer who chairs the board's audit committee. She said UW managed to put $50 million into buildings and equipment last year, and endowment funds -- put in the bank to bring in interest each year -- were increased by $7 million.
Also at the meeting, the board approved contracts to Nith Valley Construction for $2.2 million for an expansion of the Columbia Icefield, and another $1.3 million for expansion of the Student Life Centre. Students voted a year ago to pay a $13.80-per-term fee to cover those costs.
Ian McPhee, chair of the board's building and properties committee, said his group is about to start a study of expanding UW's residences: "To better understand how UW may accommodate this rising enrolment and recognizing how living on-campus can enrich the student experience, in early December, the Committee will consider plans prepared by University staff which will address what needs to be done to ensure UW can guarantee residence to all first-year undergraduate students who request it; what needs to be done to ensure UW can guarantee accommodation to all first-time graduate students; scenarios for accommodating up to 50 percent of UW students on campus based on 5% increments. (Current housing stock can accommodate 31 percent of UW's present student population.)"
President David Johnston commented on the recent "University Report Card" rankings published by the Globe and Mail based on findings by pollster Allan Gregg. Both the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Council of Ontario Universities are "negative" about the ranking exercise, he said, adding that UW's eighth-place ranking among 29 national universities is "troubling for me. . . . I'm going to take it on myself to go and sit down with Allan Gregg."
Chakma gave the board a briefing about sabbatical leaves, what they are and why it's good for faculty members to take them. He said he was a bit concerned recently to learn that only about 55 per cent of faculty seem to be taking the sabbaticals they've earned, although the figure may not be very accurate. The board has to give approval to each sabbatical leave, and members expressed interest in seeing brief reports about what each faculty member is planning to do during his or her six-month or twelve-month leave.
Board members and others gave a quick round of applause to greet Adel Sedra, recently announced as UW's next dean of engineering, who sat with the current dean, Sujeet Chaudhuri, to watch the meeting. "Adel and I," said president David Johnston, "have been friends for a long, long time. . . . The academic leadership he will bring us is just enormous."
If they listen carefully, hikers along Waterloo's West Side Trail may hear the song of the wood thrush, a red-headed woodpecker's staccato search for insects in a hollow tree, or the bass notes of a bull frog on a summer evening. They may even catch the voice of UW earth sciences professor Alan Morgan.
In a series of "audio signs", Morgan speaks about the geology of the Waterloo Moraine, which supports that forest, its valuable underground water resources -- and now an increasing number of new subdivisions. The message: "This is your moraine. Respect it, enjoy it and protect it."
![[Morgan with sign]](/images/2002/1101morgan.gif)
Working with city of Waterloo staff,
Morgan (left) produced the text and images for the interpretive
panels, as well
as the voice recordings -- activated by pushing a button -- "to make
people more aware of the moraine and its significance," he says.
The panels were were
officially unveiled by the city earlier this month on the trail, just off
Columbia Street, west of Erbsville Road.
The Waterloo Moraine, which forms a high ridge down the west side of Kitchener and Waterloo, stretching from St. Jacobs to Doon, provides more groundwater resources than the Oak Ridges Moraine north of Toronto, says Morgan. Aquifers in the Waterloo Moraine provide safe drinking water for more than 300,000 people.
"Since near-surface aquifers and streams can easily be contaminated by bacteria and protozoa from agricultural and human waste that is sprayed onto fields, as well as from chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) and other hazardous industrial and domestic products," he adds, "everyone should be aware of protecting this natural resource."
Karen Moyer of the City of Waterloo, who worked with Morgan and his wife, Anne, on the project, hopes people living near the moraine will get the message that "anything you put on your lawn or use to clean your car can get into the ground-water system and contaminate it."
Although Morgan commends the city on its public outreach efforts, with the increasing urban sprawl along the west side of Waterloo, he is "rather appalled at the long-term outlook for the water resources. I don't think people know enough about geology or the importance of water and how it moves through the system."
Morgan has created virtual tours of west Waterloo's geology on the city web site, and he's produced another geological interpretive panel for RIM Park, on the northeast edge of Waterloo near the Grand River.
His dream is to develop a 4.5 km geological time trail on the west side of Waterloo. The trail would "show specific points in geological history, with each metre representing one million years."
A highlight of the annual weekend is the 35th Annual Naismith Classic Basketball Tournament, when invited Canadian university teams shoot it out, hosted by the UW Warriors. Games start at noon Friday and continue through to the championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Physical Activities Complex.
Other athletic events include an alumni swim meet on Saturday for all former varsity swimmers. As well, the athletically inclined can participate in the applied health sciences 18th annual five-kilometre Fun Run around the UW Ring Road on Saturday, starting at 10:15 a.m. in front of B.C. Matthews Hall. Registration time for the race is 9:30 a.m. (And that's Saturday for the fun run, not Sunday as I managed to say in yesterday's Daily Bulletin.)
Later on, families can check out the Kids Club at the UW bookstore in South Campus Hall, beginning at 1 p.m.
For entertainment on Friday, the Warrior weekend Post Game Party will start at 10:30 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. Alumni can also listen to the Midnight Ramblers, a Rolling Stones cover band, at the Bombshelter pub in the SLC, starting at 8 p.m. Alumni can also attend the St. Jerome's Third Annual Trivia Challenge at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, there will be seven Homecoming reunions, including class reunions for alumni in the faculties of applied health sciences, engineering and mathematics. There will also be reunions for the varsity swim team, Federation of Students staff and the residence floors of West C/D/E 1987. Then, at 10 p.m., the Federation of Students will present a HomeFest party at the Bombshelter for both alumni and students.
Wireless in the libraries -- from the News @ Your Library" electronic newsletterAccess to the UW wireless network is now available in the Davis Centre Library, University Map and Design Library, and the Optometry Learning Resource Centre. Plans are underway to extend the network to the Dana Porter Library before the end of 2002.To access the network, you will need a wireless ethernet card for your laptop, plus your UWdir userid and password. Instructions are available on the web along with information about where to go for help. This service is available to UW faculty, staff, and students at no charge. Please note that printing from personal laptops is not yet available within the libraries. |
![[Chancellor's greetings]](/images/2002/1030convoc.gif)
I'd better start with a correction to yesterday's Daily Bulletin. The
photo from Saturday's convocation ceremonies (left) doesn't show,
as I said it did, Jane Buckingham, winner of an alumni gold medal. The
student being congratulated by UW chancellor Val O'Donovan is actually
Cecilia Cotton, who won the K. D. Fryer Medal from the faculty
of mathematics.
Also about convocation: Friday's Daily Bulletin implied that Nicolaas Spronk, receiving another of the alumni gold medals for his PhD work, was graduating at Saturday's ceremonies. In fact he graduated last spring, and returned over the weekend to pick up the medal, which is presented annually.
UW's field hockey team is in Halifax for the national championship tournament, which starts today. The team triumphed in the Ontario championships last weekend, and heads to Halifax along with Toronto's Varsity Blues, who placed second behind the Warriors after five straight years as Ontario champions. Waterloo midfielder Erin Morton was named Player of the Year in the Ontario league. Teammate Robin Leslie is this year's winner of the Gail Wilson Award for a player "who makes a significant contribution to the sport", in this case for her work in UW's "Team Up" program and her play on the Canadian national team.
Some things happening on account of Hallowe'en:
The United Way campaign is at $124,361, says office manager Tricia Corrin in her daily report. That's 82.9 per cent of the $150,000 goal, and represents gifts and pledges from 401 staff and 90 retirees, as well as some student gifts and several thousand dollars raised by special events. I note that the faculty of arts "chili lunch and 50/50 draw" raised $517 this year, and a "chocolate and coffee break" in the Davis Centre library pulled in $256.
Advance notes for tomorrow: At 9:30 a.m., the tourism lecture series continues with a talk titled "From Heritage to Tourism: A Personal Odyssey" by John Tunbridge of Carleton University (Environmental Studies I room 132). At 7:30 p.m., the St. Jerome's University lecture series presents Rev. Ron Rolheiser speaking under the title "On Carrying a Scandal Biblically" (Siegfried Hall).
CAR
TODAY IN UW HISTORYOctober 31, 1979: The Gazette publishes a front-page Hallowe'en list of ghosts that do not exist on campus, including one who haunts the elevators in the Dana Porter Library. |