(That having been said, Mitchell adds, "it wouldn't be a surprise to people for there to be some reductions in services," in the third week of August, the peak of vacation time. He also notes that it could make sense for people to close their offices if they have overtime coming to them, or are about to be working extra hours at the start of the fall term.)

If things get bad, someone in a department should call plant operations (ext. 3793) to see if more cooling can be supplied. "This is Day One," Mitchell noted. "We're just figuring out how to do this."

In an extreme situation, the thing to do is call the university's safety office, which will assess the situation, and does have the authority to close down a workplace if the problem can't be fixed.

Kevin Stewart, UW's director of safety, notes that his office maintains a web page with information about the danger of heat stress.

Says Stewart: "Due to the effect of Ontario's current electricity restrictions on building air conditioning . . . if you have a concern about your level of comfort or the heat, discuss it with your supervisor.

"Persons who are ill, overweight, physically unfit, pregnant or on medication that could cause dehydration should be careful and take steps to prevent heat stress. For guidance on health precautions contact Linda Brogden, UW's Occupational Health Nurse, at ext. 6264.

"The Safety Office has some suggestions for departments: rearrange work schedule to a cooler area and/or time; work from home were possible; set up some portable fans; wear light clothing; eat light, preferably cool meals, and drink plenty of liquids.

"Regarding fire safety, wedges in self-closing doors are only permitted by the Fire Department as a temporary measure while attended. So ensure any wedges are removed at the end of the work day."

Young math prof moves to UBC

He's leaving with good memories, some proud achievements, and a boost to his teaching expertise thanks to an "instructional development grant" from UW's teaching resource office.

The grant paid for his attendance last year at a workshop sponsored by the Canadian Mathematical Society. Project NExTMAC, for New Experiences in Teaching Mathematics Across Canada, is a one-day crash course for young math instructors, touching on everything from classroom techniques to "how to balance your career and your personal life".

The workshop was held in Québec City, preceding a CMS conference at which Mamon (left) was already presenting a paper on his research work. Since then, two similar workshops have taken place, and Mamon thinks they're badly needed.

"PhDs in math are trained for research," he pointed out in an interview last week. "We're not acquainted with anything that has to do with teaching." Besides, the world is changing: "The kind of mathematicians that we're producing don't have exposure to teaching experiences of the kind the universities offer now." He mentioned rapidly rising enrolments (meaning bigger classes) and constant technological change (meaning a constant learning curve for young faculty, not to mention the older ones).

A tiny example: the Québec workshop included some words on "how to deal with lecturing in front of 200 or 300 students. I don't speak too loud, so it's quite a problem for me," and he appreciated the advice on how to use a microphone effectively.

Experienced teachers also told the junior group "how to enliven the math curriculum", and Mamon prides himself on including "anecdotes and jokes about mathematicians" in his lectures. "Equations are like human beings," he adds, getting enthusiastic about the difference between "well-behaved" graphs and unruly ones.

"Teaching is a vocation in which we are able to touch many lives," Mamon said. "These people made a living, and I helped them . . . I was able to stimulate their interest!" He beamed as he pointed out that during his time at UW, he has supervised five master's level students, "and all of them found employment in a bank!"

Mamon's specialization is mathematical finance, and he's been teaching advanced courses in such topics as interest rate theory -- aimed at graduate students in accountancy -- as well as undergraduate courses in probability, statistics, and "all the versions of calculus", including sections aimed at systems design engineers and others aimed at social science students.

He's seeking to be what someone at the workshop called "the compleat teacher", working at many levels and connecting with students at all of them.

Mamon did his undergraduate work in the Philippines and his PhD at the University of Alberta. He had worked doing financial analysis for a major bank in Manila, and originally thought he'd be going back to bank work, but found that he loved teaching, and started applying for faculty jobs. "I sent an e-mail to Alan George," UW's dean of math, he says, and that led to an interview, which led to a definite-term job, starting in September 2000. Today, his flight leaves for Vancouver.

Team Ruckus, representing UW alumni, ended the dragon boat season on a triumphal note, taking first place in the Chicago Dragon Boat Race for Literacy on the Chicago River earlier this month. Ruckus was the only Canadian team in the race. "Different from the more common Chinese and Canadian style," says Mike Bluhm of the UW registrar's office, "the Chicago race was comprised of the Taiwanese style of racing." Earlier in the season, Ruckus took second place overall in the Cambridge Dragonboat Festival, second in its division in the Toronto International Dragonboat Festival, and eighth place in the Kiwanis Dragon Boat Festival in Waterloo.

Pixels in the big picture

UW Graphics is closing the Davis Centre location for the remainder of the week. The centre will reopen on Monday, August 25, at 8 a.m. In the meantime, these Graphics locations are open: Carbon Copy, the new centre in Engineering II; Express Copy in the Dana Porter Library; Pixel Planet in Math and Computer; and Main Graphics.

The Waterloo Chronicle reported the other day that "an added police presence will be felt" near UW and Wilfrid Laurier University during orientation week this year. "Waterloo Regional Police have committed more officers to patrol the streets around the universities on the nights special events are planned." That plan was mentioned during a Waterloo city council debate on the annual request from both universities to be allowed some exceptions to the city's noise bylaw. For UW, the main issue is the toga party on Saturday night, September 6, which runs into the small hours of the morning. A local resident had asked the city to refuse permission for late-night noise. After discussion, and word of the police plans to keep things under control, council approved the exemption.

So that staff can catch up on the paperwork before government deadlines, the student awards office in Needles Hall will be closed all day tomorrow, August 20, and Thursday, August 21. "We will re-open at 10 a.m. Friday, August 22," a memo says.

Finally . . . the human resources department says there were a few calls yesterday asking whether somebody who was on vacation last week now gets an extra day of holiday because the university was closed on Friday. The answer: no. Neil Murray notes that the storm closing procedure, which was used to deal with the blackout, says this: "A staff member who is on vacation, sick leave or unpaid leave, or who is not scheduled to work, on a day when the University is 'closed' is not entitled to equivalent time off later."

CAR