![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, December 12, 2003
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Red brick building]](http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/course_notes/chemistry/exchange/images/chemdep.jpg)
Chemistry II building |
Each report includes a summary of the findings of an outside review team, as well as the response from the department and what changes are planned. In the case of chemistry, the review is based heavily on an appraisal done in 2001 by the Canadian Society for Chemistry. Here's some of what the report says:
"The department has 6 main groups, also found in most Canadian departments: analytical chemistry, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and polymer chemistry. The Honours Biochemistry and Honours Chemistry programs are among the largest in Canada. There has been a decline in enrolment in Chemistry, but this is not unique to UW and is being experienced throughout North America.
"The normal teaching load for research-active faculty is 3 one-term courses, either undergraduate or graduate, each year. No allowance is made for the graduate advising or supervision of post doctoral fellows. The normal load for research-inactive faculty and Continuing Lecturers is 6 one-semester courses each year.
"Between 1996 and 2001, Chemistry had to contract a minimum of 14 courses annually to sessionals. An important factor contributing to this situation is the policy of differential teaching loads for research active and inactive faculty. In 1985-86 the research active/inactive faculty split was 18/13, and it had evolved to 25/7 in 1995-96 and to 28/3 in 2000-01. By 2001, it had become impossible to meet teaching demands with full-time faculty.
"A strategic planning exercise led in September 2001 to decisions to hire three 'Continuing Lecturers' to be primarily responsible for undergraduate teaching. Continuing Lecturers have twice the normal teaching load of active research faculty, plus they are responsible for undergraduate advising. . . .
"Chemistry states that its program is 'by far the best in Canada of any non-medical university, both in terms of research profile and strength of its undergraduate program.' Chemistry notes that its main competitors are programs at Toronto and UBC. For the past 10 years, Chemistry has had the highest NSERC income of any department at UW. Related to total research income (grant and contract), Chemistry is consistently in the top four departments at UW. . . .
"The CSC review team concluded that 36 hours of inorganic chemistry laboratory work were insufficient, and that this was the most serious problem in the curriculum because it negatively affected all programs. Other concerns were the lack of inorganic chemistry in the second year; experiments in Chem 310L not being representative of modern inorganic chemistry; and lack of an inorganic chemistry senior laboratory demonstrator. The review team strongly recommended that the Department address its offerings in inorganic chemistry. . . .
"For accreditation in 2005-2006, all chemistry programs must include a half course in biochemistry. Biochemistry courses exist, but these should be made requirements for all programs.
"Two programs exceed the 1,000 hours course requirements by over 300 hours. It is recommended that this load be decreased, and that courses be provided to add breadth.
"The number of support staff should be increased, and aging or obsolete equipment should be replaced."
Finally, these are among the "intended future actions": "A one-term course in biochemistry will be required of all students in Chemistry plans. All plans will offer 1,000 hours of instruction in Chemistry courses or laboratories. There will be no reduction in the number of hours in the Chemistry plans, as the Department disagrees with that recommendation of the review committee.
"Adding more support staff and replacing old equipment requires increased resources to Chemistry from the University. However, while highly desirable, neither is judged by the Department to be the highest priority in terms of overall needs. Instead, highest priority is considered to be increasing teaching assistantships, since the Department believes there is a significant shortfall in this area to meet undergraduate laboratory teaching needs in general.
"Chemistry, in partnership with Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemical Engineering, has developed a new undergraduate program in nanotechnology, with the goal to admit students for fall 2004. Anticipated enrolment is 100 students.
"A second initiative is development of a medicinal chemistry undergraduate program, to meet a growing demand from the pharmaceutical industry."
Tanya Gillert, the new alumni career advisor, has worked as an employment counsellor at Centennial College and a career information specialist at McMaster University. She assumed her new position as alumni career advisor at UW in November, offering her services to all UW alumni, whether they graduated six months or 16 years ago.
UW alumni can access the services of the alumni career advisor by
![[Gillert]](/images/2003/1212gillert.gif)
attending workshops on career planning and job search skills, or by
booking individual appointments with Gillert
(left) for help in determining
career direction, planning a career change, assessing personality and
interests, having resumés and cover letters critiqued, or finessing
interview skills. As many alumni do not live near the campus, Gillert is
offering in-person, telephone and email advising sessions as well as on-
and off-campus workshops.
For several years, alumni affairs has had a part-time career advisor to help alumni explore career-related concerns. However, the demand for the services has grown so much that alumni affairs and career services decided to fund a full-time position.
Alumni affairs director Gwen Graper says she is "very pleased to be able to use the revenue generated from UW's affinity partnerships to provide this great service for alumni."
Rebecca Burwell, who previously held the part time alumni career advisor position, says alumni consult with a career advisor for a variety of reasons. Some people have recently graduated and are still trying to find their footing. Others, who have graduated earlier, may be trying to increase their job satisfaction.
"They may have found that they haven't ended up in the field that they want to be in, or in the organization they want to be in, so it really helps them to be able to come in and talk to someone and get another sense of direction," says Burwell.
Many of the services provided by the alumni career advisor are free or affordably priced. Alumni can book an appointment by visiting the career services web site, or register for career planning workshops online.
Elsewhere on campus, Kinesiology Lab Days wind up today. Some 300 high school students from across Ontario will have visited Matthews Hall over the past week and a half, finding out about the field of kinesiology and some of the things researchers are learning about human movement. The Lab Days, now in their 30th year, are seen as a resource for the high school curriculum in kinesiology, biology and exercise science.
The weekend will bring two hockey games in Kitchener -- nothing unusual there, but these two involve the Canadian national junior team, as it puts together its final roster for the world championships in Finland in a couple of weeks. The national team will be taking on a team of Ontario university all-stars, including Mike Della Mora of the Warriors, on Sunday and Monday at 6 p.m. at the Kitchener Auditorium -- tickets 745-0303.
Nominations are now open, the teaching resource office reminds us, for UW's two major teaching awards. "Please help recognize excellence in teaching at the University of Waterloo by submitting a nomination," a memo says. They are the Distinguished Teacher Award (nomination deadline: Friday, February 6) and the Distinguished Teaching by a Registered Student Award (nomination deadline: Friday, February 13). More information about the awards is available from Verna Keller at ext. 3857, e-mail vkeller@admmail. Nominations are to be submitted to the TRACE office, Math and Computer room 4055.
And . . . this month's list of winners in the Keystone Campaign donor draw is now posted on the Keystone web site. I see that prizes this month included another Tim Horton's coffee-maker; gift certificates from several retailers; and a voucher towards car cleaning, something that most of us could certainly use this messy time of year.
CAR