![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Tatham stairs]](http://www.cecs.uwaterloo.ca/building/graphics/emp_desk.jpg)
From Olaf Naese of co-operative education and career services: "For the time being, much of the CECS's on-campus staff has been asked not to come in to work.
"Because there are still over 1,000 co-op students without employment for the winter work term, the power outage comes at an awkward time for us. However, we are committed to providing front-line service to these students and to employers who are scheduled to interview over the next few days either on campus or via telephone as well as to those who will be communicating with us by phone.
"To accomplish this, staff members from Employer Services and and Student Services will be in their offices during normal business hours to assist those who need it as best as they can. So that staff can obtain information as needed from the CECS electronic database, a few offices with computers have been set up in the Math and Computer Building. Information will be relayed back to TC staff via telephone.
"Although CECS will be providing some services, others will simply not be available until hydro has been fully restored because the building is running in emergency lighting mode and heat in the building is uneven due to a lack of air circulation. Career Services will remain closed and all rooms in the Tatham Centre normally booked by students for study purposes will not be available."
| Tomorrow, Thursday, the entire registrar's office will be closed from 11:45 to 2 p.m. for Christmas lunch. |
"On Friday, December 19, the customer service area of the Registrar's Office and the Student Awards Office will continue to be open to manage standard activity and receive grades from instructors that are due on that date. Other divisions of the office will be occupied moving into Needles Hall. Telephone service and network access will not be available to most of us on Friday. We plan to reopen on Monday, December 22 and be fully operational."
The unusual tribute to some of the people who make automotive projects, math contests and drama productions possible is written by Bud Walker, UW director of business operations, and published in the fall issue of the It's Our Waterloo newsletter.
Walker begins his tribute with a comment about science student Kumi Yamamoto. Kumi Yamamoto, who drove the Midnight Sun this summer, as "a member of a team of talented students who used solar power to propel the UW solar car, the Midnight Sun, half way across the continent in the American Solar Challenge of 2003. . . .
"Why do student projects like the Midnight Sun, the Putnam Competition team, the Laramie Project, or the Formula SAE car enjoy so much success? The students are talented, they work hard, and they have a dedicated group of staff and faculty who willingly advise and assist."
He goes on to identify some of them: "Staff like Lisa Huard in Purchasing who somehow sourced a seatbelt harness supplier and a high efficiency DC motor for the solar car. Or faculty members Christopher Small and Ian VanderBurgh in Mathematics who annually orchestrate math training sessions for the Putnam team (I wonder if they have two-a-day practices like the football team).
"Not to be outdone, Gord Cormack puts the ACM programming team through its paces on route to an habitual top 10 finish in the World Finals.
"In early May, you can find Steve Lambert assembling a covey of Indy-inspired students to begin construction of the next edition of the Formula SAE car. With a car full of students, Roydon Fraser can be seen heading out to distant corners of the continent for competitions with the alternative fuels cars -- and logging pre-competition all nighters to assist students with last minute details. In the Engineering Student Machine Shop, Clarence Wallace helps students with the equipment and techniques needed to turn lifeless materials into precisely machined high-tech components for the project cars that are the pride rolling stock of UW.
"And while solar car science and technology are blossoming under the watchful eye of Midnight Sun faculty advisor Gord Savage, Joel Greenberg has the cultural world in hand. Drama exploits like the Laramie Project give students the opportunity for art expression and social commentary that transcends the normal bounds of the classroom.
"Whether it is a community architectural design project, the concrete toboggan, the Baja Dune Buggy, or a Shakespearian production, you'll find UW staff and faculty willingly on hand to help students with all aspects of the project.
"Waterloo is a pride of talented employees dedicated to the youth entrusted to it. The infectious drive, social relevance, and personal success of our students is no accident. Good things happen when youth, talent, and good guidance are in the mix."
Pictured in the Keystone newsletter are some of the staff and
faculty involved in student projects. At back:
Clarence Wallace,
mechanical engineering, Student Engineering
Machine Shop; Christopher Small, statistics and
actuarial science, Putnam team; Duane Cronin,
mechanical engineering, Mini-Baha team; Lisa Huard,
purchasing agent; Scott Spidell, technical director, drama and speech
communication; Eric Duiker, student, Alternate Fuel
Vehicles; Aaron Lee-Wudrick, Keystone staff,
office of development. At front: Gord Savage,
systems design engineering, Midnight Sun team;
Roydon Fraser, mechanical engineering, Alternate
Fuel Vehicles. Seated in the solar car: Calli Citron, student.
![[Other student vehicles in the background]](/images/2003/1216midsun.gif)
One of the big social events of the season is scheduled for tonight: the annual by-invitation "informal Christmas reception and dinner" at St. Jerome's University. It's a longstanding tradition, and although the invitations, on behalf of St. Jerome's president Michael Higgins, don't detail the menu this year, it's always something out of the ordinary, as are the after-dinner speeches. Guests from the other church colleges and from the main campus have been invited to dine at St. Jerome's just before Christmas annually for more than forty years.
LT3, the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology, has several special events in the next few days. First, tomorrow morning comes a presentation session by the co-op students who have been working for LT3 this term doing software development, support for the UWone teaching environment, and various other things. "Hearing and seeing the students' final reflections on their work is always quite interesting," says Peter Goldsworthy of LT3. The talks start at 10:30 tomorrow in the Flex Lab on the third floor of the Dana Porter Library.
Then tomorrow afternoon there's a repeat of last week's session about the UWone "gradebook" facility for instructors. It runs from 1 to 4 p.m., also in the Flex Lab.
And Friday morning at 11:00, same place, LT3 sponsors a session on "Libraries and Instructional Technology":
How should digital libraries facilitate the use of their content and services in the development of digital learning materials? This question is of current interest in both the library and educational technology communities. The California Digital Library (CDL) -- the 11th university library of the University of California -- and the UC Berkeley Interactive University Project (IU) have been working together to test and develop ways for educational technologies to make the library's resources more accessible to all its audiences -- including current and potential users in K-12 communities. In this talk, Raymond Yee, Technology Architect of the IU, will discuss how the problem of interoperability between information and learning environments looks from their respective institutions and their end-users, both theoretically and practically, functionally and technologically.Registration for the seminar is through the LT3 web site.
CAR