February 5, 2003

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

New classroom building proposed
WPIRG launches car pool web site
Talking civics, and other events
The talk of the campus

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Psych department still depends on the beeHive

[Shrug]
He the man: Drama student John E. Robertson is the lone cast member in "House", one of the two plays by Daniel MacIvor being staged this week and next in Studio 180. The first performance is tonight. Tickets are at the Humanities box office, 888-4908.

New classroom building proposed

UW has asked the Ontario government for $26 million to pay for a new classroom building, provost Amit Chakma told the board of governors yesterday.

The proposal would let this university take 325 more first-year students each year, as a contribution to dealing with Ontario's "double cohort", the provost said. That would be in addition to the 5,350 students Waterloo is already planning to take -- which is up from some 4,000 as recently as five years ago.

The proposal was a hurried submission for the province's "SuperBuild II" competition, Chakma said, adding that universities across the province have sent in bids that would cost a total of four times the funding that's available. So, he said, "our chances are 25 per cent. We will know by the end of March."

Fee increases approved
Yesterday's board meeting gave approval for the proposed increases in tuition fees, after rejecting a motion by Brenda Koprowski, president of the Federation of Students, to send the fee schedule for more detailed discussion by the senate finance committee.
With the increases approved, Canadian undergraduates in "deregulated" programs, including engineering, computer science and optometry, will pay 15 per cent more starting May 1. Those in other programs will see their fees go up by 2 per cent.
"We do not have any choice," said the dean of math, Alan George, during discussion of the increase. "The money is really needed." Engineering dean Sujeet Chaudhuri said discussions with engineering students found them willing to pay higher fees rather than let the quality of their degrees go down.
Chakma, UW president David Johnston, and others emphasized the statement made by the board in 2001, committing the university to providing the financial aid needed to let any qualified student attend UW and finish a degree here. But some student members, in particular, said students often aren't aware that money is available, or doubt that they can really get it if they need it.
The building would provide "state-of-the-art classrooms", suitable for what's now being called "technology-mediated instruction", he said. Besides providing more total space, it would let UW convert some existing classrooms in academic buildings into labs and graduate student space.

The double cohort and possible expansion of UW's enrolment came up repeatedly during last night's board meeting, especially in discussions of planning for the 2003-04 budget.

Chakma said work is still under way, but he's foreseeing an "expenditure reduction" of 2 to 3 per cent. That doesn't actually mean UW will spend less, he stressed; it means departments will cut their budgets by around that amount, with the funds being spent in areas that have to cope with increased enrolment and other rising costs.

"These are real cuts," he repeated, "but on the other hand, we are allocating money based on increased activity . . . new initiatives.

"With the budget model that I hope to present, there will be a net growth in faculty positions. But the student-faculty ratio will go up."

In answer to a question, he told the board he's deliberately not issuing budget projections several years ahead, because they would look "bleak. . . . We're hoping against hope that the situation will improve," he said, with the biggest hope being that the government will increase its funding for post-secondary education soon.

I'll be saying more about the board of governors meeting in tomorrow's Daily Bulletin.

WPIRG launches car pool web site -- from the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group

A new website, CarpoolTool.com, is ready to revolutionize the way commuters throughout Canada set up and manage carpools. Over a year in development, the website is the first of its kind to offer sophisticated, free ride-matching to the entire country. CarpoolTool.com uses a precision GIS database of postal code coordinates for the most accurate matching possible.

Among its many benefits, the website is expected to promote a positive effect on the environment, as well as the health of Canadians, by reducing the number of vehicles on the road and their greenhouse gas emissions. In addition the site addresses commuter concerns over increasing traffic congestion and the skyrocketing costs of operating a vehicle.

"Until now, the biggest hurdle to carpooling has been finding other commuters who shared enough similarities to make a carpool work," says Daryl Novak, CarpoolTool.com's Project Coordinator. "We're confident that our website is going to change all that.

"The site tackles the most complex part of the process by finding similar commutes," adds Novak. "From there, it's up to potential carpoolers to determine if they're compatible and to work out the details of the ride sharing."

Development of the site has been made possible through a partnership between the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group and DMTI Spatial Inc., a North American leader in comprehensive geospatial products and services.

DMTI Spatial's data was provided through the Spatial Mapping Academic Research Tools (SMART), a program that supplies affordable geospatial data to educational institutions for teaching and research purposes. Through its cutting-edge CanMap product family, DMTI Spatial's SMART program provides the site with a feature whereby commutes are shown on detailed city street maps. "Map-enhancement", as it's called, is currently available to Ontario commuters and will be expanded to the rest of Canada this year.

"We're delighted to be a part of this futures-oriented initiative," says Don DeGenova, vice-president (business development and strategic alliances). "The detailed map coverage that we provide through our SMART Program has made it possible for Carpooltool.com to provide map-enhancement to cover the entire province of Ontario. And when they're ready to expand this type of service to the rest of Canada, we have the products to support them."

Talking civics, and other events

"Hearing and Being Heard", first in a new series of "civic dialogues" sponsored by the Civics Research Group, is scheduled for 7:30 tonight at UW's downtown Kitchener outpost, 70 King Street East. "These dialogues," a news release explains, "will provide an opportunity for students and citizens to discuss research that is of common interest. Students -- particularly graduate students -- will introduce and discuss their research in an informal roundtable-type setting. Dialogues are open to people from various backgrounds, including local residents, members of government and other organizations, and other students and academic colleagues. The intent is to consider the social significance of the research, with particular emphasis on its relevance to civic organizations and citizens." Tonight's speaker is Chui-Ling Tam, a graduate student who's interested in "problems of communication in participatory decision-making".

The winter job fair runs from 10:00 to 3:30 today at RIM Park in northeast Waterloo, sponsored by Partnerships for Employment, which is an alliance of UW and three other post-secondary institutions. Shuttle buses will run to the fair from UW's Student Life Centre.

A workshop about Merlot, the international "learning object repository" in which UW plays a role, is being held at 2:00 in the Flex lab in the Dana Porter Library. . . . As the Federation of Students election draws near, today's candidates' forum will be held at 12 noon in the Arts Lecture Hall. . . . Welwyn Wilson Katz, author of young adults' books, will read from his work at 4 p.m. in the common room at St. Jerome's University. . . . It's Math Cove Night, meaning that math students can play free at The Cove, the games complex on the lower level of the Student Life Centre, starting at 7 p.m. . . .

Several events today are part of the continuing International Celebration Week:

Storytelling ("cultural legends" and folklore) from noon to 2 p.m. in the great hall of the Student Life Centre.
A talk by artist Warabe Aska, at 2:30 in the multipurpose room of the SLC.
"Searching for Hope in the Post-o/11 World", a talk by history professor Andrew Hunt, at 7 p.m. in Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall room 301.

And not exactly related to international affairs: the Warrior volleyball teams will host Guelph in the PAC main gym tonight -- women's teams play at 6 p.m., men's at 8 p.m.

[On the floor of the Davis Centre]
Intense discussions with people from industry, government and every branch of engineering were among the attractions of the Engineers Without Borders annual conference held at UW last week. Getting down and dirty with students on the floor of the Davis Centre was Stewart Myles of the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technologies. A less successful part of the conference was the announced keynote speech by Stephen Lewis, United Nations envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Because of problems with international flights, he didn't make it. The other keynote speaker, former external affairs minister Flora MacDonald, did give her Friday afternoon talk on schedule.

The talk of the campus

"Today I received another nasty-gram," writes Reg Quinton of information systems and technology, "because a student thought they should share a movie with KaZaA." The cross words will have come from a copyright owner, wanting UW to do something to prevent violations through "file-sharing" over the campus network. Quinton, IST's security specialist, turns over each such case to the appropriate authorities. "I believe," he says, "they yank the network connection, speak with the user, have them remove KaZaA and offending material, and send a note of apology to those who complain. The connection is then restored."

The folks running the Keystone Campaign have announced the names of this month's winners in the donor draw for such prizes as gift certificates and a Tim Horton's coffee-maker. "Our Campaign goal is $4.5 million by 2007," organizers note, "and every donation moves us closer to Building a talent trust. To make your donation, please . . . call 888-4567 ext. 5422."

The Centre for Contact Lens Research has a study under way about the use of rigid gas-permeable lenses with two different care systems. "We need your help," a memo says, "if you are at least 18 years old and you currently wear rigid gas-permeable contact lenses." Eligible research subjects will be paid to attend a total of seven one-hour appointments over the next half-year. Anybody interested can get more information from Leona Voss in the optometry school, lvoss@sciborg.

The teaching resource office "recently produced two tipsheets on planning and facilitating online discussions", says an article by the office's associate director, Donna Ellis, in the latest issue of its newsletter, Teaching Matters. As more and more courses include an online component -- even if face-to-face classes are also part of the plan -- there's a growing need for both instructors and students to have the relevant skills. Ellis writes: "The instructor sheet provides tips on the following online discussions issues: benefits, integration into your course, question design, student orientation methods, facilitation, and assessment. The student sheet includes tips on making postings, responding to others' postings, and developing a positive perspective." The tip sheets -- there are others on such topics as course outlines and "surviving your first day of class" -- are, fittingly enough, available online.

A thank-you letter has arrived from Canadian Blood Services following the January 27-30 blood donor clinic in the Student Life Centre. "Through your efforts," says Sharron Cairns of CBS, "we collected a total of 212 units. Of those who donated, 25 per cent were first-time donors." Across Canada, the agency collects more than 800,000 units of blood annually -- but expects to need a million units a year by 2005. Cairns adds that anyone who donated at the UW clinic will be eligible to give blood again in the week of March 24-27, and could do that at the permanent clinic on Bridgeport Road. The next clinic to be held right on campus is scheduled for July 14-22.

And . . . a memo from the university secretariat notes that Geoff McBoyle's term as dean of environmental studies expires June 30, 2004. "Accordingly, a Dean of Environmental Studies Nominating Committee is being constituted. Nominations are requested for the following seat on the Nominating Committee (at least three nominators are required in each case): One staff member elected by and from the regular staff of the Faculty of Environmental Studies Completed nominations should be sent to the Chief Returning Officer, University Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., Wednesday February 26, 2003. An election will follow if necessary. Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat at extension 6125 or online."

CAR