![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[In lacework of branches]](/images/2003/1105hawk.gif)
Alert in the trees outside the Optometry building is this red-tailed hawk -- frequently seen in the area "attempting to reduce the squirrel population", says optometry professor Tony Cullen. He took the picture during yesterday's chilly rain. |
The money, $1 million over five years, is coming from RBC Financial Group, parent company of the Royal Bank of Canada, and will, according to a news release, "establish a modern facility to advance the cause of electronic learning".
The information commons is "a high-tech learning and study space", said the release. "The RBC Information Commons will enrich the learning process for UW students by organizing their library workspace in an integrated, accessible and highly visible area."
Speaking for RBC at yesterday's lunchtime event was Martin Lippert, the company's vice-chairman and chief information officer, who is already a strong UW supporter as vice-chair of the Campaign Waterloo committee. "RBC Financial Group is proud to be a part of establishing this state-of-the-art e-learning facility," he said. "Our contribution is an investment in technology and education that we know will serve thousands of students on campus for years to come."
UW president David Johnston praised RBC -- which takes pride in having been named "Canada's most socially responsible corporation" seven years in a row -- and stressed its interest in both education and technology. Johnston said the commons, being created as part of renovations to the 16-year-old Davis library, "will be instrumental in changing the way e-learning takes place".
Haslett -- after reaching out to touch the giant $1 million cheque, just to make sure it was real -- told yesterday's gathering that students will be the beneficiaries of the new facility. "The leadership gift will create a new resource to help UW students and researchers develop and maintain the information management skills they need for success now and in the years ahead."
Although anyone across the university can use it, the Davis Centre library chiefly serves engineering, mathematics and science, and attracts more than 3,400 visitors daily as well as many online users.
Said the news release: "Featuring clusters of high-end multimedia workstations, networked wireless laptops and express-type terminals, the RBC Information Commons will provide students and researchers with access to the information technology they need to investigate and think critically about the online world."
![[Wood floors, bright view]](/images/2003/1105arch3north.gif)
The century-old building offers broad open spaces for design studios -- here's a view of the third floor, west side. |
"At this point," says director Rick Haldenby, "over half the tenders for the project are in and it is clear that we are going to complete the school of architecture on budget and on time to open in September 2004 as planned."
Images of the final design were made public for the first time and two large individual donations were announced:
Tom Watson, head of the Cambridge Consortium charged with leading the private fundraising campaign, adds, "Thanks to the leadership of these major donors the fundraising has been extremely successful, exceeding the amount required to complete and equip the building. We must now finish the job by putting in place the endowments needed to maintain and operate the school of architecture."
Cambridge mayor Doug Craig points to the new development in the core area and the cultural and economic benefits that will follow on the opening of the internationally respected design school in Cambridge.
"Accessible Web Design" is the topic of a talk this morning by Jesse Rodgers of the communications and public affairs office. He'll be repeating what he said in a presentation at last week's Adaptive Technology Fair. Today's talk starts at 10 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1304.
Co-op students in the architecture and teaching programs will get news this morning: job match results for the winter term will be posted at 11 a.m. Meetings for students who don't immediately get jobs will be held later in the day, the co-op and career services department says.
The Environmental Studies Society continues its series of brown-bag lunches with candidates in the municipal election. Today brings two guests: Edwin Laryea, running for Waterloo city council, and Lynne Woolstencroft, seeking re-election as mayor of Waterloo. They'll be in the ES I coffee-shop from 11:30 to 1:00.
Conrad Grebel University College presents free music at noon (actually at 12:30) in the chapel: "Chinese Fusions" by Mei Han and Randy Raine-Reusch.
![[Bird]](/images/2003/1105mbird.gif)
A memorial service for Renison College faculty member
Michael Bird (right)
who
died last week, will be held starting at 4 p.m. in the Humanities
Theatre. "A student award will be established in
honour of Professor Dr. Michael Bird," Renison's web
site announces; details are expected soon.
The Perimeter Institute, independent but with close ties to UW, hosts a panel discussion tonight on "Canada's International Scientific Reputation" -- 7 p.m. at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Centre. Speakers will include UW president David Johnston; Mike Lazaridis, chief executive of Research In Motion and chancellor of UW; and Tom Brzustowski, former UW provost and now president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
Tomorrow morning, Renison College will celebrate a gift from the Bank of Montreal to its capital campaign; the party starts at 11 a.m. Tomorrow evening, Chief Roberta Jamieson will give this term's Stanley Knowles Lecture, organized by St. Paul's United College but held in the Humanities Theatre (7:30). She'll speak on "The Future of Aboriginal Communities in Canada".
And here's a reminder that Saturday will be this fall's
You @ Waterloo Day, with
tours
and activities for
Today's Gazette also includes a full-page ad from the co-op department honouring students with "outstanding" evaluations from their employers for the spring work term; a review of the current exhibition in the UW art gallery; and a report on plans for this year's FASS production and organizers' hope to get more staff and faculty members involved.
UW got a new Internet link to the world this morning. A memo from Doug Payne of information systems and technology explains that "the campus will have an additional external network connection, via the new provincial ORION network. This new circuit will provide the primary connection among Ontario universities and to other universities and research institutions in Canada and elsewhere. The current CA*net connection provided by ONet Networking will remain in place as a backup for a few weeks, until such time as we co-ordinate its removal with ONet." Techies who want to know more about Orion can get it on November 21, when Roger Watt of IST will be the speaker at the weekly Friday morning professional development seminar.
A conference on clean air opens today in Rome, organized in part by the Network for Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, which is a branch of UW's Institute for Risk Research. ""We want to promote the exchange of knowledge between North America and Europe on technical, scientific and management issues to identify policy opportunities for air quality improvement," explains IRR director John Shortreed.
The athletics department's Gold and Black newsletter this fall includes an invitation for nominations to the UW athletics hall of fame. "Each year a slate of former Warrior and Athena athletes, builders and coaches are honoured," the newsletter notes, and this year's event is set for April 3. Nominations are due by December 18; Jim Hagen in the athletics department has more information.
The athletics newsletter also includes a brief report on UW's Matt Mains, who went to the Dominican Republic in August as a member of Canada's swim team for the Pan-American Games. How did he do? Sixth place in the 200-metre breaststroke, and eighth in the 100-metre. "I swam a best time in the 100," says Mains, "but I felt that the 200 was disappointing. . . . The experience was wonderful." He's back with the Warrior swim team this season.
Rick Haldenby, director of the school of architecture, has received a major grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for city studies, UW's media relations office reports. The two-year, $377,440 grant from the Community-University Research Alliance program is to continue work on "Planning the Mid-Sized City: Centre for Core Area Research and Design". In many mid-sized Canadian cities, the deterioration of the traditional downtown business centre represents a major liability to the entire community, Haldenby says. Health and safety, homelessness and poverty, economic instability, deteriorating commercial spaces and a threatened natural environment are among the issues. The program "advances our understanding of the economic, social and environmental dynamics of selected urban core areas and will generate solutions that contribute to the health, stability and revitalization of these areas," SSHRC said.
CAR