![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Friday |
Monday, November 10, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Programmers top in region -- againThe UW "Black" team won the East Central Region of the ACM Programming Contest on Saturday, which means a Waterloo team will be in the contest's international finals for the twelfth consecutive year. Waterloo Black was the only team to solve seven problems in the day's competition. The Waterloo "Gold" team solved six problems, but took slightly longer than second-place University of Toronto and was ranked third.Members of the victorious Black team are first-year students Ralph Furmaniak (pure mathematics and computer science) and Matei Zaharia (computer science), and graduate student Lars Hellsten (computer science). |
But Waterloo slipped from first to second in the "best overall" ranking of universities from coast to coast, pulling in just behind the University of Toronto. UW had taken pride in being "best overall" in the Maclean's rankings for 11 years straight.
The magazine considers three groups of universities separately before getting to that "best" bottom line. UW is ranked with "comprehensive" universities, those with a broad range of programs but no medical school. Waterloo swept the "reputation" rankings in that group in the magazine's annual universities issue, published yesterday, and ranked second, behind Guelph, in the various objective categories on which the magazine collects data.
Toronto was the top medical-doctoral university, and St. Francis Xavier the top "primarily undergraduate" institution.
Among comprehensive universities, Waterloo ranked #1 in reputation in all four categories: Highest Quality, Most Innovative, Leaders of Tomorrow and Best Overall.
Waterloo placed first in seven of the 23 measuring categories used to arrive at the overall standings. The individual measures where Waterloo placed #1 include average entering grade; student retention; student awards; classes taught by tenured faculty; alumni support; and reputational survey.
When Maclean's combined reputational results for its three categories of university, UW was listed first as "most innovative", second in "leaders of tomorrow", and fourth in "highest quality", leading to the second-place "best overall" result.
The reputation rankings are arrived at by surveying thousands of people across Canada, including high school guidance counselors and principals from every province and territory, chief executive officers of companies, heads of organizations and university officials across the country. This year the survey was much larger: over 11,600 were surveyed compared to just over 7,000 last year.
"We're very pleased with the results this year," said UW president David Johnston in a statement issued yesterday. "It's great to see that Guelph and UW are once again so highly thought of and ranked, and we're especially gratified to see that we placed #1 in each of the reputational categories in our group.
"As well, we are highly ranked in national reputation, #1 in Most Innovative, #2 in Best Overall, and this is up against some of the oldest and most esteemed, centuries-old universities in Canada . . . an excellent showing for a university that was founded less than 50 years ago," he said.
Architecture and Teaching Option co-op employer interviews have had separate computer matches. For Architecture, 177 students are scheduled for a January-April 2004 work term and as of November 6 72 (40.6%) had employment. In the Teaching Option 7 students are scheduled for the January-April, 2004 work term and all (100%) have employment.
Overall, 4,691 co-op students are scheduled to be on a work term for January-April 2004. Including those who are returning to a previous employer and/or who have arranged their own job, 2,484 (53.9%) had employment as of November 6.
The job situation remains a serious concern for students and CECS. Although the economy is showing signs of recovery, this has not yet translated into meaningful increases in our job inventory. Particularly disturbing is the lack of positions for first work term students in the IT programs of Math, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, but also in the new program of Mechatronics Engineering. Adding to the situation is that, compared to the same time year, this year's number of first work term students is up by 19.5% in Math and 19.7% in Engineering.
A primary objective of CECS has always been to help as many co-op students who need work term employment to find it, and this has not changed. Marketing efforts have been stepped up and a re-organization of personnel has taken place in order to make our endeavour as effective as possible.
As is the case each term at this point, co-op students who do not yet have a job for the upcoming work term can participate in the next stage of the employment process called the "Continuous Phase". Job postings have already begun and will conclude on November 25 at which time the job referral database will be pressed into service for those who still need a job.
Students taking part in the continuous phase process should be sure to hand in a copy of their resumé package, along with a completed Continuous Phase Referral Form, to the paging desk in the Tatham Centre by 4 p.m. today.
Jennifer Konkle, the college's communication coordinator, sends a summary of what's been done -- and why:
"In fall 1999, Grebel began the four year long process of planning, fundraising, and construction. The project goals included more classrooms, more space for upper year students, and a link between the residence and academic buildings.
![[Exterior glass]](/images/2003/1110atrium.gif)
"After the official groundbreaking in June 2002, construction crews
focused first on remodeling the existing building. A largely unused
lounge in the basement was converted into new classrooms, while a games
room and study area took the place of some offices. This put all of
Grebel's classrooms on one level, and gave residents a common area
located closer to the residence rooms.
"In fall 2002, the year of mud and dust began. The 32-bed apartment building was finished on time, offering upper year students more freedom and a fantastic view of campus. The residence expansion was also completed in time for the double cohort, increasing the total number of students in the residence from 116 to 172. With the expansion of the residence building, the games room became twice as large, and an airy new laundry room was added.
"Today, the four-storey glass atrium (pictured at right) is essentially completed. The John E. Toews Atrium has been highly anticipated, since it links the residence and academic buildings, creating a large space filled with couches for visiting. Above, catwalks provide easy access to the library and elevator, making Grebel more wheelchair accessible. The new coffee bar, Common Ground, is set to open shortly, and will serve specialty coffees, snacks, and baked goods straight from Grebel's kitchen.
"On the lower floor of the atrium, two new music studios have been built, as well as a furnished gathering area for music students."
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In a very last-minute bit of news, I learned over the weekend that there's another UW-related candidate in today's voting. Steven Hale, a first-year arts student, is seeking a seat on the Waterloo Region District School Board as a representative from Kitchener.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Global warming lecture by Jim Sloan, department of chemistry,
today in the Kitchener Public Library's noon-hour lecture series (12
noon, downtown branch).
Club for Undergraduate BioEngineering professor-student meet-and-greet session, 4:30 to 6:30, Davis Centre lounge: a chance to talk to faculty and graduate students from several engineering fields and kinesiology. Holocaust survivor George L. Scott speaks, 6 p.m. today, Ron Eydt Village great hall -- "his experiences, his inspiration, and his view on life and how you fit into this world". 'Variable printing' workshop offered by UW Graphics, noon Tuesday -- reservations and information, ext. 2210. Climate Change Coffehouse sponsored by the UW Sustainability Project, free, Tuesday starting at 8 p.m., Bombshelter pub. |
A little bit less healthy, but a lot tastier: students from the UW Hip Hop group will be selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the Student Life Centre from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. today through Friday, "to help support our first annual hip-hop competition, OUCH (Ontario University Competition for Hip-Hop), at the bomber on Friday, November 28. You can buy individual doughnuts or a box of a dozen."
The Jewish studies program presents a talk tonight by Stephen Berk of Union College: "Our People Are Your People: American Jews and the Struggle for Civil Rights 1954-1965." He'll speak at 7:30 in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University.
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, and as usual two brief services on campus will mark the occasion. One, organized by the chaplains' association, will be held in the chapel at Renison College, starting at 10:45 a.m. The other, sponsored by the Engineering Society, will start at 10:50 a.m. in the foyer of Carl Pollock Hall.
Wednesday afternoon will bring a "town hall meeting" sponsored by UW's staff association, to talk about the "special recognition award program" that was part of the salary increase package for next spring. "We have received very little feedback to date," said a memo from the staff association executive the other day, promising that executive members would do their best at tomorrow's meeting to answer such questions as they had received. The meeting will start at 3 p.m. in Biology I room 271 -- and a memo to managers is asking them to let interested staff members out of work to attend the meeting.
A reception was held Thursday to celebrate a gift to Renison College from the Bank of Montreal ("BMO"), and a news release provides some details of what was announced:
A $75,000 gift from BMO . . . will fund a classroom in the planned new academic centre at the college. "The Bank of Montreal is well known in our community, indeed at a national and an international level, as a tremendous supporter of education," said John Crossley, Renison Principal. "This is a substantial investment and one which will provide significant benefits to Renison College students," he added.Renison's "Working Together Building our Future" Campaign is part of the university-wide Campaign Waterloo.
Passers-by might have noticed that the solar array that was to be erected on Federation Hall last week isn't exactly there yet. "Due to weather, the solar array installation will start Wednesday," Jeff DeLoyde of the Solar Technology Education Project said late last week.
My apologies, finally, for saying that last night's women's hockey game would be played at the Columbia Icefield. It was a home game for Laurier, not the Warriors, and so was played at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex. Laurier won 2-1.
CAR