![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Friday |
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Isn't that a five-dollar bill?]](/images/2003/1014uway.gif)
"Each week in the month of October, we are raffling off theme baskets," says Gwen Sharp in the department of statistics and actuarial science. This week it's international food. Raffle tickets are $2, or three for $5, at the department office in Math and Computer. Sharp (left) shows off last week's basket, "Pamper Yourself", along with colleague Lucy Simpson. |
"We are now officially sitting at $85,558," Kristin Schmidt of the United Way office said on Friday afternoon -- noting that the figure represents 57 per cent of this year's $150,000 goal in cheques and pledges from faculty, staff and retirees.
Mostly, that's in response to the pledge forms that were distributed as the annual campaign began on October 1. Said Schmidt: "We also have a winner of this week's $35 gift certificate from retail services. She is Carol West-Seebeck in the Centre for Applied Health Research."
The campus campaign is one sliver of the United Way of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area, whose 2003 campaign had raised a little more than $2 million of its total $5.3 million goal by October 8.
The overall United Way funds 45 member agencies who provide 80 programs and services in Kitchener-Waterloo. They range from tutoring through The Literacy Group to provision of patient equipment by the Multiple Sclerosis Society, from the work of the Central Ontario Developmental Riding Program to crime prevention initiatives by the John Howard Society.
"Even a modest donation can go a long way in helping the people supported by United Way agencies," says Schmidt, pointing to a long list of examples. A donation of $5 a week, for instance, adds up to $260 in a year, and can pay for "weekly transportation for a family of four to ESL and preschool classes" through Woolwich Community Services, or "two training experiences for our volunteers working in the courts with women" through the Elizabeth Fry Society.
Robert Giroux, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, presented a brief to the House of Commons finance committee in the annual hearings leading up to the federal budget. Here's some of what Giroux said:
"At the Innovation Summit last year, AUCC and the federal government released a Framework of Agreed Principles on Federally Funded University Research. Canadian universities committed to double the amount of research they perform and to increase their efforts to transfer knowledge to their communities, including tripling their collective commercialization performance. The government, for its part, committed to increase its investments in university research. AUCC and the government have worked closely in pursuit of our common goal.
"We can reach this goal only with the continued strong support of the federal government. I mean continued growth in funding to the granting agencies; assistance to develop the research capacity of our universities in all regions of the country; attention to the ongoing needs of our research infrastructure; efforts to continue attracting our young people into research careers; and most importantly, funding support for the indirect costs of research. The government's efforts to date have generated excitement in the university research community, a real turnaround from a decade ago. Without continued support, we risk losing that excitement, draining the momentum, and returning to the unfortunate circumstances of the 1990s.
"Just as the government has addressed research needs over these last several years, it is now time to focus on the education mission of universities. The quality of our university graduates, with their skills and creativity, is essential to the creation of wealth in our knowledge economy. In turn, wealth creation makes possible the wide range of goals established by governments, including stable social services, improved health and a culturally richer society.
"AUCC expects full-time university enrolment to increase by at least 30 percent -- or 200,000 additional students -- from 2001 to 2011, due to growth in the 18-24 age group, as well as to increased participation and the growing demand for the skills and expertise that university graduates can provide. To meet that demand, universities must have the institutional capacity -- the human resources and physical and technological infrastructure -- to offer these students a quality educational experience.
"At the same time, we are conscious of the need to make universities more accessible to a greater number of disadvantaged Canadians, such as young people coming from low-income backgrounds, Aboriginal Canadians, or the disabled. If we wish, for example, to reduce the gap for lower income students by half, then we will require an additional 100,000 seats in our universities across the country.
"We need more teachers and more teaching space. Our analysis suggests that universities will have to hire 35,000 to 40,000 new faculty members between 2001 and 2011. The need for new buildings and for upgrades to older facilities includes over $3 billion just for accumulated deferred maintenance. We believe that the federal government has an important role to play in finding solutions to these problems. We believe that the federal government can provide leadership in the educational mission of universities just as it has done with university research.
"The federal government must work constructively with the provinces, which play a central role in providing operating resources to the universities. We propose the creation of a higher education renewal fund, which could include a federal-provincial transfer component over and above the existing Canada Social Transfer. The federal government could also dedicate funds, either separately or through the transfer, to such areas as physical and technological infrastructure. Expanding access for non-traditional students will also require supports and incentives for these individuals.
"Finally, we recommend grants to enable Canadian students to pursue short-term international study opportunities, including exchanges; as well as measures to encourage international students to study in Canada.
"What we propose calls for important investments by the federal government over the next several years. We are calling for a long term commitment to these issues from the federal government, working with the provinces and the universities."
Baseball Warriors share in honoursOntario University Athletics announced its 2003 baseball all-stars on Friday. The balanced league, in which there was a five-way tie for the final playoff spot, carried over into the all-star selections, with six of the eight teams receiving honours.Waterloo's Scott Schmidt was named the all-star first baseman, in a tie with Brock's Matt Pickett. Waterloo's head coach, Brian Bishop, was named Coach of the Year. The Warriors advanced to the playoffs for the first time in OUA baseball history this season, defeating every team except the team who ultimately ended their season in semi-final action, McMaster. |
The senate undergraduate council meets at 12 noon in Needles Hall room 3004, with a long agenda of curriculum changes and a discussion of "diploma and certificate" programs. . . . The arts faculty council will meet at 3:30 in Humanities room 373. . . .
Today at WLU
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This afternoon at 4:00, Stan Dragland -- "a successful writer of fiction for adults and children, of poetry, and of literary criticism" -- will speak in the St. Jerome's University cafeteria. Dragland "is perhaps best known for writing outside the boundaries", says St. Jerome's English professor Gary Draper. "His most recent book is another boundary-breaker, Apocrypha: Further Journeys."
Tomorrow will be "Professional and Post-Degree Day", with displays in the Student Life Centre from some 50 graduate schools in fields from dentistry to law and business. . . . Also tomorrow, the Best Buddies group ("enhancing our communities through one-to-one friendships between people with intellectual disabilities and students") will hold a bake sale in the SLC, starting at noon. . . . UW Graphics has a noontime seminar tomorrow on "Digital Archiving" (Susan Schaefer at ext. 2210 has details). . . . And the teaching resource office will hold a workshop, mostly for graduate teaching assistants, on "Critical Thinking" (details, ext. 3132). . . .
Peace Week is about to begin at Conrad Grebel University College -- a rather short "week", with events crammed into two days, while a prominent visitor is in town. He's John Sloboda, British professor and activist and creator of the Iraq Body Count web site. Events (and I'll say more about them tomorrow) include a noon concert tomorrow of "New Music for Peace", a talk by Sloboda at Grebel's 4:30 chapel service tomorrow, a noon seminar on Thursday, and a public lecture at 1:00 Thursday afternoon.
The "30-Hour Famine" runs Thursday and Friday in the Student Life Centre, and Thursday night at 8:00 there's a "Famine Freedom Concert" in the great hall. . . . "Pain and the Soul" is the topic of Friday night's John Sweeney Lecture in Current Issues in Healthcare, at St. Jerome's University, to be followed by a Saturday morning workshop. . . . Saturday brings a day-long workshop on "Intellectual Property: From Science to Business", sponsored by the Science Committee of Revolutionary Undergraduate Business Students, or SCRUBS. . . .
And here's an announcement some people have been waiting for. The 2003 Hagey Lecture will be given Monday, November 3, by filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who will speak about his most recent film, "Ararat". There will, as usual, be a student colloquium next morning for conversation with Egoyan. Tickets for the November 3 lecture are free but should be picked up in advance, from the faculty association office or the Humanities box office, and they're available starting today.
CAR