![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, October 17, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Riding past King Street stores]](/images/2003/1016wombat.gif)
Aboard the Wombat:
Randy Armstrong of the
Waterloo Off-Road
Mini Baja Team, or Wombat, drives the vehicle in Monday's Oktoberfest
parade. The team is preparing for its next race in the spring, says
team advisor Duane Cronin of mechanical engineering.
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Last fall, the report says, the library invited 1,220 UW instructors to take part in a web-based survey "to identify the satisfaction level of current faculty users of Reserves; obtain more information about non-users and what alternatives are being used; and gather information about the future of Reserves in the electronic age. . . .
"Despite changes in technology and a tremendous increase in departmental websites over the past decade, 550 instructors placed course material on Reserves last year. Many faculty members rely on Reserves to make material available to their students; however, for several years now, questions about the long-term viability of the Reserves service have been posed."
Ten per cent of faculty members responded, the library says. "Of the respondents, 80% indicated that they have used Reserves before and 20% have not. The respondents represent a good cross-section of the departments on campus."
It notes that the present reserves service is a mixture of paper and electronic materials. "The majority of course reserves are paper only and a few are electronic only -- the rest are a combination of the two. Currently, 10% of the total courses on Reserves have an electronic reserve component.
"Although the paper reserves constitute most of what instructors are using, students make heavy use of the electronic reserve resources. For example, usage statistics of paper reserves (325 courses) for the Fall Term 2002 totalled 22,369, and usage statistics for electronic reserves (31 courses) totalled 23,813 downloads. Despite the fact that a direct comparison between the two usage counts cannot be made due to other variables, the usage numbers indicate the popularity of electronic reserves for students."
And what do professors think? "Responses and comments demonstrate clearly that the reserves services, both paper and electronic, are valued by a significant percentage of faculty and that both services should continue for the foreseeable future. The demand for paper reserves has continued throughout the years of development of the web. However, survey results, together with experience, and with examples from other universities, indicate that electronic reserves service fills a real need, and that with more development in one or two key areas the service would grow rapidly. The key areas are copyright clearances (and potential related costs) and, to a lesser degree, effective promotion of the service. Rapid growth will mean an improvement of service to students, efficiencies of staff labour, and an increased profile for the Library. . . .
"The Library should accept that it often performs work that is done in other departments, and the definition of the service should change, becoming more adaptable according to the needs of faculty. For example, for those faculty that prefer to manage their own course website, library Reserves offers a scanning and copyright service that serves up course materials for easy integration into course websites. . . . At the same time, all electronic materials can be made available centrally through the library database(s), for those faculty that prefer to refer their students to the Library for their research."
Skerrett will speak on "Pain and the Soul" at St. Jerome's University tonight. Her talk, the second annual John Sweeney Lecture on Current Issues in Healthcare, starts at 7:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall. The lecture is free of charge. All are welcome.
A person suffering pain will perceive their suffering as being without purpose unless it can be linked to their spiritual experience, Skerrett argues. She points out that religious practitioners have used pain as a doorway to altered states of consciousness and to deepen their relationship with the divine. The relationship between pain and spirituality, she says, must be taken into account by medical workers and chaplains dealing with people suffering chronic pain, and by the sufferers themselves. Lorraine I. Ferguson, a theology student who was forced to drop her studies because of extreme, untreatable daily pain, will add her personal perspective to Skerrett's lecture.
On Saturday, a workshop on "Pain and the Care of the Soul" will be held in the Fireplace Lounge in Sweeney Hall, 9 a.m. to noon. St. Jerome's co-chaplain Melinda Szilva will join Skerrett and Ferguson in a discussion of practical ways of coping with the spiritual implications of chronic pain. The workshop will conclude with a liturgy of healing.
Skerrett is a former lawyer (Dalhousie University and Osgoode Hall) with a PhD in Christian Theology and the Modern West from Harvard University and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School. A former McGill faculty member, she is now an assistant professor of religious studies at Grinnell, where she teaches courses on Christian ideas and disciplines, gender and religion, and "religious practices of the body".
The John Sweeney Lecture on Current Issues in Healthcare is sponsored by St. Mary's General Hospital and St. Joseph's Health System in memory of the late John Sweeney, who was chancellor of St. Jerome's. The lecture and workshop are part of the 2003-2004 season of the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience.
Watch for details, such as time and place, as the dates get closer, or check the on-line UWevents listing.October 22: Tim Jackson, partner in venture capital firm, "Securing Capital for the Early Stage Technology Business". October 22: John Holmes, University of Pennsylvania, "Mining Health-Related Data: Methods and Applications in Research, Public Health, and Patient Care". October 22-23: Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale University, "The Importance of Justice" (two lectures in the Pascal Lectures series). October 22: Janice MacKinnon, "A New Prime Minister, a New Agenda: Health Care Versus Education". October 23: Ernie Benedict, "Relevancy of Native Traditions, Present and Future". October 24: David Lime, University of Minnesota, "Making Tourism Research More Relevant". October 29: Joan Crate, novelist, reading from her work. October 30: Author Kerri Sakamoto reading from her work. October 30: Clifford Larry, "Overview of the Burnt Church Conflict". October 31: Preston Manning, federal politician, "Living the Interface Between Faith and Politics". November 3: Atom Egoyan, filmmaker, "Poetic License and the Incarnation of History", the annual Hagey Lecture. November 4: Barbara Köhler, German poet, reading from her work. November 6: Chief Roberta Jamieson, "The Future of Aboriginal Communities in Canada". November 7: David Weaver, George Mason University, "Towards More Sustainable Ecotourism". November 7: John Toews, formerly of Conrad Grebel University College, "Toward a Biblical Theology of Leadership Affirmation: Rethinking Ordination". November 7: Lynn Snyder, Smithsonian Institution, "Before There Were Horses: 10,000 Years of Dogs and People in North America". November 10: Stephen Berk, Union College, "Our People Are Your People: American Jews and the Struggle for Civil Rights 1954-1965". November 13: James Timberlake, Philadelphia architect, "Refabricating Architecture". November 13: Maggie Hodgson, "Residential Schools and Healing". November 14: Bill Gartner, University of Minnesota, "Rural Tourism in North America". November 19: Novelist Gail Bowen, reading from her work. November 20: Dan Smoke, "Ethics of Aboriginal Representation". November 26: Michael Oren, "The Six-Day War and Understanding the Contemporary Middle East". November 27: Ed Burtynsky, Toronto architect, "In the Wake of Progress: Images of the Industrial Landscape".
One committee seat filled, one to goThe university secretariat sends word that the call for nominations for the election of two regular faculty members to serve on the Presidential Nominating Committee closed at 3 p.m. on October 15. "One nomination was received and James Frank, Kinesiology, has been acclaimed. Under Policy 50, two regular faculty members, elected from and by the faculty-at-large of the University, are required. Consequently, the nomination deadline for a second regular faculty member has been extended to Wednesday, October 29, at 3 p.m. At least three nominators are required in each case. An election will follow if necessary."Forms and further information are available from the secretariat at ext. 6125, or online. |
At 3 p.m., the earth sciences department presents the annual Farvolden Lecture, this year with Mary Anderson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, speaking on "Groundwater in a Conveyor Belt of Lakes". Location: Davis Centre room 1302. A reception follows in the foyer of the department's proud new home, the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology. (And this morning, starting at 10:30, a groundwater research symposium will be held -- details, ext. 2069.)
The Touring Players (for kids) will present "More Munsch Madness" in the Humanities Theatre today at 10:00, 11:45 and 1:30. . . . Co-op job match results for chartered accountancy students will be ready by 3 p.m. in the Tatham Centre. . . . It's "open mic night" with Matt Osborne in the Graduate House, starting at 9 p.m. . . . Tamil Cultural Night is scheduled for 6:00 Saturday in the Humanities Theatre. . . .
Saturday brings a day-long workshop on "Intellectual Property: From Science to Business", sponsored by the Science and Business Students Society. Location: the Davis Centre lounge. IP is "one of the most critical issues facing the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and bioinformatics", SCRUBS notes. Speakers will come from industry and academe; for example, Owen Ward of UW's biology department will talk about his own experiences with intellectual property development and licensing. Seminars will provide insight into such areas as legal issues, IP in industry, strategies, and ethics. And, a brochure promises students, "through networking, the conference is a great opportunity to ask questions and discuss any interests you may have about your future." Details -- including word on how to register, since space is limited -- are on the SCRUBS web site.
A film titled "Belonging: The Search for Acceptance", and described as "a powerful new film essay about the social vision of Jean Vanier", will be shown Saturday at 1 p.m. at Renison College (in the chapel lounge):
Drawn from the stories of real lives, from the ordinary and the extraordinary, "Belonging" celebrates the dignity and diversity of humanity and identifies that which unites us -- our aloneness and our longing to belong. What do they have in common -- a Bay Street executive, a Ugandan refugee, a student encountering a bully? "Belonging" invites an examination of personal identity and of the fundamental connection that unites us all.A chance for discussion will follow the 50-minute showing.
The men's hockey team hosts Western at 7:30 tonight at the Icefield, and a pregame ceremony will honour Ron Ober, who served as the Warrior hockey manager for several years, up to his death last spring. His wife, Jane Waurenchen, along with other family members, will join former Warrior head coach Dave Cressman on ice for a special presentation.
Other sports this weekend: Tomorrow the men's rugby team hosts Western -- presumably not the same players -- at 1 p.m. on Columbia Fields. Tomorrow night at 7:30, at the Icefield, the women's hockey team takes on York. Sunday at 10 a.m. the badminton squad, which is away at McMaster tomorrow, returns to face Brock in the Physical Activities Complex. And the swimmers, who have a meet at Guelph tonight, take on Carleton and Queen's tomorrow (starting at 5:30) in the PAC pool.
![[OktoberFed tonight]](http://www.feds.ca/graphics/picture3.gif)
Otherwise, all the Warrior teams are out of town this weekend. The
men's basketball team is just down the street at a tournament at Laurier;
men's and women's volleyball teams are in tournaments at Queen's;
the field hockey Warriors have games in Ottawa against Carleton and, for
some reason, Toronto; the football Warriors go to McMaster tomorrow
afternoon; the women's rugby team is at Queen's for the OUA semi-finals;
the men's and women's soccer squads are at Western on Saturday and Windsor
on Sunday.
Churchgoers have a new choice on campus, as Grace Mennonite Brethren Church (743-3619) has started holding its weekly services in the great hall at Conrad Grebel College, 10:30 on Sundays. Regular worship opportunities on Sunday mornings also exist at Renison College (Anglican), St. Jerome's University (where the University Catholic Community is a full-fledged Roman Catholic congregation), and, of all places, Federation Hall, where the Embassy Church (Pentecostal Assemblies, with a beat) meets at 10:30.
Moving ahead to Monday: opening celebrations for the expanded Student Life Centre will be held at 12:15. And an information session about the new Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday in Davis Centre room 1302. (Writing about MBET reminds me that it wasn't 100 per cent accurate to say, as I did yesterday, that UW has no graduate program in business. But MBET is small and new, and not the same thing as an MBA, which UW doesn't offer.)
And . . . the student services office sends a reminder that October 24, next Friday, is the deadline for applications and nominations for this year's President's Circle Awards for Volunteerism. "To be eligible," says an note from Karyne Velez in student services, "you must send in all required materials, such as the completed nomination/application form, a completed Volunteer Reference form, and a resumé."
CAR