![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, October 30, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Libeskind]](/images/2003/1027libeskind.gif)
Architect
Daniel Libeskind (above), who designed the new look of the
Royal Ontario Museum and won the competition
to rebuild the ground level of the World Trade
Center, will speak tonight in the Humanities Theatre. His 7:00 talk
(admission free) is part of the architecture school's Arriscraft lecture
series, and will be titled "Memory Foundations".
Author Kerri Sakamoto will read tonight at Renison College (7:00, in the first event of this year's East Asian Festival. |
It will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ICR lounge (room 1301) in the Davis Centre.
The fair seeks to show how to partner people's strengths and abilities with technology. An important theme of the event will be to highlight applications of technology in research and barrier-free curriculum design, said Rose Padacz, director of the UW office.
Faculty, staff and students can check out specialized products designed to foster learning, such as wireless access on campus, voice recognition software, advancements in adaptive technologies, hardware and software solutions, and adaptive technology applications in research and curriculum design, as well as campus and community support services. A number of companies and organizations from the campus, community and business will be displaying their products and services.
There will be presentations on Accessible Web Design with Jesse Rodgers of the communications and public affairs office at 10:15 a.m.; Universal Instructional Design with Jaellayna Palmer of the University of Guelph, 11:30 a.m.; Adaptive Technology, Supporting Student Success with Kendra Grant of Strategic Transitions, 1:15 p.m.; and Learning Strategies and Adaptive Technology with Alice Schmidt of the disabilities office, 2:30 p.m.
The board's pension and benefits committee said in its report that at December 21, 2002, the fund had a market value of $658,548,190. Of that total, about 40 per cent is invested in stocks, while the rest is in corporate bonds and real-return bonds. The actuarial value of the fund was slightly less, at about $657 million.
"Both of these valuations are better than anybody would have expected," Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services), told the board. "We are still above that red line -- but we're hovering pretty close." The liabilities of the fund were listed at $653 million, although that doesn't take into account an allocation of $35 million for pension plan "improvements" over recent years.
![[Stock graph]](/images/2003/1029stocks.gif)
The picture is expected to be brighter at the end of 2003, with the stock
market picking up a little. Scott said the current prediction is a gain of
about 7 per cent on investments during 2003.
In addition, both UW and individual employees
started paying the full cost of pension plan premiums last January 1; for
several years past, premiums had been reduced as the fund was showing an
unacceptable surplus.
(The pension and benefits committee will be meeting this morning with
representatives of the four companies that handle the investments, to talk
about the current state of things.)
Over the 34 years since the current pension fund was created, it has earned an average of 9.53 per cent annually on its investments, the board was told.
Officials like to remind staff and faculty members that the size of their pensions isn't directly affected by the performance of the pension fund. That's because UW has what actuaries call a "defined benefit" pension plan. Only a minority of employer pension plans work like this one -- the majority are "defined contribution" or "money purchase" plans, and in those cases, a drop in the value of pension fund investments does mean trouble.
But at UW, says David Dietrich of the human resources department, "a pension is based on a member's final average earnings and the amount of time a member has made contributions into the plan. Therefore, unlike other employers who have money purchase or 'RRSP like' pension plan designs, the current negative state in the stock market has no effect on the size of the UW pension."
"The hope is that these students will become the researchers, teachers and innovators of the future," says provost Amit Chakma.
Sandy Clipsham of co-op education and career services agrees. "It's amazing because if a student can get exposed early on to a research opportunity, it opens up a whole area of jobs and opportunities that they might not have thought of if they didn't pursue those options." According to Clipsham, since research is such a valuable element of what happens in both academia and in industry, students should participate in it "not only for the sake of the learning that research provides for the student, but also for the sake of understanding what drives decisions: about business, about science, about advances in technology, all of those things."
Students hired with the help of Undergraduate Research Internship Program funding must be in good academic standing, and should occupy positions created beyond those currently in existence. The university provides $1,500 per student hired, and the employing faculty member is expected to supplement the salary so that the student earns at least $6,000 for four months of employment.
In addition to promoting on-campus student employment and creating new jobs, the Undergraduate Research Internship Program exposes students to the world of research early on, ensuring that Waterloo continues to produce "the leaders of tomorrow".
Faculty members interested in hiring undergraduate research interns under the Undergraduate Research Internship Program in the 2003-04 fiscal year should contact the appropriate co-op advisor. Successful applicants will be asked to prepare job descriptions, which will be posted immediately.
Contacts in the CECS department are Sandy Clipsham (accounting and mathematics), ext. 2593; Diane McKelvie (science and applied health sciences), ext. 2438; Shirley Thompson (arts and environmental studies), ext. 3698; Janet Metz (engineering), ext. 3373.
It's gonna be a big weekendHomecoming starts tomorrow, with parties and reunions. The bookstore has its Kidsfest on Saturday, the AHS "fun run" around the ring road is Saturday morning, and the Naismith men's basketball tournament runs all weekend.And it'll be a Warrior Weekend, which means special activities in the Student Life Centre on Friday and Saturday nights, including a Saturday coffeehouse, for students who aren't in a drinking mood. Details tomorrow. Friday night, former Reform Party leader Preston Manning speaks at St. Jerome's University (7:30). The science faculty holds its annual open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- kids welcome. The East Asian Festival at Renison College is under way: food Friday at noon, "Culture and Family Day" on Saturday, gala dinner and silent auction Saturday night. And the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group marks its 30th anniversary with an open house Saturday afternoon, dinner at the Graduate House, and a 7 p.m. lecture by Stephen Lewis in the Humanities Theatre. |
How about a Kitchener campus for UW? "Talks" are happening between UW officials and people at Kitchener city hall, president David Johnston told the university's board of governors on Tuesday. He noted that UW does have a presence in Kitchener because of the distance education office on Gage Avenue; an architecture campus in Cambridge is to open next year, and if the proposed merger with the Michener Institute goes ahead, there will be a Toronto campus. There's no "specific" plan for more UW activity in Kitchener, the president said, but it's an appealing idea. Mayor Carl Zehr agreed, saying he looks at cities where universities have been established for perhaps hundreds of years, and imagines something similar in central Kitchener.
A presentation by this year's co-op students in the LT3 technology centre starts at 10:30 today in the Flex Lab in the Dana Porter Library. . . . A session on "Creating CVs and Cover Letters", aimed mostly at graduate students, starts at 12 noon in Tatham Centre room 2218, sponsored by the teaching resource office. . . . The career services series presents "Business Etiquette and Professionalism" at 4:30 today. . . . It's the last day for the current blood donor clinic in the Student Life Centre. . . .
The Federation of Students will hold its annual general meeting at 4:30 in the great hall of the Student Life Centre. All undergraduate students are eligible to take part, voting on such exciting stuff as the 2002-03 financial statements (no $5.6 billion deficit there) and changes to the Feds' bylaws.
The Interdisciplinary Coffee Talk Society continues its monthly get-togethers tonight, with words from Mike Ross of the psychology department, speaking on "Memory and Aging". The meeting starts at 5:00 at the Graduate House.
The department of drama and speech communication holds its third annual Career Night tonight, this year entitled "Communication Extravaganza: An Evening of Career Exploration and Networking". It's an opportunity for students (and others) to discover potential career options in theatre and communications, and for students considering studying through the drama department to learn more about its programs. Members of the local business community will also meet students and the department, through a series of guest talks and a variety of information booths setup by local organizations. Among the speakers: a professional actor and a news anchorman. Communication Extravaganza is a wine-and-cheese event, from 7:00 to 9:30 in the Festival Room, South Campus Hall.
Something out of the ordinary tonight at Kitchener's Walper Hotel:
A twentieth century radio interviewer explores ethical dilemmas of rescue with Immanuel Kant, the French philosophe Condorcet, and Rose Vernet, the unsung heroine who sheltered Condorcet from the Terror in the French Revolution. Discussed are lying to save a life, the role of reason in reaching principled ethical decisions, and Kant's surprising attitude to the French Revolution. The Condorcet case, in which a sheltered person lied to save the life of his rescuer, contrasts interestingly with the oft-discussed example in which Kant claimed that one could not justifiably tell a lie, even to protect someone hiding from a vicious attacker.This "philosophical entertainment", titled "Dilemmas of Rescue", was written by Trudy Govier, a PhD graduate in philosophy from UW, and stars philosophy professor Rolf George as Immanuel Kant. Doors open at 7:30 and the dialogue starts at 8 p.m.
Tonight's Native studies lecture is an "Overview of the Burnt Church Conflict", by Clifford Larry, starting at 8 p.m. at St. Paul's United College. . . . Tomorrow morning's tourism lecture is "Emerging Issues in Tourism Marketing", by Mark Havitz of the recreation and leisure studies department (9:30 a.m., Environmental Studies I room 132). . . . The University Club has an $11.95 Hallowe'en luncheon tomorrow, from curried pumpkin bisque to black linguini. . . .
The literary magazine The New Quarterly will celebrate the Celtic new year -- and its recent triumphs in the National Magazine Awards -- with a pretty classy party Saturday night at the fireplace lounge at St. Jerome's University. Tickets for the event are $75 -- details, 884-8111 ext. 290.
Monday evening, November 3, will bring this year's Hagey Lecture in the Humanities Theatre. The speaker is Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, talking about his latest film, "Ararat".
CAR