![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, September 26, 2003
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Working at Waterloo!]](/images/2003/0925lunch.gif)
All staff
are invited to lunch on Tuesday, as yellow flyers across campus
make clear. The invitation comes from "executive council", and yesterday
somebody asked me just what that means. Answer:
Executive
council is the university's 21 top officials, chaired by the
president. They meet monthly to discuss and communicate.
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It's the third annual celebration of this kind, marking the day -- conveniently near the beginning of the academic year -- designated by the Roman Catholic church to honour Jerome, the fourth-century scholar who gives the Waterloo college its name. (Actually St. Jerome's Day is September 30, but the college marks it on the nearest Friday.)
![[MacEachen]](http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/site/images/AJ_MacEachen.gif)
St. Jerome's now presents an annual
Chancellor John Sweeney Award for Leadership in Catholic Education,
and this year will give it to Allan J. MacEachen (left) to recognize
his commitment to Catholic post-secondary education.
A cabinet minister under prime ministers Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, MacEachen served in half a dozen portfolios, from external affairs to finance, and as deputy prime minister. Says a citation from St. Jerome's: "Mr. MacEachen's parliamentary achievements are well-known, but it is his significant voluntary commitment to his alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, that is being recognized on this occasion. Mr. MacEachen is an outstanding example of the extraordinary leadership provided by alumni in the cause of Catholic post-secondary education."
The college's president, Michael Higgins, adds that "Throughout a distinguished political career, Mr. MacEachen has never flagged in his commitment to St. F.X. and, in honouring him, we honour all those who, through their voluntary efforts, further the historic role of Catholic universities."
He graduated from St. F.X. in 1944 and was a faculty member there in economics, sociology and political science from 1946 to 1953, when he was first elected to Parliament. After 26 years in the House of Commons, he served twelve years in the Senate of Canada.
"Throughout that time," says the St. Jerome's citation, "his connection with St. F.X. remained strong and was recognized with the awarding of an honorary degree in 1964. He was instrumental in establishing the Sister Veronica Chair in Gaelic Studies and was a driving force behind the creation of the new Chair in Social Justice. As a member of the university's board of governors for six years, Mr. MacEachen provided leadership and wisdom to the board." He has been honoured by the establishment of the Allan J. MacEachen Annual Lecture in Politics at St. F.X.
The St. Jerome's Feast is an annual dinner to recognize leadership in Catholic post-secondary education and raise funds for the University's Graduate Program in Roman Catholic Life and Thought. The pre-dinner reception will begin at 6:30 in the Community Centre at St. Jerome's. Tickets are $75.
![[Warrior Weekends logo]](/images/2003/0926weekends.gif)
Activities
for students who aren't going "home" for the weekend and don't
necessarily want to go drinking -- that's the idea of Warrior Weekends,
held monthly in the Student Life Centre. The first one of the fall term
runs tonight and tomorrow, with such activities as hula lessons, a "mocktail
contest", and free movies in the great hall. There's also unlimited play
in the Campus Cove game room, priced at $5 for six hours; free food tonight
at 10; and a Saturday night cookout at the Laurel Creek firepit across from
Environmental Studies II. Details are on the
Warrior Weekends
web site, sponsored by the student services office.
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"Unofficial" marks will start showing up on the Quest system as soon as exams are over for each term, says registrar Ken Lavigne. This term, for instance, exams end December 19 -- and any marks that have been submitted by professors by that time will appear on Quest December 20. Then as new marks arrive, up to the beginning of the Christmas holiday and starting again after New Year's, they'll turn up on Quest day by day or even hour by hour.
In previous terms, no marks have been available until they were all posted together on the "fully graded date" in late January.
"Students often are in a course sequence where they need to know whether they passed the first half," Lavigne points out. And there are other reasons they might be keen to get their marks -- including pure nerves. So the posting system has been changed, and marks will be available early "on the understanding that the file is incomplete and the grades are unofficial."
Late in January, marks will be made official along with "standings", the registrar's statement of whether a student has completed degree requirements, qualified for an honours program, or taken some other step through a degree program based on the full set of marks from the term.
![[Roenspiess]](/images/2003/0925roenspiess.gif)
Kathy Roenspiess,
a member of UW's staff since 1988, died September 12 after a battle
with cancer. She was 62. She
had been a technical secretary for the automation and
control group in mechanical engineering, and, a colleague says, "for the
past several years, Kathy has played an integral role in coordinating the
hundreds of graduate inquiries and applications for the department. Kathy
was a dedicated worker with an incredible work ethic."
She is survived by her husband, George, as well as three sons and two
daughters. A funeral service was held September 17. Memorial donations
to the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre were suggested by the family.
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![[E-mail graphic]](/images/2003/0923email.gif)
E-mail update:
As of yesterday, the queue of undelivered mail in UW e-mail systems
was "huge" and "frighteningly
out of control", according to Reg Quinton, senior technologist for security in
the information systems and technology department.
"In spite of our best efforts to throttle spam, virus and arrival rate,"
Quinton
said,
some 11,000 messages were waiting to be processed.
"Staff are extremely busy blacklisting spammer machines and deleting spam.
Please be patient."
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The lunch, on Tuesday, is part of a New Faculty Lunch and Learn Series ("Helping You to Hit the Ground Running") and is hosted by the associate vice-president (learning resources and innovation), Tom Carey, and the associate vice-president (academic), Gail Cuthbert Brandt.
Its specific topic is "Funding for Innovations: Creative Strategies for Funding Your Research". Moderator will be Liwana Bringelson, interim director of the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology. Panelists include Catherine Burns of systems design engineering, Mardy Frazer of kinesiology, Gerd Hauck of drama and speech communication, and Carey.
Says the invitation memo: "You know about the 'Big 3' sources of research grants -- NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR -- but not everyone receives these grants, particularly when just starting their careers. Other excellent sources of funding also exist, and this session will help you identify a number of these options. Our UW faculty panelists, who are from a variety of disciplines, all have experience at applying for and receiving funding from sources other than federal granting councils. Come and hear how your colleagues have been successful at building relationships with industry and how they have secured provincial funding to help support graduate students in their fields. There will be time for questions and discussion afterward.
"Join us for lunch and a look at more possibilities for funding your research and building your research program. Lunch will be provided. Seize the chance to network with other new faculty members as well."
A memorial service for Ardeth Wood, who was killed last month in her home town of Ottawa, will start at 4 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts. Anyone who wants to attend is welcome. Details are to be announced soon, I understand, of a scholarship fund in Wood's memory in the department of philosophy, where she was a graduate student.
| No! The landmine event is Monday (September 29), not today |
Over the weekend, the Tatham Centre plays host to a Saturday evening session on preparation for medical school (there's a fee). . . . A programming contest in the ACM style will be held tomorrow. . . . The staff association social committee is running a Grand River dinner cruise Saturday night. . . .
Staff and faculty members and their associates will hit the courts Sunday in the annual Downey Tennisfest. . . . The "Aspirations Film Festival", a showcase for student filmmakers, runs through Sunday at the Princess Cinema in central Waterloo. . . . Wilfrid Laurier University is holding its Homecoming. . . .
Saturday will bring a solemn moment for new students in UW's school of planning, who have been invited to a Ceremony of Induction into Professional Planning Education. Proceedings start in the Theatre of the Arts, where students will hear a few words from Ross Newkirk, director of the school of planning, and other officials, starting at 11:30. At noon, they'll read together from the Purposes of the Ontario Professional Planning Institute: "high standards of professional planning practice . . . the quality of Ontario environments and communities". Guest speaker for the day is Bernie Hermsen, partner in a Kitchener planning firm. Students, family members and guests will then adjourn to the Environmental Studies I courtyard for some lunch.
If you work in the main wing of the Davis Centre, you should perhaps turn off your computer before you go home tonight. Power will be shut off on Monday morning from 6:00 to 7:30, the plant operations department says, to allow "changes on the high-voltage transformer".
Monday brings an event from LT3 -- the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology -- that should be of special interest, according to Peter Goldsworthy, who's leading the discussion: "We'll take a hands-on look at the Merlot website and community for faculty development through 'Using Merlot for Advancing Academic Technology Initiatives.' Merlot is an international organization which focuses on the use of learning materials for online course learning improvement." Goldsworthy, who is LT3's research manager, says he'll present the latest news from the recent Merlot International Conference for faculty development. The session is set for 11 a.m. in the Flex Lab in the Dana Porter Library, and more information is available at ext. 7008.
Later on Monday, candidates in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding in the Ontario election will visit campus to answer questions about their higher education policies. The all-candidates' meeting is organized by the faculty association and co-sponsored by staff and student groups, and will start at 4:30 in the Student Life Centre great hall.
Tuesday brings a noon-hour session on "Basic Garden Design", sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, and apparently there has been some concern from people who want to hear the speaker (Lenore Ross of the University of Guelph) but also intend to get to the big "staff appreciation" lunch. Johan Reis of the EAP assures me that the gardening talk, which starts at 12 noon (Physics room 145), will last no more than an hour, making it possible for people to scamper over to the Student Life Centre before the lunch there winds up at 1:30. He also says the EAP is trying to get Ross to make another appearance this fall, but that hasn't been worked out yet.
Sports this weekend: Women's basketball and hockey are getting under way with exhibition action. The basketball team plays an alumni squad Saturday at 2:00 in the Physical Activities Complex; the hockey team hosts Laurier tonight (7:30) and a Stoney Creek team tomorrow (1:30) at the Columbia Icefield. And the women's rugby team hosts Toronto tomorrow at 1:00 at Columbia Field.
Otherwise, Warrior action is all out of town. The football team is at Windsor; the field hockey team has games Saturday and Sunday in a tournament at Western; the men's and women's soccer teams both are at Toronto tomorrow and York on Sunday; the cross-country runners are in the Western Invitational; and the baseball Warriors, striving to get into the playoffs for the first time in team history, play at Guelph tomorrow.
CAR
![[L'shona tova]](/images/2002/0906rosh.gif){kind=small}