![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, August 27, 2004
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
A hydro shutdown that will begin at 6 a.m. and is scheduled to end at 8 p.m. will also affect lights, ventilation fans, freezers, pumps, ovens and clocks in most of UW's buildings. Only a few locations are not affected: UW Place, the Columbia Lake Townhouses, East Campus Hall, the B. F. Goodrich building and the Columbia Icefield. The church colleges are not fed by UW's central plant and aren't involved in the shutdown.
Plant operations will be making emergency repairs to the main distribution bus -- the point where power that comes in from Waterloo Hydro is redistributed to multiple "loops" feeding campus buildings.
| The library says a backup of the Trellis database will be available over the weekend from a web site at Wilfrid Laurier University: abc.wlu.ca. |
Other IST services, including e-mail distribution, the big web server and the campus network itself will be available Saturday, but out of operation Sunday from 5:30 a.m. until after 8 p.m. During those hours Sunday, the only IST systems in operation will be the telephone switchboard and the portion of the ORION computer network that UW maintains for several other campuses. Details are available on the IST web site.
Martin Timmerman of IST said e-mail sent to people at UW will be held up at the machine that's sending it, and will start arriving at Waterloo once service is restored.
Elsewhere on campus, 14 hours without electricity means special arrangements in some areas, such as labs with crucial equipment. In many areas, the plan for Sunday is to pack up and go home. The Dana Porter Library will be closed all day. The Student Life Centre will be open as it always is, but turnkeys warn that there won't be any coffee available.
Mark Murdoch, director of food services, notes that "fortunately, there's almost nobody in residence this weekend." In fact "almost nobody" includes some 100 dons-in-training, 100 football Warriors, and 60 participants in a cheerleading camp. They'll get a continental breakfast Sunday morning (again, no coffee), pizza (from an off-campus supplier) at lunchtime, and a dinner barbecue.
Murdoch said food services freezers "aren't a problem" because they're rated to stay cold for as long as three days without power. As for perishables in refrigerators at various spots around campus, supplies will be used up as much as possible today, "and we'll just restock on Monday."
Gates to all the parking lots will be opened before the power goes off, says parking manager Elaine Carpenter.
Rick Zalagenas, director of maintenance and utilities, asks people across campus to turn off their computers and appliances when they go home today or tomorrow, to avoid voltage spikes and other problems when power is restored at the end of Sunday's shutdown.
"It's been wonderful to watch it grow from a temporary position in 1998," says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services).
Its main web site explains that "The Student Life Office plans and promote events, programs, and resources to help all students with the transition into University." The office is based near Scott's office on the third floor of Needles Hall, although a couple of staff members are in the Humanities building until planned renovations in NH can be completed.
Says Scott: "The office now consists of the Coordinator of Student Life, Heather FitzGerald; the First Year Student Life Coordinator, Karyn Nelson; the Campus life Communications Specialist, Ryan Chen-Wing; and an Assistant Student Life Coordinator, which is filled three terms a year by a co-op student."
She went on: "The two new positions held by Karyn and Ryan are the result of a request to the Student Services Advisory Committee last year to provide funding from student fees so that the office could meet the ever-increasing demand for programming, publications, advisement and training and development for students at UW.
"Karyn will concentrate on the first-year experience and all that it entails, including Student Life 101, the Student Life Handbook, the First Year E-zine, Warrior Weekend, answering the hundreds of questions from students and parents, and all other things relating to first year.
"Ryan will develop and oversee our publications and deal with issues of the diverse campus creating posters, programs and publications that reflect our cultural, racial and religious diversity and working closely with the Federation of Students Club Commissioner, Rick Theis, to promote harmony and understanding among our widely diverse student population.
"Fitz, of course will try to keep it and all of the other activities growing, changing, improving."
"Fitz" -- Heather FitzGerald, who was the lone "student life" staff member in Scott's domain until this summer -- tells a little about her background, writing in the office's online newsletter for first-year students: "My degree was in Science and Business. The combination of the two disciplines allowed me to develop my analytical and problem solving skills, while also learning how to work with others on projects, and the importance of meeting deadlines. Outside of the classroom I took the opportunity to become involved with many areas on campus including Campus Recreation and Residence Life. Both areas helped me to develop my leadership skills. Together my classroom and extra curricular activities gave me the confidence to realize that anything is possible if you put your mind to it."
Besides the student life office, Scott's responsibilities include such student services departments as athletics, health services, counselling, the disabilities office and the Student Life Centre.
The new Tim Horton's outlet in the Student Life Centre is on track to open for business on Wednesday, but there's one disappointment, says Mark Murdoch, director of food services. The outlet is to feature couches and soft chairs in a comfy-lounge style -- something not often seen at your regular Tim's -- but the special-order furniture has been delayed, and for the first few weeks patrons will have to make do with regular tables and chairs. After a few days of getting into the swing of things, the SLC Tim's will be open 24 hours a day, starting September 13.
The closest high school to the UW campus has long been Waterloo Collegiate Institute on Hazel Street, and I think the runner-up would be Resurrection Catholic Secondary School on University Avenue West. Joining them in a few days will be Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, being opened by the Waterloo Regional District School Board at the corner of Erbsville Road and Laurelwood Drive in the northwest corner of Waterloo. School is scheduled to start on September 7. But it's a nail-biter, with the building by no means finished, and officials saying an occupancy permit may not be issued until Labour Day, if then. Some features of SJAM, including the gymnasium, won't be ready even then; school officials have arranged for some SJAM athletes (the "Highlanders") to train at UW's Columbia Icefield gymnasium for the first few weeks of the fall.
![[Beavers]](/images/2004/0827beavers.gif)
UW kinesiology student Keith Beavers (left, in a 2002 photo)
is
at the Olympic Games as a member of Canada's swim team -- "not
expected" to be in the medal category this
year, media said before the games started,
but gaining Olympic experience as one of the younger Canadian swimmers.
On the first day of the competition, he swam in a preliminary round of the
400-metre individual medley, placing 6th in his group. Then four days
later came a heat in the 200-metre backstroke, followed by one of the
semifinal competitions. Beavers broke the 2-minute mark, with a recorded
time of 1:59.98 -- not as good as his personal best of 1:59.15, which is
the Canadian record -- and placed sixth.
Ruby Erwin, who worked in the food services department from 1969 to her retirement in 1982, died August 25. . . . Today's officially the last day of the spring work term for co-op students; the fall term starts Monday. . . . Trucks are expected at the Environmental Studies II building today to start several days of moving the school of architecture to its new Cambridge home. . . .
CAR