![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, February 19, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Budhwani]](/images/2004/0219budhwani.gif)
He'll take office May 1, said the GSA's chief returning officer, Jason Grove, announcing that all the association's executive positions have been filled by acclamation for the coming year. A nomination period ended last week with just one candidate for each seat.
Two of the executive members will continue from this year's group: Kelly Byers, also of political science, as VP (student affairs), and Shabnam Ivkovic, of computer science, as VP (corporate affairs).
New on the GSA executive will be Jennifer Hunter, of physics and vision science, as VP (operations).
It's one in a series of reviews that are to be done for all UW academic programs on a seven-year cycle. Based on a self-study and an assessment by outside experts, the English department review was submitted to senate, along with others, by the associate vice-president (academic), Gail Cuthbert Brandt.
It says the English department has "a nationally distinctive profile" but -- like most other UW departments that have had reviews so far -- a heavy workload for faculty members. In fact the English department review also notes that "workload for staff appeared to have increased dramatically over the past year, mainly due to the introduction of the new PeopleSoft system."
Some excerpts from the program review report:
"In 1996, English had 5 faculty retire under SERP and 1 took normal retirement, reducing the faculty complement to 19. Subsequently, two FTE's were added, due to the Department exceeding its teaching targets, and the total complement of FTE faculty is now 21. Thirteen are allocated to Literature, and 8 to Rhetoric. More than half of the current faculty came to UW after 1996, making the faculty relatively young. . . . The normal teaching load is 5 term courses annually. . . .
"The faculty have active research careers, and many have been recognized with external awards. One research group -- the Interaction Design Group -- has been established, and involves members from English and from Drama and Speech Communication. This group recently received a Canadian Foundation for Innovation grant, as well as a $1.5 million contract with iSchool, a non-profit private sector company working on the federal government's smart communities program. Another group has been successful in obtaining SSHRC funding for research on the rhetoric of healthcare. . . .
![[Looking up at screen on Legal Blindness]](/images/2004/0219blind.gif)
Low vision
was the topic last Friday when optometry professor Ann Plotkin led
a noontime seminar for the
disabilities
office, marking "low
vision awareness month". At noon on Tuesday, February 24, the disabilities
office will host "Jennifer's Story", described
as a personal life story of a UW
student. Both workshops (Needles Hall room
1132) are free and all faculty, staff and students are welcome.
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"The Department has had extraordinary success in liaising with the private and public sectors to secure grant funding not usually associated with English departments. The review team also commented that it found a strong sense of cohesiveness and common purpose across the different areas of research and teaching, a widely shared commitment to build in a way that extends the overall reputation of UW in technology and science, and a strong sense of involvement of newer and younger faculty in the key decisions shaping the Department. . . .
"The undergraduate experience appears to be an extraordinarily positive one both in and out of the classroom. . . . The success of English provides a fine example of the type of activity that should be encouraged in Arts so that the Faculty can raise its profile in a university well known for science and technology. . . .
"English is encouraged to consider further changes to simplify . . . a very complicated and wide-ranging undergraduate major with nearly overwhelming student numbers. . . .
"English needs more computer-based support than is usual for English departments. Some short-term progress has been made, but the team urged the development of a long-term strategy. Part of this should include establishment of a staff position. . . .
"Renewed support for distance education is strongly recommended."
Responding to the report, the department said that its plans include creating a development committee "to promote the Department and seek to build contacts with alumni, government, cultural institutions, and the private sector", and looking at "options to cap admissions to being an English major, but recognizing that implications of this need to be considered at the Faculty level".
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Pension and benefits committee 8:30 to noon,
Needles Hall room 3004.
Theatre Beyond Words performance for children, "My Father's Circus", 10:00 and 1:15, Humanities Theatre. Maple software in the mathematics and applied science curriculum, seminar by Robert Lopez, Maplesoft, 9 a.m. to noon, Carl Pollock Hall room 1346. Senate finance committee 2:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 3001. 'The Latent Maximum Entropy Principle', statistics seminar by Shaojun Wang, University of Alberta, 3:30, Math and Computer room 5158. Instrumentation and Control User Group first meeting, with a presentation on LabVIEW and other software, Friday 10 a.m., Carl Pollock Hall room 1346. RSVP campbell@ist. Hagey Bonspiel (34th annual) Saturday at the Ayr Curling Club -- last-minute information, ext. 3638. |
Other web pages of interest |
While you're at it, would you please take a look at another web page for which I'm responsible? That would be the list of University Officers and Administrators, which likely needs some updating. (If you're ever looking for it in future, you can find it from the home page by doing a keyword search for "Administration".) Corrections can be sent to the same e-mail address.
CAR