![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, May 4, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Macdonald's funeral set for todayThe funeral service for Rob Macdonald, the mechanical engineering professor who died last week, will be held at 2 p.m. today at First United Church, King and William Streets.The mech eng department offices will be closed this afternoon because of the funeral. |
![[Holding model, in front of picturesque window]](/images/2004/0505parliament.gif)
Sarah Kilpatrick with a model of the planned building |
Kilpatrick worked with Don Bell, a senior project leader who has been making buildings "look better and work better" for nearly 13 years. In this position, she helped plan and co-ordinate every stage of project development. "I was trusted with important responsibilities and continually challenged to perform and achieve," she said.
Early in her work term, she and the PETJB team were faced with two pressing challenges they needed to overcome to ensure the project's future. The first was to convince a newly arrived deputy minister that this project deserved his support. The second was to obtain approval from the minister of PWGSC and from Treasury Board to proceed with the final stages of design. To prepare for these challenges Kilpatrick had to overcome a huge learning curve, which demanded long days and intense determination, things she gladly committed to the project. "I was excited to be at work," she says. "I didn't want to go home. I had to be devoted to the position to actually accomplish the work, but I didn't begrudge it for a second."
The hard work paid off. With her help in preparing critical documents, the PETJB team secured the approval to finish the detailed drawings and tender documents. Additionally, she got to attend the building's official public unveiling, which took place at the Supreme Court of Canada in early December. At this event, prime minister Jean Chrétien, formally announced the building in a speech that Kilpatrick herself had helped to write. Working with the PM's communications team was something she found thrilling. "The PM's people work on such high profile projects and they are on the ball. Just to see them work was a great learning experience." And as if hearing Chrétien speak words that she helped mould wasn't exciting enough, Sarah also had the opportunity to meet Justin Trudeau, who was another key speaker at the unveiling.
While hobnobbing with Canada's elite was a bonus, the greatest reward, she says, was getting to contribute to the creation of something tangible that's of lasting importance to Canada. In the future, when she walks past this new judicial building, she won't only be awed by its beauty. She'll know that she played a vital role in its creation.
![[Yellow stone tower rising]](/images/2004/0504warwick.gif)
The walls
of Warwick
Castle rise behind a group of UW planning students who are
spending six weeks on the annual
Planning
480 field trip to Britain. Leading
the group is planning prof Robert Shipley.
"It's a great opportunity," a memo explains, "for students to learn about
planning in the context of another country and to see how
planning
in the UK has contributed to planning in Canada." The
tour group will be back at the end of May.
|
Extended health plan: "The University pays the health plan premium for full time employees. No premium change is required in 2004-2005, due mainly to an expected lower trend rate than that expected in the carrier's overall book of business and also due to the generic and trial prescription strategies recently implemented by the Committee. Single and family monthly premiums remain at $45.04 and $143.30 respectively. Annual premium is about $6.1 million."
Dental plan: "The University pays the dental plan premium for full time employees. A 4% increase is required in 2004-2005, due primarily to the expected extra costs in our plan caused by reimbursing eligible dental costs based on the 2002 Ontario Dental Association fee schedule. Each year, we automatically move to a fee schedule that is two years behind the current schedule. Single and family premium rates are moving to $27.88 and $83.92 respectively. Annual premium is about $2.6 million."
Life insurance: "The University pays 100% of the group premium on 1 x salary in life insurance plus 66.7% of the group premium on 2 x and 3 x salary in life insurance. A 5.5% decrease in the group premium in 2004-2005 is due to good experience as well as our participation in the risk sharing cooperative arrangement with eleven other Ontario universities. The optional premium rates on 4 x to 6 x salary in life insurance, which are paid entirely by employees, remain unchanged. The group premium moves to $0.23 per month per thousand of insurance. Annual premium is about $1.6 million."
Long-term disability: "Employees pay the entire premium for this benefit. You will recall that the actual paid LTD premium rate by employees is less than the contract rate because of the surplus accumulated in the plan. In 2003, the pension and benefits committee decided to deplete the surplus over a 10-year period by using it to reduce the premiums paid by employees but to gradually bring the paid rate equal to the contract rate over a period of ten years. Given the current size of the surplus, the paid rate has to be increased by 5.9% effective May 1, 2004, in order to meet this goal. The current contract rate is 0.80% of base pay and the paid rate is moving to 0.58% of base pay. Premiums are payable on a maximum of $10,000 of base monthly pay. Annual premium is about $1.4 million."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Sun Microsystems "what's new" hardware presentation, 10 a.m.
to noon, Davis Centre room 1302.
Presentation on Austria by Paul Ortner, UW history graduate who spent two years there, 7 p.m., St. Jerome's University, admission free. 'Waterloo on the World Stage' fund-raising concert, reception and silent auction, 7 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, information 885-2444 ext. 227. Richard Gwyn gives the annual Friends of the Library lecture, Wednesday 12 noon, Theatre of the Arts. Title: "Running After History". Admission free. Event includes display of work by UW authors and other creators in the Modern Languages gallery. North campus environmental reserve information open house, Wednesday 2 to 4 p.m., Environmental Studies I courtyard. Perimeter Institute panel discussion: "Are You Ready to Live in the Quantum World?" All welcome. 7 p.m., Waterloo Collegiate Institute, Hazel Street. K-W Symphony pops concert: "Maria Theresa -- Impressive Empress", including Haydn, Symphony No. 48. 8 p.m., Theatre of the Arts. Team Crazy fund-raising dance in advance of the End to Breast Cancer Walk -- sponsors for a team from UW continuing education office. "Strap on your blue suede shoes, bring your loonies," Saturday 8 p.m., 141 King Street East. Information and advance tickets, ext. 3967. |
CAR