![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[He's watching the conductor]](/images/2004/1123frenchhorn.jpg)
The horn
and the face both belong to Jason Wong, a student in actuarial science.
Behind him is computer science
student Kevin Charles, also of the French horn section in
Orchestra@UWaterloo,
which will give its inaugural concert on December
2 in the Humanities Theatre. The orchestra was launched this
term. Most of the 70 players are undergraduates, organizers say,
with some grad students, staff and faculty involved. They announced
happily that to help meet the orchestra's expenses, financial contributions
to the project can now be recognized as part of the
Keystone
Campaign. Photo by Ron Hewson.
|
The brief went to Rae on the deadline day, November 15, and he and colleagues will be in Kitchener-Waterloo this Thursday to hear live comments from people associated with UW and other local institutions, as well as the public at large.
Everybody's invited to the two-hour "town hall meeting", scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Recreation Centre at Conestoga College, just off Homer Watson Drive in south Kitchener. Participants are invited to register in advance.
Rae's public meetings have been going on since early October, and excerpts from the early discussions, posted on his web site, make it clear that the range of issues is broad -- funding, quality, apprenticeship programs, aboriginal education. It's also clear that Rae is emphasizing the relationship between Ontario's universities and its college system.
"I want to see a more crystal clear system," he told a meeting in Thunder Bay, "that recognizes that you will get some credit for the work that you have done in a college if you want to go to university and conversely that when you go from university back to college (which is happening with increasing frequency) that people again don't get blocked at the door and told that they have to go back to square one or receive no credit for what they are doing. I think it is a two-way dialogue."
The cover letter on UW's brief to Rae, which was tabled at a meeting of the university senate the day it was submitted, says it's written "from our unique vantage point as Canada's first -- and North America's largest -- co-operative education institution. . . . Co-operative education was, and remains, a truly defining feature of the University of Waterloo. Our students contribute a great deal to the success of their employers because they are full participants in the workplace. UW is now a highly successful Canadian model of higher education that is recognized and emulated the world over."
The brief, following up a preliminary submission in mid-summer, says co-op programs should carry "a 20 percent premium" in government funding, to help pay for the extra costs of a year-round university.
It also calls for substantial improvements to provincial funding in general, as well as better student aid, and "greater flexibility" for individual universities to set their own tuition fees.
And it tells Rae: "Today's university students will become the parents, engineers, economists, public policy makers, physicians, authors, elementary school teachers, and professors of tomorrow. The higher education system is where the government will find the research, knowledge base, and resources to advance its vision of a stronger and more prosperous Ontario. The health of the higher education system must be bolstered and safeguarded. Thank you for your efforts to develop an action plan for the province in this regard."
The full text of the letter and UW's brief to the Rae review are available on the web.
(2) Raise the Ontario employer tax credit to $2,500 per work term to encourage employers to participate more fully in co-operative education programs.
(3) Recast the student assistance program to:
(4) Give greater flexibility to University governing bodies on the matter of setting tuition fees, accompanied by greater responsibility for institutions in guaranteeing financial accessibility for their students.
(5) Increase the province's investment in universities to the national average over the next three years, and to the top 10 percent of publicly funded universities in North America over the following five years to protect and sustain higher education and research investments against pressures from other quarters. Include an annual adjustment for inflation for investment in higher education.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Scholastic Book Fair continues today and tomorrow, Early
Childhood Education Centre, PAS building.
'A Fine Cause' annual miniature exhibition and fund-raiser for fine arts department, preview continues through Wednesday 9:00 to 3:30, East Campus Hall. Sale starts Friday 4 p.m. English department lecture: Katherine Barber, editor, Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 4 p.m., Humanities room 373. 'Temagami: A First Nations Perspective', talk by Alex Mathias sponsored by Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, 5:30, Environmental Studies II room 173. AIDS Committee of K-W and Cambridge speaker on the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS, 5:30, Math and Computer room 2054. 'Amelie', French film, movie night sponsored by Society of International Students, 6:30, Graduate House. German 359 film: "The End of Violence" (1997), 6:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 308. 'Forecasting Canada's Economy' annual event from Wilfrid Laurier University, 7:30, Aird Centre, WLU. Macromedia's Contribute: presentation by Jesse Rodgers, communications and public affairs, Wednesday 9:30 a.m., Davis Centre room 1304. 'Using Breeze or Tablet PCs to Enhance Online Learning', presentation by LT3 and management sciences department, Wednesday 11:00, Flex lab, Dana Porter Library. 'Enterprising Software Development': Philip Deck, MKS Inc., "The new Frontier for MKS", sponsored by Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. Wednesday 12 noon, Rod Coutts Hall room 105. Reservations ext. 7167. Café-rencontre, département d'études françaises: Frieda Ekotto, University of Michigan, "Politique de la commémoration: Motifs et traces du passé dans la nouvelle écriture subsaharienne", mercredi 14h30, Tatham Centre salle 2218. Smarter Health seminar: Tom Chau, University of Toronto, "Paediatric Rehabilitation Engineering: Enabling Participation Through Technology", Wednesday 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302. Exchange and study abroad programs for arts students, information meeting Wednesday 4:30, Humanities room 373, more information ext. 3118. Staff association craft sale Thursday 10 to 4, Friday 9 to 3, Davis Centre room 1301. Jessie Cairney retiring from UW Graphics after 16 years, farewell open house Friday 9:00 to 2:00, Pixel Planet, Math and Computer room 2018. |
(7) Fund research programs appropriately to ensure that Ontarians reap the full benefits of university research by:
A $1-million donation from RBC Financial Group, part of Campaign Waterloo, established this state-of-the-art facility. It is equipped with high-end multimedia workstations and an extensive suite of supported software and research tools to assist students through the entire sequence of steps when researching and completing their assignments.
"One of the critical skills our students need to be successful in their futures is the ability to access and manage information," says UW provost Amit Chakma, quoted in a news release. "Through the RBC Information Commons, students and researchers have access to a multitude of resources and to the technology that will allow them to think critically about the world around them."
The Davis library, specializing in engineering, mathematics and science, attracts more than 3,500 in-person users daily as well as many online users.
Says the news release: "The commons provides sufficient space and seating for collaborative work and easy access to library staff for help with research strategies and skills. It is a space where technology and expertise support the scholarly use of information resources."
It says that following the summer's renovations in Davis -- the first phase of the project, with more still to come -- there are now 668 places to sit and work in the library, with 80 per cent of them on the main floor and the rest downstairs. The RBC Information Commons provides 38 computers with software that includes Microsoft Office, and another 38 express workstations. The library has 84 Internet and power connections at study tables, 109 silent study carrels under the galleria, and 182 other study carrels, single desks or single rooms, many with power outlets for a light and to plug in a laptop computer.
![[Curtis]](/images/2004/1123curtis.jpg)
Says the RSC's citation for Curtis, one of 71 new Fellows who were inducted at the Ottawa ceremony this year: "James Curtis' work has been significant to defining an indigenous Canadian sociology while also inspiring future generations of scholars. His research spans an array of topics, including religion, sport, social inequality, gender, aging, voluntary association activity, social values and voting, while at the same time being broadly centered on the study of civil society.
"Among his many contributions is work over several decades comparing Canadian-American values which has served to challenge the conventional thesis of Canadians being more 'elitist' and less 'achievement oriented' than Americans. This has been the basis for a central debate within sociology and political science. Professor Curtis is author of numerous texts helping to define sociology to students in Canadian terms."
Curtis joins some four dozen other UW faculty members, past and present, who can put the letters "FRSC" after their names. Says the society: "These newly elected Fellows, while coming from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, all are dedicated to achieving excellence in their endeavours, and thus enhancing Canadašs competitiveness on a global basis. . . .
"Canadians have directly benefited from research conducted by these individuals, from extra galactic work to the study of cultural synergies, the development of new medical devices and groundbreaking work on the Canadian political economy. The New Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada are among those who, today, build the world we will live in tomorrow."
CAR