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Tuesday, October 26, 2004

  • Board meets today, and other notes
  • Advice for those with allergies
  • College invites Mennonite police
  • Former VP is mourned, and more
Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Pancakes this morning for faculty and staff


[Plumtree]

Retired, as of September 1, is Alan Plumtree of UW's department of mechanical engineering -- a metallurgy specialist who had been on the faculty since 1965. He'll be honoured with a reception and dinner at the University Club on Thursday, November 4. All are welcome at the reception (3 p.m.); tickets for the dinner are available from Karen Walo in the mech eng department, phone ext. 6740.

Board meets today, and other notes

The UW board of governors holds its fall meeting this afternoon (2:30, Needles Hall room 3001) and will receive the university's annual financial statement as well as hearing an update on the current year's budget. The provost and president are also expected to talk about the Rae review of Ontario post-secondary education, progress on the Kitchener "health sciences campus", and other issues. The annual report on the pension fund is also on the agenda, along with plans for a $3.5 million addition to the Renison College complex. The full agenda for the board meeting is available on the web.

After the meeting, board members will attend a 5:30 reception in the Dana Porter Library celebrating the opening of the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation papers, a recent addition to the library's collection of local historical records.

There were great crowds for the weekend open house at the new architecture building in Cambridge -- some 2,000 visitors on Saturday and 3,000 on Sunday, says the director of the architecture school, Rick Haldenby. "It was an unforgettable experience," he wrote in a memo afterwards. "People were thrilled by the building, the site and the work on display." He had particular praise for the student guides who took some of the visitors around the building. Meanwhile, other students carried on with their studio work, confirming Haldenby's earlier prediction that the school will be a 7/24 operation on the banks of the Grand. I was amused to spot a hand-written notice on the door of one studio, presumably put up by a student who felt a bit like a zoo inmate as the thousands of tourists came through: "Please do not feed the architects."

Abraham Bergen, a UW retiree, was the most recent winner of a $35 gift certificate from retail services, in the regular draws held for United Way donors. "There will be a third draw this Friday," says a note from the United Way office, "with the final draw for the $100 University Club gift certificate or day-off-with-pay from all donations in by Friday, October 29." And if you need an incentive to give, here's some background information about one aspect of the campaign: "The K-W United Way does wonderful things with the money raised by the University of Waterloo's campaign. One of their focus areas is Supporting Basic Needs and Promoting Self-Sufficiency. Mary's Place at the YWCA of Kitchener-Waterloo, highlighted on some of the United Way posters around campus, is one of the 43 agencies whose programs receive funding from the K-W United Way. Mary's Place offers food and safe shelter as well as crisis support, counselling, life skills training and referrals to community, medical, legal and other professional services to women who are looking to make a change in their lives. Other agencies such as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Food Bank of Waterloo Region and K-W Access-Ability are also supported by United Way in supporting the K-W community."

[Graper] Gwen Graper (right), UW's long-time director of alumni affairs, is moving to a new job. The registrar's office has announced that she's been named assistant registrar for the faculties of engineering and science, taking over from Mark Walker, who was promoted to associate registrar recently. Graper has been working at UW since 1985, mostly in alumni affairs.

Alexandre Trudeau, journalist and filmmaker, will visit St. Jerome's University on November 6 for a gala (that means "$150-a-plate") dinner launching a scholarship fund in memory of his father, prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The evening will also see the launch of a book based on the 2003 Trudeau conference held at Waterloo, edited by history professor John English and others. The younger Trudeau will speak after the lobster and filet mignon.

Mohab Anis of the electrical and computer engineering department is this year's winner of the Colton Medal for Research Excellence from the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation. . . . Videotapes of the presentations made by visitors from Ontario's teachers' colleges earlier this month should be available starting this week from career services in the Tatham Centre. . . . TechWorx in South Campus Hall has a special promotion this week: "free Dryline Correction Tape with purchase of $20 or more, while quantities last". . . .

[Hypnotist Tony Lee at Fed Hall tonight]

Advice for those with allergies

A memo on "Environmental Allergies/Sensitivities and the UW Campus" has been issued by the occupational health office in the health services department. Here's what it says:

"If you suffer from a diagnosed environmental allergy/sensitivity requiring special consideration, the following actions are recommended:

"Avoid exposure when possible. The University of Waterloo cannot guarantee an allergy/sensitivity free environment. However we endeavour to work with our students, staff and faculty to provide a healthy environment, where possible.

"Advise the Office for Persons with Disabilities (students) or the supervisor of your department (staff and faculty) to achieve assistance in identifying and modifying your risk of exposure.

"Contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities (students) or Occupational Health (staff/faculty). You may be asked to provide medical documentation with diagnosis indicating your allergy/sensitivity. This medical information will be required to support any accommodations.

"Consider informing those close to you in class or the workplace about your allergy/sensitivity. While your exact medical diagnosis is your private information, informing others (i.e. classmates or co workers) allows for appropriate, prompt action if you should develop problems. This is particularly important if you suffer from anaphylaxis. Sharing this information could make a critical difference in your outcome.

"Wear a Medic-Alert bracelet that identifies your allergy/sensitivity. Discuss with your doctor the need to carry an allergy kit (Epi Pen)."

And finally: "If you have a diagnosed allergy/sensitivity that requires special consideration, please contact . . . Students: Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD) located in Needles Hall room 1132, phone ext. 4635; Staff and Faculty: Your department supervisor and the Occupational Health Nurse at ext. 6264."

WHEN AND WHERE
Blood donor clinic today through Thursday 10 to 4, Friday 10 to 3, Monday 10 to 4, Student Life Centre.

Job match results for winter co-op jobs available on JobMine at 11 a.m. Meetings for students not matched with jobs, 4:30, locations listed online. Rankings for accounting students open today.

Career workshops: "Letter Writing" 10:30, "Resumé Writing" 11:30, Tatham Centre room 1208.

Women's hockey, Warriors at Laurier, 7:30.

German 359 film: "Far From Heaven" (2002), 6:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 308, free up to capacity of room.

Family business conference all day Wednesday at Waterloo Inn, co-sponsored by Centre for Family Business, Conrad Grebel University College.

K-W Software Quality Association Wednesday 11:30, Davis Centre room 1304.

Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology presents Tim Jackson, Tech Capital Partners, "Securing Capital for the Early Stage Technology Business", Wednesday 12 noon, Rod Coutts Hall room 105.

Classical Indian music by Anwar Khurshid, Wednesday 12:30, Conrad Grebel University College chapel, free.

'Disabilities and the Workplace' conference at Renison College, Wednesday 1:30, details online.

Café-rencontre, département d'études françaises, Hélène Trépanier, McMaster University, "Se déshabiller: le sens de la nudité chez un mystique jésuite du XVIIe siècle, Jean-Joseph Surin", mercredi 14h30, Tatham Centre salle 2218.

Smarter Health seminar: Edward Brown, Sunnybrook and Women's College Hospital, "NORTH Network and the Future of Telemedicine", Wednesday 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302, more information online.

Federation of Students annual general meeting Wednesday 4:30 p.m., Student Life Centre.

'Bridging the Gap', third annual Adaptive Technology Fair, Thursday 9:30 to 4:30, Davis Centre lounge.

College invites Mennonite police

Police officers with a Mennonite background have been invited to Conrad Grebel University College for a one-day seminar this Saturday that will "explore issues of faith and profession that they've felt".

It's the second Christian Officers Peace Seminar -- COPS -- and goes along with a similar session for lawyers that was held earlier this year and will be repeated on November 27. The events are sponsored by Grebel's Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies as well as the "Peacebuilders" program of the Mennonite Central Committee.

"Mennonites and Brethren in Christ have historically upheld an international peace position that does not condone the use of lethal force to resolve conflict and does not encourage the use of coercion or force to resolve disputes," says an article about the program published in Grebel's newsletter. "The legal system, while in principle the use of coercion, power, force, and violence to resolve conflicts is shied away from, is in practice a system that relies on these same characteristics to accomplish its end."

The COPS and Lawyers seminars are an attempt "to better understand the role of law in creating, consolidating, and coercing a peaceful society . . . to flesh out the issue of the ambiguity of how Anabaptists view law", the article says.

"The purpose of these informal conversations was to listen to these groups and learn how they have integrated their view of law with their profession and their faith. The lessons learned from these conversations, and the dialogue that was begun, is being continued together with others who want to examine the theological implications of these views of law and the role of enforcement in our communities, in our nation, and in the world."

Morley Lymburner, who edits the police magazine Blue Line, says the seminar "helped to assure me that the Mennonite Church is finally looking at policing in the manner in which it was intended. Far from the militaristic images that the uniform evokes, policing in the British tradition was intended to be civilian managed and populated. The result is a group of people who keep the peace, attempt to minimize and resolve conflicts and ensure the safety of everyone in society.

"Peace keeping and conflict resolution are very noble endeavours and areas in which Mennonites excel. I feel that policing is an area where Mennonites should take an active role in participating because it matches so closely with its doctrine. The COPS seminars go a long way toward giving the Mennonite community a clearer picture of policing."

As for the lawyers' seminar, one participant observes that "There seems to be an inherent conflict between many of the presuppositions of traditional Mennonite Christian belief and practice, and the presuppositions of Canadian legal practice. In the world of working lawyers, there is very little, if any, opportunity to address and attempt to resolve these conflicts. The seminar was a venue in which we could get these issues out on the table and to start to work through them with a group of other lawyers facing the same issues."

[Cornell]

Former VP is mourned, and more

Paul Cornell, an early faculty member who served as dean of arts and acting vice-president (academic) of UW, died Friday, aged 86. A Toronto graduate and a specialist in Canadian history and the 19th century, Cornell (right, pictured in 1977) taught first at Acadia University, then came to UW's brand-new history department in 1960. He chaired that department as well as guiding the birth of other arts departments, and was dean of the faculty of arts from 1970 to 1973, with an interruption to be acting VP during 1972. He was named the university's honorary archivist in 1977, holding that title until his retirement in 1985. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 this morning at the Church of the Holy Saviour, the Anglican church in Waterloo where he was a lay reader and active member. Memorial donations to Ronald McDonald House or the Kidney Foundation are suggested.

"Looking for something interesting to do for Hallowe'en?" asks a note from the UW Recreation Committee, which organizes events for faculty and staff. "Why not join the 2nd annual Bewitching Bellydance Ball? Feel free to bring your co-workers and friends for a bellydance show with a frightening twist. The fun starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Registry Theatre, Kitchener. Tickets are $16.66." Reservations are due by Thursday -- e-mail uwrc@admmail.

Visitor parking lot H, the main visitor lot opposite South Campus Hall, will be closed tomorrow to allow maintenance work on the kiosk there, says parking manager Elaine Carpenter. Visitors can use parking lot C on the other side of University Avenue ($3 pay-and-display) or M on the north side of campus ($4 coin entry), she suggests -- or lot D under Needles Hall at $2 per hour. The other end of lot H, for faculty and staff with permits, is not affected by Wednesday's closing.

The Naismith basketball tournament, always held as part of UW's Homecoming, will have a new twist this year, with brackets for four women's teams and four men's teams instead of the traditional eight men's teams. . . . Tomorrow will be Leather Jacket Day at the UW Shop, with a 15 per cent discount on custom jacket orders. . . . Graffito in the arts quadrangle this morning: "Do you agree with H. P. Lovecraft?" . . .

CAR


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