![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, September 30, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Graham Brown, principal of St. Paul's United College, speaks at last
week's opening ceremonies for the new building.
![[Gesturing; Grebel in the background]](/images/2004/0928brown.gif)
The residence is part of St. Paul's United College, the smallest of UW's four "church colleges" or "federated and affiliated" institutions. Says the news release: "The expansion has occurred with a specific purpose as St. Paul's enhances the value it provides to the university, its students and the broader global community."
It quotes Graham Brown, who was recently reappointed as the college's principal: "By extending our community to include UW graduate students and visiting faculty, St. Paul's is out in front of a growing trend in North America among residential colleges within larger universities. The educational value of community life will be enriched by the presence of these new members."
St. Paul's is creating an enhanced student community that is more diversified, said Lindsay Restagno, manager of marketing, communication and recruitment: "This is more than just a moderate-sized place to live on campus for grad students and their families." Graduates living at St. Paul's will benefit from the opportunity to develop as people, spiritually and otherwise, through community programming and events, as well as the opportunity to interact with other grad students, undergraduate students and visiting scholars, she said.
The building includes hotel-style rooms for visitors to the university and conferences in Waterloo Region. "This further enriches the environment, introducing visiting scholars, researchers, speakers, employers and other campus guests to the St. Paul's community. Meeting and conference space is also available."
At the same time, St. Paul's -- which is rooted in Hamilton Conference of the United Church of Canada -- is also expanding its academic programming. "This fall," says the news release, "the college is concluding research into the future academic direction. Under consideration is an international development co-operative education program with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), offerings in the not-for-profit area and expanded Native Studies.
"At the event, there were tours of the new apartments whose tenants have dramatically increased the cultural variety of the college, with students from Canada and around the world. As St. Paul's expands its academic programming in its next phase of growth, significant emphasis is expected in the area of international development. . . .
"From its religious and spiritual roots, St. Paul's has built a tradition of educating the whole person -- providing a quality caring, living, learning and teaching community of lifelong learners. Each year, more than 1,000 students take courses at St. Paul's College. Studies are offered in Spirituality and Personal Development, Eastern Religions, Western Religions and Native Studies. The Aboriginal counsellor for UW resides with St. Paul's, attracting and supporting Native students, as well as supporting research on First Nations."
St. Paul's undergraduate residence is now home to almost 200 students. The new graduate community will house about 100 more. "The focus is to provide a diverse, rich and safe learning and living environment for all UW students who call us home," Restagno said.
Registrar Ken Lavigne, whose organization includes the awards office, said he was delighted to hear the praise, and told the senate that it had been produced by changes inspired in part by watching how the emergency ward at a local hospital handles its triage service.
Maureen Jones, acting director of student awards and financial aid, says the key innovation was an e-mail message sent about two weeks before the term started to the 3,600 students who were known to be on their way to do paperwork on Ontario student loans.
It suggested that they come at staggered times, with first-year students visiting Needles Hall during orientation week and upper-year students in the first year of class. Within those groups, students were tentatively assigned different days depending on the first letter of their names.
"We hope that these guidelines will make your wait in line shorter," the message said, "and alleviate some of the stresses found at the beginning of term. If you are unable to come during your scheduled pickup time, you may pick up your loan on an alternate or more convenient day."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Career services workshops: Information session about teacher
training and other study-abroad programs, 11:00;
"Preparing for Questions" 2:30; "Thinking About Graduate Studies" 2:30;
"Interview Skills, the Basics" 3:30.
Details online.
German film: "M", 1931 ("a child murderer is loose in the city"), 6:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 308, free. 'What Would Global Democracy Look Like?' Jan Aart Scholte, University of Warwick, UK, speaks at Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, 7 p.m. Information 885-2444 ext. 239. Spiritual Heritage Education Network presents Anne Treadwell, Unitarian minister, "A Free and Responsible Search", 7:30, CEIT room 1015. Native Communities speaker series: Rodger Hill, "Traditional and Holistic Medicines", 8 p.m., MacKirdy Hall, St. Paul's United College. Tourism lecture series: Judie Cukier, environmental studies, "Tourism and Communism: The Creation of a New Social Class in Cuba", Friday 9:30 a.m., PAS building room 1229. Biology seminar: "Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Pacific Killer Whales", Peter Ross, federal department of fisheries and oceans, Friday 2:30, Biology II room 350. Women's hockey Oktoberfest Tournament, play begins Friday 4:30, Columbia Icefield, championship game Saturday 5 p.m. Warrior Weekend activities in the Student Life Centre Friday night (movies "Dodgeball" and "Spiderman 2", games, pizza) and Saturday night (mini-golf, more games, indie music), more information online. 24th World Religions Conference sponsored by Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Saturday all day, Humanities Theatre, all welcome, more information online. Teaching workshop: "Preparing Students for Group Projects", Monday 12 noon, Math and Computer room 5158, details online. Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University, this year Dennis Danielson, University of British Columbia, "Copernicus Lost, Copernicus Regained", October 20 and 21; also seminars for the English and physics departments. Details online. |
"The other line was for loan release. The staff member at the counter checked for a fee arrangement, checked all ID and pulled the loan. Students then were directed back into the office to meet with another staff member to go over the information required before the loan could be released. We were able to have at least six people at this task. Over the two week period we saw close to 2,500 students and the wait times were usually only 1/2 hour. . . . We could enter the required forms and make any changes to the assessment with the student was right with us. They then had a clearer understanding of their loan amounts and any changes made.
"In comparison to previous years when we had four people doing loan release and one of those took in forms as well the wait time exceeded two hours at times and congested the front of the office in many directions. We put aside all the forms to enter when we returned to our desks which resulted in a backlog of work which frequently required overtime to clear up."
By mid-September, waiting times were down to 5 to 10 minutes, she said.
"I am very pleased with this new arrangement in our busiest term."
![[Soundbluntz tonight at Fed Hall]](http://www.feds.ca/graphics/slideSep30.jpg)
Celebrations are planned tomorrow morning for the establishment of a UW Centre for Integrated Radio Frequency Engineering, or CIRFE. Also being inaugurated is an RF micro-electro-mechanical system "clean room" for the centre, in the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology (CEIT building). Director of the project is Raafat Mansour of the department of electrical and computer engineering. Executives of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Cambridge-based firm COM DEV International, which are sponsoring the centre, will be on hand for tomorrow's celebration, at 10 a.m. in CEIT room 3142.
![[Lawless]](/images/2004/0923lawless.gif)
Jerry Lawless (left) is the
chair these days of the department of statistics and actuarial science.
He took over that role on July 1, succeeding David Matthews, and will
serve for just more than a year -- until August 31, 2005.
Starting tomorrow it's "Entrepreneur Week", with the subtitle "Celebrating Discovery and Innovation in Waterloo". Activities through the week are sponsored by Communitech, an association representing local high-tech companies, educational institutions and other interested parties. The launch of the Perimeter Institute is one highlight of the week, which also includes a "TechWorking Breakfast" on Monday and various seminars. Of particular interest is something titled "Chapter 2 -- Right on the Market", which will be held Tuesday evening at UW's Federation Hall. "Find out what keeps technology entrepreneurs -- and their companies -- alive," organizers suggest, promoting this free event. "Right on the Market delivers the hard realities of going to market, from basement brainstorming to landing your first big customer. Learn what you need to know, and meet the people who can help you build your company." A similar event last year attracted some 300 participants.
Kenneth Fearnall, who worked at UW from 1966 to 1988, retiring as administrative assistant in the civil engineering department, died September 25. . . . This year's event in the Silversides Theatre Artists Series will bring playwright Tomson Highway to read at the UW bookstore at noon hour next Thursday, October 7. . . . You'll get a free pair of UW socks with any Champion clothing purchase at the UW Shop in South Campus Hall today through Saturday. . . .
CAR