![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, December 8, 2005
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Saini]](/images/2005/1208saini.jpg)
He is Hargurdeep
(Deep) Saini (left), currently a faculty
member at the Université de Montréal.
Said yesterday's memo from president David Johnston: "This appointment was recommended by the Nominating Committee established under UW Policy 45 and has been approved by Senate and the Board of Governors; the Board has also approved his appointment as a full Professor with tenure in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies."
Saini will serve a five-and-a-half-year term, running to June 30, 2011. He takes over from Ellsworth LeDrew, who has been interim dean of ES since Geoff McBoyle finished seven years in the dean's office on June 30, 2004.
The nominating committee made a first attempt to find a permanent dean in 2003-04, and resumed its work this year. The appointment was approved by the senate executive committee on Monday and the board executive Tuesday afternoon.
Says the president's memo: "An experienced administrator and accomplished leader, as well as being a highly respected scholar and educator, Professor Saini accepted a post-doctoral position at the University of Alberta, following completion of his PhD in 1982 at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and joined the University of Montreal in 1987. Since 1997, Professor Saini has been a full Professor at U of M; during the period June 1996 to December 2001, he served as Director General of the Plant Biology Research Institute -- a joint initiative of U of M and the Montreal Botanical Garden.
"Professor Saini's record of scholarly achievement is impressive; his work spans a number of the Faculty's areas of interest and has resulted in more than 40 refereed journal publications. He is currently serving a five-year term as President of the Federation of Canadian Plant Science Societies, having previously served as President of the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists.
"Deep Saini has a keen appreciation of contemporary environmental issues, from climate change to urban sprawl to sustainability; his appointment has strong support within the Faculty of Environmental Studies. He brings to Waterloo the wisdom, commitment and energy to help lead FES to even greater prominence and will be a valued member of UW's senior administrative team. I am delighted to welcome him into our UW family and look forward to working with him. I know he can count on the support of the entire UW community."
![[Leavine]](/images/2005/1206leavine.jpg)
A gift
to Renison College from Desta Leavine (left) was acknowledged in an
ad that ran
in last Saturday's Record -- one of a series recognizing donors to
Campaign Waterloo. "Dr. Leavine," said the ad, "has donated a special
collection of speeches, records, correspondence, papers, and
photographs belonging to her father, the late Dr. Stanley Francis Leavine, a
former Mayor of Kitchener and one of the university's founders. She is
also supporting student scholarships and new educational facilities at UW.
"Her gifts will enhance Renison College's 'Working Together Building Our Future' campaign, which will create new facilities for the college's School of Social Work, East Asian Studies Program, English Language institute and Institute of Ministry," and "support three awards provided by the Renison College Town and Gown Society and awarded to students studying social development studies and/or social work." |
International students who need help to fund their studies at UW have fewer sources of financial aid than Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Students who are not citizens are not eligible for government assistance, and even finding a part-time job is difficult.
The work-study program being launched in the winter term will ease financial burdens on international students who are willing to take jobs. Eligible students will be studying full time, entering year two or beyond, and must demonstrate financial need and satisfactory academic progress.
Joanne Wade, director of the student awards and financial aid office, is inviting university departments to "develop meaningful jobs" on campus for the program. The jobs must be new positions, "created specifically for this program, and not displace regular employees in any way."
The work hours -- 5 to 10 hours per week -- must be flexible, and will be funded through a 75/25 arrangement between the university and the hiring department. Based on tasks, responsibilities and skill required, students will be paid $9, $10 or $11 per hour to a maximum of $1,500 per term.
Employers of work-study students are responsible for selecting a candidate from among approved applicants, providing training and supervision, keeping track of hours worked and submitting casual payroll requests every two weeks. Departments have until December 16 to submit job descriptions for the program. Further information is available from Wade at ext. 6039 or via email at jwade@uwaterloo.ca.
In addition to the work-study program, international undergraduates in financial straits can apply to the new International Undergraduate Emergency Bursary Fund for help. The emergency bursaries range in value from $500 to $3,000 and will be made available during the winter term to international students in year two or beyond to address "unforeseen circumstances." Application forms will be available on the student awards and financial aid web site.
"The Flex feature allows you to make additional voluntary tax-deductible contributions without affecting your RRSP room," says the memo from the human resources department. "Each year you decide whether or not you wish to contribute. If you do, your contributions go into a personal Flex Account and earn tax-sheltered interest at the same rate as the UW Pension Fund."
It warns that the total can go down as well as up: "The rates for 2004 were 9.4% and 12.16% for 2003 meaning flex account balances increased, but for 2002, the rate was minus-4.59% which means the flex account balances decreased. . . .
"The balance in your Flex Account is used to improve your UW pension by purchasing Flex Options at the time you retire," the memo says. Three main options are available: Improved early retirement pension ("you can eliminate some or all of the adjustment in your UW pension due to early retirement"); bridge benefit ("this replaces CPP and Old Age Security payments from your early retirement until you are 65"); and "a larger joint and survivor pension if you have a spouse, or a longer guarantee period if you are single". The memo notes: "If you plan to work at UW to age 65, only the third option will be available to you, and you will need to be especially careful not to accumulate too large a Flex Account."
It stresses: "The money in your Flex Account must be used to purchase Flex Options and cannot be withdrawn for other needs or emergencies. Canada Revenue Agency limits the total amount that can be paid to you from the Pension Plan, including your Flex Account. If your Flex Account contains more than you can spend on permissible Flex Options when you retire, the excess is forfeited and must remain in the Pension Fund. It is important for you to plan ahead and monitor your Flex Account balance carefully. This is your responsibility: the University cannot provide individual help or counselling. You will need to be especially careful if you plan to work to age 65, or if your pension will be affected by the Canada Revenue Agency maximum. If you are in doubt, you should consult a professional financial advisor.
"Because of the Use It or Lose It Rule and the inability to withdraw funds except as retirement income, most Plan members will want to make full use of their RRSP room before contributing to a Flex Account."
Flex plan contributions for 2005 must be received by cheque not later than December 21, the memo says. More detailed information and examples are available online.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Ontario Ballet Theatre "The Nutcracker" 12:30, Humanities Theatre.
Geography professors Len Guelke and Phil Howarth, retirement reception 3:00 to 5:00, Environmental Studies I courtyard. Information systems and technology professional development seminar: "GIMP Image Manipulation Program", Friday 8:45, IST seminar room. Centre for International Governance Innovation lecture: Yaacov Iland, CIGI, "Getting Information Technology in the Developed World", Friday 11:45, 57 Erb Street West, free tickets 885-2444 ext.246. 'Great Choruses of Christmas' concert by UW Chamber Choir with K-W Chamber Orchestra, Sunday 7 p.m., Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Wilfrid Laurier University, tickets $19, students $14. Carol sing led by Jake Willms (21st annual), Monday 12:15, Modern Languages building foyer, all welcome. |
Two PhD students in the Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) research group in the department of electrical and computer engineering won prizes at the second annual LORNET e-Learning Scientific Conference in Vancouver last month. Khaled Hammouda took first place for best demo, "Automatic Metadata Extraction", showing text mining techniques to extract key information from documents, for the purpose of automatically annotating them with metadata (a key component in e-learning environments). Masoud Makrehchi took second place for best poster, "Unsupervised Keyword Extraction based on Corpora," which also employs text mining algorithms to extract keywords from a document collection. The awards were presented by the LORNET research network director, Gilbert Paquette. The two students are both supervised by Mohamed Kamel, the director of the PAMI research group.
Robert Wynne, who was a professor of history at UW from 1961 to his retirement in 1981, died November 29 in Wingham.
The staff association is offering discount lift tickets for Chicopee Ski Club to its members again this winter. . . . Wolf Horn and Charles Pyne of the badminton Warriors have been named all-stars by Ontario University Athletics as the season comes to an end, and Horn was named Most Valuable Player in the province. . . . And despite what I wrote in yesterday's Daily Bulletin, I do know that Tuesday, January 3, will be the first working day in 2006, not in 2005. . . .
CAR