![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Friday |
Monday, February 28, 2005
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Major events at UW in March![[Franklin]](/images/2005/0228ufranklin2.jpg)
Hagey Lecture by Ursula Franklin (right),
March
2, student colloquium March 3.
"Canada's Response to International Crisis" conference, March 4. International Women's Week activities March 7-12, including information booths in Student Life Centre. "From Science to Business" student-organized conference, March 12. Campus Day open house, March 15. Drama department production of "Marat/Sade", March 15-18. Bechtel Lectures, Conrad Grebel University College, March 16-17. FIRST Robotics Competition, March 24-26. |
![[Rotating globe]](/images/2000/0420globe.gif){kind=small}
UW hosts its third
"International Celebration Week" to raise understanding of different
cultures, today through Saturday.
Organized by a committee of staff and students, the special week
was developed to help build awareness of the variety of cultures in
the UW community. There are more than 1,800 international students on
campus in the current winter term, representing more than 60 countries.
"The week is an opportunity to experience an informative, educational and entertaining look into unique aspects of many different nationalities, as well as to promote internationalization at UW," said Darlene Ryan, director of the international student office. "The goal of the week is to provide an opportunity for students from all countries to learn more about and interact with the many different cultures on campus."
Kicking off the week will be the Federation of Students and UW Clubs' annual Cultural Caravan, featuring performances, cultural displays and various types of food. It runs from 10:00 to 4:00 today in the Student Life Centre.
Avi Lewis, a veteran broadcaster from Citytv and CBC's "counterSpin", will be the keynote speaker of the week. His talk, "Students of the World Unite: You've Got Nothing to Lose but Everything," will be delivered at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall room 101.
Ron Mathies, former director of peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College, will give a talk titled "Tsunamis of Hope: Responding to the Asian and Global Crises" on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the SLC.
Other events to be held in the SLC include a Peace Mandala (Circle) Wednesday at noontime; an International Connections Display on Thursday; and a country presentation; and a session titled "Around the World in 180 Minutes", where students from various countries will present information and pictures about their home country, tomorrow starting at noon in the multipurpose room of the SLC. Details are on the International Celebration Week web site.
Some other key events:
![[Scanning a fat envelope]](/images/2005/0216parcel.jpg)
Each of those packages also carries a bar code -- and central stores staff carry a Neotrak scanning device to keep track of each item and where it's arrived. Items are entered into the system at the receiving dock in East Campus Hall, scanned as they move through the central stores system, and delivered with a final scan of the item and the doorway where it arrives. "By scanning the parcel as well as a bar coded delivery location which central stores has installed in all the department mailrooms, we now have a definite trail of where that package was delivered, when it was delivered and a signatory for its acceptance," explains Bruce Vowles (right) of stores.
He says the volume of parcels "can vary radically from one day to the next", with 200 to 300 courier parcels on an average day and as many as 1,000 items altogether, including delivery of purchase orders and systems contract requisitions. "At our heavier times, for example registration, housing requests returning to campus, Canadian Math Competition, etc., the amounts can double or triple."
Not only stores staff can use the tracking system: others on campus, such as a department secretary waiting for a delivery, "can go on line to the central stores web page, enter the tracking number of the package they are searching for and see a complete history of their goods from the time it arrived on campus," Vowles notes.
The tracking system was installed in the summer of 2003 and bugs were worked out in the months that followed. "It is an ongoing fine-tuning process that I get to spend a lot of time on," says Vowles, "updating, altering databases when people move. But I feel quite confident that it is now giving us the results we were hoping for -- until we expand the process to include other types of deliveries, that is, when I get to fine-tune all over again."
Electrical and computer engineering. Thambirajah Ravichandran, "Simultaneous Plant/Controller Design Optimization with Applications to Robotics." Supervisors, D. W. L. Wang and G. Heppler. On display in the faculty of engineering; oral defence Thursday, March 3, 10 a.m., Engineering II room 3324.
Biology. Peter B. Stathopulos, "Stability and Aggregation of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Associated Mutant Copper, Zinc Superoxide Dismutates." Supervisors, E. M. Meiering and J. R. Lepock. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Wednesday, March 23, 9:30 a.m., Chemistry II room 361.
Chemistry. Zhongshun Yuan, "Anionic Synthesis of Arborescent Polymers." Supervisor, M. Gauthier. On display in the faculty of science, ESC 254A. Oral defence Thursday, March 24, 9:30 a.m., Chemistry II room 361.
![[Comedy show tonight in the Bombshelter pub]](http://www.feds.ca/graphics/bomber-comedy-night.jpg)
Computer science. Ivan Thomas Bowman, "Scalpel: Optimizing Query
Streams Using Semantic Prefetching." Supervisor, K. M. Salem. On display
in the faculty of mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Monday, March
28, 2 p..m., Davis Centre room 1331.
Health studies and gerontology. Joe Quadrilatero, "Contribution of Glucocorticoids and Oxidative Stress to Intestinal Lymphocyte Apoptosis Following Strenuous Endurance Exercise in Mice." Supervisor, Laurie Hoffman-Goetz. On display in the faculty of applied health sciences, BMH 3120. Oral defence Wednesday, March 30, 12 noon, Matthews Hall room 3119.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Senate graduate and research council
10 a.m., Needles Hall room 3001.
Meetings for co-op students not matched with spring term jobs, details online. 'Blogging and Academic Life' workshop sponsored by Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology, 11 a.m., Dana Porter Library room 329. Sharcnet 'overview and update' for current and potential users of Shared Hierarchical Academic and Research Computing Network, 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302. Computational mathematics seminar: Kevin Hare, pure mathematics, "Three Problems in Computational Number Theory", 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158. 'The Grand Exposeition '05' showing of film and digital media, 5:00 to 10:00, Waterloo Regional Children's Museum, details online. Canadian Computing Contest for high school students, sponsored by UW Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, tomorrow in Canada, Wednesday in Hong Kong. Engineering shadow days bring high school visitors to classrooms, Tuesday and Wednesday. Health informatics information sessions for students, faculty and staff: Tuesday 12:30, Optometry room 309; Tuesday 5:30, Physics room 145; Thursday 12:30, Rod Coutts Hall room 308. More information online. David Orchard, former candidate for Progressive Conservative Party leadership, speaks Tuesday 8 p.m., CEIT room 1015, on "What Kind of Canada Does the World Need?" Sponsored by UW Campus Greens. Student Team Electronic Resource (STeamER): electronic environment for student design project management, presentation in the Flex Lab, Dana Porter Library, Wednesday 10 a.m. 'Professionalism in the Classroom' workshop sponsored by teaching resource office, Wednesday 12 noon, Math and Computer room 5158, details online. Women in Mathematics Committee presents Kate Larson, school of computer science, "Game Theory Meets Computer Science", Wednesday 4:30, Math and Computer room 5158. Engineers Without Borders Day presentations Thursday, great hall, Student Life Centre. Dalsa Corporation: "A Brief History" by founder (and former UW faculty member) Savvas Chamberlain, sponsored by Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology, Thursday 12 noon, Rod Coutts Hall room 305, RSVP to ext. 7167. Christian Dufournaud, department of geography, memorial gathering Thursday, 4 to 6 p.m., University Club. |
It's "Pick Your Plan Week" for undergraduate students, who can do their plan-picking with the help of the Quest student information system. Its bright new version is expected to be in operation by 10:00 this morning, after eleven days of down-time. They'll also do it with the help of the 2005-06 undergraduate calendar, which is now available online. Says a memo from the registrar's office: "Paper copies of the Calendar will be distributed to faculty and staff who need a copy, plus all University college advisors; first-year students will be able to pick up a copy in the Registrar's Office during the summer. All other students are expected to access the Calendar via the web."
The FAUW Forum, newsletter of UW's faculty association, is back in print after several months' hiatus. The new editor is Jeanne Kay Guelke of the department of geography, who writes in the new (February) issue that previous editor Ed Vrscay resigned in a disagreement over "oversight provisions for the newsletter's contents". She writes that with the demise of the Gazette, "Imprint could become the only outlet on campus for opinion pieces and letters to the editor on matters of concern to faculty. As a student-focused publication, Imprint is unlikely to welcome topics such as proposed changes to faculty benefits or promotion appeals. Of course, other campus venues for faculty to express their views and news range from Senate to departmental meetings. Communication to and from rank-and-file professors about the impacts of administrative decisions on their workplace nevertheless remains highly selective. The Forum may be the only opportunity on campus to learn more about hot topics currently under discussion in FAUW Board meetings."
And elsewhere in the newsletter the association's president, Roydon Fraser of mechanical engineering, reports on some of the current topics, including proposed changes to Policy 76 (on faculty hiring) having to do with spousal hiring and " the hiring of exceptional, uniquely qualified, internationally recognized candidates where normal hiring procedures may be bypassed".
An invitation for comments on the possible reappointment of the vice-president (academic) and provost, Amit Chakma, issued by the nominating committee a few days ago, is available on the web. . . . The new issue of Canadian design magazine Azure has "a wonderful article", says Rick Haldenby of UW's school of architecture, about the school's new building in Cambridge, as well as some reference to the Perimeter Institute building. . . . Ernesto Freitas, a custodian who has been on UW's staff since May 1975, will officially retire March 1. . . .
UW is represented at an education fair today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. . . . Conrad Grebel University College alumni are being offered a CD-rom with "over 50 jpeg pictures from the early days, as well as almost 200 pictures from November's reunion". . . . The UW Recreation Committee is taking reservations for a Ladies' Car Care Clinic on Saturday morning, May 14. . . .
CAR