![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[The boys in black are listening]](/images/2005/0907football.jpg)
Almost enough:
The football Warriors scored 16 points yesterday, but the York
Lions scored 20, in spite of the wisdom
linebackers' coach Dave Stoddart is seen imparting at a practice
last week. Offensive coach Dave Hopkins looks on.
Credit for the York win goes in part to the "dipsy-doodle running"
of linebacker Andre Durie,
the Star says today, and it calls
yesterday's game "nasty", with 262 yards in penalties.
The Warriors are back in action against Toronto on Saturday at 2:00
at University Stadium. Photo by Steve Brooks.
|
In all the faculties, newcomers will be attending introductory events today -- welcoming words from some of the deans, "flight instructions" for math students (sounds as though orientation there will have an aeronautical theme), and "principles of engineering" for students in that faculty, which includes architecture this year for the first time.
The schedule of faculty-by-faculty events will keep people busy until dinner time, and then this evening there are residence-based events, including the Village Variety Night on the Village green. Neighbours have been warned: the city of Waterloo has given an exemption from the noise by-law to allow that event "from dusk until 1:00 a.m.".
Tomorrow's orientation highlights include the engineering "Junkyard Wars" at 9 a.m., a science spaghetti dinner, and a day of events and briefings specifically for international students, in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre.
Imprint, the student newspaper, came out Friday with a front-page story introducing orientation and pointing out that this is the first year new students have paid a $100 orientation fee as part of their fee package. It's refundable, but relatively few students have claimed the refund, Imprint reported -- and if all the students who didn't ask for a refund actually show up for orientation activities, there will be a "record-breaking" number. Organizers "are hoping most of the undeclared students show up for frosh week, so pre-purchased food and frosh kits don't go to waste."
From far and wide, O CanadaIt's not a scientific study but it's a data point of sorts: a question asked of first-year students a year ago this week, and the answer it brought. Heather Fitzgerald of the UW student life office tells the story: "At the Village Orientation event, our guest speaker was playing the 'stand up if' game. He asked questions like, stand up if you are an only child, stand up if you have siblings, and one of his questions was stand up if you were not born in Canada. It was amazing to see approximately 70% of the first-year students stand up. Now this statistic is based on a guesstimate and also represents the first-year students living in the village residences (not the off-campus dons or the colleges) so it is not completely an accurate reflection of our school. . . . It definitely did show how diverse our school is." |
One other feature of orientation week is the English Language Proficiency Examination, to be given Wednesday and Thursday in the Physical Activities Complex. Ann Barrett of the writing centre advises: "This summer we had our web site re-designed (thanks to a very talented and extremely patient Engineering co-op student) and students will now find everything they ever needed to know about ELPE by simply visiting.
"As we expect over 4,000 writers, seats for the exam are limited. It has taken master planning to ensure that all students will be able to write the exam -- that is if they don't stray from their own faculty session. As an incentive, we have written faculty-specific questions to entice students to attend the correct session. Those students who cannot attend their own session should write the exam in December. About 98% of the writers will be new students and this will be the first exam they write at UW.
"Students should bring their WatCards, writing tools and ideas, but no paper or electronic guides."
The cash fare is $2.25, same as on any other bus, for what GRT is calling "iXpress". The transit system promises "a convenient and easy ride" up and down the central spine of Waterloo Region, with "a new service that continues the Region's efforts to reduce auto use and greenhouse gas emissions". Federal funding is helping to support the service as a demonstration project for other communities, and, says the GRT, "the first step to a rapid transit system that will revitalize our downtown areas, improve our economic vitality and enhance our quality of life".
![[iXpress logo]](/images/2005/0906ixpress.gif)
The route, which replaces the smaller-scale Route 101 express, runs
from the Ainslie Street terminal in downtown Cambridge (a three-block
walk from the UW Architecture building) through central Kitchener
and Waterloo to Wilfrid Laurier University, UW, the research park,
Lakeshore and finally Conestoga Mall.
Along the way it makes just 13 stops, and keeps rolling because "buses are given priority at fifteen key intersections," the GRT explains. They're predicting a 62-minute trip from Ainslie Street to the main UW campus. "Other features will continue to be put in place in 2005 and 2006 -- watch for new shelters, map displays, digital signs with actual arrival times of your next bus, bike racks and lockers and improved pedestrian access."
The iXpress runs Monday to Friday from about 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. -- every 15 minutes in early morning and most of the afternoon, every half hour between 10:00 and 2:00.
Northbound buses, after stopping in "uptown" Waterloo, will travel along King Street to WLU, then up University Avenue to enter the UW campus and stop in front of Biology II. They'll continue up to the north campus, making a stop at the corner of Hagey Boulevard and Wes Graham Way. The final stops are at McCormick Arena on Parkside Drive in Lakeshore, and at Conestoga Mall. Heading south from the mall, the stops are similar: McCormick, Hagey and Graham, and UW -- but this time on the east side of the ring road, in front of the Davis Centre.
GRT has special approval to cross the north campus using the eastern leg of Wes Graham Way, which isn't open to other traffic yet, but looks just about finished, hooking up with Parkside Drive at Bearinger Road.
With the start of school this fall, Grand River Transit has introduced a number of changes to its regular routes across Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge. Among them: increased service on the #7 Main Line bus through the centre of K-W, the #8 Loop, the #9 Lakeshore bus and the #12 Fairview-Cambridge run. There's also a "late night loop" at 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, to bring revelers home along a route that includes Lakeshore, the UW campus and King Street. Details and maps are on the GRT web site.
![[Kardasz]](/images/2005/0907kardasz.jpg)
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Bookstore open (along with UW Shop and TechWorx) this week
Tuesday 8 to 5, Saturday 12 to 4; September 12-15, 8 to 7.
Campus TechShop open this week 8 to 5, Saturday 12 to 4, September 12-15,
9 to 7.
Music auditions today through September 15. All are welcome (for credit or just to participate) -- Chamber, University and Chapel Choirs, Instrumental Chamber and Stage Band, and studio auditions. Information 885-0220 ext. 226 or online. National women's basketball team vs. Puerto Rico, today through Thursday 7:30 p.m., RIM Park, Waterloo, tickets at the door. New faculty "welcoming event", day of panel discussions followed by barbecue, Wednesday, details online. Class enrolment appointments for winter undergraduate courses will be listed on Quest as of tomorrow; appointments start October 17. Airplane unveiling event as Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group shows off its latest product, Saturday 3:00 outside CEIT building. |
"Older adults" -- in particular, retired faculty members -- might be interested in a proposition from Sherry Dupuis of the department of recreation and leisure studies. She writes: "I teach a course on leisure and aging in the Fall and am looking for some older adults to volunteer in student seminars with the students for 10 weeks (Fridays from 1:30 to 2:20). I have done this for a number of years now, and the students benefit in so many ways from the experience, but also the older adult volunteers love it. This year the course enrollment has increased quite a bit so I have to run more student seminars and therefore need more older adult volunteers." Anyone interested in knowing more can call the department at ext. 3530.
People keep missing the deadline for processing paycheques, particularly for "casual" employees, says a memo last week from Neil Murray of UW's human resources department. "There has been a significant increase . . . this results in an extra volume of work," and takes time away from "other essential payroll related tasks". Says Murray: "We have attempted to process late paperwork as we understand the impact on employees, especially student employees, who do not receive a cheque when expected. However, the workload of Payroll, like yours, is increasing, and due to the ever increasing frequency of late paperwork, it is unlikely we will be able to continue to meet the demand." So, he says, "we would appreciate your efforts in ensuring that payroll information is complete" -- and on time.
The key control office will stay open over the noon hour this week, making its hours 8:30 to 4:30, to help meet beginning-of-term demand for new keys. . . . The microroom in the Dana Porter Library is expected to be open for users today after two weeks of cleanup from a minor flood. . . . The official notice of a PhD thesis for a mechanical engineering student, as listed in Friday's Daily Bulletin, contained the word "entrophy", but it turns out that's a misspelling for "entropy". . . .
CAR