![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, September 8, 2005
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Rakish bandanna on the boar sculpture]](/images/2005/0908kerton.jpg)
Getting to know you:
Second-year arts student Jodian Fairclough chats with dean of arts
Bob Kerton as a swashbuckling Porcellino looks on. The boar sculpture
outside Modern Languages clearly enjoys his regular costume changes
during orientation week.
Today is a relatively slow day for new students, with only a few events
scheduled until the big Monte Carlo Night semiformal bash starting at 8:00
in the Student Life Centre. Photo by Barbara Elve.
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"Thank you for being a good neighbour," says a double-sided "door knocker" that includes tips about city of Waterloo by-laws, a list of key phone numbers, and messages addressed to students who may be new to living in off-campus houses. "Please help the City of Waterloo maintain its great reputation as a vibrant community of permanent and student residents," it says.
Issues that are mentioned include parking, noise, litter, fireworks, property maintenance, bonfires (not allowed in Waterloo), and even public urination -- the usual range of neighbourhood irritants that occasionally lead to complaints at City Hall. The city's community development department, "with the generous support of its community partners", has produced the door cards, which are being distributed by the thousand in areas where students often live.
The city has also organized a program of more ambitious "welcome bags" that permanent residents can pick up, then drop off to their new student neighbours. The bags include sample products and coupons from local businesses, as well as the living-in-harmony information. "Both residents and students feel intimidated or shy about going to talk to their neighbours," says Kaye Crawford of community development, "and this is just a way for these folks to welcome new people."
About 1,500 bags have been produced. Some were distributed last week and the rest will be available tonight from 4 to 7 p.m. at the ambulance station at 90 Westmount Road North (just south of campus). A small number of bags are also available at Waterloo city hall.
![[Peters]](/images/2005/0908peters.jpg)
Appointed
as UW's Senior Director of Government Relations and Development
is Avvey Peters, previously an associate director in the
communications and public affairs office -- next door to me, as a
matter of fact. Announcing the new role, Vice-President
(External Relations) Laura Talbot-Allan noted that Peters has
worked on "key government files" including UW's involvement in
the recent Rae Review of Ontario post-secondary education. She
had been acting director since August 1. "In addition to a wealth
of knowledge and interest in government relations," the
vice-president said in a memo, "Avvey brings superb writing and
communication skills to her new position."
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The money included 1,496 research grants, worth $80.7 million, and 297 contracts, worth $24.0 million, as well as $5.0 million in revenue from licensing fees and other "special research" sources.
The numbers are for the fiscal year 2004-05. In 2003-04, the total was $102.3 million. The record was set in 2001-02 with $115.7 million, including more than $23 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which provided only $10.0 million in the year just finished.
The single biggest funding source, as always at UW, was the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, which provided $26.2 million in grants in the past year. NSERC, CFI and other federal government agencies accounted for about $61 million of the year's total, with the Ontario government kicking in $19.6 million.
Paul Guild, the vice-president (university research), told the UW board of governors in June that Waterloo continues to rank fifth among Canadian universities in the amount of NSERC grant money received. There's "remarkable stability" to that figure, he said, since although UW has been pushing to become more "research intensive", other universities are making similar efforts. (In 2003-04, UW ranked sixth, according to an NSERC chart.)
The annual report, which is available online, includes various tables and charts showing where the money came from and where it went. It indicates, for example, that the department of physics brought in more grant money than any other UW academic unit, at $8.9 million, followed by electrical and computer engineering. In contracts, health studies and gerontology leads the list at $3.5 million, followed by optometry at $2.9 million.
A free meningitis vaccine clinic will operate next week at Health Services. Eligible, says a note from the little white building by the pond, are "students 19 and under" -- actually, some 20-year-olds qualify as well. The Ontario government is providing vaccine this year for everyone born January 1, 1985, through December 31, 1990. The clinic will run from 9:30 to 11:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Students older than the target group, says HS, "are not eligible for this Ministry of Health funded vaccine and will require a booked doctor's appointment to obtain the prescription and injection."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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'Single and Sexy' performances 10:00, 1:00 and 4:00, Humanities
Theatre.
English Language Proficiency Exam at 11:00 (engineering) and 1:00 (math, applied health sciences and software engineering), Physical Activities Complex. Third annual South Asian Festival sponsored by India-Canada Association of Waterloo Region, Saturday 11:00 to 6:00, Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, Fischer-Hallman road, admission $2. Volunteer fair Wednesday, September 14, 11:00 to 3:00, Student Life Centre. UW's ACM programming contests September 17 and 24, details online. |
Across campus today, scores of graduate teaching assistants are in workshops designed to give them skills for the classroom, laboratory and tutorial. Some departments are holding TA training on other days, but today is the key day, with sessions in English, French, all of applied health sciences, and all of mathematics, among other fields. It's also the first day of the two-day "ExpecTAtions" program across the faculty of engineering. Contact information is available on the teaching resource office web site.
The UW Writing Centre and Counselling Services are offering several writing workshops this fall. A flyer explains why: "Have you ever had an essay returned with a professor's comments citing trouble with wordiness, incoherent thoughts, or 'lacks transition'? If you want to avid such problems perhaps one of the writing skills workshops can help!" The "Level One Grammar and Style Workshop" runs for an hour on September 30 or October 17; the "Level Two Grammar and Style Workshop" on October 7 or October 24; and an "Essay Writing" session on October 3 or October 26. Interested students can get more information, or sign up in advance, at the counselling services front desk in Needles Hall. And the counselling web site lists other workshops that are also on the program for this fall.
The unveiling of a new airplane built by the Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group, which had been announced for Saturday, has been postponed, WARG advises. . . . The UW Recreation Committee, which organizes social activities for faculty and staff, is planning an outing September 23 to see the Kitchener Rangers host the Windsor Spitfires (that's hockey). . . . The engineering alumni newsletter, WEAL, boasts in its new issue that six UW graduates are among the current year's "Top 40 Under 40" Canadians, and introduces the four who are engineers. . . .
CAR