![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, September 16, 2005
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Modris Eksteins of the University of Toronto at Scarborough is the speaker. He addresses the topic of "Art, Fame, and the Problem of Authenticity: Vincent van Gogh and Us" at 7:30 in Siegfried Hall at St. Jerome's.
![[Cummings]](/images/2005/0916cummings.jpg)
Eksteins examines Van Gogh's life and art to understand how this
obscure 19th century artist -- the victim of poverty, critical
neglect, unrequited love, mental illness and suicide -- rose to
near-mythic status in the 20th century. His distinctive
post-impressionist canvases, once unsold, now command record prices.
What does this transformation say about Van Gogh and, more
importantly, about the people who are fascinated by him?
Eksteins, a professor of history, is currently researching a book on van Gogh. He is the author of Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age (1989), winner of the Trillium Prize and the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize of the Canadian Historical Association, and selected one of Amazon.ca's 50 essential Canadian books. Walking Since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and the Heart of Our Century (1999) won the inaugural Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize.
The Laurence A. Cummings Lecture in Cultural History has been established by former students of Cummings (pictured), who was a professor of English at St. Jerome's from 1962 to 1972, then moved to the main UW campus as a professor of English and architecture. He is recalled as the founder of the cultural history program in the UW school of architecture. In 1979 Cummings received a province-wide award for excellence in teaching from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.
Admission to tonight's lecture on van Gogh is free, but space is limited.
The lecture is the first event of the 2005-06 season for the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience, which will present more than a dozen speakers this year. Among them are Stan McKay, former moderator of the United Church of Canada, speaking October 21 on "The Aboriginal Experience of Christianity"; theologian Gregory Baum, speaking January 20 on Muslim-Christian relations; and Douglas John Hall, theologian and long-ago founding principal of St. Paul's United College, speaking March 24.
Graduates of St. Jerome's University who were taught by Larry Cummings or who belonged to his theatrical troupe, St. Aethelwold's Players, are also invited to a reunion brunch on Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Jerome's. Information: 884-8111 ext. 8277.
![[Carey]](/images/2005/0916carey.jpg)
![[Brandt]](/images/2005/0916gcbrandt.jpg)
Filling in:
Tom Carey, UW's associate vice-president (learning resources and
innovation), is on a year-long sabbatical leave that started September 1.
While he's away, the provost announced this week, the associate
vice-president (academic), Gail Cuthbert Brandt, will also serve as
interim AVP for Carey's portfolio. The
"learning resources and
innovation" departments include the teaching resource office, the
Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology, audio-visual
services, and distance and continuing education.
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Computing systems staff are attending their weekly IST professional development seminar this morning, and this week's topic is "Solutions for Connecting from Home". With the prospect of UW's dialup service -- the cheap, if slow, way to connect to the campus network and the Internet -- being discontinued next spring, people are looking for alternatives. IST staff will brief each other about four (at least) commercial options: Huron Telecommnication, Sympatico, 295ca, and Rogers. "The speakers," a seminar announcement indicates, "will talk about ease of installation, cost, speed, multiple connections, problems, and more." And then, presumably, they'll be available across campus to respond when they're asked for advice about the alternatives.
Novelist Sandra Birdsell reads from her new book, Children of the Day, Sunday at 7 p.m. in the chapel at Conrad Grebel University College. Admission is free. The book is described as "an incredible, life-affirming portrait of the marriage of Sara Vogt, a Mennonite immigrant stifled by a bloody family history and the secrets and propriety of her people, and Oliver Vandal, a man troubled by his own ghosts and longings, that include his nostalgia for his Métis heritage."
The tourism lecture series, sponsored by the recreation and leisure studies and geography departments, will be held again this term, with the first presentation scheduled for Monday morning. It'll be given by Paul Eagles of recreation, under the title "International Trends Affecting the Future of Tourism in Protected Areas". That and subsequent lectures -- some by UW people, others by visitors from as far away as New Zealand and Sweden -- will be given Mondays at 9:30 a.m. in Arts Lecture Hall room 105.
Coming Tuesday through Thursday next week (with a repeat in late November) is a course offered by UW's continuing education office, under the title "Project Management Applied Tools and Techniques". The course, a flyer says, "covers the complete project life-cycle, from initial project proposal and definition, through project implementation and finally to the often neglected project completion phase." Price tag for the three-day course is $975 plus tax, although full-time UW staff can get it at half price.
Friday of next week brings a special event for the Centre for Family Business, an arm of Conrad Grebel University College. The centre's annual general meeting will be held along with the first "breakfast seminar" of the new program year, which features speaker Ken Kaye on "Getting and Staying on Track". It'll be held at the Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo's RIM Park; details are online.
The UW Recreation Committee has a rich program of events for faculty and staff this fall, starting with a self-defence information seminar on Monday and an American Sign Language class that begins Tuesday, and continuing with scrapbooking, Reiki healing, "Christmas creativity", theatre outings, and various others. Details are on its web site, and the UWRC also has an active e-mail list for those who are interested.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Clubs Days 10:00 to 4:00, Student Life Centre.
Centre for International Governance Innovation presents open seminar: "Global Institutional Reform: Conflict or Coherence?" 9:30 a.m., 57 Erb Street West, free tickets rsvp@cigionline.org. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council session on grant-writing strategies, Monday 10:00 to noon, Tatham Centre room 2218. Art gallery reception to mark the opening of "Drafting Paper Memories" by Scott Fillier, 4 to 6 p.m., Modern Languages building gallery. Chemistry seminar: Austen Angell, Arizona State University, "The Weirdness of Water-Like Systems in Their Supercooled States, Liquid-Liquid Transitions and the Like," 4:00, Math and Computer room 2066. Canada's Wonderland trip organized by Math Society, Saturday; tickets ($23) on sale third floor of Math and Computer. UW's ACM programming contests this Saturday and September 24, details online. Canadian Institutes of Health Research representatives speak about scholarship opportunities, undergraduate to postdoctoral, Monday 8:30 to 10:30, Needles Hall room 3001. TB skin testing clinic Monday and Tuesday, 9:30 to 4:30, Village I great hall. Computational mathematics seminar: Robert Bixby, ILOG Inc. and Rice University, "Mixed-Integer Programming -- It works out of the box", Monday 3:30, Math and Computer room 5158. Centre for International Governance Innovation open seminar: "Public Diplomacy, a Canadian and UK Perspective", Monday 4:00, 57 Erb Street West, reservations e-mail rsvp@cigionline.org. UW Senate monthly meeting Monday 4:30, Needles Hall room 3001. TB skin testing clinic Monday and Tuesday, 9:30 to 4:30, Village I great hall. |
Sports this weekend: Warrior baseball, Saturday 1:00 against Western and Sunday 1:00 against McMaster, at Jack Couch Park in Kitchener. Field hockey, Saturday 12:00 against Carleton and Sunday 1:45 against Toronto, at University Stadium. Women's rugby, Saturday 1:00 against Western, at Columbia Field. Men's rugby, Saturday 3:00 against McMaster, also at Columbia Field. Soccer against Carleton on Saturday, women at 1:00, men at 3:00, Columbia Field. Women's tennis, Saturday at Laurier; both men's and women's tennis in Hamilton Sunday against Western and McMaster. Women's volleyball, playing in Montréal for the weekend -- tonight against Bois de Boulogne, tomorrow against Université de Montréal and then McGill. Cross-country, tomorrow at the Guelph Invitational. Football, tomorrow 2 p.m. at Guelph.
Here's the first letter: "Leaving campus last night through the lazy twilight I was mesmerized by the renewed energy on campus. There was something special; excitement, anticipation, and wonder filled the air.
"The new class gathering under the trees at ML where new friends were meeting and new worlds were being discovered. Small groups of students enjoying the summer evening deep in discussion or wandering back to Rez with bags of books. The buzz on the Bomber patio and the game of Ultimate on the residence green which had all oddly seemed absent for so long. It came to me as I drove on: They're back! And what a great feeling that was."
Yes, but . . . here's the other letter: "It's wonderful to have all the students back on campus. It's refreshing to see their young faces. The down side is, it's only 2 p.m. and the women's washrooms are already destroyed.
"I work in the MC building. At the beginning of each term we have to put up with clogged toilets and sinks, soaped down washrooms, toilet paper stolen, tampon boxes broken into and many other disgusting things I don't wish to mention.
"[A relative] has worked on campus for at
least 25 years and has never worked in a building as dirty as
the Math and Computer. My children were is the ESQ camp one year
and I went to meet them. I had never used the washrooms in the
SLC before. I couldn't get over how clean they were. I
mentioned this to a student who was in there and she asked me
which building I was from. When I told her she said "Oh,
that's too bad -- that building is disgusting."
CAR