The western sky grew bright as a dramatic lightning storm passed through Waterloo about 10:00 last night, causing some power flickers but no significant damage. Computer science student Sylvan Mably caught the view over Laurel Creek from the balcony of the Math and Computer building.

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'Human development' office to open

A planned new department to take charge of "training and development" across the university is beginning to take shape, with a notice that appeared in yesterday's Positions Available inviting applications for the job of director of "Organizational and Human Development".

"The Director is the first position to be hired," says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services), implying that it won't be the last. "The office's location," she added, will be the Humanities building, "in what was formerly part of the HH box office."

Says Scott: "This new department is to provide development and training opportunities for
staff, faculty and students." However, its origins have to do with staff in particular: "For some time, It has been clear that UW needs a far more comprehensive and dedicated development program than it has been able to offer with only the Staff Training and Development fund and half a trainer and half an assistant. There is a huge demand for more programs and more variety from our staff members and we cannot keep up with it with the resources, both people and funds, that we have.

"This past year, as part of the revisions to Policy 18, the need for more training and development was expressed regularly in many of our discussions — not only for staff but for the managers who oversee them in the academic and academic support departments. Partly in response to this, the Staff Relations Committee has added a new clause to Policy 18 which gives staff 30 hours annually of training and development programs offered by this new department.

"And, in addition to this, UW needs to provide a more intensive leadership program for its students. The T and D budget is modest, but with the help of funding from the provost, this will now be a on-going, financially supported department at UW combining operations funding for staff resources with the resources from the T and D budget."

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August 15 event: accessibility and more

“On August 15th,” organizers are saying, “discover The Power of IDEAS at the University of Waterloo, a conference that explores how Innovative Design and Delivery Engenders Access and Academic Success.”

It’s a one-day event, to be held in Rod Coutts Hall, aimed at faculty, staff and students alike — anybody who’s interested in issues of teaching and learning, “technology to promote optimal learning outcomes”, and the design of what happens in and out of the classroom.

“New technologies and alternative strategies can enhance teaching and learning,” says a flyer explaining the event. “This conference will provide an environment for: exchanging ideas in key areas of research, teaching methodologies, learning strategies and applications of technology.” It’s a successor to the “accessibility fair” held in some past years, and will continue the emphasis on technology for those with disabilities but go well beyond that one issue.

Sessions, says the flyer, will include “topics based on sound pedagogy, factors that affect performance outcomes for persons with disabilities, meta-cognitive learning styles, and technology applications that promote learning outcomes for all. Vendor exhibits will provide opportunities for viewing adaptive hardware and software designed to invigorate the senses and enhance learning, teaching, and research.”

The keynote speaker will be web accessibility expert Joe Clark. Among topics for sessions during the rest of the day: “Hearing Loss: How Could You Be Affected?” “The Devil in ANGEL's Details” “Performance Enhancement Techniques in the Academic World” “Neo Millennial Learning Landscapes”.

The conference is jointly sponsored by the Office for Persons with Disabilities, the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology (LT3), Information Systems and Technology, and the office of the Associate Provost (Human Resources and Student Services).

“Instructors, students, staff, administrators, clinicians, and the general public from across Ontario” are invited to attend, says the flyer. Details are online.

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Praise for winner of June gold medal

reprinted from the Arts Research Update newsletter

Psychology PhD graduate Brandon Wagar (left) is this year’s recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal, one of the university’s most prestigious honours. It is the second year in a row that this award has gone to an Arts graduate (last year’s went to sociology PhD Jennifer Schulenberg).

A brief look at Wagar’s outstanding graduate career at UW very quickly reveals the reasons for winning this award. A gifted and curious thinker with broad research interests, Wagar’s academic path has led him to excel in not one but several different fields. After completing an honours thesis on synaesthesia, he went on to pursue an MA in the very different area of object recognition and memory. His PhD work marked another shift of focus: combining the methodologies of cognitive neuroscience and social psychology, Wagar produced a highly original study of how subliminal racial stimuli can affect complex decision-making tasks in non-racial contexts.

According to Mike Dixon, Wagar’s doctoral supervisor and UW psychology department chair, the thesis was “simply stellar.” Dixon’s assessment was supported by Wagar’s external examiner, Larry Jacoby. One of the most highly cited and influential psychologists in the world, Jacoby, too, was impressed: “The thesis was among the best that I have read in my entire career. The work described in the thesis revealed an impressive breadth of knowledge that cuts across several traditional areas in psychology. The empirical work was extremely creative, carefully done, and returned interesting results.” He added that he had no doubt that Wagar’s work would “have considerable impact.” Just recently, Wagar received word that a study based on the thesis has been accepted for publication. He’s already on his way.

Perhaps one of the most striking of Wagar’s academic accomplishments to date, however, is his first-authored publication in psychology’s prestigious journal Psychological Review — a feat achieved not only while he was an honours student but for what was at the time a “side” project unrelated to his thesis. The article, which presents an original computational model of how neuroanatomical structures interact, stemmed from a project he worked on under the supervision of philosophy professor Paul Thagard. Mike Dixon underscores the significance of such a publication: “One of the benchmarks we use to select the very best researchers in psychology is whether they have published in Psychological Review. Very, very few of us have done it, yet Brandon managed this as a student! As chair of the department I know that many tenured faculty members would give their eyeteeth for a ‘Psych Review’ publication. To have such a publication at this early stage is simply unheard of.”

Funded by an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Wagar will be continuing his studies at the University of Victoria.

CAR

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