That's what happens when you go off to Hawaii and wave off your colleagues' comments that "We'll be thinking of you!" Bonnie Bishop of electrical and computer engineering assured them that she wouldn't be thinking of them while she was getting lei'd . . . but back home, they were thinking of her all right, covering just about every object in her office with newspaper. Anne Jenson took the photo when Bishop returned.

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Catholic lectures stress social teaching

“What is our best kept secret?” asks Megan Shore, director of the St. Jerome’s Centre for Catholic Experience. Her answer: “No, it is not the Da Vinci code. It is our Catholic social teaching!

“Like many Catholic educators, I am troubled by how few Catholics are aware of the Church’s teachings on social, economic, and political matters. Starting with Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labour), the Church has developed a rich body of work known collectively as Catholic Social Teaching (CST). CST addresses issues such as poverty, international development, racism, sexism, human rights abuses, weapons of mass destruction, humanitarian intervention, peace, and our global ecological crisis.”

And so, she says, the centre’s 2006-07 lecture series “will look at contemporary social, economic and political situations through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching. The hope is that our best kept secret will be a secret no more. Remember, these lectures are open to the public and free of charge.”

The series is highlighted by the October 20 launch of a book by Montréal-based theologian Gregory Baum — a second edition of his 1975 work Religion and Alienation: A Theological Reading of Sociology, known as “a seminal work in the ever-evolving dialogue between theology and sociology”. Baum will speak about his book and autograph copies, which will be available for purchase from Words Worth Books during the Friday evening event.

Earlier, William F. Ryan, past General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of the Catholic Bishops and now coordinator of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Social Justice, will give the 2006-07 Ignatian/Waterloo Catholic District School Board Lecture. He’ll speak September 22 on “Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope”.

Other scheduled speakers:

• James Loney of Christian Peacemaker Teams, giving the Devlin Lecture on October 27 under the title “War Never Again!” He’ll be in town the next day for a one-day ecumenical forum at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Kitchener, “The Price of Peace”.

• Cynthia S. W. Crysdale of Catholic University of America, speaking November 17 on “Risk, Gratitude, and Love: A Christian Feminist Ethic of Risk”, this year’s Teresa Dease Lecture.

• James Weisgerber, Archbishop of Winnipeg, giving this year’s Somerville Lecture in Christianity and Communications, “Bridging the Gap: Reaching Beyond Our Differences”, on December 1.

• Adele Reinhartz, classics professor and associate vice-president at the University of Ottawa, speaking on “Jesus of Hollywood” as the 2006-07 School Boards Lecture on January 24. The lecture will be recorded for broadcast on the CBC radio “Ideas” series.

• David Seljak of St. Jerome’s, former director of the Centre, giving this year’s John J. Wintermeyer Lecture on “Ethnic Diversity and Christian Unity” on February 9.

• Janet Conway of Ryerson University, author of Identity, Place, Knowledge: Social Movements Contesting Globalization, speaking March 9 in this year’s Scarboro Foreign Missions Lecture. She’ll talk about the World Social Forum that will have been held in Kenya a few weeks earlier.

• Katherine Rouleau, who divides her time between medical work in Malawi and a position at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, giving this year’s Sweeney Lecture in Current Issues in Healthcare, “HIV/AIDS from a Canadian Catholic Perspective”, on March 30.

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The talk of the campus

Departments across campus had a memo the other day from Joanne Wade, the director of student awards and financial aid, with a reminder of the International Undergraduate Work-Study Program for the term ahead. "If you would like to employ an international student on a part-time basis using this program, please read this memo," she writes. "International students are not eligible for provincial government financial aid (OSAP) and may find themselves in need of supplemental funds to assist in the cost of their education. . . . The UW International Undergraduate Work-Study Program is intended to assist in creating part-time meaningful employment opportunities for international students who require additional funding, are willing to work, and can demonstrate financial need. The cost of the plan is shared on a 75/25 arrangement between a central university fund and your department. Up to 25 positions will be funded this Fall." Details and more information come from Jennifer Hillier at ext. 3-5726.

The Canada's Technology Triangle economic development lobby has announced that Waterloo Region will play host "this fall" — date and place not yet public — to the Global Foreign Direct Investment Awards ceremonies. "Community partners at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and the Center for International Governance Innovation will join CTT," a news release says, "to bring the prestigious awards ceremony and world-wide participation to the Region. Ontario Premier and Minister of Research and Innovation Dalton McGuinty this week was named Personality of the Year 2006 by fDi (Foreign Direct Investment) magazine, part of the Financial Times group of London. . . . McGuinty takes top honours because of his efforts to promote research and innovation and for forming strategic partnerships with the automotive industry to bring $7 billion in new auto investments to Ontario in the past two years." It quotes fDI's editor: "We are delighted to be coming to Ontario to present the Premier with his well-deserved award and to see firsthand how regions like the Technology Triangle are spurring innovation, attracting businesses and driving economic development."

So how will you be spending the last Sunday of the summer? Linda Mackay of UW's counselling services has plans for a 75-kilometre Niagara bike tour, a repeat of last summer's "Wheel Cycle for Wellness" event. She writes: "We are gearing up for our second year, and the team has expanded from 8 members to 19 members! The university contingent is strong with seven of us participating from Counselling Services. Joining the team this year are faculty members from both Science and Environmental Studies as well. The tour is on Sunday, August 27. If the university community is interested in supporting our team or want more information about these fundraising tours, the link is www.msbiketours.com. I have also created a team blog."

UW's athletics department has been exploring its history in preparation for the university's 50th anniversary next year, and one of the untold stories is revealed on page 1 of the latest Gold and Black newsletter for athletics alumni. "When UW's best and brightest varsity athletes take the fields, courts and rinks of battle," the article says, "they do so as Warriors — the fierce name that has been behind UW men's athletics since 1961. But in the earliest of early days at UW, some female varsity athletes charged out of the locker room to face opposing teams as the Bananas. . . . The name enjoyed almost a decade of use — even though the people behind the teams far from enjoyed the moniker. . . . The name actually originated from the colour and style of the uniforms worn by women's teams— namely volleyball and basketball." Former athletics administrator Pat Davis has a succinct description of those yellow one-piece suits: "Awful."

Fanny Radic, a former member of UW's staff, died August 15, the human resources department reports. She started work for the university in 1977 as a custodian, then two years later became a food services assistant. She's survived by her husband, Carlos, who is also a retired staff member.

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More talk on a summer's day

From the faculty of applied health sciences, Lori Kraemer writes to announce that "UW Fitness, located in the new Manulife Wellness Centre and Lyle Hallman Institute for Health Promotion, offers small group personal training sessions for UW faculty and staff (these sessions are not open to students). These twice per week exercise sessions include cardiovascular exercise, resistance/weight training, and flexibility exercises under the guidance of a Kinesiologist and certified personal trainer in a private and encouraging environment.  To sign up for a 4-8 week session starting in the fall semester or for more information, check out our website. There are limited spaces available, so sign up soon if you are interested. Next 7-week session is starting the week of September 11." 

Plans are under way to close Aussies, the variety store operated by the Federation of Students on the lower level of the Student Life Centre, and open a whole new store in space on the main level adjacent to the Feds' offices. Renjie Butalid, vice-president (administration and finance) of the Federation, reports that the Feds' board of directors has authorized a $260,000 allocation for renovations on both levels. "A timetable for this project has yet to be set," he writes. "We are hoping that with a better location for the convenience store, carrying a better product line as well as increased hours, the Federation of Students will be in a position to provide even better service." He adds that since the store will no longer be "down under", it'll need a new name, and suggestions are being sought.

Two UW chemical engineering researchers outlined the current state of research dealing with the major bioprocessing concerns in biomanufacturing in the July edition of Biotechnology Focus. Murray Moo-Young, professor emeritus and director of the Canadian Cell-Factory Bioprocessing Research Network, and C. Perry Chou, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Novel Strategies for High-Level Recombinant Protein Production, illustrated the concerns with examples from the research network.

Applications are available now for the 2007 round of the world’s best-known university scholarships: the Rhodes Scholarships for two or three years’ study at Oxford. Says a memo from the UW graduate studies office: “Candidates are Canadian citizens or persons domiciled in Canada and are born between October 2, 1982 and October 1, 1988. Candidates may apply either in the province in which they are ordinarily resident or in the province in which they have attended university. Proven intellectual and academic attainment of a high standard is the first quality required of applicants, but they will also be required to show integrity of character, sympathy for and protection of the weak, the ability to lead and the energy to use their talents to the full. . . . Applicants will be interviewed by a university committee, which will select applications to be forwarded to the Rhodes Committee.” More information: ext. 3-2841. Deadline is September 13.

A group from the UW Recreation Committee will be taking part in a "Laughter Yoga" session at 7:45 tonight at Waterloo City Hall. . . . Blue brochures for the September and October offerings of the Skills for the Electronic Workplace program include training in "Scheduling Rooms Using Bookit", "XHTML Basics", and "Writing for the Web", among other things. . . . Warrior football training camp is under way, with the team facing its first game on September 4 (Labour Day) against Windsor at University Stadium. . . .

Finally . . . the national news this morning features the arrest of four Canadians (and five others) in an alleged conspiracy to smuggle weapons to Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka. One of the group, the only one actually arrested in Canada, is Suresh Sriskandarajah, described in some media today as being a UW student. In fact, he graduated in June, with a degree in electrical engineering. At UW, Sriskandarajah came to prominence last year when he was helping to raise funds for relief in Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami.

CAR

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