New map ready to guide visitors

A completely redesigned map of the campus (excerpt at right) is now available in paper form, and will be on the web early this fall, says Dana Evans of the UW public affairs office.

“With a growing physical campus and a focus on accessibility,” she says, “the aesthetic version of the map that we have been using for the past number of years is no longer able to meet all of the needs we have of such a tool.” So the “campus” map will now take you to Columbia Lake Village or to Cambridge, and in most cases will show you where the wheelchair-accessible entrances are.

Also marked are a couple of construction sites: the Photovoltaics lab east of Matthews Hall, and the planned School of Accountancy wing at Hagey Hall. And the map shows bus stops, emergency phones, and five kinds of parking areas.

The new map offers “a 90-degree bird's eye view of the campus,” says Evans, “showing a 2-D (rather than 3-D) image.” It extends from CLV at the northwest to UW Place at the southeast, and from the corner of Westmount Road and University Avenue to past Frank Tompa Drive in the north campus Research and Technology Park (though not as far north as Wes Graham Way).

A new feature on the glossy foldout map is a flap that contains key contact information for a visitor, prospective student or faculty member. Says Evans: “We have also added, on this flap, a brief message about the University of Waterloo: some of its history, successes and features of the campus.” And it lists some web addresses and phone numbers, with both the current four-digit extension numbers and the five-digit numbers that will go into operation August 9.

The back of the map shows locations of the Architecture building in Cambridge, the distance and continuing education office on Gage Avenue, and the future health sciences campus in downtown Kitchener (as well as the temporary health sciences location on Joseph Street). Text directions to those spots, and to the main campus, are included.

Says Evans: “After reviewing the usability of this new map through focus groups with key campus stakeholders, we believe this publication can now be used uniformly across campus for a wide variety of purposes. The new fresh colours and inclusively makes this product one that we are very proud of.”

She said Matt Regehr of UW Graphics “continues to work diligently on an interactive online version of the map. Our hope is to eventually have selectable layers included in the online version. For example, if a user is specifically interested in finding out where he/she can eat on and off campus, they simply click on the "eateries" layer and the locations of interest will pop up in a printable version. We hope to do this for accessible entrances and even ramps, information centres, etc. It is also in our vision to be able to click on any on-campus building and have a real-life photo of the building pop up to show the user what they will see when arriving on campus. Our goal is to have the preliminary map online by September and continually develop the tool over the next year.”

For the time being, the previous version of the map is the one that’s online.

Comments and feedback about the map are welcome, Evans says. Paper copies of the map are available through Linda Howe in Communications and Public Affairs, e-mail ljhowe@uwaterloo.ca, phone ext. 3580.

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Religion prof ‘not making any claims’

The arts faculty’s annual report explains a misunderstood discipline

Wiccans, Catholics, and Moonies believe different things, but they all believe. The range of religious belief systems varies in size, history, core attitudes, and origins. Dr. Douglas E. Cowan (left) is interested in religious movements: how they begin, construct and defend their beliefs, and, occasionally how they end.

Religious studies is a secular field that uses sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and history to understand different belief systems. "I look at religion as a social and human phenomenon," he explains. "I'm not making any claims as to what is right or wrong. Which is why I can talk as easily about Heaven's Gate as I can about Christianity."

It's important that students are willing to set bias aside. "I introduce students to a different way of thinking about religion and push them to question and more fully understand their own beliefs," says Cowan. "They should come out of this program with more questions than they went in with."

His research focuses on a wide range of topics: religion on the Internet, religion and film, and new religious movements, especially modern Paganism and the New Age. Cowan notes, "Experimental faiths become religious traditions when people start basing their behaviour on what they believe. That's when I become interested. It's fascinating to me how we construct our beliefs and more importantly how we defend them against criticism."

Doug Cowan is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Renison College. He is a key member of the Laurier-Waterloo PhD program in Religious Diversity. He is currently working on two books — an examination of religion in horror films and the material culture of modern Paganism.

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And just a few other notes

A well-known member of the statistics and actuarial science department, Winston Cherry (right), retired officially on July 1. He's been a faculty member at UW since July 1969, coming here after degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a postdoc at Cambridge. Cherry is noted as a patient teacher of statistics, with a massive, carefully edited collection of examples of numbers as they're used in the media, and received a Distinguished Teacher Award in 1991. Originally a chemist, he has specialized in statistical work in health and particularly on the incidence of cadmium and other metals in human tissue. He's also well known on campus as the co-chair of the United Way campaign for the past several years.

"This is a proud day for psychology," writes Mike Dixon, chair of the psych department, sending news of awards to two UW graduate students from the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science. The honours, in the form of the Donald O. Hebb Awards, came at the society’s recent annual meeting. The winners are Evan Risko for the best poster presented, and Chris Striemer with an honourable mention for best oral presentation. “These are two absolutely outstanding students,” says Dixon. “Evan Risko holds an NSERC CGS, and is an exceptionally well read, broad thinker. Despite the fact that he is a relatively junior graduate student, he has already amassed an outstanding publication record that would be the envy of many an assistant professor! Chris Striemer ( NSERC-funded) has an unbridled passion for cognitive neuroscience. He has been a great international grad-student ambassador for the department — he has just received funding from the French Government to do a second research term in Lyon, where he will work with a group that is internationally known for its research in vision science.” Risko is supervised by Jenn Stolz, and Striemer by James Danckert.

Leader training for September orientation has been going on since winter, with some 500 upper-year students involved, says Heather FitzGerald, UW's director of student life. "This weekend is the Orientation Leader Conference," she notes. "Activities include Lego Warrior, Jet Plane, and UW Myth Busters." Orientation for 5,000-plus new first-year students will begin on Labour Day.

And here's a reminder that nominations are being sought for a staff seat on UW's board of governors — one of two staff representatives on the 36-member board. Catherine Fry of the conflict management and human rights office finished a board term on April 30, and that's the seat that's now to be filled. The other staff representative is Mark Walker of the registrar's office, with a term that runs to 2008. Nominations for the vacancy are due by August 4.

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