Voters, donors, and programmers

The man of vision at left is Carl Zehr, mayor of Kitchener, who's pictured trying out equipment at the downtown clinic operated by UW's school of optometry. He was on hand for its official opening earlier this year, and no doubt he's gazing ahead to the official opening of a bigger UW presence downtown: the School of Pharmacy. For his role in bringing the school to Kitchener as part of downtown redevelopment and economic diversification, Zehr has just received the first-ever Visionary Award from the Ontario Pharmacists' Association.

And Zehr received another boost yesterday, being reelected by the citizens of Kitchener, as municipal elections were held across Ontario. Zehr will now serve through 2010. So will Cambridge mayor Doug Craig and Waterloo Region chair Ken Seiling, both given a new term in office by local voters. But in Waterloo city, incumbent mayor Herb Epp was upset by newcomer Brenda Halloran. Tom Galloway, who works in UW's plant operations department, was reelected as a Regional councillor representing Kitchener. Of half a dozen UW employees who were seeking municipal office yesterday, he's the only one known to have been elected, based on limited results available this morning.

In other matters . . . "We still need some help," says a note from Karen So in the UW United Way office, where they've been counting up the pledges and cash from this fall's campaign and have reached a total of $159,098 as of Friday afternoon. That's close to the campaign goal of $165,000, but it's not there yet. "We would like to encourage staff and faculty to give if they have not done so already," says So. "If they want to check if their gift has been received, or need a new donor form, feel free to call the office at ext. 3-3840." The United Way funnels support to some 50 local agencies, from St. John Ambulance to the House of Friendship hostel.

Two UW teams competed on Saturday in the regional level of the high-profile ACM Programming Contest, in which Waterloo entries have sometimes reached the level of world champions. Results were a little more moderate this year, as the UW entries, dubbed "Black" and "Gold", placed third and fourth among 135 teams in the regionals, held at Ashland University in Ohio. A University of Toronto team came first, and Carnegie Mellon University second. It's now not clear whether a UW entry will be going to the 2007 ACM world championships, to be held in Tokyo in March. "We are cautiously optimistic," says coach Gordon Cormack of the UW school of computer science, noting that in most years the East Central Region has been able to send three entries to the worlds. If that happens, UW would be represented by the "Black" squad of Tor Myklebust, Simon Parent and Malcolm Sharpe. Members of the "Gold" team are Aidin Kashigar, Yin (Jack) Zhao and Darin Tay.

The "Skills for the Electronic Workplace" training program is offering a workshop this morning on "Using a BlackBerry at UW". . . . Columbia Lake Village is urgently in need of a new English as a Second Language tutor (applicants can get in touch with the residence life coordinator, e-mail alendert@uwaterloo.ca). . . . Tomorrow's the deadline for applications for next year's Canada-US Fulbright Program, offering exchanges at the faculty and graduate student level. . . .

And . . . there was some discussion on the electronic newsgroup uw.general last week after the president and provost talked at their "town hall" meeting about the likelihood that UW will be adding faculty and students on a campus that's already crowded. How to fit in more of them? "Just start bringing in smaller faculty members and grad students, and make basic contortionism a tenure/graduation milestone," one reader suggested. "Otherwise, they can just start pairing people off to sit on one another's laps." It's a bit reminiscent of the prediction by Adel Sedra, dean of engineering, that UW's nanotechnology program will eventually fit into a shoebox as the researchers are engineered down to micro-scale.

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Better supplies in first aid kits

A memo from the UW safety office

UW’s workplace first aid requirements have been revised following a recommendation of UW’s Main Campus Joint Health and Safety Committee and a review by the Safety Office and Health Services. The revision includes larger standard UW first aid kits; a listing of first aid station and first aider locations on a webpage; and improved first aid kit contents (CPR devices, non latex gloves, hand sanitizers, non adhesive tape, cold packs and first aid manuals).

To comply with Workplace Safety and Insurance Board requirements, academic and academic support departments are responsible for maintaining first aid stations — reporting first aid station location(s) and their first aiders to the Safety Office, designating qualified first aiders for each first aid station, delegating person(s) in charge to maintain and inspect first aid station kits, ensuring first aid stations are readily accessible for the treatment of injured/ill persons; and marking locations clearly with signage.

Until December 15, 2006 the Safety Office will provide the required first aid station kit or supplies as required at no charge.

Departments should also provide additional first aid kits in Lab, Shop, Studio, and Satellite Areas and in vehicles.

For assistance obtaining first aid posters with UW’s new emergency numbers, determining first aid kits and station locations, reviewing qualified first aider records or any other questions, please contact Sheila Hurley in the Safety Office, ext. 3-3587 or sahurley@uwaterloo.ca.

Registration for first aid training is also being revised. The next courses are in December and UW employees who are interested in taking this training or will need re-certification, should refer to the first aid training webpage.

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High schoolers get week of 'design'

from the UW media relations office

Top Grade 11 students from across Canada will explore the theme of design this week in a Waterloo Unlimited program. The 46 students will participate in a series of on-campus workshops arranged by the UW enrichment program. Waterloo Unlimited, now based in the faculty of environmental studies, is a trans- disciplinary enrichment experience for high school students of exceptional potential.

"Our program will give the students the opportunity to interact with university faculty and students from around the campus," said Ed Jernigan, director for Waterloo Unlimited. "With that diversity, we are able to explore design in the broadest possible sense."

Jernigan said the program seeks to help students of extraordinary potential come together in a community of scholars. "At Unlimited, students learn how to become more engaged with and better able to contribute to their own educational enrichment."

The students will learn about design in the context of various disciplines presented by professors from various faculties and programs from across campus, including engineering, literature, urban planning and other areas. They will also attend skills sessions, on topics such as creativity and communications, and participate in group assignments and activities.

Each day includes two lectures on some aspect of design, a two-hour hands-on workshop on a design discipline and a two-hour skills session. There are also public talks by Ken Coates, dean of the faculty of arts, and James Alan Gardner, a local author.

Developing programs around a theme, rather than a single subject, is a hallmark of Waterloo Unlimited. "Innovative solutions and groundbreaking research happen where disciplines and researchers cross boundaries," Jernigan said. "Themed teaching promotes an open-ended learning experience and develops students' higher-order academic skills, such as analysis, synthesis, communication and collaboration."

CAR

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