Ticat coach will lead Warriors

UW’s department of athletics held a news conference Friday morning (right) to confirm the rumoured appointment of Dennis McPhee as the new head coach of the Warrior football program at the University of Waterloo. “I am so pleased to introduce Coach McPhee,” said athletics director Judy McCrae.

“Coach McPhee brings a wealth of coaching experience to this position, both at the professional and university levels,” a news release says. “Dennis has coached with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats for ten seasons including the last two as the defensive front coach. He served as linebacker coach from 1994-2002, including a Grey Cup in 1999, then returned to coach the defensive front seven from 2004-2006.

“In between his stints with the Tiger-Cats, Coach McPhee was head coach of St. Francis Xavier University from 2002-2004. Coach McPhee turned the X-Men program from 27th ranked in the CIS to 7th ranked in 2002 and was named AUS Coach of the Year. In his two seasons at St. FX Coach McPhee compiled 12-8 record reaching the playoffs in both years.”

The release said McPhee “has deep roots in the CIS, in particular the OUA and the Golden Triangle. He has coached with both the University of Guelph and McMaster University in the 1990’s including a Yates Cup championship in 1992 as defensive coach with the Gryphons. Coach McPhee has also been director of the Hamilton Tiger Cats Annual High School Evaluation Camps for several years and has been a CIS headline speaker and presenter at CFL/NFL coaches enhancement programs.”

During his playing days at Saint Mary’s University (1977-82), McPhee was a two-sport athlete, competing at the varsity level on both the hockey and football teams. He was a five-year starter in football and was captain in his final two seasons with the Huskies.

McPhee, said McCrae, “will be a tremendous asset to our football program, and indeed our whole athletic department. He has a genuine and sincere interest in football being the vehicle for these student athletes to develop while at university. He believes in educating the whole person. He has a proven record in his sport. He values relationship building and being part of a team. I am energized to begin working with Coach McPhee.”

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Engineers show passion for purple

from Jennifer Carroll (left), president of Engineering Society B

During this second week of the winter term, engineering students will be participating in their first ever “Frost Week”. Frost Week is an idea borrowed from the University of Western Ontario, and the purpose is to beat the winter blahs and keep everyone enthusiastic about engineering during the cold winter term.

The week is kicking off with some education about engineering traditions, as today will see the Engineering Society executive (with noticeably more purple skin tones) playing host to the engineering mascot The Tool. The decision to combine something that is uniquely Waterloo (The Tool) with a tradition that spans the entire engineering profession (purple) was made because purple dye is not a part of Frosh Week at UW and the executive feel that this is a tradition that engineering students should learn sooner rather than later.

Far from being an outlet for hazing, the profession of engineering has been associated with the colour purple for many years, since 1863 when different occupations within the Royal Navy were assigned different coloured bands to wear on their uniforms. This seemingly insignificant change in uniforms was brought to the forefront when in 1912 the Titanic sank. With none of the engineers surviving the sinking, rumours began to circulate as to the role they played in attempting to save the ship. It was said that the engineers (who it is said wore purple coveralls) had been released from duty but stayed behind to continue to fuel the fires and flip back circuit breakers to keep lights on as long as possible and keep the ship visible to any other ships in the area.

This tremendous display of social responsibility falls well in line with today's Iron Ring — a Canadian custom, worn to remind the engineer of their responsibility to the public. When the wreckage of the Titanic was first found, and the sinking reconstructed, it was determined that the engineers had not been capable of keeping the lights on as long as some survivors remembered. The boiler and circuit rooms had flooded long before the ship finally went down, claiming the lives of the engineers. While the heroic story of the Titanic engineers turned out to be false, the message it carries is an important one for engineering students to remember.

Engineering students at Waterloo have a long way to go from first year until the day they receive their Iron Rings. Purple is a great way to start students off with an understanding of their social responsibility and in receiving their iron rings 4 2/3 years later their education is completed with the same message.

Feel free to stop by the Carl Pollock Hall foyer between about 8:30 and 4:30 today to get an up-close view of the Tool and to chat with the purple executive. If we have any extra purple dye, engineering students are more than welcome to participate in the tradition themselves. The rest of the Frost Week events will take place at lunch time Tuesday through Friday, and will be announced in the Daily Bulletin as the week goes on.

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What's new on a 49-year-old campus

The Record newspaper has a long article this morning about UW's 50th anniversary and the "Sixth Decade" plan that's showing the way ahead. It features Ken McLaughlin, history professor and university historian, who says about the anniversary that "We chose not to go with a theme that emphasized nostalgia, but to go with a theme that reflected the kind of excitement and forward-moving university that Waterloo is." Record reporter Barbara Aggerholm reveals that the title of McLaughlin's new book about UW's early years, due for publication in April, will be Out of the Shadow of Orthodoxy: Waterloo @ 50.

"Looking for a place to live in second year?" asks the web site of the student life office. "Don't rush!" it advises, suggesting that current first-year students check out the options for upper-year students in residence, by attending one of 21 information sessions scheduled during the next few days in various wings of five different residences. All the sessions are at 10 p.m., January 10 (this Wednesday) through 18. The site has a detailed listing.

And now a word from Darcy Higgins, an environment and resource studies student who's active in environmental causes on campus: "Two UW students are among 28 students vying for positions on the newly formed Young Greens of Canada Council. Both Arts students, Jason Hammond is running for Co-chair, and Samuel Mosain-Domm (former UW Campus Greens President) is running for the Francophone Communications position. The Young Greens are using online communications to get their Green message across. To be eligible to vote, one must be a member of the Green Party of Canada and 14-29 years of age. The youth have been raising issues such as climate change, diversity and inclusivity, and proportional representation, as well as getting youth more interested in the political process."

Stephen J. A. Ward (right), a UW PhD graduate in philosophy, is the winner of this year's Harold Adams Innis Prize for the best English-language scholarly book in the social sciences, for his book The Invention of Journalism Ethics: The Path to Objectivity and Beyond (McGill-Queen’s University Press). The award is administered by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Ward is acting director and associate professor of journalism ethics at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of British Columbia.

Laura Manning, who's been on the staff of UW's pharmacy school since before there was such a thing, has been promoted to the role of "director of advancement" for the Health Sciences Campus. • Sanjeev Bedi of the department of mechanical and mechatronics engineering became director of the mechatronics program as of January 1. • The human resources department sends word that Marie Ainsworth, who worked in the acquisitions department of the UW library from 1966 to her retirement in 1974, died in April 2006.

CAR

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