Former prof to be SJU chancellor

Former professor Peter Naus will be the new chancellor of St. Jerome's University, the Roman Catholic institution that's federated with UW. The appointment, made by the St. Jerome's board of governors, was announced Monday and is effective tomorrow, February 1.

Naus succeeds journalist Richard Gwyn, who has been chancellor since 2002. Gwyn is a noted Catholic journalist, currently best known for his thoughtful columns on world affairs in the Toronto Star (yesterday, an analysis of the sudden importance of environmental issues in Canadian politics).

A native of the Netherlands, Naus attended the Catholic University of Nijmegen, where he specialized in experimental social psychology. He received his doctorate in psychology from that institution in 1970. After teaching at the Catholic University of Nijmegen and at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Naus came to Canada in 1973, when he began his tenure as a faculty member in psychology at St. Jerome’s.

Until his retirement in 1996, he served in a number of capacities: director of the Studies in Family Life program; cirector of Studies in Sexuality, Marriage, and the Family; chair of the Department of Psychology; Vice-President and Academic Dean; and Acting President of St. Jerome's. He taught courses and wrote articles in his two areas of expertise: aging and sexuality. During his time at St. Jerome’s, he was engaged in a wide range of service activities and sat on numerous committees both at St. Jerome’s and at UW, including the committee that administered the University of Waterloo’s gerontology program. In recognition of his service to both institutions, he was made an Honorary Member of the University in 1997.

Before and since his retirement, Naus (left) has volunteered his time and expertise to numerous community organizations: Community Justice Initiatives of Waterloo Region; Freeport Hospital in Kitchener; and the Health Services Committee of Grand River Hospital. He has served for the past number of years on the Board of Directors of the Independent Living Centre of Waterloo Region. He was also a member of the board of the Interfaith Pastoral Counselling Centre of Kitchener, and, in his capacity as chair of the board, he spearheaded the integration of the agency into K-W Counselling Services. He has continued to give lectures and offer courses to community groups. Naus has also joined an oral history project on his friend Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest and renowned spiritual writer who died in 1996.

In making the announcement, board of governors chair Dorothee Retterath said, “The Board of Governors is most grateful to Mr. Gwyn for his years of service to St. Jerome’s, and wishes him well in his ongoing endeavours. We welcome Dr. Naus as Chancellor, and we are delighted to be moving forward with a renewed leadership that builds upon our past while looking to the future.” A date for Naus’s installation is to be announced.

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Market meant to make a difference

by Jennifer Konkle, Conrad Grebel University College

As a second year anthropology student, Conrad Grebel resident Mimi Hollinger-Janzen has resolved to make a difference in the world.

Born in Benin, West Africa, where she spent her first thirteen years, she returned to Benin last summer to work in a children's home/orphanage called Casa Grande. From the dream of its founders and the support of a small Mennonite congregation in Spain, the home has grown into a permanent family for 24 children who have been separated from their biological parents through death or because of health or financial hardships. La Casa Grande is expanding its facilities to accommodate the growing number of children needing a loving home and to begin to realize their long-term vision of becoming a more viable Christian community for 100 children with a school, a health center and training opportunities in agriculture, crafts and technical vocations.

Upon returning to school in the fall, Hollinger-Janzen (right) brought back necklaces handmade by the children at La Casa Grande. Her personal project was to sell this jewelry to raise money for the home. After some brainstorming, she and the Conrad Grebel Chapel Committee, together with chaplain Ed Janzen, decided to host a Christmas bazaar at the college and invited Ten Thousand Villages to be part of it.

The Make-A-Difference-Market evolved to host eleven individual vendors and two organizations, drawing more than 250 local shoppers. “There are times everything comes together in pretty amazing ways — the heart of who we are, our experiences, and our opportunities, find expression in our daily life,” Janzen muses.

All vendors donated 10 per cent of their proceeds to La Casa Grande, raising more than $500. While Hollinger-Janzen was happy with this amount, “the more important thing,” she says, “is that now people are aware of La Casa Grande. Also, the event showed people that they have an alternative to shopping at the mall to buy Christmas presents, and that they can buy thoughtful, meaningful gifts that not only bring pleasure to the recipient but also help the person who created that gift. You can feel good about your purchase because you know that the money is going to a good cause instead of to a large corporation.”

With an impressive variety, quality, and number of vendors, there were international crafts such as handmade paper, jewellery and wood carvings, as well as food, like fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate, jam and dried fruit. The individual vendors each specialized in one area, such as knitting, wood carving, handmade candles, handmade greeting cards, Christmas decorations, hemp clothing, knit purses and accessories, and vinyl purses and bags. In addition a display told the stories of the children and a slideshow provided some information about La Casa Grande’s building project.

Reflecting back on the event, Janzen said that “the relationships that Mimi had with Casa Grande through her family's experience as missionaries in Benin, her and her friends’ concerns for justice and peace, the support of the college and the opportunities of the Christmas season all came together to make a difference for the children's home in Benin. Such an event turns the circumstances of life into a lifestyle of Christian commitment.”

The Make-a-Difference Market may not be be an annual event, since Hollinger-Janzen will be away on a SALT term next year. However, she hopes that some student or perhaps the chapel group will step forward to coordinate it.

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Shutdowns and other things to note

The folks who operate the Oracle Financials system — used by departments across campus for their business transactions — are getting ready, as announced some weeks ago, to shut it down for an upgrade. "The last day of business with the current version of Oracle Financials is February 1," a memo from the finance office and procurement and contract services notes. "Thereafter, for a period of up to two weeks, the system will be unavailable. . . . During the down time, no purchase orders, payments or internal accounting transactions will be processed in Oracle Financials." Things are on schedule for the project, Helen Hannusch of the finance office told me last night. And Steve Cook of procurement adds: "From a Procurement point of view, if someone out there is pondering the idea of an acquisition, it's best they proceed early Wednesday, or else ponder for another 10 days or so." We have been warned.

And speaking of system downtime: Just as co-op interviews begin — hundreds of employers pursuing thousands of students for jobs during the spring term — the co-op and career services department has issued an explanation of what went wrong with its elecronic system, JobMine, last week. Says a memo: "It appears that a hardware failure, not software as was first suspected, caused JobMine to be taken off line from January 19 to 22. The source of the problem, a disk array, is now being analyzed by the supplier. These disk arrays have been in service here at UW for approximately 5 years and have proven very reliable. There was no indication that there was a problem with the JobMine array when it first happened, which is out of the ordinary. UW staff had not encountered such an error before. Staff in IST and CECS worked a significant number of overtime hours to successfully repair the fault without any delays to the start of the main co-op interviews. Helping significantly was the patience and understanding of students while the system was down. This, coupled with the effort of the repair staff, contributed to the successful re-opening of JobMine. CECS and IST will take the opportunity to improve JobMine's backup and recovery in the unlikely event that such a complication should occur again in the future."

"The Winter 2007 Get Up & Grow brochure will be mailed out shortly," writes Carolyn Vincent from UW's human resources department, talking about the staff training and development program. "Programs offered include Leadership for Results, Defining Your Financial Future, Personality Dimensions, Work-Life Balance with Personality Dimensions and The Basic Principles for a Collaborative Workplace. Those interested can send their registration form to me or contact me at ext. 3-2078 for more information."

Says a memo from the direction of the PAS building: "Heterosexual, married couples are being sought to participate in a study on couple communication and functioning supervised by Dr. Jennifer La Guardia and Dr. Mike Ross, Department of Psychology. The study involves an initial screening to determine eligibility (approximately 15 minutes), sharing experiences of positive and negative partner events and responding to these experiences in brief structured interviews which will be videotaped. Participants will also complete questionnaires about their attitudes, their relationship and the events of the study session. The study lasts approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes and each couple will receive $35, a free movie pass each and a chance to win one of two $50 gift certificates in appreciation of their time. Contact Carolina Pansera by calling ext 3-8112 or by email at carpansera@gmail.com. This study has been reviewed by, and has received ethics clearance through, the Office of Research Ethics."

Alison Boyd of UW's alumni affairs office has been appointed to a new post there as alumni officer in charge of international programs. • The "Sales Management for Entrepreneurs" course, mentioned in yesterday's Daily Bulletin, has now been postponed and will start May 2, the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology reports. • Thomas Connolly will retire officially as of February 1, ending 27 years as a custodian in UW's plant operations department.

CAR

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