UW lists $100,000 salaries for 2006

UW is releasing a list this morning of the 581 employees who were each paid more than $100,000 during 2006.

It's something public-sector employers in Ontario have had to do annually in March since the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act was passed in 1996. Other universities, school boards, hospitals, colleges, municipalities, and the government itself have been making similar information for last year public this week.

The majority of UW's professors appear on the list, as the average salary of full-time faculty members in 2005-06 was $103,410, according to the office of institutional analysis and planning.

The $100,000 list also includes a number of senior administrators and some people in staff positions. It includes people employed by St. Jerome's University, Renison College, Conrad Grebel University College and St. Paul's College as well as by UW itself.

As in the past, president David Johnston receives the highest salary at UW, according to the disclosure list, followed by provost Amit Chakma. The published list generally identifies the deans and other academic administrators simply as "professor". The figures are the amount of salary actually paid during the twelve months of 2006.

In addition to the salary, a figure is given for taxable benefits received by each individual, for such extras as employer-paid life insurance and tuition benefits for dependants.

Past year's lists are also available online.

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Grebel students support refugee

a release from Conrad Grebel University College

In a groundbreaking constitutional amendment this March, Conrad Grebel students voted almost unanimously to increase their residence fees by ten dollars a term, in addition to regular fee increases. This levy will help to fund expenses to allow a refugee student to live at the College while studying at the University of Waterloo.

Currently, UW supports one refugee student. Next year it plans to support two, with hopes of increasing this number in the future.

Justus Zimmerly, Conrad Grebel Student Council president, thinks “it is important that Grebel participates in this project to set an example for the greater university community, and show that we really can make a difference. It will also have an enormous effect on the life of the refugee student, hopefully helping not only them but many others as well.”

Partnered with the World University Service of Canada and UW, Grebel will be solely responsible for taking care of residence fees through the student levy and additional fundraising efforts. The university will waive tuition fees, and UW WUSC will select an appropriate student and take care of all paperwork. In their first term, the student will focus on language training. After this immersive crash course in English, the student will begin studies at UW.

Participation in this program is an excellent fit with the living/learning values and beliefs foundational to Conrad Grebel, including promoting social justice, awareness of international issues, engagement among people with diverse backgrounds, and empowerment. In addition, the refugee student’s presence in the Grebel community will offer global learning opportunities for Grebel students who may otherwise not have a chance to experience development issues first hand through internship opportunities.

“I believe that a refugee student living at Grebel will help to create a better understanding of each other through daily interaction,” said Zimmerly. “I am excited about this opportunity because I think it's a demonstration that we really do care about making a difference in the world.”

Zimmerly’s comments reflect Grebel’s enthusiasm for this project. In fact, Grebel’s Peace Society chose this term to focus on learning about and understanding issues facing refugees. The group wanted to learn particularly about how refugee issues affect the community and what experiences refugees have while integrating into the community. They explored these matters through hosting speakers and discussions and volunteering at organizations that work with refugees.

“We wanted to work with an issue that was closer to home,” said Darlana Dyck, Peace Society member. “We found it difficult to focus on issues that were across the world so we looked to see what we could do in our own community.” Volunteering mainly at the Kitchener Waterloo Reception Centre, part of the government Resettlement Assistance Program, students helped with a variety of tasks. Some of the jobs included proofreading letters and resumes, filling out forms for health cards, taking clients to the bank or to receive their SIN cards. Other tasks included helping with some of the first orientation that newcomers need like showing how the bus system works and generally welcoming the newcomers.

“The Reception Centre is the first place that these refugees come when they reach Canada,” explained Dyck. “They remember this place as the beginning their life in Canada. To be a part of that initial welcome is a really neat opportunity.”

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Today's lectures, and more notes

On this last Friday of the term, several distinguished visitors will be lecturing on campus. The details are in the "When and where" column at right. Among the highlights: Marc Jaccard, author of Sustainable Fossil Fuels, will argue that "the view that we must dramatically reduce fossil fuel consumption is misguided . . . we have the technological capability to use fossil fuels without emitting climate-threatening greenhouse gases or other pollutants." • University of Manchester professor Terry Eagleton, a key figure in cultural studies and author of the hugely influential Literary Theory: An Introduction, will speak on "The Death of Criticism?" • And Katherine Rouleau of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, will give the Sweeney Lecture in Current Issues in Healthcare tonight at St. Jerome's University, talking about "HIV/AIDS from a Canadian Catholic Perspective" and drawing on her work with Dignitas International in Malawi.

A memo is reaching department heads today reminding them that “nominations for the 2007 Special Recognition Awards Program are now being accepted — the nomination period is March 30/07 to July 31/07. Enclosed are posters announcing the program, which you are asked to post in prominent locations in your department/school. Earlier this month, the Staff Compensation Committee issued a memorandum to all UW staff informing them of revisions to the program. Members of your department/school are encouraged to take a look at the staff recognition web site for a description of the program and updated information on the value and number of awards, the new team awards, eligibility, criteria, nomination process and communication. Nominations may be submitted electronically for individual awards; hard copy nomination forms for individual and team awards are also available on line or by request, ext. 35924. Thank you for your assistance in drawing this recognition program to members of your department/school. Questions or comments on the program may be directed to staffrecognition@uwaterloo.ca.”

Fourth-year students in environmental engineering will be presenting their term projects this afternoon in Davis Centre room 1302. The presentations — each gets 15 minutes — have such titles as "Household Greywater Recycler", "Remediation of Eagleson Landfill", "Bronte Creek Preliminary Stream Rehabilitation", "Green Waste Organics Treatment Alternatives", and, perhaps best of all, "Study Room for the Whiny Enviros".

Look closely at the picture: the snack and condiments are sculptured, not drawn, and the sculpture material is cans of food. "CanStruction" is both a Food Bank fund-raiser and an opportunity for the ingenious to compete against other teams, who may include students or design and engineering professionals. At events held around the world, and in Waterloo for the first time this spring, participants are given just 12 hours to "defy expectations, logic and gravity as they build fantastic sculptures from thousands of cans". The Waterloo competition is scheduled for June 23 to June 29 at Conestoga Mall, and organizers are now looking for both teams and sponsors. The CanStruction website has some pictures of what's been built elsewhere in past years,
as well as contact information for would-be participants.

At the recent Writers' Trust Awards, author Heather Birrell took home the $10,000 Journey Prize for her short story "BriannaSusannaAlana", published in UW's magazine The New Quarterly. • The UW continuing education office will offer a two-day course in "Juggling Multiple Projects" April 11 and 12. • Today is Two for Blue Day, a fund-raiser in support of juvenile arthritis research, and Michelle Banic of the institutional analysis office has supporters enlisted in many corners of the campus.

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Voice of UW, and still more notes

Radio listeners in the Kitchener-Waterloo area will be hearing voices from UW's past and present in a series of radio spots celebrating the university's 50th anniversary. The spots are being produced and broadcast as part of 570 News/CHYM's sponsorship of anniversary activities on campus. The first one features Laura Hagey-Nicoles, granddaughter of Gerald Hagey, the founding president. Others to be played in the rotation in the same time frame include greetings and memories from Mike Fich, professor of physics and astronomy; Peggy Jarvie, executive director of co-operative education and career services; and Cameron Bruce, a student who helped place UW's name in the Guinness World Records with the Midnight Sun VII solar race car team. Over the course of the year, others will record the 30-second spots, which will be broadcast on the station 570 News until the end of 2007. Tying them all together is the voice of actor Jonathan Goad, who attended Waterloo as a social work student at Renison College. Goad, who appears as Iago in "Othello" and Leo Katz in "Pentecost" at the Stratford Festival this summer, has kept up ties with the university, and has been a guest in Shakespeare courses taught by St. Jerome's University professor Ted McGee. Goad's the one, in the radio spot, intoning "The University of Waterloo — Celebrating the spirit of Why not?"

A change to the process by which UW chooses its presidents, set out in Policy 50, has been approved by everybody who has to approve it, and will be in effect when the time comes to look for a successor to David Johnston. (That work begins in less than a year, as Johnston's presidential term is scheduled to expire at the end of June 2009.) Since UW's first presidential search in 1969, the nominating committee — with representatives of faculty, students, staff and the board of governors — has been chaired by the chancellor, the ceremonial head of the university whose other main public role involves presiding at convocation. However, a governance study done last year by a board of governors committee suggested a change: the president is responsible to the board, it said, and the chair of the board of governors should play a key role in selecting him or her. The necessary amendment was brought forward and has been approved, and the chancellor is now off the nominating committee, which the board chair will head instead.

The department of earth sciences is proposing to change its name, to "earth and environmental sciences". The longer title has been given approval by the science faculty council, and is on its way to the April meeting of UW's senate for the okay. The department"has strong programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in hydrogeology, groundwater-surface water interactions and environmental geochemistry," a brief supporting statement says, "and in 2007 will be offering an undergraduate option in atmospheric sciences. The name change will more accurately reflect the current scope of research and teaching activities within the department." Many other Canadian earth sciences and "geology" departments have made a similar shift, it adds.

Mohamed Kamel (right), Canada Research Chair in Cooperative Intelligent Systems and director of the Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence Research Group, was elected as a fellow by the Engineering Institute of Canada earlier this month. • The book Towards North American Monetary Union? The Politics and History of Canada's Exchange Rate, by Eric Helleiner of the department of political science, is a finalist for this year's Donner Prize for the top public-policy book of the year in Canada. • Results of the student referendum on a proposed Grand River Transit bus pass (and, in the math faculty, also on a proposed increase to the Math Society fee) are expected to be made public this morning.

CAR

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