Announcing 'Waterloo International'

Staff from several departments who deal with UW's international activities will be brought together in a new unit to be called "Waterloo International", provost Amit Chakma has announced. He said Gail Cuthbert Brandt, currently associate vice-president (academic), will head the new department with the title of Associate Vice-President (International), effective May 1.

Said the provost's memo: "Professor Cuthbert Brandt (left) is currently serving as Associate Vice-President Academic and as interim Associate Vice-President Learning Resources and Innovation. As part of her role as Associate Vice-President Academic over the past four years, she has been responsible for international issues. During that time, there has been a significant growth in our international initiatives, and our 6th Decade Plan sets out very ambitious goals for internationalization at UW. Gail will provide important leadership to our internationalization agenda in this dedicated portfolio.

"In keeping with this increased international focus, Gail will oversee the establishment of a new administrative unit, Waterloo International. It will be housed in Needles Hall in premises recently vacated by the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. The new unit will bring together staff currently located in the International Student Office, the International Programs Office, and the recently appointed alumni officer for international programs. It will also serve as a resource centre to provide information and support to both domestic and international students."

He said the functions of the LRI position — which include responsibility for the new Centre for Teaching Excellence — will be combined with the remaining functions of the AVP Academic. "It is expected that a new AVP Academic will be appointed by July 1, 2007. Until that time, Gail will continue to serve as AVP Academic."

The provost added: "I am personally grateful to Gail, for her long standing commitment and dedication to UW and her willingness to take on the new role as AVP International. President Johnston and I look forward to working with her, and we are confident that she will have your full cooperation and support." Cuthbert Brandt has been in Needles Hall since 2003, and was previously principal of Renison College.

Back to top

City will go ahead with playing fields

Edited version of an official notice, published at the request of the City of Waterloo

In 2003, the City of Waterloo in conjunction with the University of Waterloo and Grand River Conservation Authority completed a Schedule C Class Environmental Assessment study to develop a management plan for the Environmental Reserve at the University of Waterloo. The Environmental Study Report (ESR) was titled Research and Technology Park Environmental Reserve — Functional Study and Preliminary Design — Environmental Assessment Report (October 2003).

Through a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Waterloo, the City has the opportunity to explore the use of a portion of the Environmental Reserve lands to meet the identified need for additional sports fields. This new option for the Environmental Reserve represents a change from the Environmental Reserve Project plan as originally presented in the 2003 Class EA report.

Accordingly an Addendum has been completed for this project in compliance with the requirements of the Municipal Engineers Association Class Environmental Assessment. The Addendum describes the proposed modifications, the circumstances necessitating the change, the environmental implication of the change, and the measures undertaken to mitigate the environmental impacts. The Addendum concludes that sports fields are feasible within a defined 15 acre footprint provided that all design/management considerations, mitigation, restoration, and additional enhancement land measures are implemented as outlined in the addendum report.

By this Notice, the Addendum is being placed on the public record for the 30 day public review period in accordance with the requirements of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment. Subject to the comments received as a result of this Notice, the City may proceed to implementation of the sports fields following the completion of the City’s Recreation and Leisure Master Plan. The Addendum and the 2003 Environmental Study Report are available for review on the City of Waterloo’s website and at locations including the Dana Porter Library, University of Waterloo, beginning Wednesday, April 25, 2007.

Further information regarding the Addendum may be obtained by contacting the City of Waterloo Project Manager: Denise McGoldrick, phone: 519-747-8642, e-mail dmcgoldrick@city.waterloo.on.ca.

If concerns regarding the Addendum cannot be resolved in discussion with the City of Waterloo, a person may request that the Minister of the Environment make an order for the project to comply with Part II of the Environmental Assessment Act (this is referred to as a Part II Order), which addresses individual environmental assessment. Requests must be received by the Minister by May 25, 2007. If no request for a Part II Order is received, the project as outlined in the Class EA Addendum is approved to proceed to implementation.

Back to top

Graduate student winners, and more

As hundreds of participants across campus know, the annual Graduate Student Research Conference was held last week, mostly in the Davis Centre, and word is that it was a total success. "We had over 400 attendees, over 200 presenters, our best ever in the 7 years that it's been run," writes Bill Power, associate dean of graduate studies. Awards were given for best presentation in each of three theme areas. In Humanities and Social Sciences, the Best Poster honour went to Lily Kim, Architecture, for "An Orphaned City", and Best Oral Presentation was by Won Gyun No, Management Sciences, "The Effect of Involvement and Privacy Policy Disclosure on Individuals' Privacy Behaviour". In Health, Life and Environment, Best Poster was Maria Trainer, Biology, "Genetics of Intracellular Carbon Storage in the Nitrogen-Fixing Symbiont of Soybean", and Best Oral was Pablo Conejeros, Biology, "Using MH Genes Polymorphism to Identify Arctic Char Populations". In Physical Sciences, Math and Technology, Best Poster was Shady Shehata, Electrical and Computer Engineering, "Enhancing Text Clustering Using Concept-Based Mining Model", and Best Oral was Chris Erven, Physics, "Free-Space Quantum Key Distribution System". The Poster winners received a certificate and an iPod nano; the Oral winners received a certificate and a Dell laptop computer.

Food services has announced the operating hours of its outlets for the spring term, which vary from "closed" (the REVelation cafeteria, the PAS Lounge, Festival Fare in South Campus Hall and Pastry Plus in Matthews Hall) to "open early and late" (Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 8:00 to 11:00 on weekends). Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre will not have 24/7 operation this term, but will be open Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 7:30 to 7 p.m., weekends 12 noon to 10 p.m. (apart from the Victoria Day and Canada Day weekends, when it will close). Full information isn't actually on the food services web site yet, but I anticipate that it'll be there soon.

A note of interest from the UW library's electronic newsletter: "With recent gifts received from the Jackman Foundation and the R. Howard Webster Foundation, the Dana Porter Library is one step closer to revitalizing its current study and research space. With over 5,000 community members visiting on a daily basis, revitalizing its space and services is a priority. The $80,000 gift from the Jackman Foundation will help to replace over half of the the 40-year-old study carrels located in heavily used areas of the Porter Library. The new ergonomic carrels are designed to support the long hours students, faculty, and visitors spend on research and assignments. The $100,000 grant from the R. Howard Webster Foundation will help in the creation of the proposed Learning Commons to be housed on the main floor. Similar to the RBC Information Commons in the Davis Centre Library, the Learning Commons at Porter will be designed to provide an open service area that encourages teaching, learning, and collaboration through interaction with the community and a multitude of technological resources."

Registration for intramural leagues in campus recreation is under way now, and registration for instructional programs (including the new "Golf by the Pros") starts May 7. • The Federation of Students used book store in the Student Life Centre will have extended hours May 1 through 12, open 8:30 to 5;30 Monday to Friday and 10 to 5 on Saturdays. • Return-to-campus interviews in the Tatham Centre start today for co-op students who have been on work term jobs during the winter.

And . . . I made a blunder yesterday in listing the new executive of the Federation of Students, getting one person's title wrong. Looks as though I made the mistake originally in February and never corrected it, so let's try again now: Kevin Royal is president, Jonah Levine is vice-president (education), Del Pereira is VP (administration and finance) and Darcy Higgins is VP (internal).

CAR

Back to top