Board asked to approve Engineering V

UW's board of governors holds its quarterly meeting today and will be asked to give approval for the "concept design" of Engineering V building, to occupy a site east of the railroad tracks in part of what's currently parking lot B.

A report from the board's building and properties committee gives a little background: "At its April 3, 2007 meeting, the Board of Governors approved the construction of a $48 million building for the Faculty of Engineering on the ECH land and the appointment of Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners as Architects for the project. Shore Tilbe and Urban Strategies have subsequently worked together on the district/development plan for the land (known as East Campus Hall lands) to properly situate this first building.

"The proposed building is a six-storey structure. The first two levels will accommodate a student design centre for the various automotive engineering projects; the third floor, Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering; the fourth and fifth floors, Electrical & Computer Engineering; and the sixth floor, Systems Design Engineering. The upper four floors will provide much needed office and teaching space. A large cubic space isolated from electro magnetic interference is located at grade on the north end of the building and the mechanical and electrical services rooms will occupy most of the roof area.

"The exterior of the building will be mainly glass with grey and black accent panels at the base of the building and as an enclosure for the anechoic chamber at the north end. An enclosed pedestrian bridge will connect this building to Engineering 3 where there is easy access to the existing engineering space."

Also on the agenda for today's board meeting:

• A "master plan" with general principles for development of what's now being called the West Campus, the area north of Columbia Street that includes the environmental reserve, Columbia Lake Village and unused land along Fischer-Hallman Road. "The West Campus may be a prime location for new academic and support uses," a consultant's report says, adding that "existing hedgerows, woodlot, and stream features should be protected from future development."
• Approving a contractor for the $20 million "Building 2" at the Kitchener health sciences campus, which would include a home for McMaster University's satellite medical school.
• A proposal for returning "over-contributions to the pension plan" to some UW employees who find at retirement time that they're not legally allowed to receive as large a pension as they have been paying for.
• Discussion of the 2006-07 financial statements and an update on the university's 2007-08 operating budget.
• A report on the task force that has been looking at UW's external relations activities in the era after Campaign Waterloo changes gears.

The board meeting, which is open to the public, will start at 2:30 today in CEIT building room 3142. Board members have been invited to have lunch there at 12:00 followed by a bus tour of UW properties before the meeting starts.

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Witch will collect for the United Way

That's not exactly a portrait of Sheila Hurley at right, but you get the idea, as she moves into full Hallowe'en mode for tomorrow in support of the United Way campaign. "I will be going across campus in a witch's costume," says Hurley, whose day job is in the UW safety office. "I will be wearing a fibre optic witch's hat with fibre optic wig and flashing lights on the witch's dress, I will be noticeable." (No problem believing that part.)

"For those who give me a donation I will be handing out either my homemade chocolate cookies or mini chocolate bars. At lunch time I will attend the Nightmare Before Christmas party with UW co-workers who will be dressed up as well."

The Nightmare event is also a United Way fund-raiser, and runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. tomorrow in Physical Activities Complex room 2021, sponsored by Campus Recreation. Tickets are $5 with costume or $8 without; information, call ext. 36340. Wednesday is the last official day of the United Way campaign, which at last count had raised $126,267 toward its $170,000 goal. Both payroll pledges and special events are continuing to swell that total, and more will come in from a Hallowe'en lunch to be held tomorrow in the human resources department.

In another Hallowe'en charitable event, more than 200 UW students are expected to be going door-to-door Wednesday night, not to collect candy, but to collect canned food for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. More than 8,000 pounds of food should come in as part of the annual Trick or Eat event affiliated with the UW Food Bank and Meal Exchange, organizers say.

At least 40 campuses across Canada and the United States are participating in Trick or Eat, says local coordinator Carly Heung. "Trick or Eat puts a new spin on Hallowe'en as costumed youth canvass their neighborhoods collecting food for local social service agencies.

"Millions of people do not have enough to eat, and there are an estimated 57,300 at risk of hunger in Waterloo Region. Of those, 19,300 are children under the age of 15, and 6,600 are seniors. All the food donations are being collected and stored at the Student Life Centre multipurpose room and will be sorted before pickup by the Food Bank on November 1. Food donations are also being collected to fill up the UW Foodbank, which is available for use by all UW students."

For those who can also find time to party this Hallowe'en, options include an all-ages, alcohol-free event tonight at the Bombshelter pub ("doors unbolt at 8 p.m.") and the 21st annual party Wednesday night at Federation Hall (ages 19-plus), with advance tickets for sale at the Federation of Students office.

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'Codes' help analyze co-op jobs

from the Inside Scoop newsletter for UW co-op students

The co-op and career services department is continuously improving the employment process and procedures to ensure that the quality of UW’s co-op program remains high. One of the ways that CECS has been improving the co-op process is by incorporating two nationally-used coding systems to classify job industries and types of jobs within those industries. These codes are the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes and the National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes.

The NAICS codes classify organizations into industrial sectors in Canada and the United States. For instance, as a Canadian organization, Research in Motion would be part of the Communications, Equipment, and Manufacturing industry. The NOC codes categorize the type of job within a company. For example, Company X may be a law firm; however, not all of the people employed in the company are lawyers. Each position, ranging from the custodial staff to the paralegals, may be classified using a different NOC code.

These codes enable CECS to analyse what kinds of jobs and industries students from a particular program are employed in, during any given work term.

Let's consider an example analysis of this data involving the 18 Arts English students employed during the winter 2007 term. The following represents the NAICS Industries that English students obtained employment in: Universities, 23%; Communications Equipment Manufacturing, 17%; Computer Systems Designs & Related Services, 12%. Also, CECS can see the type of jobs which students were obtaining from the NOC, job type classifications: Post Secondary Teaching/Research Assistants, 28%; Authors and Writers, 24%.

As this is a relatively new system for CECS, there is still much to be explored and learned. At its current state, the system provides CECS with valuable new information to assist with learning about the jobs and key industry sectors available for UW co-op students.

According to Rocco Fondacaro, the director of Student & Faculty Relations at CECS, "The data obtained from incorporating these codes into the co-op system will enable CECS to monitor the employment of co-op students in terms of job categorization and job fit as well as help us to develop and manage quality jobs, moving us closer to achieving our mission: "More students in more relevant jobs, earlier in the employment process."

The data obtained from this new system has also sparked an interest in current co-op students. When explaining the concepts of the coding system to Brenda Fraser, a 3B Arts and Business, Psychology major, she replied, "It would be great for CECS to have access to this kind of information because it will help them to show students what kinds of jobs are available for a particular program, and what kinds of industries will be hiring when we graduate."

CAR

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