Ontario teaching awards for two profs

Two Waterloo professors are among the winners of the Ontario government’s new Leadership in Faculty Teaching (LIFT) Award. They are Rohan Jayasundera (far left) of physics and astronomy and Gordon Stubley of mechanical and mechatronics engineering.

The LIFT Award was introduced in January “to recognize and encourage teaching excellence at Ontario’s colleges and universities,” according to a Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities news release. “This award has been given out to faculty who influence, motivate and inspire students and demonstrate leadership in teaching methods for the diverse student body in Ontario. Winners are receiving $20,000 over two years to encourage continued excellence in the classroom setting.” In all, “one hundred of Ontario's best faculty” at universities and colleges across the province were honoured.

"Faculty who go the extra mile to provide college and university students with an outstanding learning experience should be recognized for their teaching efforts," says the minister of TCU, Chris Bentley. “Creating a new award to promote teaching excellence in the postsecondary education system is the latest way the McGuinty government is working to provide increased quality and opportunity for Ontario's students.”

UW’s winners also received congratulatory letters from President David Johnston, as well as commemorative pins and plaques from the Ontario government. Here are the citations:

“Rohan Jayasundera is an exemplary professor who wants his students to succeed. Each week, he participates personally in extra help sessions for his students in which he facilitates group problem solving exercises, highlights methods for solving examples and tackles general concept questions. Rohan Jayasundera has a passion for physics and his enthusiasm is clearly appreciated by his students.

“Gordon Stubley’s leadership in promoting excellence in learning through innovation and sound methods sets him apart. He has developed structured activities aimed at elevating the standard of teaching through monthly discussion forums and analysis of graduating student exit surveys. Believing that everyone should work together, he strives to make sure that students and colleagues share in the teaching and learning process.”

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Memo to students about October vote

a news release from Elections Ontario

Elections Ontario is encouraging students to ensure they are registered to vote in the October 10, 2007, general election and referendum.

All electors vote in the electoral district where they permanently reside. For students, this may be where their family lives or where they reside while at school.

The Ontario Election Act defines “residence” as the place a person intends to return whenever they are absent for any length of time. The Act states that the place where a person’s family resides is their permanent residence until they move elsewhere with the intention of making that change permanent; if a person has no other permanent lodging place, the place where he or she occupies a room or part of a room as a regular lodger is his or her residence.

Students living outside their electoral district during the upcoming election have two ways to vote at home. First, they can travel to their permanent address and vote at an advance poll or on Election and Referendum Day. If students cannot travel home they can vote by proxy. Students who determine their permanent address is where they reside while at school can register to vote at campus registration events, at the local returning office, at any advance poll or at the poll when they go to vote on election and referendum day. To register to vote, electors must show proof of identity and proof of the address where they reside in that electoral district.

Students temporarily living and/or going to school outside of Ontario can also vote by proxy provided they have resided in Ontario within two years of Election and Referendum Day, and resided in Ontario for at least 12 consecutive months before leaving, and they intend to move back to Ontario again.

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Talk of teaching, maps, and rugby

The Centre for Teaching Excellence was created earlier this year, absorbing the activities and (some) staff of several existing offices. With the beginning of the fall term it’ll be offering workshops and other events of the kind previously put on by the now defunct Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology, or LT3, as well as by the Teaching Resource Office. A memo this week lists three such events in September: an “open classroom” session and follow-up discussion with Steve Furino, mathematics professor at St. Jerome’s University, on Wednesday the 12th; a session on “Collaborating Between Faculties: Helping Students Make Connections Using ePortfolios and Concept Maps” on Thursday the 20th; and a workshop on “Understanding the Learner”, available as part of the Certificate in University Teaching program, on Wednesday the 26th. Details and registration are on the CTE web site.

A couple of significant things will be happening in the University Map Library (on the main floor of Environmental Studies I building) during September. First, the library "is exhibiting its historical map collection during the first week of classes. Visitors will have the opportunity to browse through county atlases from the 1880s, road maps from the mid-1920s, local planning and land use maps from the mid-1910s, topographic maps from the early 1900s, and much more. There will be historical maps of Kitchener-Waterloo, and a large display of UW Campus aerial photography throughout the years. There will be one session offered each day on 'mapping your home and neighbourhood', an introduction to paper maps, aerial photography (where you can see your house), and digital data (which zooms right into your home at a very crispy resolution). Maps of the photograph of your home will be customized and printing for you. This session is only available to those who register.” Then other workshops on aspects of “geospatial information systems” are scheduled: “GIS is no longer viewed as a tool only for geographers or cartographers — it is becoming tremendously popular with planners, architects, social scientists and others.” The library’s workshops are listed online, and I’ll be saying more about this program in a few days.

Something called NewTire Industries will open a recycling plant in Kitchener, it was announced yesterday, to help recycle the ten million tires that are discarded in Ontario every year. And why Kitchener-Waterloo? A news release quotes Bill Elliot, director of business development for Canada’s Technology Triangle, who says Waterloo Region "is a leader in environmental technologies with other companies such as Conestoga Rovers and Associates, Brock Solutions and Frontline Environment. . . . Waterloo Region is home to the Canadian Water Network and the Ontario Centres of Excellence for Energy and for Earth and Space Technology. There are also numerous University of Waterloo research facilities including the Atmospheric Science, Ground Water Research and Centre for Materials Technology. UW has excelled in providing excellence in educational training in environmental technologies and is known around the world for its global-class programs. This steady flow of talent combine this with the significant research capabilities in basic and applied environmental issues are very attractive for new companies looking to locate."

From an article by David DeVidi, president of the UW faculty association, in the latest issue of the association's newsletter: "We are in the process of reevaluating our staffing needs. Right now, FAUW has two employee positions, only one of which is occupied. The first step, recently completed, was to get the position of Administrator reclassified so that it reflects the job the incumbent is doing and should be doing, rather than what the Administrator was doing a decade ago. Pat Moore, our excellent, long-time Administrator, is now the Administrative Officer of FAUW. (Congratulations Pat!) The new classification is overdue recognition of the crucial role she plays in FAUW. We are now considering how the vacant position needs to be reclassified, and whether there is need for a third employee to take the burden off some of the volunteer positions that are now proving very difficult to fill."

Tickets are on sale for the third of four draws in UW's 50th Anniversary raffle, with the big prize — fifty bottles of $50 wine — to be drawn at a Homecoming event on September 29. • Linda Mackay of counselling services reports that her team "Wheel Cycle for Wellness" raised more than $8,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society during the August 26 Bike Tour Niagara. • The Feds Used Books outlet in the Student Life Centre is open for extended hours this week and next: 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 5:00 on Saturdays.

And . . . although the football Warriors do have a home game this Saturday (against York, 1 p.m. at the Field Formerly Known as University Stadium), the big event in orientation's Black and Gold Day will again be Warrior men's rugby. The big game was a triumph last year, as the Warriors defeated Toronto 66-7, and Becky Wroe of the Federation of Students, a key organizer of Black and Gold, says she's hoping for a victory again this year. It won't be against Toronto, though, in spite of what the Daily Bulletin said last Friday; this year's opponent is the Guelph Gryphons. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Columbia Fields.

CAR

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