Menu of workshops for UW students

Workshops on where to find a job, where to put the commas, how to use the library, how to assert yourself — they’re all on the menu at UW this fall, with at least four departments offering programs (mostly free) that begin in the next few days.

The writing centre seems to be first out of the blocks, with its series of Monday morning workshops due to start September 17. “Students (both undergraduate and graduate) who want to enhance their writing skills are encouraged to register,” the web site says. Topics include “Self-assessment”, “essay components”, punctuation, “verbs and voice”, and “writing a critique”. A set of notes and exercises for the workshops is also provided on the centre’s web site.

The writing workshops are offered in cooperation with counselling services, which also has a workshop series of its own: assertive communication, study skills, stress management, procrastination, exam preparation, “re-claiming your self” and others. Most of those workshops take place in multiple sessions starting late in September or early in October. Again, details are available online.

The career services office has an extensive program of workshops that run from the general (“Career Exploration and Decision Making”) to the highly specific (“Getting a US Work Permit”). Included is a workshop on law school preparation and another on the prospect of medical school.

The series also includes the well established session on “Business Etiquette and Professionalism” and the recently created “Working Effectively in Another Culture”, as well as several workshops geared closely to the cycle of co-op job postings and interviews, such as “Preparing for Questions”. Details are on the career services web site.

Finally, the UW library has announced its fall schedule of workshops and tours, which start with two “basic” sessions: “Find Books and More!” and “Smart Searching: Trellis, Journal Articles and the Internet”. Each will be offered four times, with the first opportunity scheduled for September 18.

More advanced library workshops include one on the Refworks software, an introduction to Geographic Information Systems, a session on applying “social web tools” (that’s Facebook) to research, and others. Once again, details are available online.

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Provost names grad studies task force

a memo issued yesterday by UW provost Amit Chakma

UW’s 6th Decade plan sets out an ambitious goal of expanding our graduate studies at the university in the next decade. By 2017, we plan to more than double our graduate student population. We aim to have 8,000 graduate students — 5,000 in research programs and 3,000 in professional and course-based master’s programs. This represents a significant leap forward from the 2,600 graduate students now at Waterloo.

Our experience in handling this expansion over the past year suggests that there are opportunities for significant improvement in how we administer graduate studies across the campus.

I am therefore pleased to announce the formation of a task force on the administration of graduate studies at the University of Waterloo. The task force will be chaired by Dean Adel Sedra, who did the review of Graduate Studies at UW in 2002. The other members of the task force are Alan George (who will serve as interim Dean of Graduate Studies effective October 1, 2007) and Dean Ken Coates.

The mandate of the task force is to carry out a comprehensive review of the administration of graduate studies at the University of Waterloo with special emphasis on the admissions process. The review will focus on the functions performed at all three levels: the Graduate Studies Office, the Faculty, and the Department, with a view of redesigning the various processes so that each specific function is performed at the most appropriate level, and redundancies eliminated. An important consideration is the empowerment of the departments to make local decisions. The review and redesign will encompass all aspects of the administration of graduate studies including marketing and recruiting, graduate scholarships and bursaries, etc. Both the processes and their automation will be examined. The Task Force recommendations will include the definition of a focused and strategic role for the Graduate Studies Office.

The task force will report to the Provost by the end of December 2007.

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Opinion web site awaits your views

The “UW Opinion” website is open for business, waiting to hear what faculty, students and staff members think about “post-secondary affairs and campus issues”, from the big topics of academic and campus planning to the little ones of parking, food and litter.

The site, launched last spring, has an easy-to-remember URL — www.opinion.uwaterloo.ca — and there’s a link from near the top of the Daily Bulletin every day.

Ever since we had to end publication of the Gazette more than three years ago, people have been murmuring that they miss the opportunity to let their voices be heard through the “Letters” column. Business wasn’t always brisk there, but it did provide an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to speak out. And the format of this Daily Bulletin, which has replaced the Gazette in some ways, doesn’t make it a good channel for opinion and debate, although there’s much in its content that could be debated and commented upon.

That led to the idea of an electronic opinion site, something that leaders of the faculty association and staff association, among others, had been urging us to create. It came into existence just as the winter term was ending, and use over the spring and summer were almost nonexistent. But now’s the time.

The site is operated by the UW Communications & Public Affairs office as a companion to the Daily Bulletin. The rules of engagement are set out for all to see, though we’re well aware that they may have to be clarified or modified in the light of experience. The most important criterion is that postings to UW Opinion are supposed to be, in some way, about UW: it isn’t the place for comments about Afghanistan, global warming, “American Idol” or hockey violence.

You need to use your UW password to submit, although anyone can read what’s been posted, and your name (as it appears in UWdir) will appear as the author of your submission. Maximum length for UW Opinion entries is 2,000 characters (approximately 350 words).

As with the letters-to-the-editor page in the Gazette, submissions will be reviewed before being posted. An important filter is that submissions will be vetted for libel. No personal attacks are welcome.

As editor of the Daily Bulletin, I’ve been asked to take the lead in editing UW Opinion, which means perusing and approving each letter that arrives. (Other CPA staff will share in that duty as well, if the volume grows heavy and when I’m not available.) Please bear with us as we learn how things work, but we think we’re ready. All that’s missing now is your opinion.

CAR

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