Unique honour for 50 UW alumni

A one-time honour is going to 50 of Waterloo’s finest, with the announcement of the 50th Anniversary Alumni Awards just in time for Homecoming weekend. Recipients of the awards have been invited to dinner Friday evening at Chatterbox Farm, home of UW president David Johnston.

There, they’ll each be presented with a fine art print, a reproduction of the commissioned work “Fifty: Upholding Imagination” (left) by 1988 graduate Paul Roorda. “The memories of this university run deep for me and I enjoyed the opportunity to create a piece of art to mark this occasion,” says Roorda in an artist’s statement about the project. “Using fragments of images and text from aging encyclopedia pages, a variety of subject areas are depicted from all the university's disciplines.”

The 50 leading alumni are being chosen in UW’s 50th Anniversary year to recognize their achievements and involvement with the university. “Award selection was made by the UW Alumni Council,” an announcement explains, “with input from UW faculties, colleges, and departments. From all qualified nominations received, consideration was given to faculty, college, age, gender, and other appropriate representation.”

Says Jason Coolman, director of UW's alumni affairs department: "The university is tremendously fortunate to have such committed alumni who share their time, expertise and connections to continue to make UW a dynamic institution. We are extremely proud of these 50 award recipients, who demonstrate a deep commitment to their alma mater and lead by example."

Candidates were nominated by fellow alumni as well as by faculty and staff. The recipients were picked for extraordinary citizenship to UW through such activities as volunteering, mentoring and involvement with committees, boards or panels, as well as philanthropic support or advocacy.

The 50 award recipients include three for whom UW buildings are named (Lyle Hallman, Bill Tatham and Rod Coutts) and one who gave his name to the school from which he graduated (David Cheriton of computer science). One (Mike Lazaridis) serves as the university’s current chancellor; one (Bill Lennox) has been a dean.

A number are past or present members of faculty: George Woo (optometry), Ernie Regehr (peace and conflict studies), Ron Schlegel (health studies), Rob Brown (statistics and actuarial science). One, Ian McPhee, was a major figure in the early years of UW’s software spinoffs. Another, Brent McFarlane, coached the track and field Warriors. At least ten have been members of the board of governors.

But many have made their reputations away from the university, such as provincial judge Patrick J. Flynn, cryosphere researcher Barry Goodison, employee benefits expert Karen Cartmell, and automation engineer Vivienne Ojala.

Nearly all are acknowledged for their volunteer involvement with UW — teacher Deborah Pecoskie has served on the St. Jerome’s University board of governors, and chartered accountant Cynthia Ditner as president of the Accounting Alumni Association. Some of the 50 are prominent donors to the university, such as Kenneth Murray, and some are recognized for attracting other donors as well, such as Bill Packham, who headed the mathematics faculty division of Campaign Waterloo.

The majority work in Canada, but some are farther afield, such as Erin Bourke-Dunphy of Microsoft in the United States and David Yau, the founder and chief executive officer of the Hong Kong Institute of Continuing Education.

Most of the award recipients did their undergraduate work at UW, but a few were at Waterloo for graduate study, including Cheriton, and five of the 50 are recipients of honorary degrees. Biographies of all the recipients are posted online, and a selection will be spotlighted in the fall issue of the UW Magazine, to be published shortly.

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Grad student numbers up as planned

Yesterday’s Graduate Studies Fair in the Student Life Centre was the latest, but not the last, in a series of events being held to encourage undergraduates to move on to graduate work. Another is scheduled for today, as the Graduate Student Association will hold an information session aimed particularly at female students.

The event, for third- and fourth- year undergraduates, will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre and is organized by the GSA's Women's Issues Committee. It is to feature a panel of graduate students, one from each faculty, who will talk about their own experiences with graduate studies at UW. Topics that will be covered include how to approach potential supervisors and discuss research, how to apply for scholarships and other funding, sources of information about graduate studies, and "What they don't tell you about Grad Studies," including little-known issues such as maternity leave and day care bursaries.

Such events are being held in the context of an intense drive at UW (and other Ontario universities) to boost graduate enrolment — partly to support the university’s development as a centre of top-flight research, partly to provide skilled and specialized people to meet society’s needs.

Grad enrolment is up comfortably this fall, officials told the September 17 meeting of the UW senate. The director of institutional analysis and planning, Bob Truman, reported on the steps involved, observing that the Ontario government had offered a “challenge” in the form of how much enrolment growth it would fund, UW’s provost in turn “gave the deans a challenge, and the deans responded well.”

Offers of graduate admission, he said, were 32 per cent higher for master’s students and 27 per cent higher for PhD students in fall 2007 than they had been a year earlier. The government targets were 1,515 students at the master’s level and 715 at the doctoral level, and the current projections put master’s degree offers at 1,500 (plus or minus about 75 students) and the PhD figure at 715 (plus or minus 40).

Counting actual enrolment is more complicated, Truman said: even halfway through September, not all students were on campus yet. But the projection is that the target at the master’s level has been met, and at the PhD level has actually been exceeded. Said Truman: “It’s very, very good news. We challenged our faculties to grow and grow they did.”

Asked how UW was doing compared to other universities, Truman stated that Waterloo has enjoyed larger growth on the undergraduate side than other schools, and on the graduate side he’d be surprised if others did as well as UW did. President David Johnston added that the system as a whole will not likely meet the targets, and that it will be “lumpy” from institution to institution, some doing better and some worse.

It was the last senate meeting for Ranjana Bird (right), dean of graduate studies, who leaves September 30 to become vice-president (research) at the University of Windsor. She spoke up to agree that the results are good news, and to encourage the departments that hadn’t sent out final offers to date to do so, since there’s only a short time available to capture the remaining students who had applied to UW.

Later in the meeting, provost Amit Chakma drew attention to a raft of new graduate programs being introduced, commending environmental studies, mathematics and Conrad Grebel University College for expanding their various offerings. UW needs new master’s programs, particularly course-based programs, he reiterated.

Bird stood again to thank senate for its support for these and other recent initiatives, and received applause from the meeting by way of recognition as she leaves Waterloo. Alan George of information systems and technology will become acting dean of graduate studies on October 1.

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Other threads in today's tapestry

News from the Centre for Teaching Excellence: “We are delighted to announce the addition of another new colleague. In October, Dr. Nicola Simmons will join us as Senior Instructional Developer, Consulting. She comes to us with extensive experience as both a teaching consultant and scholar. Drawing on her teaching experiences at Brock and Humber, she will primarily support faculty members in enhancing their instructional strategies and engaging in reflective practice. She will also be involved in research projects, both for the CTE and in support of faculty members' scholarship of teaching and learning, building on her track record of presentations at national and international conferences. Dr. Simmons serves as a Director of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and is Canadian Membership Representative for the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. We look forward to being able to draw on Nicola's experience, creativity, and enthusiasm to support teaching and learning at the University of Waterloo.”

Groups from the Graduate Student Association are about to hit the road — one to Chudleigh’s Apple Farm this Saturday, another to Montréal in late October. Details from Craig Sloss, vice-president (communications and organization) of the GSA: “The trip to Chudleigh's Apple Farm takes place Saturday, September 29 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost for the bus is $5, and does not include the cost of food or apples at the farm. The Montreal trip takes place from October 25 to 28. The cost of $369 per student includes the bus, tour guide and three nights accommodation, but does not include meals or activities.” For more information on either event, the GSA can be reached at gsa-vpsa@uwaterloo.ca.

Mike Glinka of the baseball Warriors is the current Male Athlete of the Week for Ontario University Athletics. Says OUA: “Glinka, a 2nd year Engineering student from Mannheim, Ontario, helped lead the Warriors to a very successful weekend of play as the Warriors won 2 games against difficult opponents. In 4 games Mike was 8 for 13 for a .615 batting average and a .688 on-base percentage. He also had 8 RBIs including a grand slam home run in the Warriors 9-7 victory over McMaster on Saturday. Mike has been consistent at the plate all season long for the Warriors and continued that trend this weekend.”

And from Wanda Speek in UW’s human resources department: “The Rockway Centre at 1405 King Street East Kitchener is once again offering two Bridging the Gap pre-retirement workshops. The weekly Fall sessions begin October 16 and run to November 20. The Spring sessions run from April 15, 2008, to May 20. They meet from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each week. The cost is $47.70 per person or $79.50 per couple (prices include GST). Topics include Planning Today Tomorrow, Changing Roles and Relationships, Making the Most of Your Time, Taking Charge of Your Health, Financial and Legal Affairs and Housing a Place to Grow. For registration information, please contact the Peer Helper Co-ordinator at 519-741-2576 at the Rockway Centre.”

Start now and read 14 pages a day, and you’ll have finished Tending Memory by the time the UW book club discusses it at noontime on October 11. “We are pleased to announce,” writes Kathryn King from the UW bookstore, where the club is based, “that the author, Marianne Paul, will be joining us at the next meeting to discuss her novel.” About the story itself: “Abandoned at an early age, one parent simply packing and leaving, the other suffering an unexpected death, Michaela is raised by her grandparents. Precocious and independent, she runs away for the first time when she is four, and for the final time when she is fifteen. To survive on the street, Michaela scams her way to food and a dry place to sleep. She meets Thomas when she hides out in a seminary library, disguising her female body in baggy clothes, passing time reading books on the lives of the church fathers and saints. A scholar and would-be priest, Thomas thinks he is simply doing a good deed when he invites the runaway to stay with him. . . .”

Cranes for construction and repair work are springing up on the main campus skyline, with another one expected today, if the weather is suitable, between Modern Languages and Environmental Studies I. • Results of the recent English Language Proficiency Exam are now available in departmental undergraduate offices and outside the Writing Centre in PAS building room 2082. • The dinnertime menu at Mudie's cafeteria in Village I today was to feature "Muskoka chicken", but late word is that it's been renamed to "Wowsville Chicken" in keeping with the Don's Do dinner theme for the day.

CAR

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