Homecoming: kids, entrepreneurs . . .

Homecoming 2007 runs tonight and tomorrow, and it’s about much more than just alumni coming “home” to Waterloo, organizers say. "This year we're focusing on enhancing our family-friendly events,” says Homecoming coordinator Chantel Franklin, “to encourage our local neighbours to visit campus and join us in the celebration."

And there’s plenty for students, faculty and staff as well, including multiple chances to hear UW president David Johnston bring greetings. He’s scheduled to give 10 speeches in the course of the weekend. Some Homecoming highlights:

The annual SUNDANCe Pow-Wow, organized by the aboriginal services office, starts with a performance by Aaron Bell and White Pine Dancers, tonight at 7:00 in the Student Life Centre. This event is free and everyone is welcome. The Pow-Wow continues Saturday afternoon at St. Paul’s College with a number of performers including host drum Smoke Trail, and traditional food and craft vendors. Tickets for the afternoon are $5.

Applied health sciences will hold its annual fun run — a timed race on th ring road and a non-competitive walk on the sidewalk —leaving from Matthews Hall at 9:30 on Saturday. One lane of the ring road will be closed from 10:15 to 11:30, and vehicles, including buses, will travel only in a counterclockwise direction.

Other Saturday festivities feature a children’s carnival, complete with bouncy castles, face painting, obstacle courses and slides. The carnival features the lovable television characters Dora the Explorer (left) and Diego at 9:30 a.m. in the foyer of the Modern Languages building. (Visitors should bring cameras, since Dora and Diego will pose for pictures.) In honour of UW's 50th anniversary, the faculty of arts will be hosting a 1950's classic car show outside Modern Languages.

A UW “cake walk” will introduce visitors to newer buildings: participants collect cake-eating supplies at each stop, knowing a piece of UW anniversary cake waits at the end. The tour begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Dana Porter Library.

Dinosaur fans are invited to a dinosaur presentation at the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology, at 11 a.m., followed by a screening of the 15-minute movie “Fossils, Dinosaurs and Mastodons”. Also at 11 a.m., children are invited to a scavenger hunt in the Peter Russell Rock Garden, and winners will receive a piece of rose quartz.

Elsewhere on campus, the student-organized Impact Expo will feature a series of keynote speakers ranging from corporate executives to distinguished professors. This year’s presenters include Gerry Remers, the CEO of Christie Digital; Tim Jackson, founding partner of TechCapital; and Joseph Mattell, winner of the Top 40 under 40 award.

The themes for this year’s Impact Expo, which is expected to attract some 2,000 student participants, are business and technology innovation, booming markets, and cutting-edge research topics. Discussions will centre on career planning, soft skills development, and corporate cultures. Most importantly, business leaders will share their insights into entrepreneurship, leadership, and networking. Impact Expo will run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre and the Math and Computer building.

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. . . and alumni coming 'home' again

Renison College’s annual East Asian Festival is divided into two parts. First comes Family and Culture Day from 11:00 to 2:00 at Renison, featuring the art, music and flavours of China, Korea and Japan. Admission is free. A silent auction will be under way for that three-hour period, featuring two pairs of "gold" seats for Toronto Maple Leaf hockey games (December 4 and March 11) with a starting bid of $120 a ticket. Back on ground level, there is a $25 ticket price at the door for the festival's Closing Gala, starting at 6:45 in the Theatre of the Arts, featuring the work of noted artist Annie Wong as well as hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and “breathtaking” performances sponsored by the consulates of East Asian countries.

Meanwhile, at 4:30, Canadian soldier and peacekeeper Lewis MacKenzie gives the Homecoming keynote address in the Humanities Theatre, under the title “The Media as a Weapon”. Tickets are $10 general admission, $2 for UW students, at the Humanities box office.

Other events include an “Arts in Academics” speaker series from 2:00 to 4:00 today in the Tatham Centre; a by-invitation dinner tonight to honour the 50 recipients of UW’s 50th Anniversary Alumni Award; and Warrior football against Guelph, Saturday at 1 p.m. at the former University Stadium.

Then there are the alumni reunions that give Homecoming its name. A gathering of past Engineering Society executives is scheduled for tonight at the Delta hotel in Kitchener, and reunion lunches for a total of ten engineering graduating classes are taking place on Saturday, some in the Festival Room of South Campus Hall and some at Federation Hall. Kinesiology, planning, St. Jerome’s and Conrad Grebel reunions are also on the agenda.

The science faculty has a special event in the CEIT building foyer: “The achievements of 50 outstanding alumni from the Faculty of Science will be celebrated with Alumni of Honour Awards and one Distinguished Alumni Award. A celebratory ceremony will commence at 2:30pm with a reception to follow. A Blast from the Past slideshow, tours of the science labs and lots of reconnecting with classmates and favourite profs will round out an afternoon of honouring some of our best.”

The school of computer science has a long day of events tomorrow in the Davis Centre, featuring “presentations during the day by notable alumni, complimentary lunch, informal panel discussion and closing reception”.

And Imprint, the student newspaper, is hosting a reunion dinner at RIM Park on Saturday night under the title “50 Years of Campus Journalism”, recalling those who worked on the current paper and its predecessors the Chevron and the Coryphaeus, as well as specialized campus papers and the official Gazette. I’ll be there.

Homecoming winds up with “Homefest”, from 7 p.m. in the Bombshelter pub, as well as alcohol-free “Warrior Weekend” activities in other parts of the Student Life Centre, and Homecoming Pub Night at the Graduate House (buffet from 6 p.m.). A full schedule of Homecoming activities is available online.

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Fair in Toronto, and other busyness

One thing that won't be happening this weekend is the planned Celebrate Waterloo series of concerts at the Waterloo Recreation Centre. Tickets had been on sale for Friday night (cutting-edge music), Saturday (mainstream) and Sunday (family), but apparently didn't move as fast as they needed to, and at midweek, promoter Chris Parson pulled the plug. "It was going to be a great weekend for the city," he told the Record newspaper. The event had been advertised as a celebration of UW's 50th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the city of Waterloo, but both city and university stressed after the cancellation that they weren't actually sponsors.

The annual Ontario Universities Fair runs today through Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in the heart of the big city, and probably a majority of next September's new first-year students will be there. "Last year (right) about 70,000 visitors attended the event," says Barb Trotter of the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office, adding that "about 40,000 of them visited UW's booth. Each year, all Ontario universities come to Toronto to provide students and their parents with one place where students can talk with university representatives, collect brochures, listen to presentations and compare programs offered at different universities. It's a great way for students to start thinking about all of their options. Over 300 University of Waterloo professors, staff, and students will be at the OUF to talk to students about what it's like to study, live, and work at UW. It's a great way for prospective students to learn more and get excited about the opportunities at UW."

Today marks the beginning of Entrepreneur Week in Waterloo Region (slogan: "Everything you ever wanted to know about startup but didn't know who to ask"). At a "kickoff barbecue lunch and Launchpad opening" today at the Accelerator Centre on Hagey Boulevard, the speaker will be Denzil Doyle of Doyletech Corporation. Tomorrow, the Week is tied into the student-run Impact Expo conference as well as "Waterloo barCamp, the un-conference" starting at 11 a.m., again at the Accelerator Centre. Coming next week: inductions to the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, a series of "startup camps" for would-be entrepreneurs, and other workshops. The whole thing is sponsored by everybody from Research In Motion and venture capital firms to government agencies and UW's Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. Details are on a web site.

UW’s En-hui Yang (left), of the electrical and computer engineering department, will be presented tonight with a $25,000 Manning Award of Distinction, sponsored by CanWest Global, for “his inventive solutions for data compression”. More than 2,200 Internet Service Providers in 50 countries use his technologies to speed digital communications, says a news release announcing the award. Yang is co-founder of SlipStream Data Inc., now a subsidiary of Research In Motion. Many of SlipStream’s products are the result of his theoretical work on data compression. He continues to add to his series of file-shrinking and network optimizing solutions, which speed tasks including Web browsing or checking e-mail with portable communications devices such as smart phones and laptops. “As one end-user commented,” says the release, “after using Slipstream technology, non-accelerated Web browsing feels painfully slow.” Effective data compression makes data transfer more efficient, says Yang, adding that one benefit is the lower bandwidth needed for smooth Internet sailing. In addition, with improved efficiency, less power is used, thereby extending the life of batteries for portable communications devices. This year the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation will award $165,000 in prize money to innovators and the winners of the 2007 Canada-Wide Science Fair. The presentation will be made at an awards gala in Toronto.

Athletes of the Week for the Warrior interuniversity sports program are Nicola Holmes (women's rugby) and Mike Glinka (men's baseball). • Organizers of the Doors Open tour earlier this month say there were 112 visitors of the "living wall" in UW's Environmental Studies building and 225 to the Accelerator Centre with its "green roof". • Orchestra@UWaterloo has announced its 2008 concerto and aria competition, with the winner to be featured as soloist in an end-of-term concert on April 3.

CAR

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