One-day IT conference is under way

There’s a conference today in Rod Coutts Hall, and what it is, is WatITis — subtitled “a conference to promote collaboration among IT staff at Waterloo”. It’s the sixth annual one-day event of its kind.

The conference web site gives background: “Information Technology (IT) is an integral part of the University of Waterloo’s mission to deliver academic excellence to its students, faculty and to the greater community. As IT support staff, we are privileged to be able to play an important role in the advancement and future of our institution.

“The conference continues to promote the sharing and dissemination of the work and ideas of our computer support staff across campus, underscoring the importance of ‘collaborative IT’ in UW’s mission to provide teaching and research excellence in an academic environment. Innovation and collaboration are a cornerstone of our IT profession.

“We are pleased to be able to bring IT people together from all across campus to share our experiences and knowledge with a full day of topical presentations and discussion sessions.”

Today’s conference begins with an 8:45 keynote talk by Meg Beckel, UW’s vice-president (external relations), under the title “Making the Future” — a phrase that surfaces often in discussions of UW’s “branding” or “identity”, and just happens to be the overall theme for WatITis 2008. The day winds up with a reception at the Graduate House from 3:30 to 4:30.

In between, these sessions are on the program, four at a time so that conference participants will have to choose:

• “A Paperless University: Are We Ready?” by Carolyn Dirks, UW records manager, university secretariat.
• “And One Schema to Rule Them All: The Online Faculty Information System” by Paul McKone of the Centre for Knowledge Integration and Marlon Griffith of engineering computing.
• “Blackbaud” by Nigel Henriques of development and alumni affairs and Dave Kibble of information systems and technology.
• “Campus Email Projects Update” by Trevor Bain and Martin Timmerman of IST.
• “Capturing Screen Video Using Camtasia Studio” by Carrie Howells of the Math Faculty Computing Facility.
• “Crisis Management” by Erick Engelke of engineering computing and Jason Testart of IST.
• “Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There: Mindfulness at Work” by Marilyn Perdue of counselling services.
• “Green IT: Walking the Walk” by Anne Grant of environmental studies and Lowell Williamson of applied health sciences.
• “HALP! Something Is in My Tubes!” by Jason Testart of IST and Michael Patterson of the Computer Science Computing Facility.
• “Investigations into Web Content Management Systems” by Eva Grabinski of engineering, Terry Stewart of AHS and Megan McDermott of communications and public affairs.
• “Joberloo” by Trevor Grove and Doug Suerich of IST.
• “NextGen Wireless” by Steve Bourque of IST.
• “Primo: Introducing a New Search and Discovery Interface for the Library” by Allan Bell, Nancy Collins and Alison Hitchens of the UW library.
• “Resnet Enhancements and Directions” by Bill Baer of housing and Bruce Campbell of IST.
• “Sharing Data in a Privacy-Friendly Way” by Urs Hengartner of computer science.
• “Tracks: Time Management and Task Organization” by Daniel Allen of CSCF.
• “Velocity, Mobile + Media Incubator” by Sean Van Koughnett of UW Graphics.
• “Virtual-Simul Classrooms” by Koorus Bookan of IST.
• “What Do You Need to Know About Information Technology Infrastructure Library?” by Andrzej Gadomski of Wilfrid Laurier University.
• “World Community Grid” by Peter Schepers of IST.

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Faculty association meets, talks tenure

Issues about tenure for UW faculty members — and, especially, appeals by professors who have been turned down for tenure — continue to keep the faculty association’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee busy, a report says.

It’s one item on the agenda for the fall general meeting of the association, which starts at 2:00 today in Math and Computer room 4020.

Over the past half year, “there were two cases involving promotion or tenure which went to the appeal level,” AF&T chair Frank Reynolds of the statistics and actuarial science department says in his report. “In cases where there are problems at the department level or above, the AF&T Committee supplies the support of an academic colleague to any member who requests it. The tenure case was denied at appeal, though the AF&T committee members involved thought the case for tenure stronger than one last year where tenure was granted. . . .

“There are continuing discussions with the Administration about the interpretation of the policies governing the appeals process. It is the view of FAUW that the interpretations and practices that have evolved over time at UW have produced a good, workable system. Unfortunately, in the estimation of the AF&T Committee, in the past year the policies have been interpreted by some in the Administration without consideration for established practice. This has had unfortunate consequences for the fairness of the system.”

Reynolds reports that his committee has also been involved in several cases involving older faculty members who have received “disappointing” performance reviews: “This development was anticipated when mandatory retirement was abolished. . . . There have also been cases where it appears that Administrators have unfairly treated people who are ill, or simply asked too many difficult questions.”

On another front, “an important concern on Canadian campuses in recent years has been bullying of faculty, and UW, unfortunately, is not an exception. One worrying form of bullying has been student petitions that are sharply critical of a professor which, in many cases, turn out to be cases where a professor’s standards are perceived by the students as too high. . . .

“Finally, one case has been referred to arbitration. CAUT feels that it involves national issues and is supplying the legal services of one of its staff lawyers.”

Today’s meeting will also hear from faculty representatives to the UW pension and benefits committee, a working group on faculty performance evaluations, and other committees. The feature presentation will involve leaders of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations — president Brian Brown, of the University of Windsor, and full-time executive director Henry Mandelbaum — speaking on “The Fall Economic Statement, the 2009 Provincial Budget, and the Implications for University Funding”.

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Co-op hiring still allowed, and more

Some UW departments are worrying about heavier workloads since the announcement that there will be no hiring (without special permission, anyway) before the end of this fiscal year next spring. In that context, here's an announcement of interest from the department of co-operative education and career services: "The hiring freeze at UW does not extend to department hiring of co-op students. CECS has become aware of some UW staff and faculty who did not know that they could still offer co-op work term employment. In fact, this might be a good time to hire co-ops. Despite the hiring freeze there isn’t necessarily less work to be done. Co-ops can fill the void quite nicely on a temporary basis, and there are still plenty of students looking for January-April employment. Please call us at 519-888-4026 or go to the CECS web site and start the ball rolling."

Students getting ready for exams may want food and drink at odd hours, and UW's food services department is responding. From today until the end of next week, REVelation cafeteria in Ron Eydt Village will be open 24 hours a day. More modest hours will be in effect for a few days after that, December 13-17. Mudie's cafeteria in Village I isn't doing the overnight thing, but will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. through exams. On the main campus, there are just a few immediate changes to food services operations. Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre will run 24 hours a day for the next few day; Pastry Plus in Matthews Hall is closed now, reopening in January; and Festival Fare in South Campus Hall is closed for regular meal service, but providing a by-reservation Christmas lunch buffet. Details are, of course, on the food services web site. Some special events coming up from food services: a "Christmas celebration dinner" December 9 in Brubakers in the SLC, and December 10 in REVelation; the "Dons' Do" Christmas meal at Mudie's on December 11.

About 350 Waterloo Region high school students will participate in Canada's only Federal-Provincial Government Conference Simulation in UW’s arts buildings today and tomorrow. Organized by UW's political science department and the local association of history department heads, the simulation has been an annual event at UW for more than 30 years. This year, delegations from 17 schools will take part. "The conference is an excellent opportunity for students to become interested and engaged in politics while in high school," says John Jaworsky, professor of political science. The role of Canada's prime minister will be handled by Anna Cunningham of Kitchener Collegiate Institute (there's no word of any coalition attempts to displace here). Other students from KCI will serve as federal ministers. Students from other schools will represent provinces and territories, holding first ministers’ conferences and sessions on finance, justice, health, the environment, agriculture and economic affairs, immigration and aboriginal affairs. Working sessions take place in several rooms in the Arts Lecture Hall, Hagey Hall and the Modern Languages building; the concluding plenary session will be held in the Theatre of the Arts tomorrow starting at 1:45.

The graduate studies office sends word that December 12 is the deadline to apply for this year's Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarships, which offer as much as $40,000 plus a travel allowance for graduate study in the humanities and social sciences. • The athletics department says more than $4,000 was raised for breast cancer research by the weekend's Think Pink promotion, "well ahead of the $2,000 goal". • It was interesting to spot an ad in Friday's Imprint from the University of Toronto at Mississauga, offering rooms in its residences, just north of Dundas Street, for Waterloo co-op students on work term.

CAR

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