UW Place dons Alison Hogg and Adrienne Raw organized a charity drive in the residence "to get the dons and students involved in giving back", says residence life coordinator Jeyas Balaskanthan. The outcome: more than 100 shoeboxes filled with gifts for children ages 3 to 12. Twelve dons (including Lyha Quaranto, pictured) and six other volunteers helped with the packing at the local distribution centre for Operation Christmas Child.

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New rules about staff secondments

New guidelines for secondments — temporary assignments of UW staff to a different job in a different department — were issued last week after approval by the Staff Relations Committee.

The changes were made after a year-long review “in response to requests for clarification, and a desire to ensure that all UW staff had the opportunity to apply for secondments,” the committee said in a memo.

It pointed out that secondments are of special interest right now because of an official postponement of most UW hiring, at least until the new fiscal year starts in May. The hiring chill “does not affect secondments,” says the memo. “In fact, secondments may be an attractive alternative in some cases.”

The new guidelines, which went into effect November 20, are intended to “ensure that secondment arrangements are fully documented” and “clarify the circumstances when a secondment should be used”, the committee said. They also require that “normally” secondments will be advertised through the weekly Positions Available listing.

Here’s some of what the new guidelines document says: “The university endorses and is committed to the concept of continuous learning and development for all staff members. Secondments provide staff with opportunities for personal, professional and career development, and a mechanism for getting on-the-job experience in different areas of campus, thus increasing their overall knowledge and effectiveness to the organization. To that end, managers are strongly encouraged to consider the use of secondments for special projects or assignments or to fill positions where staff are expected to return from leaves of absence.

“Normally, secondments must be advertised internally to the campus community and Human Resources will record and batch resumes before forwarding on to the hiring manager. In some cases, it may be appropriate that secondments not be advertised due to unique needs, required skills or special circumstances. The seconding department head with the agreement of the home department head must formally request a waiver from advertisement from the Staff Relations Committee.

“All secondment arrangements must be formally documented and signatures obtained from the home department head, the seconding department head and the staff member. A copy of the secondment agreement must be sent to Human Resources for the staff member’s file.

“Managers involved in a secondment arrangement can consult Human Resources for information on advertising a secondment and drafting an agreement.

“It is understood that short term needs within a unit often can be met by re-assignment of existing regular or temporary staff. Recognizing that ‘short-term’ is subject to interpretation, it is suggested that departmental reassignments of up to nine months are not ‘secondments’. However, staff movement between business units should generally be considered as secondments regardless of duration.”

The guidelines also deal with procedures for performance appraisals, job classifications and other details. They note that the usual arrangement is for the “seconding department” — the UW unit that’s borrowing the staff member — will transfer funds to the employee’s home department to cover his or her salary.

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Profile of UW's youngest donor

a feature article from UW’s 2007-08 “Report on Giving”

The living room that Boaz Van Veen typically reigns over contains what you'd expect to find in any child's domain. A fort made of couch cushions encaging his pet cat. A teetering tower of colourful blocks stretching to the chandelier. A massive fire truck with sirens wailing. But what makes this scene remarkable is that, as this little boy plays with his toys, he is teaming up with cutting-edge researchers to improve dementia care practices in Canada.

While most of his peers spend their birthday or Tooth Fairy money at Toys "R" Us or a candy shop, this four-year-old gives to a program in UW's Lyle S. Hallman Institute for Health Promotion. The Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program (MAREP), for which Boaz emptied his piggy bank to give $170, is an international leader in dementia research.

One in every 13 Canadians over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. As the population ages, experts predict that the number of people affected by this disease will increase. While the search continues for the cause and cure, MAREP brings together research and practice to ensure that those affected by dementia and their care providers are equipped with the education and support required to lead meaningful lives.

Boaz's parents, David and Gael, hope their son will grow up knowing his support has a direct impact on vital research, which is why they chose MAREP as his program to support. "Fortunately, our family hasn't been affected by this disease," says Gael, "but as the statistics suggest, it's quite possible that someday we may." Thanks to his family friend and the program founder, "Grandpa Ken" (Kenneth Murray), Boaz is well acquainted with MAREP. Ken is leading a campaign to raise $1 million in support for MAREP, to which more than $400,000 has already been pledged.

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Divers drops in the daily downpour

The campus gets quieter day by day, though fall term exams continue this week, winding up on Friday. The libraries are still in exam mode, with the Davis Centre facility open 24 hours a day and the Dana Porter Library from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. Round-the-clock operation also continues until Friday at the real hub of the campus, the Tim Hortons outlet in the Student Life Centre. But the REVelation cafeteria in Ron Eydt Village, which had been running 24 hours a day last week, is back to its regular hours for the next few days, and will close for the season as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Mudie's in Village I stays open on its normal schedule (that is, until 12:30 a.m. daily) until Friday night. Elsewhere on the campus, finally, the CEIT building Café and the Eye Opener coffee shop in the Optometry building have gone dark as of today, joining several other food services outlets in their seasonal closing; they'll all reopen on January 5.

Wanda Richardson (right), who's played a key role in many of UW's most sensitive projects over the past couple of years, will leave the university at year's end, she said this week. Richardson has been working, on a contract basis, as director of "government relations and strategic initiatives". A permanent position heading that office was advertised in September. "My work at the university these past four years has truly been a great adventure," says a goodbye note from Richardson, who came originally in 2004 as a staffer for then associate vice-president Gerry Thompson. She's moving to a position with engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald.

The UW staff association sent a memo to its members last week announcing vacancies on a couple of influential university-level committees. A seat representing staff on the UW pension and benefits committee is open for a three-year term starting next May 1, and there's a two-year seat (starting January 1) for a member at large on the staff relations committee. Also vacant: an alternate position on the Employee Assistance Program committee, and two posts on the staff association's own nominating committee. Applications for all these roles are due by January 9, addressed to staff association past president Jesse Rodgers in information systems and technology.

A two-year employment contract between UW and Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793 has received its final ratification. Union members endorsed it earlier this month, and at week's end the university secretariat reported that ratification on behalf of the university, the employer, had been officially given by the board of governors executive committee, acting on behalf of the board. Such items are sometimes handled by the committee through a telephone vote, with the results reported to the next full meeting of the board (scheduled, in this case, for February 3).

CAR

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