Students in Nunavut (at John Arnalukjuak High School in the little town of Arviat) were linked with UW through video at an event in early June. "As this was the first time we have recruited using this technology," says Jody Berringer of the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office, "we were extremely pleased. Students were engaged in the presentation, and the organizers have expressed interest in a similar presentation in the future." Dan Henhawk, a student in recreation and leisure studies, is seen talking to the faraway group about life at Waterloo and his research on Aboriginal participation in sports.

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New senior staff in development

A new “assistant vice-president” — the first person at UW to have that title — starts work today as the office of development and alumni affairs makes several senior-level staff changes.

Meg Beckel, UW’s vice-president (external relations), said the changes are happening as the result of recommendations from an External Relations Task Force, headed by the chair of UW’s board of governors, Bob Harding. It looked at the structure, staffing and other activities of the offices that report to Beckel, including ODAA, communications and public affairs, and government relations.

Arriving today as assistant VP (development and campaigns) is Susan Crowley, formerly director of corporations and foundations at the University of Western Ontario. She has also worked at the Stiller Centre (a biotechnology commercialization centre in London), the Bank of Montreal and London Life.

“Susan comes to us with rich and diverse experience in fundraising, leadership, consulting and strategic management in a number of settings,” says Linda Kieswetter, associate VP (principal gifts and campaigns), whom she will report to. “Susan's portfolio at UW will be to provide oversight and direction to the Directors of Advancement for day to day operations, campaign planning and major gift work.”

Also reporting to Kieswetter is Lori Gove, who has moved from the Faculty of Mathematics, where she was director of development, to a new position in the central ODAA office. She is now Director, Corporations and Foundations Relations. Says Beckel: “Lori will work with the Faculties to build and manage the complex and multi-pronged partnerships with large corporations and foundations. Amy Aldous, director of industrial relations for mathematics, has been appointed interim director of advancement in math.”

The vice-president notes that Kieswetter is heading a new Principal Gifts Team (also including Jude Doble, communications officer, Paul Dickson, stewardship officer, Melissa Cousineau, senior development officer, and Laura Bossenberry, campaign assistant), “focused on cultivating and stewarding major gifts of $1 million and more in collaboration with the faculties and the colleges”.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the office Jason Coolman (right) has been named to hold the other associate vice-president’s position in ODAA, “development and alumni affairs”, on an interim basis. Coolman is director of alumni affairs, and will fill in the associate VP’s position as of July 7, following the departure of Bob Copeland, who has become UW’s director of athletics.

That associate VP position will be posted for applications this month, Beckel said. She added: “Another internal move from this team is Jenn Lorette, Keystone Fund manager, who will take on a new development officer position with the engineering team.”

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Engineering academy names Fellows

UW’s provost, another professor and a former professor are among the new Fellows named this year by the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Their names were made public last week as the academy held its annual general meeting and seminar in Montréal.

“The Academy has maintained its tradition of electing outstanding engineers,” says its president, Ravi Ravindran. “We look forward to the active participation of these stellar new Fellows in fulfilling the mission of the Academy.”

Some background: “The Canadian Academy of Engineering comprises many of the country's most accomplished engineers, who have expressed their dedication to the application of science and engineering principles in the interests of the country and its enterprises. Members of the Academy are nominated and elected by their peers to honorary Fellowships, in view of their distinguished achievements and career-long service to the engineering profession. There are at present some 306 active members, 112 emeritus members and 3 Honorary members.

“Fellows of the Academy are committed to ensuring that Canada’s engineering expertise is applied to the benefit of all Canadians.”

Joining the list of Fellows based at UW are Amit Chakma, provost of the university and professor of chemical engineering; Jon Mark, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Savvas Chamberlain, distinguished professor emeritus of E&CE and chief executive of spinoff firm Dalsa Corporation.

The Academy has issued a citation for each of the new Fellows:

“Amit Chakma has shown outstanding academic and engineering leadership and has made extensive research contributions in the areas of green house gas issues and environmental system modeling. He has attained a unique balance between national and internationally recognized technical accomplishments and providing scholarly and administrative direction at the University level. As well he has contributed substantively to community boards, research networks and national innovation initiatives. Engineer Chakma has a remarkable record of scientific, academic, societal and professional achievements which clearly speak to his being an unparalleled credit to his field and to our country.”

“During the past 35 years, Dr. Savvas Chamberlain has led the development of imaging sensor technologies. His research and business innovation has established Canada’s dominance in the CCD and CMOS market. Now a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo and Chairman of the DALSA Corporation, Dr. Chamberlain has created and commercialized technology that has revolutionized digital imagery and produced fundamental advances in vision for machines, professional imaging, medical imaging, imaging for the cinematography and vision for remote systems in space. His leadership has touched many people and organizations and has contributed to successes large and small across many dimensions of Canadian society.”

“For more than three decades, Jon Mark has made significant research contributions and provided eminent leadership in the fields of computer communication networks and wireless communications. He is an outstanding teacher of electrical and computer engineering students, and has provided training to many highly qualified personnel in telecommunications research. Jon Mark’s teaching and training have been enriched by his tremendous research findings, publications, and the establishment of the Centre for Wireless Communications at the University of Waterloo as the training ground. He is an asset to the engineering profession in Canada, and a leader in the global evolution of societies through communication.”

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Low funding makes the headlines

University funding made the national news last week as a report was released showing how much less money Canadian universities have to spend than their counterparts in the United States.

“To me, this is a wake-up call," Dalhousie University president Tom Traves told the Globe and Mail. Traves is chairman of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, which released the newsmaking report, the latest volume of Trends in Higher Education.

And Canwest News Service distributed a news story about the report that appeared in newspapers across the country.

Here’s how the AUCC itself summarized the findings: “In spite of welcome government investments in postsecondary education in recent years, revenues per student in the general operating budgets at Canadian universities are much lower than at American public universities.

It said the report “shows overall revenues to support teaching and research per student at Canadian universities have fallen significantly since the 1980s and have remained virtually unchanged since 2000.

“Canadian universities had $2,000 per student more than their U.S. public peers in 1980-81 and now have $8,000 less per student to fund teaching and research. Canadian universities also have less per student than U.K universities.”

According to AUCC president Claire Morris, “This funding disadvantage is a potential quality disadvantage for Canadian university students. It also has implications for the competitiveness of Canada’s universities and their ability to attract and retain faculty and to produce graduates capable of competing in a global knowledge economy.”

Increases in both operating and research funding to Canada’s universities since 2000 “have failed to produce any change in the level of funding per student,” the AUCC said, “largely because of rapid growth in student enrollment. The number of students enrolled in Canadian universities has increased by 56 per cent since 1980 and by 31 percent since 2000.

"University student enrolment in Canada has grown at almost triple the rate of faculty growth while in the U.S., faculty growth has matched student enrollment growth."

CAR

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