Graduate students Tracy Finn, W. Jim Jordan and Derek Kam posed at a Vancouver landmark while attending this year's Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences ("the Learneds"). They were among nine grads from UW's philosophy department who presented papers at the massive gathering; eight philosophy faculty members also took part, as did UW scholars from many other disciplines. The Learneds will be held in Waterloo in 2012. Photo by Andrew Morgan.

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The year's seven-point agenda

Seven bullet points sum up the things we’ll be hearing a lot about in the year ahead, provost Amit Chakma told UW’s board of governors earlier this month.

The annual “Executive Council Priorities” emerged from the Kempenfelt Bay retreat held just before the Victoria Day weekend by UW’s top administrators. No surprise, five of the seven points were also on last year’s list, since top-level priorities often take more than one year to carry out.

Here’s how Chakma listed the 2008-09 priorities for the board:

• Getting ready for raising $100 million/year by 2017.
• Continued efforts on graduate expansion.
• Recruitment of international undergraduate students.
• Expansion of enrolment in professional programs.
• Government funding initiatives.
• Career focused graduate expansions.
• Administrative processes.

Elaborating on that last point, Chakma also showed the board a list of “smart projects” that are under way, managed by small task forces drawn from Exec Council. Each is seen as an area where UW could perhaps work more efficiently if the efforts of related departments were better coordinated and duplication was avoided.

There are eight of those smart projects at present: grad admissions management and operations; undergrad recruitment and admissions; space usage and management; database inventory and management; online learning; student engagement; staff engagement; marketing coordination.

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President lists 'specific priorities'

To go with the provost’s short list of priorities, there’s a longer list from president David Johnston — a two-page document headed “President's Specific Priorities 2008-2009” that he submitted in writing to the June 3 board of governors meeting. Here’s the full text.

1. Excellence

A. Vision

§ Continue to build-out 6th Decade Plan through Faculty plans; ambitious plan cannot be achieved through business as usual.

B. Undergraduate Education

§ Strengthen quality by raising admission standards systematically in every Faculty
§ Diversify base with out-of-province and out-of-country increases
§ Develop new academic plans and modify existing academic plans to respond to new opportunities and core strengths
§ Continue implementation of strategic plan for Cooperative Education and Career Services
§ Nurture the culture of excellence in teaching and learning
§ Support initiatives to enhance academic integrity
§ Enhance students' research experience
§ Continue internationalization enhancement
§ Continue efforts to increase student financial aid

C. Graduate Students and Post Docs

§ Increase domestic and international numbers
§ Develop new grad programs where appropriate with special emphasis on professional and course master's
§ Ensure greater recognition of post-doc presence and importance
§ Continue efforts to increase student financial aid

D. Research

§ Broaden base and increase intensity across university
§ Strengthen clusters especially around 5 core research themes of information technology, health, environment, materials and systems, society and culture and build selected peaks of excellence
§ Increase large multi-partner projects with top priority on building out the Institute for Quantum Computing, increasing links with Perimeter Institute and the Centre for International Governance Innovation
§ Continue emphasis on technology transfer especially through Accelerator Centre and new Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and building out R&T Park

E. Focus on Core Strengths and Careful Choices

§ Implement benchmarking with peer national and international institutions
§ Recruit best faculty and staff, and accelerate their development to achieve excellent performance
§ Ensure strategic resource allocation with emphasis on core quality areas

2. Income Diversification

§ Continue UW Campaign beyond $500m
§ Achieve sustained annual private support towards 6th Decade Plan goal of $100m per year
§ Strengthen ODAA complement and further decentralize into Faculty and Academic Support Departments using External Relations Transition Task Force Report as a guide.
§ Strengthen innovative government support at all levels and particularly re: Kitchener/ Pharmacy/ Health Sciences Campus, IQC/Nanotech, R and T Park North Campus, Stratford, and Abu Dhabi
§ Enhance direct and indirect research income by at least 15% per year for next 5 years and broaden grant, contract, license, royalty sources
§ Continue mix of tuition rates within Board approved policy and work within MTCU 4 year tuition framework
§ Seek innovative ways to manage revenue/expenditures to achieve ambitions in 6th Decade Plan

3. Strengthen Community

§ Continue case for public support for PSE and R&D with focus on new Federal Government, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and initiatives like the proposed Smart Nation Act
§ Focus available resources on core responsibilities
§ Identify and respond to academic and administrative support stress points
§ Expand student housing both on and off campus, continue implementation of the Living Learning Report and prepare for increase from 2,600 to 8,000 grad students over 10 years
§ Use horizontal multi stake holder task forces for continuous improvement efforts
§ Conduct studies/surveys to review performance and inform our benchmarks
§ Build on mutually supportive relationships with the affiliated Colleges and Universities and collaborate on their academic growth initiatives and residence expansion
§ Strengthen external community relations and alumni relationships especially with leadership from Vice-President, External Relations
§ Communicate regularly with external communities and with internal communities to effect information flow and improve morale
§ Strengthen staff development opportunities
§ Provide stable, competitive salaries and benefits with capacity to reward extraordinary merit
§ Strengthen the openness and effectiveness of our collegial culture
§ Focus IT and e-learning initiatives on opportunities to improve service quality and to reinforce culture of innovation
§ Reinforce our culture of civility

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$2 million in auto research funding

a release from the UW media relations office

Automotive researchers at the University of Waterloo will help pave the way in developing greener and safer cars after receiving about $2.4 million in project funding from the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence.

Seven projects led by Waterloo researchers delve into the areas of injury prevention in the automotive industry, improved seat design, advanced automotive materials and manufacturing, fuel cells for automotive applications, automotive design processes, and intelligent systems and sensors for vehicles.

"Waterloo researchers continue to develop the technologies and knowledge needed by the Canadian automotive sector," says George Dixon, UW's vice-president (university research). "The research projects led by Waterloo will benefit Canadians through new technologies and knowledge that make vehicles and the auto industry safer, reduce energy use and increase overall vehicle quality."

The seven lead researchers from Waterloo receiving AUTO21 funding:

Jack Callaghan, professor of kinesiology, heads a project to develop standards to reduce the risk of injury in workers in the automobile industry. The project has received $224,625 in funding.

Jennifer Durkin, professor of kinesiology, co-leads a project with Doug Romilly of the University of British Columbia, to design seats for both comfort and safety. The project has received $42,375 in funding.

Michael Worswick, professor of mechanical engineering, helms a project to develop lighter cars by using high-strength steels in the hydroforming process to build better vehicle structures. The project has received $355,725 in funding.

Norman Zhou, professor of mechanical engineering, leads a project to use high-strength materials in welding processes in order to improve automotive design and manufacturing. The project has received $555,300 in funding.

Xianguo Li, professor of mechanical engineering, heads a project to develop next generation PEM fuel-cell technology as a viable solution for clean vehicles. The project has received $1,057,400 in funding.

Jan Huissoon, professor of mechanical engineering, co-leads a project with François Michaud, Université de Sherbrooke, to test dynamic collaborative driving systems and sensors in order to improve road safety and reduce accidents. The project has received $88,125 in funding.

Stephan Lambert, professor of mechanical engineering, helms a project to develop and demonstrate collaborative design processes for multi-disciplinary automotive design teams. The project has received $121,050 in funding.

The funding was announced at the AUTO 21 national conference held recently in London, Ontario, by Jim Prentice, federal minister of industry. The AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence is investing approximately $20 million dollars to advance automotive research in Canada. The federal government is providing about $10 million of the total.

CAR

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