Graduate student Allan McDougall is psyched — and rested — for CreateAthon 2008, a 24-hour effort involving advertising and marketing firms across North America. Staff in some 40 companies will work all day today, and all night tonight, creating marketing materials for non-profit organizations on a pro-bono basis. McDougall is on an eight-month co-op work term with Punch Integrated Communications in Cambridge, Ontario, as part of his MA program in English at UW. “Punch’s senior copywriter recently accepted a position at a local technology company,” McDougall says, “and so now I’m the only writer, which is a great opportunity. I’m excited to do the copywriting for CreateAthon as this will help out so many worthy organizations. One campaign that I’m dying to write for is the Block Parents of Ontario. Block Parent enrolment has dropped by over 2,000 members in the last three years, and we’re going to get them back in the public eye with an exciting new PR campaign.”

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Fall convocation honours announced

Two well-known former staff members will become Honorary Members of the University, and three retired professors will become Distinguished Professors Emeritus, as UW presents honours at fall convocation ceremonies on October 25.

Also scheduled to be presented are three honorary degrees. The awards were announced yesterday after approval by UW's senate.

At the morning convocation ceremony, for graduating students in applied health sciences and arts, Ronald Zernicke, director of the Bone and Joint Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Center and professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Michigan, will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree and will address convocation.

Then at the afternoon ceremony, for graduates in engineering, environment, mathematics and science, there will be an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree for Axel Meisen, former president of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. In his pioneering research on fine aerosol-type particles, Meisen contributed to a better understanding of the capture of these particles from air. His work has resulted in the improvement of air quality. He will give the convocation address.

The afternoon ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. and will also see an honorary degree — Doctor of Mathematics — presented to Paul Seymour of Princeton University, widely acknowledged as the world's leading graph theorist.

To be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus are Phil Merikle, retired from the department of psychology; James Reimer, religious studies at Conrad Grebel University College; and John Lenard, mechanical engineering.

Retired staff members Jeff Weller, who served as executive assistant to the dean of engineering, and Roger Watt, who was director of network services in information systems and technology, will be recognized as Honorary Members of the University.

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Cartoon city opens at UW's gallery

Two exhibitions will open tomorrow at Render, UW’s art gallery, which is based in East Campus Hall but also organizes shows and events across the main campus and beyond.

One of the new exhibitions, under the title “Dominion City”, will run through December 6; the other continues only through October 4. An opening event for them both is scheduled for Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gallery in ECH, which is accessible from Phillip Street or from parking lot B and the Engineering V construction site.

Says a publicity release from Render: “Dominion City is the elaborate, ever expanding, work-in-progress of the renowned Canadian cartoonist Seth. An imagined place combining elements of numerous early modern Canadian cities, Dominion City captures the spirit of the booming small metropolis at a time of community boosterism and growth that, to the contemporary eye, can seem at times quaint and alien. It is a place that embodies the confidence of many Canadian cities in the post Depression and World War II era when the North American economy expanded, manufacturing spread, and many cities were characterized by a level of civic engagement (through service clubs and politics) unheard of today.

“Developed over the past decade, Dominion City takes Seth’s distinct vision of urban space off the printed page and into the format of an installation that serves to both present the artist’s growing collection of model buildings and capture aspects of their interiors (the institutional décor of the city hall, records office, archive and library, for example). As with all of Seth’s works, Dominion City is infused with melancholy and an air of ambiguous nostalgia tinged with a healthy dose of cynical humour.

“Dominion City is a cartoon space supported by an elaborate narrative vision that includes a detailed history and character studies that can be funny and amusing but equally dark. Dominion City sits seemingly frozen at the cusp of the 1950s and 60s and one can imagine many of these buildings crumbling and fading in the voracious urban “renewal” of the 1960s and 70s, a period captured in Dominion’s sister city of Beaver.

“In addition to the presentation of the city of Beaver, Dominion City is complemented by a second installation at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery featuring The North Star Talking Picture House. The KWAG installation is a working model of Dominion City’s movie theatre featuring a program of vintage documentary films curated by Seth.

“Based in Guelph, Ontario, Seth has become widely known internationally for his rich narrative comics and graphic novels, his commissioned strips for such publications as the New York Times, and his signature illustration and book design work. Sections of Dominion City have been previously exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Phoenix Art Museum and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

“Don't miss Render's presentation on Saturday, November 22, 1 to 4 p.m., UW School of Architecture, Cambridge. Render is pleased to be able to present Seth in conversation with the groundbreaking American cartoonist, graphic novelist and illustrator Chris Ware. Best known for his works Jimmy Corrigan, Rusty Brown and Quimby the Mouse, Ware continues to have a major influence on comics and design. Seth and Ware’s conversation will be preceded by an illustrated presentation on the work of Chicago architect Louis Sullivan by Ware.”

Also opening at Render tomorrow, for a two-week run, is “Analogue: Pioneering Video from the UK, Canada and Poland (1968-88)”, presented by Vtape (Toronto) in collaboration with the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and curated by Peggy Gale (Canada), Catherine Elwes (UK), Maggie Warwick (UK), Chris Meigh-Andrews (UK) and Lukasz Ronduda (Poland).

Says a release: “This comprehensive presentation seeks to illuminate the little-known early histories of video art in the UK, Canada, and Poland. By examining twenty years of artists’ video from these three countries, it also aims to broaden our understanding of this versatile medium, while charting its transition from the politicized margins of artistic practice to the mainstream.

“The exhibition includes many seminal works by artists such as David Hall, Mona Hatoum, David Critchley, Pratibha Parmar (UK), Vera Frenkel, Lisa Steele, Paul Wong, Tom Sherman (Canada) and Pawel Kwiek, Jozef Robakowski (Poland).”

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A few notes wafted on the breeze

The Davis Centre library closed at about noon yesterday after complaints from staff and users about fumes from the roof repairs that are under way on the 20-year-old building. "The tar fumes can be annoying some days," a staff member elsewhere in Davis said when I asked how things have been going. "It is not as bad in my section of the building any more, but now they are in the section above the library and people in the library are probably getting the worst of it. They are supposed to be finished by the end of September." The plant operations department had warned in a memo in July, as the roofing work was beginning, that "Odours may be noticeable." Sharon Lamont of the library administrative office said a decision will be made "day by day" on when it's possible to reopen the Davis library, home to materials and services for engineering, mathematics and science.

Staff in UW's plant operations and food services departments, who are represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees local 793, have been without a contract since April 30, when the two-year agreement signed in 2006 expired. Several negotiating sessions toward a new contract were held earlier this year, and Neil Murray, associate director of human resources at UW, reports that negotiators for UW management and CUPE 793 met this Monday and Tuesday to continue bargaining towards a new contract. However, he says, the two sides "were unable to reach an agreement. The next step is to ask a conciliator to help us reach a settlement as soon as possible."

Today is the nomination deadline as the staff association prepares to elect its 2008-09 leadership. “Although we have had a lot more interest in what the UWSA is doing,” association president Jesse Rodgers said in a memo yesterday, “there are very few people willing to lead the organization. At the town hall on Monday we had a good conversation about the assumptions, concerns, and expectations people have. I realize that it will take time to change popular opinion on certain aspects of the UWSA. Unless you have been involved with area reps or the executive there is no way to really understand what the UWSA does and what is expected. This is the fault of poor communication and it needs to be fixed. That will take time. We need three directors and someone willing to take on the role of President at a time when the actual work load is supported by a new staff member and lot more resources. If you are passionate or just interested in how UW works, please seriously consider joining the Executive. The UWSA is a unique organization that must continue to evolve. It needs fresh ideas and people with the skills and knowledge to implement them. I have no doubt there are an awful lot of people that fit that requirement on this campus.”

Historian Whitney Lackenbauer of St. Jerome’s University will speak tonight at the Centre for International Governance Innovation as part of its Signature Lecture Series. His topic: “Arctic Front, Arctic Homeland: Conflict and Cooperation in the Circumpolar North”. Lackenbauer says in a recent paper that “Canadian interests in the Arctic are ill-served by politicians and nationalists who fuel a flag-waving fervor instead of pursuing concrete policies in the circumpolar world. If Canada wants to seize opportunities and take a leadership role in a rapidly evolving circumpolar world, we need to adopt a 3-D approach rooted in defence, diplomacy and development.” Charting Canada’s responses to Arctic “crises” since the Second World War, his talk will situate the present federal government’s security agenda “in evolving historical and geostrategic contexts,” a news release says, “and will articulate how a truly integrated Arctic strategy is necessary to confront the challenges and capitalize on opportunities in the circumpolar world.” Lackenbauer is a fellow at the CIGI-affiliated Canadian International Council and is currently working on a history of the Distant Early Warning or DEW Line. His lecture is scheduled for 7:00 tonight at CIGI, 57 Erb Street West.

CAR

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