Last day before the holidays

Today is the last working day of 2009 — a pretty quiet one, with many staff taking a vacation day, and many faculty hunkered down marking exams. In a few hours the university will close for its longest holiday of the year, and apart from a few people providing round-the-clock essential services, the institution will sleep until the new year under its blanket of snow.

Snow? Expect more over the next few days, forecasters say. Snow removal on the main campus over the holiday period will be "limited", according to the plant operations department. "Grounds staff will respond to serious snow issues," is the official word, especially to clear priority areas such as the ring road. (Meanwhile, the seasonal weather summary has arrived from the UW weather station, reporting that the total snowfall for autumn was just 25 centimetres, “a lot less than last year (96 cm) and the average for fall (40 cm)”.)

On this early-winter day, the majority of food services outlets have closed for the season, including the residence cafeterias. Open today are Tim Hortons at three locations — the Student Life Centre, Davis Centre and South Campus Hall — as well as Browsers in the Dana Porter Library, Pastry Plus in Needles Hall and Brubakers in the Student Life Centre. All will close at 2:00 this afternoon.

The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries are open until 5:00 tonight. The Musagetes Architecture Library and University Map Library will close at 4:30. (That's Porter at left, with the traditional Christmas tree on its roof; photo by Reemah Khalid.)

Many offices and services will close early, such as the Computing Help and Information Place, which will be packing it in at 4:00 p.m. Central stores will provide both morning and afternoon mail runs (with the afternoon run about half an hour later than usual) but advises that outbound mail and courier shipments should be ready for the morning run to be sure they’re processed and leave campus before the holiday.

The bookstore, Waterloo Store, Write Stuff, E-Smart and Campus Tech will be closed over the lunch hour today (11:30 to 1:00) but otherwise will be open until 5:00 for Christmas shopping and a head start on January textbooks. The Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield are open until 4:30. The residences are closed now, except for Columbia Lake Village, where some residents live year-round.

Today is payday for faculty, staff, graduate students and temporary employees on the monthly payroll. Employees can check their payroll information by logging on to myHRinfo. The next biweekly payroll, for CUPE members and casual employees, will be deposited in bank accounts on December 31. The human resources web site now lists information about 2010 payroll deadlines and pay dates. Human resources will be open until 4:30 today for employees who need assistance.

Custodial staff who usually work later in the evening will start today's shift at 4 p.m.

Most UW buildings will be closed December 24 through January 3, reopening on Monday, January 4. Buildings will be locked over the holidays, the UW police stress, and anybody who needs to get in will have to have made prior arrangements with the faculty or department responsible for the building.

Rick Zalagenas, director of maintenance and utilities, says building heat will be set back to night and weekend temperatures starting tonight, and most ventilation will be turned off. "The university is closed," he stresses, "and anyone who elects to be here should not be expecting normal services and temperatures." Zalagenas invites everybody's help with conservation, predicting "substantial" savings in utility costs — for example, turning off coffee-makers, office equipment and unused fumehoods. "And please make very sure all windows are closed before you leave."

Plant ops particularly urges people to turn off computers if they won't be needed before January: "Many people have the mistaken impression they have to be left on." A memo from information systems and technology elaborates on that: “Those using remote desktop to run applications they don’t have on their home computer need to leave their office computer on. However, it is not necessary to use remote desktop just to process e-mail.”

The UW police advise: "Do not leave any personal valuables or smaller 'attractive' items, such as laptop computers, radios and cameras, in the office or workplaces. These items should be secured in a cabinet or removed to home for safekeeping over the holidays. Also, prior to leaving your office, please ensure that you have secured all your windows and doors."

The safety office has told managers of laboratories what precautions they should take before they lock the doors and head out for a holiday break. A web page dealing with the Christmas and New Year's shutdown warns that, among other things, labs have to be prepared for the power going off during the holidays: "Due to winter weather conditions utilities, especially electricity, may be affected. It is a general rule that all laboratory processes be designed to safely survive a service failure." Emergencies can be reported to ext. 33793.

Back to top

At UW over these eleven days

From tomorrow through January 3, libraries will be closed. Retail stores will be closed. Recreational facilities (the Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield, both gym and arena) will be closed. Offices will be closed — and that means phones won't be answered and e-mail will pile up, unless individuals choose to check their messages from home.

This note comes from the distance education office (which will be the “Centre for Extended Learning” as of January 1): "For students who have enrolled in an online winter course by first thing this morning, the office will have mailed course materials by the end of the day. Students can look for a 'shipped date' in Quest. Materials for enrolments entered over the Christmas break will be processed and mailed beginning January 4." Update: production delay; course lecture CDs will not be sent until the first week of term.

The WatCard office is busy today de-activating fall term accounts (for things like residence room access) and loading winter term funds (so parents can be assured that their children have meal money). Students can check their WatCard accounts online over the holidays, but access to residence doors won't be activated until the new year, lest somebody should be tempted to pay an unauthorized holiday visit.

There will still be people on campus — some who live here year-round, some who drop in to take care of research priorities, some international students who can't easily go home. Accordingly, a major exception to the 11-day campus closing is the Student Life Centre. Scott Pearson, assistant manager of the SLC, writes that the building will be open throughout the holiday. The turnkey desk (519-888-4434) "will be staffed 24 hours a day with friendly turnkeys to provide assistance to those who stay on campus," says Pearson. "A hot pot of coffee is always on, along with some snacks and other beverages. Study rooms, piano rooms, board games are available. The large screen TV in the Great Hall will also be on — just ask the turnkeys to change the channel if necessary. Food Bank hampers are also available through the turnkey desk."

Downstairs in the SLC, the Student Health Pharmacy, Apple Hairstyling and Campus Dentist will be closed all through the holiday. SOS Physiotherapy will be open on December 29. The CIBC bank branch will be open weekdays through the holiday except for December 25 and 28 and January 1. The CIBC bank machines will be available at all times.

Grand River Transit buses will continue to make the rounds, with holiday schedules in effect some days. GO Transit and Greyhound will be in operation all through the holidays (again, weekend or holiday schedules apply on some days), and the Airporter will make its usual stops at the Student Life Centre. The turnkey desk sells tickets for the buses and has details on schedules (including the news that travel anywhere on GO will be free after 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve).

The Architecture building in Cambridge will be entirely closed on December 24-26 and January 1. On other days, students will have access to their offices and studios. The Melville Café will be open December 24 and 27-31 and January 2-3; the Riverside Gallery will be open December 29-31 and January 2-3. In Kitchener, the Pharmacy building and the rest of the health sciences campus will be closed to the public all through the holiday; faculty, staff and students will have access to the building and there will be round-the-clock security on duty.

Health services will be closed like other UW departments. "Students with medical problems over the holidays," says supervising nurse Ruth Kropf, "should call Telehealth Ontario, 1-866-797-0000, for medical advice. There is also a physician on call for health services, who can be reached by following the telephone instructions on the health services line, 519-888-4096."

Says a note from information systems and technology: "If you notice an outage of the campus network or any major IST-maintained computing facility, you can leave a voice message with the help desk at 519-888-4357 or submit a request online. Both will be checked daily." The Quest student information system and the library's catalogue and database will be available all through the holidays — "subject to unexpected system outages". (Quest support is not available — any issues that arise will be dealt with in January.) Also still in operation is the JobMine co-op job system.

All parking lots will be open and free throughout the holidays, except for lot D under Needles Hall and the ECEC lot at the PAS building. There's no need to put money into any pay-and-display machines. Students who live in residence and are leaving their cars on campus over the break should register with Parking Services and will be told just where to put the car, for the sake of snowplow operations.

Companies and services in the north campus Research and Technology Park will set their own holiday schedules. The TechTown Café will be closed December 25-28 and January 1, but the Columbia Lake Health Club will be open except for Christmas Day, with limited hours some days. The Education Credit Union and TechTown Dentistry will be open December 24 and 29-31.

Much of the holiday will be no holiday for the construction crews who are erecting UW’s new buildings. “There will be work going on at the Quantum-Nano Centre, Engineering 5 and Optometry,” says Daniel Parent of plant operations. Not so much will be happening at other major sites — Math 3, Engineering 6, Environment 3 — but “a few interior alterations throughout campus” will also be in progress where contractors want to keep going, he said. (Speaking of Environment 3, the screen capture at right shows Deep Saini, dean of environment, posing as Santa and overlooking the E3 construction site for his seasonal message to alumni.)

Back to top

Looking ahead to the winter term

Monday, January 4, is the first working day of 2010 for the university as a whole, but the campus will see life sooner than that, with residence move-in scheduled for Sunday, January 3, starting at 9:00. A letter to students, sent this week by university housing officer Chris Read, reminds them of concerns about H1N1 influenza and another contagious disease: “Mumps has been occurring in Ontario and UW has seen some cases of mumps this fall term. Please be sure your immunization is up to date. That means you must have had two vaccinations against mumps in your medical history. . . . We ask that you delay your arrival to residence if you have any contagious illness such as flu or mumps. Please be assured your room will be held for you.”

There are still some residence rooms available for the winter term, says Jennifer Ferguson, manager of admissions and marketing in the housing office. Residence cafeterias will open on the Sunday.

The bookstore, Waterloo Store, Write Stuff and E-Smart in South Campus Hall will be open from noon to 4:00 on Saturday, January 2, and from 10 to 4 on Sunday, January 3. Campus Tech in the Student Life Centre will also be open from 10 to 4 on the Sunday. The Feds Used Books outlet in the SLC will be open from 9 to 5 on both Saturday and Sunday.

Offices, athletic facilities and libraries reopen on Monday, January 4, and all food services outlets will be open. Classes for the winter term also begin on January 4, but students are reminded that fee payments for the winter are due by December 29, with late fees calculated starting December 30. (That's for payments by bank transfer or international wire transfer; cheques are late already.)

A new student orientation session will be held Wednesday, January 6, from 4:00 to 7:00 in the lower atrium of the Student Life Centre. Earlier that same day, an international student orientation session is planned, from noon to 3:00 in Waterloo International, Needles Hall room 1116. For both new and returning students, Ontario Student Assistance Program funding will be released by the student awards and financial aid office at its temporary outpost in the Tatham Centre, starting January 4.

Unofficial marks for the fall term started appearing on Quest yesterday. Instructors can submit final grades through the usual electronic procedure all through the holidays. Registrar's office staff will process these submissions, and e-mail notifications will be sent to instructors. The "fully graded date" for fall term undergraduate courses — when official marks are available on Quest — will be January 25.

This Daily Bulletin will return Monday, January 4. Any emergency announcements before that date will be made through a headline on the UW home page.

Back to top