Environment 3 is under construction beside and atop Environment 2, as the webcam view (from the top of the PAS building) shows. And it turns out there’s more to say about who created the building than just the fact that Cooper Construction is responsible for it on a “design-build” basis. “Every building has an architect,” writes Rick Haldenby, director of the school of architecture, quoting a principle that’s being publicized by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. So I asked Daniel Parent of the university’s plant operations department — which is what I should have done in the first place — and here’s his official answer: “The architect for the EV3 Building is the firm Akitt, Swanson + Pearce Architects Inc. The engineers are from the firm The Walter Fedy Partnership.”

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Campus on the edge of a new year

The new term starts in September, and it’s still mid-August, but newcomers are definitely arriving. Walking across campus on Tuesday, I was stopped by a young woman who needed to ask directions. It turned out she was a brand-new graduate student who wanted to know how to get to the building that houses her department. “I found it before, but I lost it!” she said, laughing to hide what I suppose must have been something close to panic. Fortunately I knew how to get to the department: you just go back there, through there, turn left, skirt the construction site…

It doesn't seem that long ago that sending course materials to faraway students on CD-rom was the height of technological innovation — but things have changed. "Beginning this fall term, the Centre for Extended Learning will no longer automatically distribute Course CDs to students enrolled in online courses," says a memo from the centre's director, Cathy Newell Kelly. "These CDs contain copies of the lectures in UW-ACE. CEL will provide a method for easily downloading the same course materials through UW-ACE for free. We will continue to offer Course CDs to those who specifically request that these materials be sent to them (for a nominal handling fee). Students have been provided with instructions. Recent data collected from our students over the past six terms indicate that only 10% of online students find the Course CDs 'essential.' Over 50% do not use them at all. This represents a tremendous waste both in economic and environmental terms. Please note that all essential/required Waterloo Online course materials (including CDs/DVDs and print matter) will continue to be automatically distributed via the Centre for Extended Learning."

The Ontario ministry of research and innovation, which has shared a minister with training, colleges and universities, will stand on its own following Wednesday’s cabinet shuffle by Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty. MRI will be headed by Glen Murray, a former mayor of Winnipeg (and “nothing if not an ideas guy”, according to Adam Radwanski of the Globe and Mail) who won a by-election in a Toronto riding in February. John Milloy, the MPP for Kitchener Centre, remains at the helm of the TCU ministry.

There was lots of media attention yesterday to the Warrior football situation (a news story on the Canada.com web site, for example) and there was also a rumour going around that assistant coach Joe Paopao had jumped from Waterloo to the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks. WLU's athletics department explained the reality: "Paopao will be a guest observer for Wilfrid Laurier University to mentor the Hawks quarterbacks coach before the start of the Warrior training camp. The UW camp starts a week after Laurier's. This is an example of the two programs helping each other out which is common in football circles, and particularly between Waterloo and Laurier over the years. Head Coaches Gary Jeffries and Dennis McPhee have a tremendously supportive relationship as do Athletic Directors Peter Baxter and Bob Copeland which is somewhat unique in university circles given the schools' geography. The swim team and the pool situation is another example where Laurier varsity athletes and coaches trained at Waterloo." Meanwhile, Canadian Interuniversity Sports and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, with support from the Canadian Football League, announced new measures to study drug issues in football at the national level.

The DaCapo Chamber Choir, based at Conrad Grebel University College, is advertising season tickets for 2010-11, in which there will be three concerts (November, March and May). • Nancy Mattes, director of advancement in UW's faculty of arts, has been named to the reorganized board of directors for the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. • There had been plans to build a roundabout on Bearinger Road where it meets Hagey Boulevard, at the northern edge of the north campus, but the City of Waterloo has cancelled that proposal as a money-saving measure.

Several people from the co-op and career services department were in Toronto on Monday for an announcement of new funding from Industry Canada’s Small Business Internship Program. CECS has been responsible for the Toronto area, as one of 11 agencies across Canada that are helping to administer the program. It helps small and medium-sized enterprises across Canada improve their productivity and competitiveness by hiring approximately 400 student interns annually to help with information and communications technology projects. Some of the jobs go to Waterloo co-op students. Monday’s announcement was made at the office of Grasshopper Energy, a small business that has shared in the program’s funding. Carol Ann Olheiser of CECS spoke briefly: “We thank the Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism) along with Industry Canada for inviting the University of Waterloo to be present for this special announcement today. We are now in our second year as a delivery agent for Industry Canada and we are pleased to report that our success in securing job opportunities for post secondary students has been outstanding. We are thrilled to be asked to also participate as a delivery agent in the Career Focus program for recent graduates.“

Deaths of several retired staff members have been reported in recent days. Martha Kropf, who worked as a food services assistant from 1964 to 1982, died July 23. Ursula Nekon, a switchboard operator in what was then the "telephone services" department from 1971 to 1996, died July 27. Franz Dandyk, a carpenter in plant operations from 1971 to 1986, died July 28. John Wassing, a technician in the chemical engineering department from 1964 to 1988, died August 9.

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Web projects work toward 'accessibility'

"Two University of Waterloo projects are coming together to make the web a friendlier place for people with disabilities," writes Terry Stewart, director of information technology for the applied health sciences faculty.

It's another change that will result from two projects that have been working in tandem over the past few months. The Web Redesign Project, led by Sarah Forgrave, is working on a new web design — including information architecture — for the university’s web pages.  The Waterloo CMS Project, managed by Eva Grabinski, is implementing a web content management system to realize the Redesign project’s objectives.

While this work is going on, Stewart points out, "Legislative guidelines for web accessibility are being drafted for the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. These guidelines will apply to Ontario universities, and are being guided by the work of the World Wide Web Consortium, which publishes standards for accessibility: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 and Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. WCAG 2.0 covers the accessibility of the content on web pages. ATAG addresses the accessibility of the software used to create web pages."

He writes: "It is expected that the AODA will recommend that all web pages meet WCAG 2.0 Level A standards with some aspects of Level AA. While timelines and details are still being worked out, the legislation could be in place as early as 2011.

"In order to meet and hopefully surpass the AODA’s short-term requirements, the Web Advisory Committee decided at its July meeting to recommend that both the Web Redesign Project’s and the Waterloo CMS Project’s goal should be full WCAG 2.0  Level AA and ATAG 2.0 compliance. This will mean extra work in the shorter term, but significantly less effort in the longer term. 

"To meet Level AA standards, for example, font colours need to have high contrast ratios; all text must be usable at 200% magnification; and many other details. The CMS project will have to ensure that the content management system used to maintain web pages meets these standards as well.

"It is hoped that by setting this goal from the outset that UW’s web space can be one of the friendliest places for persons with disabilities, both in the product and in the production."

CAR

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