Barbara and Jake Sivak will be remembered at Waterloo's school of optometry for many years to come. In a ceremony scheduled for 4:30 today, the school will dedicate its central lecture hall, Optometry room 347, as the Barbara and Jacob Sivak Lecture Theatre. The Canadian Association of Optometrists is helping make the naming a reality. Barbara (Werzkeig) Sivak retired from optometry in 2007 and died in 2008. Her husband, Jake, retired in 2009 after a career that included service as director of the optometry school and as Waterloo's dean of graduate studies; he was honoured last June as a distinguished professor emeritus.

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Warrior helps promote Ontario sports

A Warrior soccer player has been named one of six “Champions for Life” who will be the faces of an Ontario University Athletics campaign promoting the value of sports in preparing young people for life after university.

“The student-athlete is an integral part of a tradition of excellence, wherein aspiring men and women of the OUA succeed not only on the playing field, but also in the classroom as they prepare for life after university,” an OUA news release says. “In an attempt to keep the best student-athletes in Ontario for their post-secondary careers, four current and two graduated student-athletes will represent the Champions for Life campaign as they exhibit the qualities of both a champion of athletics and a champion of academics.

“The athletes featured in the Champions for Life campaign reflect the thousands of student-athletes in OUA. The skills they have developed throughout this process have uniquely prepared them for success beyond school as well as sport.”

The campaign — which features print ads, posters, web content and public service announcements — was created and designed by a Hamilton advertising agency, Albanese Branding & Communications. “Mastering the combination of academics and athletics at the university level is a significant challenge," says the company’s president, Jim Albanese. " Successful student athletes are among the most organized and committed and they know what it takes to compete."

The Warrior representative in the sextet is Austin White of the men’s soccer team, a final-year political science student. “Austin’s soccer career began in Waterloo at the age of seven,” the OUA release says. “He couldn’t have developed into the player he is now without his high school soccer coach. The motivation Ivan Persin gave Austin to work harder at his weaknesses allowed the defender to continue his education, as well as his soccer career in university.”

White has been a key leader with Waterloo’s Community Outreach program, says the release, and is also a member of the interuniversity council. He was on the Academic Honour Roll last year. “Being a student athlete has developed my leadership skills both on and off the field. It has taught me the value of work ethic and determination,” he says.

On the soccer pitch, he helped the Warriors earn their first playoff berth in five years in his second season at Waterloo. The centre defender also competed at the North American Championships in 2006 with the Toronto Lynx. In the summer of 2010, he played in the Canadian Soccer League as an amateur in a professional league with the Brantford Galaxy. “I love the game because it gives so much back to you,” said White. “Playing for my university has allowed me to meet a ton of great people and benefit from the experience provided to me. It has made experiences in university that will last a lifetime.”

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Honours, an elevator, and other notes

Tamer Özsu (left), a professor and University Research Chair at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and the school's director from 2007 until earlier this year, has been named a new Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Özsu was cited for "his contributions to distributed data management and multimedia database systems". Özsu, who did his undergraduate work at Ordo Dogu Teknik Universitesi (Middle East Technical University) in Ankara, Turkey, and his PhD at Ohio State, is currently on sabbatical at the National University of Singapore.

"Construction is now underway at the General Services Complex (GSC) for the installation of an elevator to make the second floor fully accessible," says a note from Neil Murray of the human resources department, whose office is at ground zero of the construction work. "The project is expected to take a few months to complete and alternate routes are clearly posted for visitors to Plant Operations on the second floor, and Human Resources on the ground floor. A ramp and buzzer have been installed to allow for access to the ground floor, and an alternate entrance is also located at the rear of GSC. Signage is now posted to direct all pedestrian traffic. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this phase of construction."

There could be a new role at Waterloo for retired faculty and staff members who want to stay involved. "We are exploring volunteer opportunities for those retirees who would welcome some continuing involvement with UW," says the president of the Retirees' Association, Shirley Thomson, in the fall issue of the association's newsletter. "Bud Walker, the Associate Provost (Students), has approached us to see if there would be interest among retirees to take part in various volunteer activities, interacting with current students and perhaps their parents." She says the possibilities range from mentoring and tutoring to family dinners or cooking classes. "As a next step, the UW staff will consult with students to determine their interest, and we undertook to solicit our retirees for an indication of interest, as well as suggestions."

Linda Nazar of Waterloo's chemistry department (right) is this year's winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Award, given by the Canadian Society for Chemistry. The award recognizes "a scientist who has made a distinguishing contribution to the fields of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry while working in Canada" — in Nazar's case, work at the nano level that has already led to the development of powerful new lithium-sulphur batteries. As the award winner, Nazar will receive a cheque and a scroll during next summer's 94th Canadian Chemistry Conference in Montréal, and has been asked to present a lecture at the conference.

Optometry faculty member Lyndon Jones has been named director of the Centre for Contact Lens Research, succeeding the retiring Desmond Fonn. • A "craft corner" in the Musagetes Library on the second floor of the Architecture building is offering exam stress relief: "wrap presents, make an ornament, work on a puzzle, play cards or just relax to jazzy Christmas music." • The UW Recreation Committee is offering staff and faculty members discount tickets and coupons for various attractions, including "Sesame Street" this Saturday at the Kitchener Auditorium.

Students at St. Jerome's University have been collecting non-perishable food items for the local Food Bank in a pre-Christmas drive that will wind up today. • A pair of exhibitions that have been in place at the university's art gallery in East Campus Hall since early November will be closing as of this Saturday. • The weather forecast for today at Waterloo's United Arab Emirates campus in Dubai is sunny with a high of 26 Celsius; no precipitation is expected in the next two weeks.

CAR

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