No words can add to their fame, nor so long as gratitude holds a place in men's hearts can our forgetfulness be suffered to detract from their renown. For as the war dwarfed by its magnitude all contests of the past, so the wonder of human resource, the splendour of human heroism, reached a height never witnessed before. — Arthur Meighen, prime minister of Canada, 1921

Waterloo will pause to remember

Ordinary life pauses for a few minutes this morning as the University of Waterloo, and all of Canada, marks Remembrance Day, mourning the country's war dead and honouring those who, daring to die, survived, in wars past and present.

Says a memo from the provost: "In 2005, UW initiated the practice of observing a minute’s silence at 11 o’clock on November 11, Remembrance Day. I would therefore ask that, if possible, whether you are alone, with a group, or in front of a class, you take time at 11 o’clock on November 11th to observe a minute’s silence, remembering and honouring the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace."

As national leaders mark the occasion in Ottawa, local dignitaries will place wreaths at the Cenotaph beside Waterloo City Hall on Regina Street, and veterans will parade, in a ceremony that starts at 10:15 a.m. A wreath will be placed by two undergraduate history students, Amy Oakes and Conrad Berlinguette, on behalf of the university.

Ceremonies will also be held shortly before 11:00 at the Kitchener Cenotaph on Frederick Street, at the Cenotaph in downtown Stratford, and at three locations in Cambridge, including the Cenotaph on Queen’s Square a block from the Architecture building.

On the main Waterloo campus, a service begins at 10:45 a.m. in the Student Life Centre great hall. The service includes the traditional two minutes’ silence and multi-faith prayers for peace, as well as music from an a cappella ensemble and a group from the UW Concert Band, says Rev. Megan Collings-Moore of Renison University College, who is helping to organize the event along with other members of the chaplains’ association.

Across campus, the customary Remembrance Day service organized by the student Engineering Society will be held starting at 10:40 a.m. in the lobby of Carl Pollock Hall. Stuart Pearson, a civil engineering student, says the event will include music, “a few readings” and a video as well as a minute of silence.

The official date of the Remembrance Day commemoration is always November 11, the anniversary of the day in 1918 when the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War. Much of the imagery of the day is connected to that war, including the poppies, worn in lapels, that are sold by the Royal Canadian Legion as a fund-raiser. They recall the wildflowers that grow in the fields of Flanders, north Belgium, as mentioned in the poem by Lt.-Col. John McCrae of Guelph that is read at many Remembrance Day commemorations.

Back to top

Reputation in Maclean's still going strong

This year's “university rankings” issue of Maclean’s magazine appeared yesterday and confirmed that Waterloo’s reputation is as good as it ever was. Maclean's reported that the people it surveyed from the corporate and education worlds find this the “most innovative” university in Canada (now for 19 years in a row) and the “best overall” (for 17 years out of the 19 that the magazine has done that ranking).

Waterloo is also listed as the best at producing future leaders (13 years out of 19) and second in the country, behind McGill, for academic quality.

“It is gratifying to see that corporate and academic leaders have once again recognized Waterloo as one of Canada’s most innovative universities, the best overall and the leader at producing the leaders of tomorrow,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president of the university, in a news release issued yesterday morning. “The Maclean’s rankings, like many others, offer an interesting and relevant indicator against which we and others can measure excellence as well as develop strategies for future success.”

The reputational rankings are always Waterloo’s pride, but the university also ranks high on objective criteria, according to Maclean’s, which placed Waterloo third in Canada — the same as last year — among the 12 “comprehensive” universities it ranked. Two west-coast institutions, Simon Fraser and Victoria, took the top places as they did last year and the year before.

The 2009 winners also repeated this year in the other two categories of university: McGill among “medical-doctoral” institutions and Mount Allison among “primarily undergraduate” universities.

The rankings are based on a number of categories, and the magazine reports that Waterloo maintained its usual first-place ranking in two student-related categories — student awards, which measures the national and international awards students have won over a five-year period, and scholarships and bursaries, measured as a percentage of university budgets.

Waterloo finished first among comprehensive universities in social sciences and humanities grants — up from second place last year — as well as second in total research dollars and third in faculty awards and medical/science grants. “This is a well-deserved bit of recognition for our students and faculty, who contribute so much to the overall success of the organization,” provost Geoff McBoyle said in the news release.

But Waterloo was in the middle of the pack in student-faculty ratio, where Memorial of Newfoundland ranks first, and 11th out of 12 in operating budget per student, where Maclean’s gave a figure of $8,607 at Waterloo compared to $14,916 at first-place Memorial.

Maclean’s has been ranking Canadian universities for twenty years. The 2010 rankings issue is expected to begin appearing on newsstands early next week.

Back to top

A green roof and inside and outside gardens are features of the new Environment 3 building, and in a recent competition, students were invited to present proposals for how the space will be used. Winners, including this group, were recognized at an event October 26. Also unveiled was a composite design done by a professional landscape firm, incorporating elements from several of the student projects. A key feature intended for the south garden is a central "teaching circle" with stones for sitting.

Honours for staff; art gallery reception

A reception this afternoon will honour hundreds of staff members who are reaching round-number anniversaries at Waterloo this year: those who started work in 2005 (a total of 82 people), 2000 (75 people), 1995 (24 people), 1990 (53 people), 1980 (46 people), 1970 (16 people) and 1965 (one person, Heidi Bishop of food services). (Those whose starting date was 1985 or 1975 were recognized earlier this year at the 25-Year Club and 35-Year Club gala, along with employees of the same vintage from the faculty and unionized groups.) The by-invitation reception is happening from 4 to 6 p.m. in South Campus Hall, and a full list of those honoured is on the human resources department's web site.

Imprint Publications, the corporation responsible for Waterloo's main student newspaper, is looking for two students to join its board of directors. • The turnkey desk in the Student Life Centre now sells discount movie tickets for the new Empire Theatres on Ira Needles Boulevard in west Waterloo, along with other local screens. • Sue Fraser, organizer of social events for the staff association, says 43 people are booked for the shopping excursion to Erie, Pennsylvania, this weekend.

And . . . two new exhibitions will open with a reception tonight in the university’s art gallery in East Campus Hall. The celebration for shows by Derek Sullivan and Patrick Cull will run from 5 to 8 p.m. Both exhibitions are scheduled to continue until December 18. Says a publicity release from the gallery, which has lately been rebranded as UWAG:

“Derek Sullivan’s artwork is predicated on quotation. From Modernism to Conceptualism he samples and remixes the vocabulary of art. ‘It is More Difficult to Hit a Moving Target’ features several key works produced by the Toronto artist over the last six years including the significant installations ‘Endless Kiosk’ and ‘Manuscript for Wattle and Daub’, alongside a selection of his Poster Drawings, sculptural objects, textiles and print-on-demand books.

“Working in a variety of media, Sullivan's investigations demonstrate a restless and inquisitive nature that questions accepted notions of authorship and originality. As an artist, he quotes the work of his influences as a means of disrupting existing codes and continuously generating new forms and ideas. Derek Sullivan completed his BFA at York University in 1999 and his MFA at the University of Guelph in 2002. The artist lives in Toronto. Derek Sullivan is represented by Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto.”

Meanwhile, “Gravity Paintings is a body of work that Patrick Cull has produced using sign shop techniques and materials. Mounting carefully assembled layers of coloured vinyl directly onto PVC, the shapes are then precisely cut using a CNC router. Suggesting a collision between Hard-edge abstraction and the geometric designs of a Spirograph, Cull's work addresses many of the concerns of Post-painterly abstraction: flatness, optical clarity and the lack of gesture. Collecting eight works completed over the last two years, this exhibition marks the first significant survey of this Waterloo region based artist's work.

“Patrick Cull received his BA from the University of Waterloo and is currently pursuing his MFA program at York University. His work has been exhibited across Canada. His work is in several private collections and he is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including grants from the Ontario Arts Council and ArtSmarts. He lives in Kitchener. Patrick Cull is represented by Peak Gallery, Toronto.”

CAR

Back to top