Lectures, to rugby, to toga, to lectures

Today is JumpStart Friday for most of the first-year students involved in UW’s orientation program. According to the orientation web site, the day offers “a life-changing motivational guest speaker and a hilariously funny comedian”, not to mention six Waterloo faculty members with a reputation as top-notch teachers. it’s “a full day event designed to provide you, first year students, with fun and exciting activities that will help you be successful during the school year!”

The motivational speaker is Spencer West: “Using honesty and humility, Spencer shares the struggles he overcame after losing his legs at the age of five. Spencer has reached over 20,000 students with his encouraging words.” The comedian is James Cunningham, who “will motivate and entertain you while you learn key money management tips . . . laugh your pants off and learn how not to lose your shirt!” He’ll speak in the Humanities Theatre four times in the course of the day.

JumpStart Friday also includes a number of workshops: “The Best Kept Secrets of Success at uWaterloo”, “Off-Campus Living 101”, “Work Hard, Play Hard(er)”, “You  Have the Write to Impress”, and half a dozen others. The day also includes lunch. Registration for everything is at the Arts Lecture Hall.

Tonight, orientation continues with several large-scale recreational events, including math’s Search for the Legendary Pink Tie, a Science Luau, and engineering’s “Escape from the Zoo”.

Saturday starts with a chance to sleep in. But then comes Black and Gold Day, from 11:00 to 4:00 on the Columbia playing fields. Attractions include a carnival (“giant inflatables, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, wide sports games, live DJ, and a dunk tank”), free lunch, and a pair of Warrior rugby games, with the women’s team facing Guelph at 1:00 and the men’s team playing the Royal Military College at 3:00. The photo at top is from last year’s event.

There are multiple events on Saturday night, including the iconic toga party (“the World's Largest Gathering of People Wearing Bedsheets”) on the Matthews Hall green. It’s expected to draw thousands (and has received a noise bylaw waiver from the city of Waterloo). Alternatives include Saturday Night Live improvisational comedy at Federation Hall; “Game-a-Palooza” on the third floor of the Student Life Centre; Warriors Got Talent in a Davis Centre lecture hall; and Walk With the Titans (“a guided night tour of campus while learning rare trivia”) starting every half-hour from the toga party entrance gate.

And on the seventh day they rest. Classes begin Monday morning.

Back to top

Faculty reach 5-year salary agreement

Leaders of the university and its faculty association will formally sign an agreement on faculty salary levels this morning at a meeting in the provost's office. The agreement, announced last night, runs for five years starting May 1, 2010, when the salary settlement that began in 2008 expired. A memo about it from provost Feridun Hamdullahpur and the president of the association, George Freeman, is going out across campus this morning.

Says the memo: "We are pleased to inform the members of the faculty association and the campus community that a settlement has been reached between the FAUW and UW administration on the matter of a compensation agreement. The length of the agreement is for five years. Terms of the agreement regarding scale are: 0 percent increase in each of the first two years; 3 percent increase in each of the following three years. 

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank members of the bargaining team from each side — Prof. Metin Renksizbulut and Prof. Jock MacKay (FAUW); Prof. Bruce Mitchell, Associate Provost Academic and Student Affairs, and Prof. Alan George, Associate Provost, Information Systems and Technology (University of Waterloo) — for their long hours of meticulous work in bringing this important process to a successful conclusion.

"Normal merit and progress through the ranks will be applied as usual, and this year's adjustment due to merit and PTR will be applied as soon as possible, retroactive to May 1, 2010."

In late August officials were still saying that the salary negotiation process had ended in an impasse, with an arbitrator expected to make a final offer selection sometime this fall. But now there's an agreement, and under the longstanding Memorandum that governs faculty employment, it's binding on both the university and the professors.

A two-year salary settlement for the other large employee group, the non-union staff, was reached in May. It too provides for zero per cent scale increases in 2010-11 and 2011-12, but the usual merit increases. Both settlements come in the context of the Ontario government's two-year "freeze" on public sector salaries.

Back to top

Textile art in Cambridge galleries

Did you hear the yarn about the Main Street Bridge? Yep, the Cambridge landmark is wrapped in knitting this week, and around the corner the gallery in Waterloo’s Architecture building on Melville Street is also involved in a celebration of “contemporary Canadian textile art”.

It’s all sponsored by the Cambridge Centre for the Arts and Cambridge Galleries, the agency that manages the Architecture building’s Design at Riverside Gallery as well as the main gallery on nearby Queen’s Square.

The Riverside exhibition, with the title “FABRICation”, has been in place since late August, but will have its official opening tomorrow along with “Fibreworks 2010” at Queen’s Square and “KNIT camBRIDGE” on the bridge itself. “Opening comments” for all three events are scheduled for 3:00 at the bridge, which connects Melville and Water Streets in the stone-built downtown area of old Galt. Receptions will follow at the main Cambridge Galleries and at Design at Riverside.

FABRICation, curated by Esther E. Shipman, “features the work of established and highly regarded textile designer-entrepreneurs from across Canada, whose work bridges the worlds of art and commercial fabrication,” organizers say. “The focus of the exhibition is on designs referred to as ‘limited’ or ‘studio production’ works, meaning that they incorporate manufacturing processes and technologies, but are produced in limited quantities rather than mass produced. These designs are generally created within an art studio setting. Each of the studios is represented by several examples of their work, which provides an opportunity for a closer look into their individual design styles, products and collections.

“Textile design and manufacturing has a long and vibrant history in Cambridge, which inspired the development of Cambridge Galleries’ extensive collection of Contemporary Canadian Fibre Art and a myriad of ongoing textile-related education and exhibition programs at each of its galleries. Within that historical context, FABRICation links the ambitions of art and industry, and focuses attention on a lesser known sector of the textile world.

“Design at Riverside is one of the few venues in Canada dedicated to the display, discussion and celebration of limited and mass produced design. At its heart, design is the melding of art, function and accessibility, with research, problem solving, economics, technology and visionary insight thrown into the mix. Design at Riverside strives to present outstanding examples of design from numerous design disciplines and to encourage its audience to consider the essential role of design in our society. We plan over time to provide a forum for an extensive range of conceptual and realized work that explores the intersection of design with traditional and new materials, techniques and technologies, politics, innovation and commerce. Design at Riverside is also committed to the production of written and visual materials to accompany its exhibitions.”

Meanwhile, at Queen’s Square, Fibreworks is opening. “Canadian artists from coast to coast participate in this juried competition, now in its 13th edition,” the publicity explains. “This year's jurors, Catherine Heard and David H. Kaye, have selected works that truly represent the diversity and ingenuity of these artists.”

The Main Street Bridge installation (left) was organized by CCA artist-in-residence Sue Sturdy. More than 1,000 people, ranging in age from 4 to 103 years, have helped cover the bridge with creative knitting designs. “This colourful public artwork celebrates the rich textile history of the area and the resurgence of knitting as an exciting contemporary art form. Once the bridge installation is over, the knitting will be washed and sewn into scarves to be used for a fundraising event on November 25 with all proceeds going towards the Cambridge Self Help Food Bank, YWCA and the Cambridge Arts Guild (Cambridge Centre for the Arts).”

CAR

Back to top