That was last year's Homecoming. You can tell because the classes of years like '89 and '84 typically have reunions in a year that ends in 9. This year the emphasis is on classes from the years that end in 0 and 5, all the way back to 1965. Reunions are an especially active program in engineering, and the alumni office there sends word that "all engineering professors, current and retired, are welcome to attend." Details are online.

'Plenty to do' at Saturday's Homecoming

"You don’t have to be a Waterloo grad to enjoy Homecoming,” says alumni officer Chantel Franklin, as the university invites the local community to help celebrate with a barbecue tomorrow and a series of activities on Saturday. “This is a great event, especially for families with young children,” says Franklin. “There’s plenty to see and do, and most of our activities are free.”

Occupants of the university's research and technology park will hold a charity barbecue at TechTown, 340 Hagey Boulevard, starting at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Everyone is welcome to enjoy hotdogs and hamburgers, meet the men’s and women’s Warrior rugby teams and enjoy game-day music. Lunch is $5. Proceeds benefit the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation.

On Saturday, the community is invited to attend various free events, beginning at 10 a.m. with a family carnival on the Matthews Hall green. Special guest Curious George will greet young visitors, and a free book is available to the first 200 families. (There are rumours that president David Johnston, lately rebranded "Grandpa Book", will be there to help with storytime.) Kids can also enjoy games, bouncy castles, face painting and miniature pony rides. The Water Boys, a student a cappella group, will also perform. In case of rain, the carnival will move to the Student Life Centre.

At 11 a.m., the starter's pistol sounds for the 25th annual Applied Health Sciences Fun Run — one or two laps around the 2.5-kilometre ring road. Check-in begins at 9:00 at Matthews Hall. The inside lane of the ring road will be closed from 10 to noon, meaning vehicles can travel in a counterclockwise direction only (no left turns). This year, chip technology will record runners’ times. Local chiropractors Jaclyn Witt and Greg Lusk will offer complimentary post-race stretching, soft tissue therapy, and treatment for participants.

Renison University College's East Asian Festival highlights Korean, Chinese and Japanese culture from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can watch dance performances, visit the raffle table, try on kimonos at the interactive display booth, try their hand at origami, get their face painted, or try a specially prepared Asian lunch from the cafeteria.

At the same time, St. Paul's University College hosts its seventh annual Pow Wow, featuring traditional aboriginal music, dancing and food. Tickets for the Pow Wow are $5.

Impact Expo will be under way all day in the Davis Centre, winding up with a keynote talk by renowned economics lecturer Larry Smith. It starts at 3:45 in Davis room 1350.

At 1 p.m., the Warrior women’s rugby team takes on the Brock Badgers on Waterloo's north campus. The men’s team meets the Guelph Gryphons at 3 p.m. at the same location. St. Jerome's University will hold its Alumni Association Golf Classic during the day, and its Distinguished Alumni Award Dinner starting at 6 p.m. An open orchestra rehearsal will be held at 3 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. And there's more; a complete list of events is available online. Most events are free, and parking is free in lots A, C, M, N, R, W and X.

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Wing of E5 to bear Chamberlain name

A wing in the new Engineering 5 building will be named “the Savvas Chamberlain Family Floor” to honour a donor and former faculty member, officials announced Tuesday at a reception celebrating his $3 million gift to the Faculty of Engineering.

Chamberlain, formerly a professor in electrical and computer engineering, left the university to head DALSA Corp., an international leader in high performance digital imaging and semiconductors, which he founded in 1980.

In recognition of a gift from the family of Savvas Chamberlain to engineering's Vision 2010 Campaign, the E&CE wing in the new building will bear the Chamberlain name. The donation will support the engineering faculty's infrastructure program as well as provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, it was announced at Tuesday’s ceremony in the foyer of the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology.

“Savvas Chamberlain's early and pioneering work helped put Waterloo on the international map of microelectronics research," said Adel Sedra, dean of engineering. "Savvas has given a lot of his time over the last few years to ensure that the department of electrical and computer engineering continues to thrive and be among the best in the world. Now, Savvas and his family are continuing in this generous vein by making a substantial gift to the department."

Chamberlain founded DALSA based on extensive research in CCD (charge coupled device) technology and MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors) image sensors. He is currently chairman of the company's board.

Chamberlain holds the title of distinguished professor emeritus, and received a honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Waterloo in 2007. In 2004, he received the life achievement award from the Automated Imaging Association for his contributions to the imaging field. As well, he was named a member of the Order of Canada in July 2009. This year he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Under Chamberlain's leadership, DALSA has grown worldwide from few employees to more than 1,000 employees worldwide. As chief executive officer, he was responsible for corporate strategy, strategic technology direction and long-term planning, as well as setting the direction of the company’s culture.

Chamberlain, who holds 20 patents, has written more than 150 papers for refereed scientific journals and conference proceedings. He has contributed original research to textbooks on fundamental theory in his field.

Chamberlain continues to spearhead the engineering faculty, staff and retirees campaign as a co-chair and volunteer. He sits on the dean's advisory council and is the incoming chair of the dean's development council. The development council oversees the Vision 2010 Campaign, which so far has raised $75 million of its $120 million target.

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Gone to the Fair, and some other notes

A crew from the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office is in Toronto already getting things set up for Waterloo's presence at the Ontario Universities Fair, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I was at the Fair last year, and until that visit I could hardly have imagined how enormous it all is, with more than 100,000 visitors over the three days. "We expect to have 450-plus faculty, staff and students representing Waterloo at our new booth," says Jody Berringer of MUR. She says the booth has been two years in the making, with guidance from a committee, advisors from faculties and departments, and a team of architecture students who developed a "campus-within-a-campus" concept for the setup. "This approach," says Berringer, "would enable a team to engage with students on the perimeter of the booth, and inner pavilions would enable experts to build further relationships with students and parents." Architecture grads Diana Zepf and Steve Burrows were hired to work out the details, and The Taylor Group and Christie Digital have been involved in building and equipping it.

The Faculty of Arts is marking its 50th anniversary this year, with special events and other kinds of celebrations, including some reminiscing. “The big event is on October 22,” says Michael Steffler, special events coordinator in the dean’s office. “We are encouraging all alumni to return to campus to take a tour, visit their old department, stop by a favourite campus restaurant to catch up with old friends, etc. There is an itinerary online for visitors to take a look at suggested activities. The other event on the 22nd is the Staff, Faculty, and Alumni on campus reception at 2 p.m. There will be celebratory cupcakes and beverages (non-alcoholic), and the dean will be speaking before the premiere of the new arts video.” Meanwhile, he’s encouraging alumni — and others, including current students — to visit the anniversary website “and share a favourite memory about arts. You can also view a number of video memories and other features on the site.”

The professional development program offered by the university’s Centre for Extended Learning has partnered with bookseller Chapters Indigo to distribute its Professional Development Calendar. The fall 2010 issue is already available, free of charge, at both locations in Waterloo Region. “This is a first for us,” says Michael Hunt, associate director for professional development. “We’ve never partnered with an organization outside of academia in this manner before, so we’re extremely excited by the opportunity Chapters has granted us to access a larger public audience via their customers.” Chapters Indigo’s regional manager is also positive about the arrangement. “It’s definitely a natural fit for us, ” says Sean Bonnell. “We are committed to education and to our communities — that’s why partnering to distribute the Professional Development Calendars made complete sense to us.” Professional calendars and bookmarks will be available (left) at both the Kitchener and Waterloo stores throughout the fall, winter and spring terms.

In an e-mail message to staff members this week, the office of organizational and human development lets it be known that “principles of inclusivity” are coming to campus: “OHD is excited to announce the next speaker in the Fall 2010 component of the OHD Speaker Series. Sondra Thiederman, PhD, a leading speaker and author on diversity and bias in the workplace, will be speaking on the campus on October 20 on Inclusivity. Dr. Thiederman will help to launch the University of Waterloo’s Principles of Inclusivity. A workshop with Dr. Thiederman will follow in the afternoon to further explore the discussion topics, including how we develop a bias and steps to overcome such preconceptions.” OHD also announced that registration is open for its fall courses. Highlights include “Getting Things Done” and “Personality Dimensions with Work-Life Balance”.

And looking ahead, OHD is inviting proposals for the fourth annual Staff Conference, which it says will be held on April 6 and 7. “Proposals should be focused on our EDGE program (Educate. Develop Grow. Experience) and involve professional and/or personal development. The proposal should be sessions that are educational and interactive, that will include discussion, activities, and engagement on a specific topic.”

CAR

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