The R&T Park's new name was unveiled Wednesday, following up September's announcement that it would bear the name of former Waterloo president David Johnston, now Governor General of Canada. "New signs are being installed at the three entrances to the park," says manager Carol Stewart, "and the directory board will be updated in the late spring when two new buildings are completed. Today begins a new chapter for the park community, and we are all proud to move forward with this new brand that represents excellence, vision, and collaboration.”

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A spot in the top 100; a new budget; and more

The University of Waterloo is among the 100 universities in the world with the top reputations for teaching and research, according to rankings issued this week by Britain's Times Higher Education newspaper. The list, headed by Harvard, MIT, Cambridge and Berkeley, shows Waterloo and nine other institutions (from eight countries) ranked in a "91-100" grouping. Three other Canadian universities — Toronto, McGill and British Columbia — also made the top 100 list. THE has issued various ranking charts in previous years, but this one is the first to be based solely on "reputation" as judged by what the magazine calls "experienced university academics around the world". One-third of the ranking is based on teaching and two-thirds on research.

The senate finance committee will meet this afternoon (1:30, Needles Hall room 3004) to take a first look at the university's 2011-12 budget as proposed by provost Geoff McBoyle. A budget outline distributed in advance of the meeting shows that income is expected to go up by 5.7 per cent from the current year, largely because of enrolment increases, to reach $518 million. Similarly, spending will go up by about $30 million, with approximately $10 million of that money going to salaries and benefits (for both rate increases and new positions). Some of the rest goes to scholarships and bursaries, some to higher costs such as the utilities for new buildings as they open, but the largest share to new or expanding academic programs. The budget plan includes a 2 per cent cut to most departments' expenditures, for a saving of $4.3 million.

The "Great Canadian Appathon" gets going today at VeloCity (in the Minota Hagey Residence), offering students a 48-hour opportunity to develop a mobile game and potentially win $25,000. • It's the second and final day of the Graduate Student Colloquium hosted by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change (IC3, pronounced "ice cubed"), being held in South Campus Hall. • Srinivasan Keshav of the school of computer science will be on CBC television's "Marketplace" tonight talking about the hot-button issue of cellphone billing.

The year's second issue of Alternatives Journal, published in the faculty of environment, focuses on food issues, as demonstrated with a cover illustration (right) that would be a picture of a classically draped woman if it weren't, on close examination, actually a still life based on Chinese cabbage. The magazine's writers come from across Canada and sometimes beyond; this issue includes a brief item by Steffanie Scott of the geography and environmental management department, along with her co-chair at the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable. There's also a column from Robert Gibson of the environment faculty, who chairs the magazine's editorial board, lamenting "short-sighted" government policies over the use of non-renewable resources.

And . . . “I have heard rumours,” somebody writes, “that the university wants to shut Edcom down. Is this true?” Edcom is a slightly mysterious group of engineering students that, among other things, enforces order during orientation week, and has sometimes been described as intimidating. So dean of engineering Adel Sedra answers the question, in the latest issue of the Iron Warrior engineering newspaper: “No, this rumour is not true. I do not think the university is trying to ‘shut down’ Edcom. However, members of the senior administration have expressed concern about the dress and behaviour of Edcom, which they feel could intimidate first-year students. Edcom is a valued tradition within our faculty. During orientation week, these carefully selected and trained student volunteers are some of the hardest workers on campus. They are responsible for the complete setup and dismantling of engineering events, providing security for events across campus and ensuring first year students stay safe. The Engineering FOC leaders have been working with the faculty’s Student Relations Officer and orientation advisor, Meg Bauman, to create guidelines for Edcom to ensure orientation runs smoothly. The document outlines the purpose of Edcom, which will help all involved in planning orientation week understand the value of this role. I have assured the senior administration of the university that we will continue to work with our Engineering FOC leaders to ensure all first year students have a fun orientation week, safe and free from intimidation.”

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Staff member Ethel Spike is mourned

A funeral service will be held Saturday afternoon for Ethel (Ziegler) Spike (left), a staff member at the university since 1967, who died Tuesday after some months' illness.

She was "very well loved, very well respected," says a colleague in the department of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, where she served for the last 30 years of her Waterloo career. In recent years her title was administrative secretary for the department.

"She was always very upbeat, very positive, with such a warm smile," that colleague said, adding that the department includes some faculty members who had known Spike during their student days and considered her one of the best things about coming home to Waterloo.

Spike spent most of her working years in Engineering 2 building, but despite her illness was able to attend the official opening and celebrations when MME moved into the new Engineering 5 building late last fall. "She really wanted to see her office," and was confident that she'd be coming back to work in it, says departmental administrative assistant Donna Kellendonk. Spike was honoured with a 30-year service award as part of those celebrations in October.

She is survived by her husband, Ed Spike, a long-time laboratory instructor in the department of electrical and computer engineering.

Visitation will take place today, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home on King Street. The funeral service will be held there Saturday at 4 p.m., with a reception to follow. Memorial donations to the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre or Canadian Cancer Society are suggested by the family. Donations in her memory can also be made to the UW Recreation Committee, in which she was very active, through the Keystone Campaign.

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March break brings high school visitors

Ontario’s schools and families will observe March break next week, and that means a number of special activities at the university, including the Tuesday open house for potential students, known to old-timers as Campus Day.

High school students, their parents and their friends are welcome to visit the Waterloo, Kitchener (pharmacy) and Cambridge (architecture) campuses to find out about university life during Tuesday’s event. Overall hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The open house will take place as the decision about where to attend university next fall looms over high school students across the province. As they visit, prospective students will participate in information sessions and activities related to undergraduate studies.

"This campus-wide event gives applicants, parents and school personnel the opportunity to participate in activities that will increase their interest in and level of commitment to the University of Waterloo," says Kim McKee, manager of the visitors centre. "We also hope that this day will increase the number of applicants who confirm their offers of admission to Waterloo after they gain a more detailed understanding of university life at Waterloo."

The day will include campus and residence tours, a “student services fair” at the Student Life Centre, faculty sessions in appropriate buildings around campus, and information sessions about co-operative education, residence life and financing one’s education. More information is online.

"We are expecting between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors that day," McKee warns, "which translates into about 2,500-3,000 extra vehicles. Since Waterloo only has about 400 visitor parking spaces, we are encouraging students, staff and faculty to look into finding alternative ways of getting to school/work on event day so that parking spaces can be available for our guests. We are also looking at finding alternative visitor parking off campus. Parking services will have parking attendants directing traffic to lots in the following order: UWP, X and M. Once these lots are full, parking will be directing cars to open parking spots in all campus lots, as needed."

Also happening at Waterloo during March break:

• Engineering Explorations, tours and activities in the engineering faculty for students in grades 6 through 8. Details.

• Waterloo Unlimited enrichment program for grade 11 students, March 14-18. Details.

• Engineering Science Quest one-day camps at Stratford (grades 2-4) and Waterloo (grades 1-6) campuses. Details.

CAR

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