Smiling for the camera: Dan Riskin (right), co-host of the Discover Channel's Daily Planet science show, interviews Josh Neufeld (left), associate professor in Biology, for a piece that airs tonight about the hundreds, if not thousands, of types of microorganisms that thrive on the human body. "Our healthy microbial inhabitants," Neufeld calls them. "We cultured microbes from our skin for this episode."

 

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Staff association offers student awards

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) is offering three student awards, each valued at $500. Two are aimed at undergraduate students, and one is being offered to graduate students.

One of the undergraduate awards is proudly sponsored and funded by the Education Credit Union.

Eligibility requirements are straightforward - the recipient must be a full or part-time student in a degree program at the University of Waterloo and must be either a member of the UWSA, or the spouse, child, grandchild, or dependent of a UWSA member.

More details about the awards are available on the UWSA website. The application deadline for the Fall Term is Monday, October 15.

 

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Exhibition puts names to numbers

The Waterloo Centre for German Studies (WCGS) is hosting the international travelling exhibition Names instead of Numbers, which contains twenty-two biographies from the Dachau Remembrance Book, a collection of personal stories from former prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany.

The idea of the collection, according to Klaus Schultz, deacon in the Protestant Church of Reconciliation, which is set on the grounds of the concentration camp memorial site, "is to make the names behind the numbers visible; to set a prisoner apart from the anonymous other ones and give him back his individuality."

The biographies were written entirely by project volunteers and include pictures and primary documents. The selection of stories offers viewers a glimpse into the lives of people with different nationalities, political, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

The exhibition has been installed on the second floor of the Modern Languages Building in the space occupied by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and is on display until Thursday, October 18. Names instead of Numbers can be viewed during the normal opening hours of the building.

Names instead of Numbers has been financed by the Bavarian State Office for Political Education, Bavarian State Chancellery, Bavarian Teachers' Association, Archdiocese of Cologne and of Munich and Freising, and the City of Dachau.

 

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Long notes for a short week

The School of Accounting and Finance’s (SAF) undergraduate Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program has received partnership status from the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), providing students with advanced preparation toward the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designation.

IIA is an organization which oversees the Internal Auditing Education Partnership (IAEP), as part of its Internal Audit Foundation Program in the education of Certified Internal Auditors in Canada. Students from the SAF’s AFM undergraduate program will now be able to take specified accredited courses to receive advanced preparation for the CIA designation exam. Along with their co-op work experience, these students would be well positioned to complete the final designation exam by the time they graduate. This accreditation will provide SAF students with broader opportunities for co-op experiences and career paths across the country; and will allow them to count time spent working in internal audit functions towards their CIA designation requirements.

Amid the rain of this past weekend, it's worth remembering that the summer as a whole was very hot and somewhat dry, according to the University of Waterloo Weather Station. "For the third summer in a row it was over a degree and a half warmer than average," writes weather station co-ordinator Frank Seglenieks. "That heat was also very consistent with only 3 days that were more than 5 degrees cooler that average." The maximum temperature reached in Waterloo Region this summer was 34 degrees, with an average daily high of 26.2 degrees. "In the UW weather station poll it was the least popular summer since I started doing the poll back in 2008," Seglenieks continues. "Typically, around 75 % of respondents would say the summer was either great or good, but this year only 42% voted for these categories."

But where are we now? September was another warm, but also a wet, month, with temperatures that were about 0.7 degrees higher than average. But the amount of rain Waterloo Region received on September 4, just under 40mm, was more than the entire month of July. Total precipitation for the month was 120.5mm, well over the long-term average of 87.5mm. "The last time we had this much precipitation in a single month was back in October of 2011 (141.9mm)" writes Seglenieks.

"The University of Waterloo has made the decision to close the Columbia Lake Health Club because of the need for space to accommodate academic programs," reads an official statement posted Friday. "As the university grows both in global reputation and in enrolment, availability of space to accommodate students, faculty and staff must be a priority." Arrangements have been made to leverage alternate opportunities for health club staff, and with other fitness club facilities in the area to present club members with new membership options.

The closure is effective December 21. More information is available on the health club's website. The TechTown Café is also closing, effective immediately. The TechTown building was donated to the University of Waterloo in August of this year.

And finally, the electronic poll for the Fall 2012 UWSA Board of Directors election opened at 7:00 a.m. this morning and will remain open until 5 p.m. on October 18.

The poll is online and voters will need their WatIAM user id and password to submit their vote.

Current UWSA president (and chief returning officer) Trevor Grove reports that there were no nominations for the President position and eight candidates for the five available Director positions. Biographical statements by the candidates are available online.

 

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