That pile of totes is totes high: while you might mistake it at first glance as a mountain of trash bags, this is in fact a pile of orientation kits, hand-stuffed by Orientation volunteers and distributed to the thousands of frosh who arrived on campus this week for Orientation. Many items in these kits are sponsored by Faculty endowment funds and local businesses, and include water bottles, a Waterloo lanyard, coupons, and faculty-themed items. Everything a first-year student needs, in other words.

As for trash bags, I'm sure there will be a mountain of them to clean up by the end of the week.

More details about Orientation Week follow below.

Photograph courtesy of Waterloo Orientation.

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Vote early, vote often - it's by-election time

by Jude Doble, Student Success Office

Today is the day to cast your vote in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election. Students have an important role to play in a provincial election as the provincial government has the most influence over post-secondary education in terms of tuition costs, financial aid and quality. With nearly 40,000 post-secondary students living in the Kitchener Waterloo riding, the student vote can be a powerful one.

There are ten candidates on the ballot for this by-election, called after longtime MPP Elizabeth Witmer left her seat to become chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Garnet Bruce, independent
• Kevin Clarke, People's Political Party
• Stacey Danckert, Green Party
• Eric Davis, Liberal Party
• Allan Dettweiler, Libertarian Party
• David Driver, Freedom Party
• Catherine Fife, New Democratic Party
• Elizabeth Rowley, Communist Party
• John Turmel, Pauper Party
• Tracey Weiler, Progressive Conservative Party

As a Waterloo student, you can vote in this by-election. Here’s what you need to vote today:

If you are a student living in Village 1, Ron Eydt Village, Mackenzie King Village, Minota Hagey, or any of the federated university and affiliated colleges, you can cast your ballot today in the Village 1 Great Hall, 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

You need to:

• Be 18 years of age or older as of September 6, 2012
• Be a Canadian citizen
• Reside in Kitchener-Waterloo riding
• Provide a government-issued photo ID and proof of residency. Please visit your residence front desk and they will provide a proof of residency letter for you.

If you are a student living in University of Waterloo Place (UWP) or Columbia Lake Village (CLV), you can cast your ballot today at MacGregor Public School and St. Nicholas Catholic School, respectively, from 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. You will also need to provide a government-issued photo ID and proof of residency, which you can get from your residence front desk.

If you live off campus, you will need to locate your assigned voting station, and bring a government-issued photo ID and a piece of identification that includes your name and local address, such as a lease agreement or utility bill.

If you have questions about the by-election, please visit the Feds website or contact Adam Garcia, Feds Vice-President, Education.

For staff and faculty who reside in the Kitchener-Waterloo riding and are eligible to vote, voting is straight-forward: take your Notice of Registration Card and one piece of identification that shows your name and address to your designated voting location. Detailed instructions are available on the Elections Ontario site.

The Ontario election act states that "every employee who is qualified to vote shall, while the polls are open on polling day at an election, have three consecutive hours for the purpose of voting and, if the hours of his or her employment do not allow for three consecutive hours, the employee may request that his or her employer allow such additional time for voting as may be necessary to provide those three consecutive hours and the employer shall grant the request."

How does that play out in practice? Regular staff whose working hours are 8:30 to 4:30 already have more than three clear hours at the end of the day before the polls close. Night shift staff should have that much time available earlier in the day. But somebody with an odd schedule — starting before 12 noon but working past 6:00 p.m. — would be entitled to extra time off in order to have a three-hour voting window.

Polls are open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

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Cañizares named Royal Society Fellow

Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Claudio Cañizares (right) has received one of Canada's highest academic honours by being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Cañizares was among the recipients of 11 medals and awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in several fields of research and scholarship.

"Recognizing the exemplary achievements of our humanists, scientists and artists is a national duty, said RSC President Yolande Grisé. "On this 130th anniversary of its establishment, the Royal Society of Canada is delighted to celebrate the talent, research and creativity of its 2012 award winners honoured by the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada with awards, medals and distinctions."

Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists.

"Claudio Cañizares has done pioneering work in the field of voltage stability analysis of power systems, which has helped electric utilities worldwide, understand and prevent voltage collapse," reads the Royal Society's citation. "He is currently working on various aspects of power system analysis, control and optimization in the context of Smart Grids, renewable resources, energy systems and competitive electricity markets. He is considered one of the top power engineering researchers in Canada."

The medals and awards will be presented at the Society's Induction and Awards Ceremony on the afternoon of Saturday, November 17, 2012 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

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Orientation Week continues

Amid all the other activities on this action-packed day, first-year students continue to experience Orientation Week in all its scheduled glory. A sample: AHS students get to experience The Plethora of Ultimate Lively Secretive Events (PULSE) at the Elora Gorge, while Engineering students will be treated to Junkyard Wars and a student team lunch on the V1 green before meeting the Tool. Math students will earn their ties in the MC, DC, and DC quad.

Today's marquee event is Monte Carlo night, a themed celebration that will see both the Physical Activities Complex and the Student Life Centre shut down. Billed as an "exciting semi formal night," Monte Carlo will provide first year students with an opportunity to try some casino games and sample delicious food and drink offerings from a number of campus establishments including the Bombshelter Pub and Campus Bubble. Entertainment includes multiple performances by the acrobatic group Aerial Angels, the Engineering Jazz Band and two uWaterloo a cappella performances. Two movies will also be shown at the event; one at 8:30 and another at 10:30. I had the opportunity to DJ a Monte Carlo event a few years ago, and it's quite the shindig.

Now, a Student Life Centre closure is a fairly rare occurrence, but even though the building is going to be closed to the general public from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., various holdouts such as the Turnkey Desk, which has a reputation for continuous openness to uphold, and the prayer rooms located in the SLC's lower level, will remain open. Tim Hortons will be accessible through the Ring Road doors.

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Experts discuss academic freedom; other notes

A distinguished group of Canadian and international experts have gathered in Waterloo this morning for a public discussion of academic freedom in the context of university partnership agreements.

Co-hosted by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, in partnership with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the Perspectives on Academic Freedom conference features speakers and panelists representing a range of viewpoints from the academic community in Canada and abroad.

The conference is taking place at the Waterloo Inn today from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will feature two panel discussions moderated by The Globe and Mail’s national affairs columnist, Jeffrey Simpson.

Other dispatches from near and far:

Human Resources is reporting that retired professor Philip Eastman, who started teaching Physics at Waterloo in 1963, died September 3. Eastman, who organized the Sir Isaac Newton (SIN) high school physics competition, retired under the Special Early Retirement Program in September 1996 as an associate professor. He was also the editor of WATtimes, the university's retiree newsletter. The visitation is being held today at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The funeral service will be held at Highland Baptist Church in Kitchener on Friday, September 7 at 11:00 a.m. Eastman is survived by his wife Wynne.

GO Transit users should note that buses departing the university and heading to Square One in Mississauga are all now departing 5 minutes earlier than previously scheduled, and additional Express service has been added on Thursdays and Fridays. All seasonal school service has been reinstated for the Fall term, extending to the upcoming Winter term as well.

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