Pacific Institute founder gives lecture tomorrow

by Mary Anne Hardy.

Professor Peter H. Gleick, President of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California will be on campus Thursday, May 1 to deliver the Water Institute’s 2014 Distinguished Lecture.  The free public lecture will take place at 4:00 p.m. in Mathematics 3, Room 1006. On Friday, Dr. Gleick will be meeting faculty and student members of the Water Institute.

Gleick’s lecture will address “The Past, Present and Future of the World's Water”, and will review the three "Ages" in water, from early use through the industrial revolution, to what Dr. Gleick considers the ongoing transition to a sustainable water future. Dr. Gleick will discuss the core of our current challenges, including climate change, energy, agriculture, and ecosystems, and his vision of a sustainable future. The lecture will be broad in scope, but include specific solutions.

Gleick is a leading scientist, innovator, and communicator on global water and climate issues. Gleick received the prestigious MacArthur “genius” Fellowship in 2003 and has been named “a visionary on the environment” by the BBC. He was elected in 2006 to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He co-founded and leads the Pacific Institute in Oakland, one of the most innovative, independent non-governmental organizations addressing the connections between the environment and global sustainability.

Gleick is the author of many scientific papers and ten books, including the influential series The World's Water and Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water from Island Press, as well as A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy, released in 2012. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, where he received an MS and a PhD.

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New policy on grad teaching assistants

by Alice Raynard.

Please refer to the Secretariat and Office of General Counsel website for the newly established Policy 30 – Employment of Graduate Student Teaching Assistants, which was approved by the Vice-President, Academic & Provost on April 28. This policy is effective May 1, 2014.

This policy pertains to the employment of graduate teaching assistants at the university and the payment of those assistants at TA rate, which is set annually by the provost with advice from the Graduate Student Support Advisory Committee. The establishment of this policy does not alter the TA rate.

As the Secretariat and Office of General Counsel continues to review and renew the university's policies, updates will be published in the Daily Bulletin. All university policies can be found on the Secretariat and Office of General Counsel's website.

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Internationalization the talk of the town hall

The third in a series of mini town hall meetings on the implementation of the University's Strategic Plan was held on Wednesday, April 2 in the CEIT building foyer.

Speaking at the town hall were internationalization theme leads Nello Angerilli, associate vice-president, international, Drew Knight, director, global alliances, and Sue Horton, associate provost, graduate studies.

"We're developing a robust plan," Angerilli said in his remarks. "If you look at the overall goal, this is it: to become one of the most internationalized universities in Canada. The good news is, we’re on the right track."

The theme leads outlined the objectives for internationalization theme and fielded questions from the floor, from email, and from social media.

The questions included how to define internationalization, recruiting, and how the University can best select international partners to achieve its goals.

The livestream is available for viewing.

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Student association leaders pass the baton

The Federation of Students and the Graduate Student Association say goodbye to their incumbent executives today and will welcome fresh slates of leaders tomorrow.

For the Federation of Students:

Finishing their terms of office today are:

• David Collins, President;
• Natasha Pozega, Vice-President, Operations & Finance;
• Adam Garcia, Vice-President Education; and
• Devin Drury, Vice-President, Internal

Their successors are:

• Danielle Burt, President;
• Ben Balfour, Vice-President Operations & Finance;
• Stephane Hamade, Vice-President Education; and
• Maaz Yasin, Vice-President Internal.

For the Graduate Student Association:

Finishing their terms of office today are:

• Robert Henderson, President;
• Maryam Shahtaheri, VP Communications;
• Michael Makahnouk, VP Internal;
• Coleen Even, VP Student Affairs; and
• Matthew Gaster, VP External.

The successors are:

• Maryam Shahtaheri, President;
• Coleen Even, VP Communications;
• Sonia Rahman, VP Internal;
• Robert Henderson, VP Student Affairs; and
• Ghazal Memartoluie, VP External.

The one-year terms of office for the student executives are May 1 to April 30. Welcome aboard, or in some cases, welcome back!

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Internet Explorer security and other notes

This just in from Information Systems & Technology (IST): "On April 26th, Microsoft announced a critical security flaw with the Internet Explorer (IE) browser. The flaw was discovered as cybercriminals were using it to target organizations in the USA. The flaw affects IE versions 6 through 11 on Microsoft Windows. It is not known when Microsoft will provide a fix.

Given the criticality, it is recommended that IE users move to an alternate browser (such as Chrome or Firefox) and also set this as their default browser (Start > Control panel > Default programs). Until a fix is released for this issue, use of the IE browser should be restricted to cases where institutional applications (e.g. FORE) require IE for proper/full functionality.

Regardless of browser used, we encourage everyone to avoid clicking suspicious links in emails and to treat unsolicited phone calls offering computer support as fraudulent.

Windows XP users are advised to avoid the IE browser indefinitely as we do not expect Microsoft will be providing a fix for this issue on that platform. Windows XP users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to a newer, supported operating system as soon as possible."

Anyone with questions or concerns can contact the IST Service Desk via email or by calling extension 84357.

Human Resources has reported that Shirley W. Thomson died April 18. Thomson began working at the University in December 1997 and was a co-op advisor for arts, environment and architecture in Co-operative Education and Career Action. She retired in May 2010.

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