Ray Darling named University Registrar

"I am delighted to inform you that Mr. Ray Darling has been appointed as University Registrar," wrote Vice-President, Academic & Provost Geoff McBoyle in a memo distributed Friday. "He will take up his new position on March 17, 2014."

Darling holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Arts in Political Science, both from the University of Guelph.  Beginning his career at the University of Guelph in 1991, he took on roles responsible for academic advising, admissions coordination and project management until accepting the role of Associate Registrar in 1997, where he was responsible for admission services and graduate program services. In 2007, he was appointed as Registrar of Wilfrid Laurier University, where he was a member of the senior administrative team and implemented initiatives such as Service Laurier, a one-stop enrollment service at the university’s Waterloo and Brantford campuses. In addition to his registrarial duties, he has also served in a variety of volunteer and consulting roles including as Chair of the Ontario University Council on Admissions (2005), as President of the Ontario University Registrars Association (2008), and since 2010 as registrarial representative on the Technical Working Group on Credit Transfer of the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Throughout his career, he has maintained his interest in and exercised his enjoyment of teaching, and has taught a variety of courses in public administration at the undergraduate level.

"I am pleased that Ray has agreed to join the University of Waterloo team," McBoyle writes. "I would like to thank Nancy Weiner for stepping in to act as Interim University Registrar."

 

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Tuition, incidental fees set for next year

At its meeting on Tuesday, February 4, the university's Board of Governors approved tuition fee increases and incidental fee changes for the 2014-2015 year.

On the advice of Dennis Huber, vice-president administration and finance, the board approved the following framework:

Undergraduate students (domestic):

• Regulated programs (year 1) - 3 per cent
  
• Regulated programs (upper year) - 3 per cent
  
• Deregulated programs (year 1) - 5 per cent (with exceptions)
  
• Deregulated programs (upper year) - 4 per cent/5 per cent
  
• Deregulated AFM, Biotech/CA. CFM, Math/CA
  
  • Year 1 - 3 per cent
    
  • Upper years - 1 per cent
    
• Accountancy Diploma (all years) - 2 per cent
• Global Business & Digital Arts (all years) - 1 per cent
  

Graduate students (domestic):

• Specifically identified Master and Diploma Programs - 1 per cent to 3 per cent
• Research Master and PhD Programs - 1 per cent
  

International Students:

• Undergraduate programs - 4.2 per cent
• Undergraduate Mathematics, including CS, Math/BBA, CS/BBA but excluding Math CPA and CFM - 5.2 per cent
  
• Graduate programs except research programs - 4.2 per cent
  
• Graduate Master research programs - 3 per cent
• Graduate PhD research programs - 2 per cent
  Specifically identified Master and Diploma programs - 2 per cent to 4.2 per cent
  

The above figures are overall averages. There are scores of different fee levels, depending on what program a student is taking and what year he or she is in.

"I'm delighted we passed the student fees before the beginning of next term," said Vice-President, Administration & Finance Geoff McBoyle, in reference to last year's delay of tuition fee approvals until June 2013.

The Ministry of Training, College's and University’s new tuition framework was issued in March 2013 and applies to the 2013/14 to 2016/17 years. The framework limits the overall average tuition fee increase across all domestic programs to 3 per cent per year with other limits imposed based on program and year of study.

The Board also approved a 3.4 per cent increase to the Engineering Society fee, taking it from $14.72 to $15.22, a 100 per cent increase to the Society of Waterloo Architecture Graduates Fee, taking it from $10 to $20, effective spring 2014. (Don't worry though, Architecture graduate students approved the increase to this refundable fee in a referendum held back in October 2013).

The undergraduate co-op fee, assessed to students registered in co-operative education programs, was recommended to increase by 3 per cent from $616 per term to $634 per term, effective Spring 2014. In addition (or subtraction, if you prefer), the $25 per term portion of the fee which was previously applied to the Tatham Centre building debt was discontinued effective Winter 2014 because the debt was satisfied.

The graduate co-op fee was also increased by 3 per cent to $634 effective Spring 2014.

 

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Winter Olympics sites on thin ice, says report

This piece was first published on the Waterloo News page on January 22, 2014.

Only six of the previous Winter Olympics host cities will be cold enough to reliably host the Games by the end of this century if global warming projections prove accurate.

Even with conservative climate projections, only 11 of the previous 19 sites could host the Games in the coming decades, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo and Austria's Management Center Innsbruck.

“The cultural legacy of the world’s celebration of winter sport is increasingly at risk,” said Professor Daniel Scott, a Canada Research Chair in Global Tourism and lead author of the study. “Fewer and fewer traditional winter sports regions will be able to host a Olympic Winter Games in a warmer world.”

The study finds that internationally renowned Olympic sites, such as Squaw Valley (USA), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Vancouver (Canada) and Sochi (Russia) would no longer have climates suitable to reliably host the Games by the middle of the 21st century. With additional warming projected for later decades of this century, as few as six former host locations would remain climatically suitable.

The need for weather risk management strategies by Olympic organizers has intensified as the average February daytime temperature of Winter Games locations has steadily increased – from 0.4°C at Games held in the 1920-50s, to 3.1°C in Games during the 1960-90s, and 7.8°C in Games held in the 21st century.

“Today it would be difficult to imagine successfully delivering the diverse Games program exclusively on natural ice and snow, as it was in the early decades of the Olympic Winter Games,” said Dr. Robert Steiger of the Management Center Innsbruck.

Weather risk management will become even more important in the coming decades with average February temperatures in past Winter Olympic host locations expected to warm an additional 1.9 to 2.1°C by mid-century and 2.7 to 4.4°C in late century.

The study found that the success of the Games is often partially attributed to favourable weather, while poor weather is highlighted as one of the greatest challenges faced by Olympic Organizing Committees. Weather affects the ability to prepare for the Games and can directly impact outdoor opening and closing ceremonies, fairness of outdoor competitions, spectator comfort, transportation, and visibility and timing of television broadcasts.

The study also examines how technological advancements and strategies developed over several decades have been used to manage weather risk at the Winter Olympics. Technology like snowmaking, track/jump refrigeration and high-resolution weather forecasting are now critical components of staging a successful Winter Games.

“Despite technological advances, there are limits to what current weather risk management strategies can cope with,” said Professor Scott. “By the middle of this century, these limits will be surpassed in some former Winter Olympic host regions.”

The study provides an important opportunity for reflection on the long-term implications of global climate change for the world of sport and the world's collective cultural heritage symbolized by the Olympic Movement. It also reveals that for some cities and regions interested in hosting a future Winter Olympics, the time to bid for the games might be sooner than later.

Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images.

Read the full piece on Waterloo News.

 

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