Daily Bulletin, Thursday, December 22, 1994

IT'S THE PENULTIMATE day of work in 1994 for most people at UW -- and the
very last day for those at St. Jerome's College, where tomorrow has been
declared an early start to the Christmas and New Year's holiday.  When
shall we three thousand meet again?  On Tuesday, January 3, 1995, as the
winter term begins and we all head back to work.

Tomorrow's Daily Bulletin, which of course will remain available on UWinfo
(gopher and Web) throughout the holiday, will have a full list of services
available at UW during the break, emergency phone numbers and other
information about what's still working when the university is closed.
It's as complete as can be produced with the information we've been able 
to collect, and is somewhat updated from what was in last week's Gazette.

BUDGET PLANS:  The provost and the president gave a year-end report yesterday
to a meeting of department heads and chairs, and took pains to say that
UW's many successes in 1994 are due not so much to its central leadership
as to the dedicated work of people all across campus, making the best of
ever more straitened resources.  The provost, Jim Kalbfleisch, remarked that
he might have wished to give departments "a better Christmas present" than
the 0.5 per cent temporary budget cut he recently imposed, but better a
temporary cut now than a permanent one next year.

Kalbfleisch also spoke briefly about the prospects for the 1995-96 budget.
Cuts are inevitable, he said, but "I would hope they could be kept to 1
per cent or below," which is a smaller slice than has been made in most
years lately.  ("That's not a promise," he quickly added.)  Kalbfleisch and
the president, James Downey, both noted the uncertainties that universities
face with an Ontario election pending and the federal government about
to make changes to its transfer payments to the provinces.

NEW BUILDING:  The planning committee for the new Environmental Science 
and Engineering Building has a meeting today.  On the agenda: discussion of 
whether UW should hold a formal design competition for the building, or 
just choose an architect based on reputation and interviews.  (Expressions
of "interest" from architectural firms were due at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.)
Closely related to that decision is the issue of whether the building is to 
be just a functional "box", or something of architectural distinction.  

The site (on and around the present parking lot B1) is a complicated one, 
somewhat overshadowed by the Davis Centre, and the new building needs to 
be linked to existing science and engineering buildings, so the design will 
be a challenge.  Planned is a building of some 90,000 usable square feet, 
about as big as the Psychology building, which would stand six storeys high 
if it just perches on the B1 site.  The design phase of the project is 
expected to start about a year, with groundbreaking tentatively scheduled 
for April 1996.  

BONSPIEL IS SET:  The 26th annual Hagey Bonspiel is scheduled for Saturday,
January 14.  "We have a new format this year," says Steve Cook of the
purchasing department, "the same amount of curling in half the time.  We
plan to begin at 8:30 and have everybody curled (two six-end games), fed
(lunch buffet by Kennedy's), and on their merry way (with a prize) by
2:30 p.m."  Tickets are $27; Cook can be reached at ext. 2027 or e-mail
scook@mc1adm.  The event is for staff, faculty and friends, "regardless
of skill", he maintains.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to John Miller, retired from Conrad Grebel College and
the religious studies department, but hardly idle, as his book The Origins
of the Bible has just been published.

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
888-4567 ext. 3004      credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca