University of Waterloo
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Thursday, September 28, 1995
Serfs up -- and away
Bad news, those who were looking forward to meeting author
Douglas
Coupland tonight and getting a copy of Microserfs signed. Hank
Ackema of the bookstore advises that Coupland has decided not to
show up in Waterloo:
"For those travelling to the event or for anyone who is upset by this
complete disregard by Mr. Coupland for his loyal fans, please contact the
offices of Harper Collins Publishers (the publisher of Mr. Coupland's
books and tour organizer) at (416) 975-9334."
United Way campaign starts
As you might have guessed from the double-page ad in yesterday's Gazette,
the 1995 United Way campaign on campus is beginning. Goal this year:
$160,000 from faculty and staff members (and a few student contributions)
to help 60 social agencies in Kitchener-Waterloo. They range from the
Central Ontario Develpmental Riding Program ("therapeutic and
recreational horseback riding for the physically disabled") to the
Salvation Army.
Tomorrow, Friday, has been proclaimed "First Dress-Down Day" of the
1995 campaign, the idea being that people feel free to wear jeans to
work instead of the usual, and give the United Way a couple of bucks
to pay for the privilege. "If you normally dress down," the ad adds,
"feel free today to dress up."
UW's president, James Downey, is honorary chair of the city-wide campaign
this year, and has a letter (on page 7 of the Gazette) that's worth
reading. He says in part:
We may agree that deficit reduction is a good general strategy, given
the lvel of our public debt, and certainly the people of Ontario gave
a strong mandate in June to the party that promised the clearest
action in tackling that problem. But if progress on the debt is
achieved at the expense of greater human suffering with its attendant
social fallout, then we will have only solved one problem by creating
an even larger and more intractable one. It seems clear to me that
if Canadians fail to invest more in charitable causes as government
transfers decline, then our last state as a society and as
communities within that society will be worse than our first.
The United Way campaign has
a Web
page accessible through UWinfo.
Greetings to any browsers!
There may be a few more off-campus readers of the Daily Bulletin
today. The Bulletin is described (and I'm interviewed) in a full-page
article in this week's issue of The Ragan Report, a newsletter for
communication executives, published in Chicago.
Associate provost will continue
Robin Banks,
associate
provost (academic affairs), originally took the
job on a short-term appointment, and has already accepted one extension.
Now the inevitable has happened, as the provost announced in a memo
yesterday:
I am delighted to report that Professor Robin Banks has agreed to
continue in his current position as Associate Provost, Academic
Affairs, to the completion of a normal five-year term on June 30, 1998.
Professor Banks brings a wealth of experience and common sense to
this demanding position. I very much appreciate his willingness to
serve as we enter a period of financial difficulty, and I know that
he will have your full confidence and support.
Seats available on senate
As I noted yesterday, "calls for nominations" for seats on the UW
senate are now being issued electronically as well as in print.
Currently
listed on the
Secretariat's home page
are faculty seats (at-large and applied health sciences) and an
undergraduate seat in applied health sciences.
Someone to eat with
Will you be hungry at noontime? "Just a quick note," writes Michele
Grondin of food services, "to let you know that the Warrior football
team will be serving lunch from 11:30 a.. til 1:30 p.m. at Brubakers
in the Student Life Centre." Oh, and it's Indian food from Vijay's
restaurant this week on the international table at Brubaker's.
Happening today and tomorrow
- The Midnight Sun solar race car team shows slides of Sunrayce 95,
at 12 noon in Davis Centre 1304.
- Richard Lint, chief executive of Citibank Canada, visits campus
today and gives a lecture for the school of accountancy at 3:30 p.m.
in the Theatre of the Arts. Topic: "Implications of Globalization in
Financial Markets for the Financial Services Industry in Canada".
- Avraham Sela, visiting professor from
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, will speak tomorrow on "State and Society in the
Middle East". He will talk about "state formation in the context of
Supra-National Identities, problems of new states and lessons of
violent conflicts", at 2 p.m. in Humanities room 178. Sela -- the
first visitor in what's intended to become a program of visiting
Jewish Studies scholars -- is sponsored by the departments of political
science and history.
- The St. Jerome's Charity Run, supporting the Global Community
Centre, will be kicking off tomorrow evening and continuing around
the clock until Sunday night.
Pay what you can?
The
UWevents listing
has been including this intriguing notice of a Sunday activity:
Free Live Improv Comedy Workshop ...
Cost: $1.00 (to help cover space rental.)...
"I think we need to drop the "Free" from the Title," suggests
Jeff Voskamp, one
of the organizers.
And finally, a celebration
Carl Straga, well known on campus as the Bell Canada installer and
serviceperson for more than a decade, today marks his 30th anniversary
on Bell's staff. There will be cake in the telephone services office
in the Physics building at 3 p.m.; friends are invited to drop by.
Chris Redmond
Information
and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
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