Daily Bulletin

Thursday, December 4, 1997

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Towards a new student system

There's an open house today showing off progress on the planned Student Information System, in particular the SAS software from PeopleSoft that will provide the basis for it all. A general information session in Davis Centre room 1302 will begin at 9:30 and be repeated at 1:30; after each session, there will be an open house in the SISP headquarters, Math and Computer rooms 4018-19.

"Our intention is to give members of the campus community some sense of the product and how the project is proceeding," says Dave Mason, whose full-time job is in information systems and technology when he's not being the SISPmaster.

Just in case anybody's wondering what SISP is supposed to involve, I checked its web pages and found this summary of the project's scope:

The functions under review include: liaison and recruitment, admissions, financial aid, scholarships, graduate earnings, housing and residence, course scheduling, academic advising, student scheduling, registration, student accounts receivable, exam scheduling, marks processing, enrolment reporting, transcript production, convocation, enrolment forecasting, teaching activity analysis, teaching space utilization, tuition and grant estimation, as they pertain to the following constituencies: undergraduate and graduate, full-time and part-time, regular and coop, on-campus and distance education, university and church college(s).
Although the activities under review are of primary interest to the Registrar's Office, Graduate Studies Office, Institutional Analysis & Planning, Distance Education Office, Housing Office and the Faculties, there are other functions which need to be well integrated with the student information systems. These will include:

classroom bookings with other non-teaching type room bookings administered by the Registrar's Office, the Faculties, Athletics, the Bookings Office and others,
distance education materials management and assignment tracking with student scheduling,
student accounts receivable with financial aid, residence, student scheduling and registration activities,
research awards with financial aid activities.

The text goes on to point out that student information is used by many other departments on campus -- from the bookstore, which needs to order the right number of textbooks, to computing offices, the athletics department (for planning recreational activities) and the co-op department. There are even outside agencies involved, such as the Ontario University Admissions Centre, the government, and agencies that provide scholarship funds. No wonder it's such a long, expensive and complicated business.

More about December 23

I found myself being chidden yesterday (chide, chid, chidden, I think that's correct) for allowing yesterday's Gazette to say that UW "will be closed" on Tuesday, December 23. Yes, it's a holiday for all staff members; but no, it's not a holiday for faculty, so it's not "closed". I hear that the plant operations department has had a number of calls from faculty members who do expect to be here -- marking exams, finishing up research, whatever -- and want to make sure that buildings will be heated and ventilation turned on. The answer is yes; the shutoff of building systems for the long Christmas and New Year's holiday won't begin until the evening of the 23rd.

Student services group meets

There's a meeting this afternoon of the Student Affairs Networking Group, which has now lost its pronounceable acronym by changing its name to Student Services Network Group. Presumably Waterloo students don't have affairs -- no wonder they need services. Anyway, SSNG is a loose connection of people involved in matters to do with students at UW, and is chaired by Rose Padacz of disability services and Lynette Eulette of counselling services; it meets two or three times a term.

On the agenda for today's meeting (which starts at 1:30 in Davis Centre room 1331) are three main presentations: by Kelly Foley of student services, about the first-year transition program; by Heather Calder of the Federation, about the sexual assault assistance program; and by Jack Williams, director of counselling services, about critical incident stress debriefing.

I see in the minutes from its last meeting, in late October, that SANG (as it then was) had visitors from McMaster and the University of Guelph, hearing about peer development programs as they operate on those two campuses. "Students are hired to work in various university offices in front-line and administrative capacities," the minutes explain. "The students receive regular training and guidance, in addition to an honorarium."

Still time for crystal-balling

Tuesday's "campus-wide coffee break" drew a steady stream of doughnut eaters to the Davis Centre, and many of them did stop by the keyboards to make some predictions for WatNext. The idea is to celebrate the end of UW's 40th anniversary by making some predictions about what the place will be like by the time of the 50th anniversary in the year 2007. You can still get involved in WatNext through a form on the Web; it'll be there just until next Tuesday.

Today: music, writing, architecture

The choirs of Conrad Grebel College will give their annual noon-hour concert in the Davis Centre today; it starts at 12:15 in the great hall. Everyone is invited to listen for the first part of the concert, then help sing a few Christmas carols at the end, and the choristers say they'll be grateful for anything that can be done to keep the doors from clanging while the music goes on.

The English language proficiency exam will be given at 7:00 tonight in the main gym of the Physical Activities Complex.

The last Arriscraft lecture for this term will be given tonight in the school of architecture "green room" in Environmental Studies II, starting at 8 p.m. Speakers are Christine Macy and Sarah Bonnemaison. Their title: "From the organic to the orgasmic: the work of Filum Ltd. in tensile architecture."

Local volunteers are wanted

The local Volunteer Action Centre has these positions to offer this week:

Not A "Minor" Position #008-2160: You will be an important part of the team but you won't have to set foot on the ice. The Waterloo Minor Hockey Association needs someone with organizational skills to coordinate volunteer efforts and recruit new volunteers. This is a great opportunity to get involved in fun filled tournaments and meet enthusiastic young players and parents.
Climb On Board #121-2162: Epilepsy Ontario, Waterloo-Wellington is looking for dynamic, energetic volunteers to join their Board of Directors. This is a small agency and Board members are active participants involved on committees and with annual fundraising events. Join this committed group of volunteers and make a difference in your community.
Be A Driving Force #058-203: Be a driving force in the life of a senior. Help a local elderly person get to a medical appointment or assist them with grocery shopping. Reimbursement for mileage is available and the time commitment is completely flexible. Volunteers must be 20 years old.
www.designawebpage.net #031-2151: If you have the skills to design a Web page, then we have the outlet for your creative energy. Knowledge of HTML and access to other software are needed for this opportunity to put the title "Web Designer" on your resume. The agency will work around your schedule.

More information: 742-8610.

Engineering talk set for Monday

Coming to campus Monday is K. D. Srivastava, formerly chair of the electrical and computer engineering department at UW, then a vice-president at the University of British Columbia, and now "VP emeritus" there. While at Waterloo he'll give a talk, "Some Reflections on Engineering Education", Monday at 2:30 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1304. A summary of his planned talk:

Engineers are committed to the creation of new and improved devices, processes and systems for the society at large. Ingenuity, creativity, skill, appropriate use of scientific knowledge with wisdom are some of the characteristics of an engineer. Some hundred years ago, there were only "military" and "civil" engineers. Both were generalists. The profession has, however, evolved and the pace of change is accelerating. The dominant agents of change are the need to specialize while remaining flexible in a global economy, the impact of information technology and the justifiable concern for a sustainable environment. Is specialization compatible with flexibility in the workplace? As educators what skills should we be promoting? Graduates of today have to remain productive well into the next century. The speaker will share some thoughts on how several universities are responding to the challenge.

I note with interest that UBC has just finished running a new course on "Society and the Engineer".

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY December 4, 1975: Paul Meincke, who delivered the first lecture to a UW class in 1957, carries out his last instructional duty before retirement, administering an exam to systems design engineering students.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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