Daily Bulletin

Space manager is appointed

Mammoth mistake "Come on!" said an e-mail message yesterday morning. "A mastodon is not a dinosaur!" A phone call from the direction of the earth sciences department made the same point: the new replica mastodon in the earth sciences museum may be taking up residence beside the dinosaurs there, but that doesn't make it one of them. I feebly responded that the author of the item probably thought of a dinosaur as anything large and dead -- which opens up a few interesting trains of thought in itself -- but basically, yep, that was a mistake. A mastodon is, indeed, not a dinosaur. Now what about a behemoth?

Williams will report to Gary Waller, associate provost (academic and student affairs), whose portfolio includes the tough decisions about how space in UW buildings is assigned. Her office will be on the third floor of Needles Hall, in the institutional analysis and planning department, phone ext. 6526.

"Marita brings to the position an extensive background of service to the university," Waller said in a memo announcing the appointment. "For more than 20 years she has worked in various administrative positions in the Registrar's Office. Her most recent position was Scheduling Coordinator, which involved managing the central classroom space, publishing scheduling reports and information, time tabling and scheduling courses, preslotting examinations, and developing the final examination schedules. Before coming to Waterloo, Marita worked as a supervisor at the Ministry of Colleges and Universities in the Industrial Training Branch.

"Marita, a published essayist, completed a BA degree at Waterloo as a mature student. Over the years she has been active in the UW Staff Association, having served on the Systemic Discrimination Review Committee, on the Inquiry on Staff Grievances Committee, and in the UW Conflict Intervention and Resolution Support Program."

Taking over from her as scheduling coordinator in the registrar's office is Charlene Schumm, formerly of the student awards section.

Sign up if you want to get paid

She adds a reminder that new graduate students (those who weren't paid in the spring term) and employees with temporary appointments of less than one year can sign up on September 8 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302 or on September 9 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1304.

Either way, everyone who is signing up for payroll should remember to bring their Social Insurance number and bank account information including a cheque marked "Void".

And one thing more: "The next cutoff for casual earnings is noon on September 14, with cheques ready after 1 p.m. on September 18 in the Human Resources office, General Services Complex room 130."

Ontario gives scholarship details

David Johnson, the minister of education and training, and Jim Wilson, minister of energy, science and technology, said at the University of Toronto that the money "will be available annually to Ontario universities offering graduate programs in applied science, biological and life sciences, and physical sciences. This represents an annual investment of $5 million from the province, and $2.5 million from the private sector."

"It is important that we encourage excellence, especially when it is excellence in high-demand areas such as science and technology," Johnson said. "Students need to be encouraged, and I believe that these graduate scholarships demonstrate the government's support for higher education." And Wilson said: "We need to keep our best and brightest here in Ontario, stopping the brain drain. These graduate scholarships will go a long way toward ensuring we have the skilled researchers we need to secure Ontario's success into the 21st century."

The government will finance two-thirds of each award, and each university will be responsible for finding private sector sponsorship for the other third. Each award will be worth up to $15,000. The exact amount of each award will be decided by the university, who will also select the recipient, the government said. Each university will be allotted a specific number of awards, according to its full-time graduate enrolment in science and technology programs.

Pixels in the big picture

The men's soccer team will play Conestoga College's Condors in an exhibition game on Columbia Field at 6:00 tonight. There was also to be a women's game at 4:00, but the athletics department advises that it's been cancelled.

The Carousel Dance Centre in East Campus Hall will hold an open house from 6 to 9 this evening. "Discover the Art of Dance!" says a flyer, pointing out Carousel's programs for dancers aged 3 to adult, in ballet, modern and jazz dance. "Carousel strives to develop the learning of skills and fosters creative expression in each child." More information: ext. 3147.

The local Volunteer Action Centre has a varied list of needs this week as always. For example: "Teach someone to read" with one-to-one tutoring for the Literacy Council; provide companionship three hours a week for someone being helped through life-threatening illness by the Hospice of Waterloo Region; "approach businesses for donations", such as furniture and equipment, for new receiving and assessment homes being opened by Family and Children's Services. More information about such challenges: 742-8610.

A PhD oral defence is scheduled for Friday morning:

Management Sciences. Jian Jiang, "Lexical Semantic Similarity and Its Application to Noun Phrases Retrieval." Supervisor, D. W. Conrath. Oral defence, Friday, September 4, 1998, at 10:00 a.m. in Carl Pollock Hall room 4335.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Yesterday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1998 University of Waterloo