Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Tuesday, September 8, 1998

Here they are, 4,000 strong
Store will lease you a computer
Senate executive meets today
Health note, key note, India note

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Notice from the registrar's office

Reminder: Late fees for the Fall term begin September 8, 1998. If you did not pay or arrange your fees prior to September 4, 1998, you may do so at the Cashier's Office, 1st floor, Needles Hall. The absolute last day to pay fees for the Fall term is September 30, 1998.

If you are an Undergraduate student, you are encouraged to submit your local address to the Registrar's Office. Address Change Notices are available in the Registrar's Office and in the Small Gym, PAC (Sept. 8-11).

Schedules and Fee Receipts are available for pick-up in the Small Gym, PAC from September 8-11 and in the Registrar's Office beginning September 14, 1998. If you are a part-time student, your fee receipt and stickers will be mailed to you. If you are a Renison College or St. Jerome's University student, you can pick up your schedule and fee receipt at Renison or St. Jerome's.

OSAP funds for Undergraduate students will be released from September 8-11, Small Gym, PAC and beginning September 14 in the Student Awards Office, second floor, Needles Hall. If you are a Renison College or St. Jerome's University student, go to the Business Office at Renison or St. Jerome's. If you are a Graduate student, go to the Student Awards Office, second floor, Needles Hall.

Here they are, 4,000 strong

It was a gorgeous day yesterday -- and there was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the ring road -- as most of the 4,047 preregistered first-year students arrived on campus. By day's end they had found out where the Villages are, unloaded their stuffed animals, met more people than they could remember, and finally settled down to get part of a night's sleep on the campus that's now home.

Today math students are breakfasting with the dean, arts students are getting ready for an afternoon scavenger hunt, engineers are marching proudly in their new hard hats -- in short, orientation is under way.

It's the first year for UW's new-style orientation, governed by rules that were established last winter by a joint student-administration committee:

"Orientation at UW is the opportunity for:

"first year students: to experience a balanced introduction to the social, academic and residential aspects of university life with the guidance and support of upper year students;

"upper year students: to develop their interpersonal and leadership skills, contribute to a positive first year experience and participate in a university-wide collaborative event;

"the University: to welcome entering students and showcase its Faculties, Colleges, support services, facilities and people, thereby fostering pride and connection to the University community."

The committee also set these "principles" to guide orientation planning:

Respect for individuals and groups and a sensitivity to each person's dignity and well-being;
Communication with all parties about matters important and relevant to them;
Collaboration among all parties so that the programming is not competitive but complementary;
Balance and moderation in programming that ensures Frosh are introduced to the academic, social, residential and community aspects of University life in a safe, fun and healthy manner;
Accountability among all participants for their actions and activities;
Acceptance for the differences of individuals and a commitment to refrain from any peer pressure or coercive actions which would cause students to act against their own self interests.

The big social event of the week is to come Saturday -- something billed as the "largest toga party in North America, maybe the world." The Warrior Toga at Federation Hall begins at 8 p.m. with students attired in bed sheets. It is being held on campus for the first time (previously at Bingeman Park), says orientation co-ordinator Heather Fawcett of the UW Federation of Students.

On Saturday afternoon, there's the annual football rivalry between the Waterloo Warriors and Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks at University Stadium at 2 p.m.

Other activities include a charity car wash, a carnival, barbecues, a chariot race, the Olympiad at Waterloo Park, and semi-formal Monte Carlo night on Thursday at the Student Life Centre to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

The new students will also attend performances of "Single and Sexy", a "collective play about sexual attitudes in the '90s." Performances today are at 12:30 (that's a change from the previously scheduled 11:00), 3:00 and 7:00; there will also be shows at 10:00 and 4:30 Wednesday, 1:30 and 4:30 Thursday, all in the Theatre of the Arts.

Somewhere along the way, new students will do any remaining academic paperwork, and they'll write the English Language Proficiency Exam in one of four sittings scheduled for Thursday in the Physical Activities Complex.

Store will lease you a computer

Here's how to have a computer on your desk without buying it: lease it from the UW Computer Store. The machine being offered is the "Academy" PC specially designed for university students (says here it's a PC-PII300mhz). The lease rate: $98.61 a month.

There are three possibilities, says Beth Alemany of retail services:

If you're living in Village I or Ron Eydt Village where you have ResNet access to the campus computer network, you can have a machine on an eight-month lease. When the lease ends April 30, you can return the machine, extend the lease for 12 to 24 months longer, or buy the computer. (Lease payments apply towards the purchase price.)
Off-campus students can lease a machine for twelve months, September through August, and will also need to get a modem installed. At the end of the lease, again, there are three options: return the machine, buy it, or extend the lease.
Individual staff and faculty members can lease a machine for a minimum of 12 months (and a maximum of 36 months, if they're full-time permanent employees).

Need a printer as well? Add an Epson 600 inkjet printer to the lease and raise the monthly rate to $109.85.

More information is available from the Computer Store at ext. 3518.

Senate executive meets today

The executive committee of the UW senate will meet this afternoon (3:30, Needles Hall room 3001). This is the committee that previews the agenda for each monthly meeting of the senate itself, the university's top academic governing body. The first senate meeting for 1998-99 is scheduled for September 21.

Agenda items this time round include the usual reports (doubtless the provost will have something to say about enrolment, the state of the budget, and the hopes of persuading the Ontario government to finance a modest expansion of high-tech programs at UW). Routine reports on faculty appointments and changes include these tidbits:

Gordon Slethaug, former chair of the department of English, now on leave in Hong Kong, won't be returning -- his resignation was effective July 31.
Two new faculty members are arriving in the faculty of engineering: Catherine Burns in systems design (her PhD was from Waterloo in 1992) and Yunhong (Norman) Zhou in mechanical engineering.
David Rudolph was named chair of the geological engineering program as of June 15, 1998.
William Cunningham became chair of the department of combinatorics and optimization on July 1, as Ian Goulden's term in that post ended a year earlier than originally planned.
New faculty members in science are Roland Hall and Mathilakath (Matt) Vijayan, both in biology.
John Hepburn became chair of the department of chemistry on July 1.
A new faculty member in mathematics at St. Jerome's University is Michele Mosca, whose BMath is from Waterloo (and whose PhD from Oxford will be finished shortly).
Among the faculty who have resigned and are leaving UW are James Smith (earth sciences), Charles Colbourn (combinatorics and optimization), Jo Ebergen (computer science), Lara Wolfson (statistics and actuarial science), Mary Louise Lobsinger (architecture), and Medhat Moussa (systems design engineering).

In a closed session at the end of the meeting, the committee is to discuss the naming of a UW building; the agenda doesn't say which one.

Health note, key note, India note

There's a new supervisor in UW's health services department. She is Donna McEachern, filling in for a year while Carole Hea is on leave. "Donna's first day was August 4 for Student Life 101," writes Barbara Schumacher, medical director of health services. "She jumped in with both feet running. After a day as courier between Health Services and Fed Hall, greeter on parents tour, and eavesdropping on our conversations with new students, Donna found the experience a great way to learn about Health Services and how we interact with the spectrum of student services on our campus." McEachern still hasn't had a chance to meet some of her colleagues; to make that happen, health services will be closed for a staff meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and will open for business at 9:30. "Our part-time staff will be catching up on the changes initiated during the spring term and reviewing our plans for the fall term," Schumacher notes.

Key control will be a busy place for the next little while, as new graduate students and staff members are issued with keys for their offices and labs. To help cope with the rush, supervisor Fran Towner advises that key control "will be open Monday to Friday over the lunch hour in addition to our regular hours", from today through September 25. "Hours for this period will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After September 25 we will be open Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m." Key control can be found in the General Services Complex, opposite the north entrance to the Davis Centre.

International news: the strike by professors in universities across India is over, Calcutta Online reports: "The nationwide 25-day strike called by college and university teachers was called off on Saturday. The teachers will join work from Monday, September 7." A meeting with the minister of human resource development led to an agreement on improved salary scales, though teachers aren't getting all they had wanted.

CAR

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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