Daily Bulletin

Vocal fans helped carry the football Warriors to the Yates Cup on Saturday. Now the team heads for St. Mary's University to face the Huskies in the Atlantic Bowl -- one step from the national championship Vanier Cup. It's a long way to Halifax, but some UW fans will surely be making the trip. The Federation of Students has had to cancel plans for a bus, but Andy Kaczynski in the athletics department says any students or alumni who can get to Halifax on their own are invited to meet at the Delta Barrington Hotel for breakfast at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Athletics director Judy McCrae will be there with a block of tickets available for UW fans. (Photo by Barbara Elve.)

Colleges propose joint building

The proposal is sponsored jointly by St. Jerome's University and Renison College. It calls for the construction of "a state-of-the-art Learning Centre to include classrooms and consolidated library holdings. It would add about 2,400 gross square metres of new space, and 1,100 gross square metres of existing space would be extensively renovated."

Enrolment capacity would be increased by about 300 full-time equivalent students, the news bureau says. Making room for more students is the number one criterion in handing out money from the $660 million Superbuild allocation for universities and colleges.

UW is asking for a total of $39 million from the fund, the news bureau says. The university will need to raise a further $30 million for construction, furnishings, and maintenance endowment funds.

The other proposed project is construction of the long-awaited Centre for Environmental and Information Technologies. This building was approved in 1993 (as the "Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering"), detailed plans were prepared, and provincial funding was promised by the former NDP government, but cancelled in 1996.

The CEIT is to go on the site now occupied by B1 parking lot. Says the news bureau: " The multi-facility expansion would also include an addition to the Engineering 3 building, a classroom floor above the Engineering Lecture Building, and construction of office and interview space for cooperative education. The proposal would add about 25,000 gross square metres of new space, and would increase UW capacity by about 15% (2,600 FTE students) over the 1998-99 enrolment level."

"This application for funding is a crucial part of the university's plan for coping with increased enrolments, including the so-called double cohort expected in 2003," said provost Jim Kalbfleisch. "But it is equally important for accommodating more information technology students resulting from the ATOP (Access to Opportunities Program) initiative. We are very hopeful that the government will recognize the key role that Waterloo plays in providing top graduates in areas crucial to the province."

If government approval is received within the next few months, the university would hope to have the expanded facilities fully in place prior to the expected surge in applications in 2003, the news release said.

2,771 students in jobs so far

Naese says 4,194 co-op students were scheduled to be on a work term for the January-to-April work term, compared to 3,829 last year. Following the computer match, he said, 2,771 students had jobs, compared to 2,605 after the computer process last year. "These numbers include students who got a job through the initial round of employer interviews, as well as those who are returning to previous employers and those who are arranging their own employment."

Subtract, and you get 1,423 students still requiring work term employment for January, compared to 1,224 last year. "Although the number of students still requiring employment was higher than last year, there is a bright side to the story. Even though there was a 9.5 per cent increase over last year in the number of students needing employment for January, there was also a 6.3 per cent increase in the number of students who found employment."

Students still without employment have begun applying to posted jobs in the "continuous" phase of interviews.. The third job posting was available this morning. The last one will be posted November 29.

In a new initiative this term, Naese said, co-op field co-ordinators have been assigned to groups of first-work-term students who are still without employment. The students will be meeting their assigned co-ordinator today or Friday to discuss such things as the students' experience with the interview process, their ranking strategy, and the job situation. In addition, co-ordinators will also review and advise students on their resumés. Besides meeting these students, co-ordinators will remain in touch with them, offering job counselling and advice until they find employment, Naese said.

A final co-op note: work reports that were marked by co-op coordinators will be available for pickup tomorrow in Needles Hall.

President speaks at St. Jerome's

Formerly a professor of law, Johnston has written and served widely as a consultant on information technology, intellectual property law, securities regulation, and corporate law. Among his twelve published books and many public reports and scholarly articles are several on information technology and the law, including Computers and Law, Cyberlaw: What You Need to Know About Doing Business Online, and Getting Canada Online: Understanding the Information Highway (co-authored with his eldest daughter, Debbie, a lawyer).

He is special advisor to the federal ministry of industry on information highway matters. Before coming to Waterloo as president last June, Johnston chaired the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the federal government's Blue Ribbon Panel on Smart Communities. He has served as principal of McGill University and as the first non-American chair of Harvard University's Board of Overseers.

Johnston's lecture is the third in a series on information, technology, and society jointly sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Experience and the department of mathematics at St. Jerome's.

In his talk tonight, he is expected to argue that people today are living an era as stormy as the Industrial Revolution that gave birth to modern industrial and democratic society. Ours is the Information Revolution. Never before, he says, have we had access to so much information. But what are we to do with it? "How do we move from data to information to knowledge to wisdom?"

A news release promises that Johnston will explore these and other questions, such as, How do we build a more humanitarian society on a foundation of knowledge? What part can the university play in building a society where wealth creation, social cohesiveness, and individual political liberty reinforce one another?

The 17th season of free public lectures offered by the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience will continue through the winter. The roster of speakers includes John Wilkins, editor of The Tablet, England's most prestigious Catholic journal, and Nancy Nason-Clark, founder and coordinator of the Religion and Violence Research Team at the University of New Brunswick.

AHS can elect senator Nominations are requested (says a memo from the university secretariat) for the following seat on the University Senate. At least five nominators are required. One faculty member to be elected by/and from the full-time AHS faculty members, term to April 30, 2000. Nominations should be sent to the Chief Returning Officer, University Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., November 24. An election will follow if necessary. Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat, extension 6125.

Also happening today at UW

And the joint health and safety committee meets at 9 a.m. in Needles Hall room 3001. Among the agenda items: "Perfume poster and guidelines . . . Speed limit on University Avenue and Columbia Street . . . October 1999 injury reports . . . Designated smoking areas review."

From Jason MacIntyre in the retail services department: "For the first time ever, Techworx and the UW Computer Store will be celebrating 'Virtual Christmas'. Help us commemorate this futuristic holiday -- purchase from our new line of Sony electronics and computers on November 17, 18, 19, or 24, and save 15% ($200 off Vaio notebook computers); your Virtual Christmas purchase will be gift-wrapped and placed under our Christmas tree for pickup on November 25 -- Virtual Christmas Day."

A talk and demonstration happens at 1:30 today under the intriguing title "Life Tables: Interesting Ways of Thinking About Death". It's based on an instructional CD-ROM developed for Environmental Studies 200, taught by Roger Suffling of the school of planning. "The CD has sections which use video to show the relevance of life tables, and several field trips." It's currently being evaluated by both students and experts, "with improvements expected to be implemented in the new year." Today's session starts at 1:30 in Math and Computer room 5158.

Heads up, those who walk near the Davis Centre today. "Plant operations has Kitchener Glass coming to replace some windows," Peter Fulcher advises. "The windows are in general areas. Please use caution."

The second of two public meetings about the flexible pension plan program for staff and faculty will be held at 4:00 this afternoon in Davis Centre room 1304.

Thu Thao Le, secretary of the Vietnamese Students Association, writes: "The Vietnamese Students Association is holding a fundraising for the flood victims in Vietnam. Donations are greatly needed: as many as 600-700 have lost their lives, and thousands have lost their homes." A table for information and donations will be set up in the Student Life Centre each day this week, from 11:30 to 4:30.

The Arriscraft lecture series continues in the school of architecture. Speaking tonight, at 7:00 in the "green room" of Environmental Studies II, is Tim Scott of NASA Architects, Toronto.

It's movie night again for the Math Society. Tonight's films: "Mortal Kombat" at 7:00 and "Army of Darkness" at 9:00, in Davis Centre room 1302. "As always," writes organizer Dan Pollock, "2 bucks for two movies and a shot at some prizes in our trivia during intermission."

Looking ahead to Saturday, students are invited to spend the morning doing mathematics, and I don't mean their homework. Chris Small writes from the department of statistics and actuarial science:

The Big E and Special K Competitions are annual mathematics contests hosted each year by the Faculty of Mathematics. Anyone enrolled as a full time undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo can write one of the two competitions. The Special K is open to all first year students, and Big E to all other undergraduates.

There is no registration fee for participating in either contest. Students need only show at the right room about 10 minutes before the contests begin. This year, the Big E and Special K will be held in Math and Computer room 4059 on Saturday, November 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

For any additional information, you can contact me at ext. 5541 or by e-mail at cgsmall@uwaterloo.ca.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the normal Bernoulli Trials are a fun contest that Chris Small organizes every February. Last year, we decided to increase the fun by combining the pleasures of math with the pleasures of alcohol. It was a big success, so we are repeating the fun this term. The format will be a little different this year, since it will feature a warm-up relay.

If you are interested in entering, please let me know by Thursday, so I can buy appropriate quantities of liquid. The entry fee will be around $5.

We also need some non-drinkers, non-competitors to handle the questions and make sure that things do not get too crazy. These volunteers get free non-alcoholic drinks and refreshments. Again, please let me know soon if you want to participate in this way.

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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