Daily Bulletin

Fees, salaries, pensions Approved by UW's board of governors at its meeting yesterday: Tuition fee increases for 2000-01: 2 per cent in most programs, 7 per cent in computer science and engineering, 10 per cent in optometry Salary increases for staff, effective May 1: a 1 per cent hike in the pay scale, plus the usual merit increases A provision for early retirement through a change in the "actuarial reduction" of pensions A longer reduction in pension plan premiums paid by individual faculty and staff members and by UW. For the coming year, they'll stay at 25 per cent of the normal level; then they'll rise gradually, getting back to the normal level in 2004. Some 20 separate construction contracts for William Lyon Mackenzie King Village

Budget news: grads get 2 per cent

Those increases were negotiated between UW management and the Graduate Student Association, Kalbfleisch said as he presented the university's 2000-01 budget to the committee. It took less than an hour for the committee to hear his presentation, ask a few questions, and vote to recommend the budget to the UW senate and eventually the board of governors.

The budget is close to balanced, showing a deficit of $89,000 on total spending of $207 million for the coming year. "That's probably going to go up another $100,000," said Kalbfleisch, noting that calculations of how much UW will receive from the Ontario government's "performance fund" are subject to change.

Among points of interest in the budget as the provost went through it yesterday:

• Income from graduate tuition fees will be up about 10 per cent, although fee levels are rising only 2 per cent. Why? "I'm very pleased that our graduate enrolment has been inching upward," Kalbfleisch said. In addition, there are fewer and fewer students who pay fees under the old fee structure that was replaced in 1997 but is still available to students who were here then.
• Total income is expected to go up 3.2 per cent from the current year, but much of that money is earmarked, chiefly for increases in student aid and new faculty members to cope with the "ATOP" enrolment increase in computer science and electrical and computer engineering. Aside from the earmarked money, the real increase is about 1.9 per cent, the provost said.
• Extra money is being budgeted in the co-op and career services department ($100,000) and the student services departments ($200,000) to help them deal with larger numbers of students. Both those areas are funded from special student fees, the co-op fee (which is actually going down a little for 2000-01) and the student services fee (which would have gone down except for the decision to provide a budget increase).
• The cost of benefits for faculty and staff, particularly the health and dental plans, is pushing upwards by as much as 25 per cent a year, largely because of "government downloading and the increased costs of drugs", the provost said. He noted that the pension and benefits committee is planning "a very careful review" of the health plan this spring.
• The budget includes a 4.5 per cent increase in spending for library materials. Other costs include an expected increase in electricity prices, and a rent increase for 156 Columbia Street.

Workshops on teaching technology "During the last two weeks of April," writes Carol Vogt of the information systems and technology department, "IST is presenting a series of hands-on workshops aimed at course instructors or others supporting course development. These workshops, which are part of the Skills for the Academic electronic Workplace (SAW) program, will focus on technologies that you might use to present course material." More information and a registration form are available on the web. The workshops in this April session include Creating Web Pages for Academic Courses, Data Resources Online April, Marks Processing With Excel, Using PowerPoint for Classroom Presentations, Image Capture Applications, Mind Mapping Using MindMan, Creating Animations for Your Courses, Using WebBoard for Class Discussions, and Math and Stats Using Mathcad.

Resource guide for the community -- by Barbara Elve

To ensure area residents are aware of these advantages and more, the community relations office is preparing a new community resource guide to "showcase the full extent of UW's community involvement".

"UW is a friendly, open place -- not just for academics," says Nancy Heide, community relations coordinator, who constantly fields requests for information from area residents about university resources, including the optometry clinic, fitness assessment and nutrition counselling, even cancer and Alzheimer's research.

As part of the research for the guide, she's surveying department heads across campus about their community involvement through direct services provided to the community; departmental resources open to public use; cultural, entertainment or recreational programming; organized faculty, staff or student charitable giving and volunteer activity; and groups, centres and institutes. Respondents are also asked to categorize the communities they serve: local, provincial, national, international, business, government, general public, or other.

The results of the survey will provide information on "specific areas in which departments are reaching out to communities, either by communities coming to campus, or by faculty, staff or students going out into the community," says Heide.

While the new community resource guide is designed to benefit business, industry, and the public, the emphasis of this publication will be on reaching out to a more general audience, she adds. "Business and industry already seem to have good links with the university. We're well respected in the business and industrial community throughout the world. We want to let the average person know the doors are open, that there's no barrier between University Avenue and the Ring Road."

The response to the on-campus survey has been enthusiastic, and Heide hopes to see the free guide available through local service clubs, libraries, municipalities and chambers of commerce in the fall.

Positions available this week

University Policy 18 provides maximum opportunity for promotion of regular, internal staff members. Those interested in applying for an available position are invited to call Human Resources at extension 2524 for more information or are welcome to visit during regular working hours to view a detailed job description. Human Resources is located in the General Services Complex, Room 130. A current resume is required with your application.

Due to the number of applications received, we regret that we can not respond to external applicants who apply to the vacancies listed below unless an interview is scheduled.

If there are no qualified internal applications, a decision may be made, no earlier than seven working days from the job posting, to seek external candidates. All applications received after this decision will be treated on an equal basis, without consideration of the internal status of the candidate.

• Medical Secretary, Health Services, USG 4
• Geographic Information Systems Demonstrator, Mapping, Analysis & Design, USG 8
• Executive Researcher, Federation of Students, USG 6
• Research Assistant/Administrative Secretary, Management Sciences, WATMIMS, USG 5
• Administrative Assistant, Audio Visual, USG 6
• Admissions & Records Assistant, Registrar's Office, USG 3/4
• Mechanic I (Controls), Plant Operations
• Benefits Coordinator, Human Resources, USG 8/9
• Electrical Helper, Plant Operations
• Department Resource Manager, Electrical and Computer Engineering, USG 7

The Housing Dept. is accepting applications from UW students who wish to work casually as Cleaning Services Staff in Ron Eydt Village (REV). The positions are for a two-week period beginning April 17, 2000. This position may involve some heavy lifting. Please contact Peter Jordan at Ext. 5178, REV, if you are interested in applying. The rate of pay is $10.00/hr.for 36 hours per week.

A few other events and notes

The Employee Assistance Program presents an afternoon session today, 1:30 to 4:00, by Stephen Hotz of the University of Ottawa, on "Coping with Migraines: Tapping into Your Personal Power". "This presentation," says the flyer, "will enable participants to achieve a helpful understanding of migraine-related disability and appreciate the power (and pitfalls) of personal coping strategies. The aim of the workshop is to encourage migraine sufferers (or their significant others) to cope better with the limitations on functioning imposed by headache." Last-minute information should be available from Johan Reis of health services, phone ext. 5418.

"The Nature of Interdisciplinary Research" is the topic of a seminar this morning by an interdisciplinary faculty member, Paul Thagard of philosophy and computer science. He's speaking in the "graduate research skills seminar" series organized for CS graduate students. Following the lecture, some 14 participants will spend a couple of feverish hours doing high-speed electronic research in "the question game", with dinner at Janet Lynn's awaiting the first-place winner.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony performs in the Theatre of the Arts at 8:00 tonight. As yet another event marking the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, the orchestra will offer "A Bach Evening". Earl Stafford is guest conductor; Jerzy Kaplanek and Jeremy Bell are violin soloists.

The staff association has announced that it will offer not one but two wine tours this spring -- on May 27 and June 3, both Saturdays. Buses will leave Waterloo at 8:45 a.m. and get back about 8 p.m. after visits to six wineries in the Niagara area, with tours, tastings, lunch and dinner along the way. Basic ticket price is $70, from the staff association office in the Davis Centre.

And here's a reminder that nominations are due by this Friday for positions on the staff association executive committee for the coming year. The association is in need of a president-elect, a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer and two directors. The office (phone ext. 3566) can provide more information.

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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