Daily Bulletin

David Wright, chair of UW's history department, was found dead at his home on Saturday. I have no other details this morning. Bob Kerton, the dean of arts, called the news "a shock" and spoke of Wright's well-known collegiality and wit. Wright, who was 57, had been a faculty member at UW since 1969. He was a specialist in modern British history, and this term was involved in team teaching a new course on the history of sport.

Snow fell overnight, as you may have noticed. Result: on this "walking campus", as it's often called, there's four inches of white stuff on the paths and stairways. The full-time grounds crew -- two of them were at work outside Needles Hall this morning -- can't cope without student helpers, and "we still could use some," says grounds supervisor Les Van Dongen. The job pays $8.50 an hour. Anyone interested should show up any snowy morning at 7:30 ("dressed to work outside") at the grounds section in the General Services Complex courtyard -- near the smokestack. Shovels are provided. Questions in advance: Van Dongen can be reached at ext. 4010.

Lookin' in all the right places

And where might you find it? Allow me to present this list of ten places at UW that you can look for love. (And that's not counting the bulletin board in Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, pictured in this Bulletin last Friday.)

1. In Philosophy 201, a whole course on Love. The course description calls it "A philosophical analysis of different forms and functions of love. Among the topics to be considered: love and sexuality, religious love, love and knowledge. Classical and contemporary sources will be treated."
2. On a web page maintained by graduate student Yanni Ellen Liu, with some splendid examples of Valentinish ASCII art.
3. Among your classmates, judging from the latest issue of the UW Magazine, which contains news of five marriages between pairs of Waterloo alumni, including one couple who "met in their first term as frosh".
4. In the department of Spanish and Latin American studies, which offers Spanish 446, "Love in Medieval Spanish Literature".
5. In the Waterloo Christian Fellowship, which takes love to a more exalted level: "WCF is committed to being a community who follows Christ's command to love others. By serving those on our campus and by praying for them, people here at Waterloo can catch a glimpse of Christ's love."
6. In the Student Life Centre, where the Wellness Centre, a new service of the Federation of Students, will celebrate Sexual Health Week today with Sex Tac Toe, a sex quiz game, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students can test their sexual savvy or just pick up free chocolate hearts or condoms -- in such flavours as chocolate, watermelon, cherry, grape and vanilla.
7. At Conrad Grebel College's noon hour concert this Wednesday: the program offers "Liebeslieder", which is to say, love songs, with Catherine Robertson, piano, and Stephanie Kramer, soprano.
8. At Wednesday evening's "coming out discussion group" sponsored by the Gays and Lesbians organization, where the topic will be "Crushes and Infatuations" (7:30, Humanities room 378).
9. In the classic poetry helpfully collected on a web page by graduate student Jaspreet Ahuja.
10. And in the psychology research of UW's Michael Ross, who got considerable publicity last year for his study concluding that you might better let your roompartner pick your ideal mate.

Co-op at the bottom of the food chain

"What can you really do," she asks, "when your total work experience is as a cart jockey at a grocery store and three summers of odd jobs? Why would an employer want to hire someone with little practical work experience? Conventional wisdom argues that experience in the form of a senior student makes for a better hire.

"Not true, says Trevor Stephenson. This 2A Systems Design Engineering student proved to the naysayers that experience is one thing; attitude and preparation is another. As a junior co-op student, Trevor parlayed his interpersonal and communication skills into a challenging and rewarding job opportunity at Sterner Automation, a custom machinery engineering firm in Toronto.

Kimberly Lam (computer science), Paul Sant (physics) and Karen Howard (mechanical engineering) waited for interviews on Friday.

"Trevor was hired by Sterner Automation for the winter term of 1999. Initially, Trevor’s role in the firm was to offer support to the engineers and the office. He completed many different assignments around the office, from building on the corporate database, maintaining an environmental monitoring system for a client, and supporting software development for a machine that was being built by Sterner Automation. His ability to handle a diverse number of assignments so well impressed president Christian Sterner. When Trevor asked about interesting projects that the company had that would make a good work term report, Mr. Sterner responded by giving Trevor responsibility for a substantial project: to conduct a failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis of a machine designed by the company for a medical lab. Based on Trevor’s findings, Mr. Sterner notes, 'the engineers were able to make modifications to the machine' which was 'a very positive outcome to [Trevor’s] report.'

"Sterner cites Trevor's 'good problem solving skills, thinking logically, and showing initiative . . . as well as being creative and organized to complete the work.' In addition, 'he wrote the best cover letter we had ever seen,' Mr. Sterner says. Communication skills, though not usually given priority in hiring engineering students, are an important factor.

"Trevor believes that there are unique opportunities for junior students, and that there is a good reason for hiring them. 'I think that in a way my lack of experience was almost advantageous.' He explains that because the job was to provide support, it would not challenge a senior level student, but it would give a junior student tremendous exposure to the business."

Planning for hockey tournament begins

So much work, in fact, that Judy McCrae, UW's director of athletics, was making plans last week to sidle up to some of her department's retired staff at the Hall of Fame dinner on Saturday night and ask them to join in the project. There's a whole generation of expertise among athletics staff who retired in the late 1990s, and McCrae and her current colleagues want all the help they can get.

A hockey championship is a much bigger deal than a cross-country or field hockey championship, two events UW has successfully hosted in the past couple of years, McCrae says. Certainly the public interest is greater -- she describes the hockey championship as "a bit of a high-powered event", and an opportunity to show the fans that there's an alternative to Junior A hockey, which can be a dead end except for the very few players who move from there to the National Hockey League.

So that crowds are a possibility, the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union insists on having the games played in an arena that seats at least 5,000 people. That means only one thing in this region: Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. So the city of Kitchener is hosting the tournament along with UW, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph.

The organizing committee, representing the three universities and the city, met for the first time last week and started to divide up the responsibilities, McCrae says. From publicity to hospitality, there's lots to be worked on.

In its current format, the CIAU championship is a six-team tournament, and that's likely to continue, she said, although coaches will meet after the 2000 championships (to be played at the University of Saskatchewan) and talk about minor changes in structure.

"The possibility exists," McCrae warned, "that we're going to host the CIAUs and not be in it." The hope is that one of the three host tames -- UW's Warriors, WLU's Golden Hawks or Guelph's Gryphons -- can be selected, but that's not guaranteed. Certainly this year none of them will be heading to Saskatoon: "All three of our programs are younger and less experienced than our competitors," she says. Before two games on the weekend, the Warriors were at 9-12-1 and stood last in their four-team division.

The talk of the campus

The Math Grad Committee winds up its slave auction today. Some potential helots have been up for bids on the bulletin board, while others will find their temporary masters at a live auction at 4:30 this afternoon on the third floor of the Math and Computer building. Bidding starts at a modest $10.

Charlene Shaw of the student awards office sends word that will be of interest to students who applied for Ontario Student Assistance Program loans: "There are many unclaimed OSAP loan documents that should be picked up at the Student Awards Office, Needles Hall, in the next three weeks, or they will become stale-dated and nonnegotiable. Remember, to complete payment of your fees, you must pick up your OSAP loan document and take it to the bank."

And from elsewhere in the registrar's office comes a reminder that spring convocation is set for June 14 through 17. Intention to Graduate forms are due by March 1 -- to the registrar's office for undergraduate students, to the graduate studies office for grad students. Questions: undergraduates call ext. 5378, grads call ext. 2845.

And still more from those busy folks: "If you wish to transfer to architecture for the fall 2000 term, make sure you have completed an Application for Internal Transfer form, which can be obtained from the registrar's office, second floor, Needles Hall. Applications must be received by March 10."

Coming on Wednesday is a brown-bag session sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program. Counsellor Tom Ruttan, from the firm that handles many EAP referrals, will speak on "Get Your Life Back: How to Put the Brakes on Depression". The talk will start at 12 noon on Wednesday in Engineering Lecture Hall room 207.

Catching up on the in-basket, we come to the Teaching Matters newsletter published by UW's office of teaching resources and continuing education, and its regular column "Spotlight on Teaching Techniques". Featured in the most recent issue is Charlene Shannon, a graduate student in recreation and leisure studies, who's teaching Rec 408 ("Gender, Leisure and Family") and "wanted students to be challenged to do something other than academic papers and exams". With some help from Donna Ellis, the teaching advisor in TRACE, Shannon developed plans for a "creative project" that students then executed: "everything from songs about the impact of poverty on men's leisure to clay models (submitted with a mock newspaper article) depicting changes in women's sport over time".

And here's an announcement from Engineering Science Quest: "ESQ is pleased to offer our third annual March break science camp, March 13-17. This program will be offered to students in grades 1-6 and will run on a day-to-day basis, with new and exciting science and engineering activities planned for each day. The cost of the program is $40 per day or $175 for the week." There's room for a maximum of 30 students, and registration is by mail only. For questions, or to obtain a registration form, call ext. 5239 or e-mail directors@esq.

Finally, here's a reminder that the annual Federation of Students election (along with the election of three undergraduate student senators) will be happening tomorrow and Wednesday. Most students will use the usual paper ballots and ballot-boxes, which will be set up in the usual building lobbies. Students in environmental studies and independent studies, however, are being invited to vote on-line, through the Federation's web site. "If all goes will with this year's eVote," says Avvey Peters of the Feds' staff, "the Feds hope to move to a completely web-based balloting system next year."

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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