Daily Bulletin

Engineers let their tacky side show yesterday, as final-year engineering students dressed down for the Iron Ring Stag following the much more sober Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer.

Province gives building news today

A news conference is to be held at 2 p.m. in the Davis Centre "fishbowl" lounge.

On Tuesday Cunningham, along with provincial treasurer Ernie Eves, announced the first 14 Superbuild grants, totalling about $330 million, for universities and colleges in the Toronto area. That leaves about another $330 million for institutions in the rest of the province, and yesterday institutions in Ottawa and eastern Ontario got their share.

UW has asked for $39 million in provincial money for two projects. One is a "learning centre" at Renison College and St. Jerome's University. The other is the Centre for Environmental and Information Technologies -- primarily a home for the earth sciences department -- along with renovations to two engineering buildings and construction of new space for the co-op and career services department. Cunningham presumably will announce today whether those requests have been approved.

The Council of Ontario Universities said in a statement Tuesday night that Superbuild funding "will make a powerful difference to the futures of the young people of Ontario who will be seeking opportunities to attend our colleges and universities".

Paul Davenport, chair of COU and president of the University of Western Ontario, noted that "In the coming years, we will face a major increase in the number of students who will want to attend Ontario's universities, and this is the kind of bold initiative that will help to ensure that there will be a place for each of them. Government has taken an important step in demonstrating its commitment that there will be room for every qualified and motivated student on our campuses. We applaud the launch of SuperBuild and are grateful to the Government for undertaking this historic building program."

He noted that enrolment growth -- and most of all the "double cohort" of new students expected in 2003 -- will bring a need for more than just new buildings. "There is no doubt that Ontario universities will require significant increases in public funding for operating costs, capital expenditures and student assistance. This announcement is a further indication that our Government and the people of Ontario are committed to addressing this priority."

Science program with Humber proposed -- by Barbara Elve

Jim Sloan of the chemistry department, program advisor for the proposal, terms the move "a really good evolutionary step" for the science-environment program. Employers in the atmospheric business are interested in workers who not only have education in the theoretical aspects of the field, said Sloan, but also can operate instruments and do field studies in such areas as measuring smoke plumes or locating the sources of pollution.

Humber College's courses in Geographic Information Systems, for example, teach students to use software with sophisticated mapping capabilities useful in airflow studies. The college also offers courses in environmental sampling and cleanup, energy alternatives, air quality, water quality, energy and waste management, industrial hygiene, and hazardous materials and safety.

The idea to combine the UW and Humber programs came from Waterloo Advisory Council member Ken McMillan, who's also on an advisory board at Humber. After hearing Sloan speak to a WAC meeting about his research, McMillan suggested the Humber program as a possible complement. Sloan put together a curriculum proposal, which has been approved by the science faculty and by Humber. The joint program could begin accepting students as early as this September, with the first official class slated for September 2001.

Students could apply to the new program after completing the first year of the honours science-environmental program (global change specialization) at UW. After completing two years at Waterloo, students would go to Humber for the fall and winter terms of year three, and complete a Humber assigned co-op work term the following summer.

Because of the logistics of doing academic work at two locations, says Sloan, the students will be in a regular, not co-op, program at UW. Students will spend year four at UW, completing the core courses for the current four-year BSc program, and will return to Humber for year five, finishing the requirements for the diploma.

The union, says Sloan, is a "good fit." Neither school will have to add any additional courses for the joint program.

Graduates will be able to pursue careers in government environmental regulatory agencies, in the industries that have to comply with the environmental regulations -- such as firms in the energy and transportation sectors -- and with consulting companies.

The program is also a response to government requests for more environmental teaching, and for more collaboration between colleges and universities.

A similar initiative between UW and Conestoga College for a journalism program ended last year on a sour note, and the experience "has made us more cautious", Sloan admits. Safeguards to prevent similar difficulties have been placed in a memorandum of agreement between UW and Humber.

Campus links to federal 'boondoggle'

After weeks of opposition and media comments about a patronage "boondoggle", Human Resources Development Canada has now published some 10,000 pages of documentation about projects it funded over the past three years, under the major categories of Labour Market Programs; Youth Programs; Aboriginal Programs; Transitional Jobs Fund; Canada Jobs Fund; Human Resources Partnerships; Social Development Programs; Learning and Literacy; and Labour Programs. Among the results, according to the ministry: "over 30,000 jobs have been created in areas of high unemployment . . . over 300,000 young people have been able to have a first work experience or a summer job."

The fine print shows several cheques written to UW and associated agencies. Under Training, they include $828 to Renison College and $3,017 to UW itself. Under Youth, there's $29,814 to UW, $2,638 to the Federation of Students and $26,758 to the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group.

Political controversy has centred on 37 projects selected by auditors from a sample of files they examined in depth. The 37 involved grants to agencies ranging from the John Howard Society of Niagara to the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council in the Northwest Territories, as well as McGill University, the University of Prince Edward Island and Ontario's Fanshawe College.

In case after case, auditors found that the proper paperwork hadn't been done and there was no record of whether the promised jobs had actually been created. For example, one grant of $205,680 to Québec's Télé-Université was designed to "develop a training module which teaches participants how to design physical environments and good atmosphere. The module also includes child development. Fifteen hours of correspondence training is offered. Training material includes videotapes, manuals and access to instructor by telephone." Said the auditors: "None of the $55,830 in verified claims was supported with proper evidence."

After investigation, "Proper documentation to support the claims has now been provided. All expenses have been reviewed and are allowable in accordance with the contract agreement and meet the Terms and Conditions of the program. It has been confirmed that no overpayment to the sponsor will occur."

In a news release this week, Stewart said 33 of the 37 files had been "closed" after investigation. The remaining four projects "would benefit from additional examination, and I expect a report in the near future."

A few events, a few notices

Double U's, the coffee counter inside the bookstore in South Campus Hall, "will be undergoing changes for their new look", says Joanne Buchholzer of the food services department. The shop will be closed today and tomorrow, and also Saturday if necessary. (It's normally open on Saturdays during bookstore hours.)

Performances of the Potato People kids' show "Spud Trek" will continue today and tomorrow in the Humanities Theatre; curtain time is 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.

The computer science department offers a seminar this morning by Christian Collberg of the University of Arizona. He'll speak on "AlgoVista: A Search Engine for Computer Scientists", starting at 10:30 in Davis Centre room 1304.

The "Chew on This" series for co-op employers continues at noontime today, as the interview season for spring term jobs winds down. Today's speaker is Paul Kearney of the computer science department, talking ("Where Did I Put My Genes?") about gene research at the intersection of CS and biotechnology.

The statistics and actuarial science department offers a talk today by Enrique de Alba, based at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and currently visiting UW. He'll speak at 3:30 (Math and Computer room 5158) on "Forecasting an Accumulated Series Based on Partial Accumulation".

Also at 3:30 comes a talk in the physics department: Peter Holdsworth of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France, will speak on "Universal non-Gaussian Statistics in Correlated Systems", in Physics room 145.

Here's advance word that there will be a blood donor clinic February 28 and 29 and March 1 and 2 in the Student Life Centre. To save people's time, would-be donors can make appointments in advance; there's a sign-up sheet at the turnkey desk. More information is available from Canadian Blood Services at (888) 871-7201.

The information systems and technology department is offering several computing courses in March to UW faculty, staff and students. There is no charge for these courses. Most of the courses in February are World Wide Web based, and two of the popular courses from January are being repeated. Here's what's on offer:

• Creating a Web Page Using HTML
• Using Outlook Express as Your E-mail Tool
• Learning More About Unix
• Introduction to SPSS Version 10
• What's New in Windows 2000?
• Web Tools: FrontPage, Dreamweaver, GoLive
• What's New in Corel WordPerfect Version 9?
• What's New in Microsoft Office 2000?
• What New in SAS Version 8?
• Keeping Up With Your Research Literature -- Electronically

Among this week's requests from the Volunteer Action Centre: "A Spanish-speaking volunteer is needed to visit with an isolated senior whose family has recently moved away. If you can spare two hours a week, your time would help to brighten a lonely woman's life." More information is available from the VAC at 742-8610.

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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