Open meeting for staff UW staff members are invited to air their views at a town hall meeting next Wednesday, October 10, from noon to 1 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302. Organized by the UW staff association, the meeting is open to both members and non-members, says association president Ed Chrzanowski. The town hall approach is a first for the association, he adds, and if successful, could be repeated each term. He's hoping the meeting will provide feedback from staff on a number of issues currently before the staff relations committee, including discussions on Policy 18 (promotions from within the university), compensation, pensions and benefits.

Nortel research chair launched today

Launch celebrations are scheduled for 11:00 in Davis Centre room 1301, when speakers will give details on "how this research project will provide significant benefits to Canadian industry and society as a whole", according to an announcement from UW's news bureau.

Named to oversee the work of the new research initiative are two UW computer science professors -- Ric Holt as senior chairholder and Michael Godfrey as junior chairholder.

St. Jerome's plans a theology program -- a news release from St. Jerome's University

Together, they honoured the life of John Sweeney, the recently deceased chancellor, and celebrated the educational accomplishments of the university's founding order, the Congregation of the Resurrection. They also helped launch a fundraising campaign for a graduate program in Roman Catholic theology.

Michael W. Higgins, president of St. Jerome's, announced leadership gifts and pledges donated by the Congregation of the Resurrection, Bishop Anthony Tonnos and the Diocese of Hamilton, and others totaling more than $370,000.

Seeking a chancellor St. Jerome's University is seeking a chancellor to succeed John Sweeney, a memo announces: "The new Chancellor will take office in the winter of 2002 for a four-year term. Duties include being a member of the Board of Governors, presiding at Convocation ceremonies, and chairing the Presidential Nominating/Review Committee. "Any member of the University community/SJU alumni is invited to send nominations by November 1, 2001, to Becky Thompson, Secretary of the Chancellor Nominating Committee, at St. Jerome's University or by e-mail to rthompso@uwaterloo.ca. All nominations will be treated in confidence."

In remembering Sweeney, who died on July 7, Higgins described a Catholic leader who "sought both in his public life and in his private life to embody the simple and radical witness of Jesus in his time and in his place".

The first recipient of the Award named in Sweeney's honour is the Congregation of the Resurrection. Sweeney worked co-operatively with the Congregation for many years as director of education for the Catholic school board and as the chancellor of the educational institution that they founded in 1865 in a log cabin near St. Agatha.

Deborah Pecoskie, chair of the St. Jerome's board of governors, described the manner in which "this improbable enterprise has been guided by the unique charism of the Congregation of the Resurrection: their belief that 'God calls us to work together for the resurrection of society.primarily through parish work and teaching'." She honoured the Congregation as "founders, leaders and teachers", and shared, along with Ken Lavigne, registrar of UW, memories and anecdotes of Resurrectionists past and present.

In accepting the Award on behalf of the Congregation (left), Provincial Superior Rev. Lorford Keasey announced the order's decision to further its educational mandate by supporting the proposed master's program in theology. This graduate program, which Higgins declared was designed to educate "at the post-graduate level those Catholic professionals eager to contribute their service and skills to positions of leadership in the Roman Catholic community", will develop in three phases as external funding is secured.

The first phase, requiring $600,000, will permit the program to be introduced; the second, which features a visiting professorship in the Roman Catholic tradition, will need an additional $400,000; and an endowment to support a Chair in Catholic Theology will require an additional $1.5 to $2 million.

The campaign for the first phase has already been supported by the Congregation with a pledge of $250,000 and by the Diocese of Hamilton with a further $100,000. An anonymous donor has given a further $23,000.

Higgins thanked representatives of the many Catholic school boards, hospital boards and social service agencies who attended, along with Bishop Tonnos, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Sisters of St. Joseph (Hamilton), for their contribution to extensive consultations during the development of the program. He also thanked Kay Sweeney and the many members of the Sweeney family in attendance for their support.

Size matters It looks as though UW is no longer the second-biggest employer in Waterloo Region, trailing the public school board. The university has fallen to a tie for #3, according to figures from Canada's Technology Triangle. Number of employees at the biggest local organizations, according to CTT: Waterloo Regional District School Board, 4,900 Manulife Financial, Canadian Operations, 4,510 University of Waterloo and Clarica, each 3,500 Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., 2,800 Grand River Hospital, 2,200 CTT's figures also include the Upper Grand District School Board, based in Guelph, with 3,000 employees. Further down the list is Wilfrid Laurier University with 1,380.

Ancient images inspire architect's art -- from yesterday's Gazette

Sliwka's talk is this week's presentation in the year-long series sponsored by the school of architecture, "24 Academic Positions", in which all the faculty members in architecture will be heard from.

Geometries of Creation/Conversations of the Heart -- two series of nine paintings by UW architecture professor Ryszard Sliwka -- opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, followed by a lecture at 7 p.m. in Environmental Studies II room 286.

"Conversations of the Heart," says Sliwka, "looks at the tradition of heart votives that dates back to antiquity. In parts of southern Italy, clusters of these silver votives inhabit the dark, candle lit walls of chapels or ancient sites." Dating back to pagan times, the symbol was adopted by Christians who used the votive to embody "a private plea for intercession, perhaps for fertility, a safe birth, or some relief form the ailments and miseries of life."

Sliwka finds "something poignant in these rivers of hearts that gives a dignity and emotional intensity to these walls. The paintings in this series," he says, "emerge as a kind of reverie on the unspoken presence of these votives. They are imaged as emotional and psychological landscapes of desire."

In Geometries of Creation, Sliwka explores "the early Christian mandorla (almond) or vesica piscis geometry as a threshold where the invisible communicates with the visible." The mandorla -- often associated with the shape of a fish -- also has pre-Christian roots, but the image created by the intersection of two circles was seen by early Christians as a symbol of "a bridge between heaven and earth."

Paintings in this series refer to the symbol's more ancient associations with the sea, "and extend it to include landscape, sky and horizon."

The exhibition runs from October 4 to December 12, with gallery hours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday; 2 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.

Notes in the autumn symphony

Here's advance notice that next Wednesday will bring a major event: a "work/study abroad fair" in the great hall of the Student Life Centre. Some 25 educational agencies and organizations will be participating in this event, representing institutions from the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. There will be a panel presentation in which employers and students will talk about international employment, culture shock, and related issues; "networking to follow."

Carole Hea, supervisor of the health services department, is leaving Waterloo, and in her honour there will be a retirement open house from 3:00 to 5:00 this afternoon in Health Services room 126.

Campus visits by representatives of teacher education colleges start today. Speakers from four institutions will be in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre: the University of Toronto at 10:30, Lakehead at 11:30, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at 1:30, and Ottawa at 2:30. A second round of visitors is due October 11. "Can't attend? Don't worry!" adds a note from the co-op and career services department. "Videos of all sessions will be available in the Career Resource Centre the week of October 22."

A cancer control seminar, sponsored by the Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, is scheduled for 1:00 today, but the speaker isn't the one originally scheduled. Now scheduled is Steve Manske of the CBRPE, speaking under the title "Research to Practice: Making It Happen". The session will be held in the Clarica Auditorium at the Lyle Hallman Institute.

The classical studies department presents a talk today by Susan Treggiari of Stanford University: "Marriage and Divorce, Roman Style". She'll speak at 1:30 in Humanities room 373.

The field hockey Warriors will host Guelph's Gryphons at 7:00 this evening at University Stadium.

The University Club will offer a Thanksgiving luncheon buffet tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., priced at $10.95 per person plus tax. The menu includes roast turkey (with herb and fennel stuffing), baked salmon with a balsamic glaze, dried cranberry and thyme wild rice, feta and vegetable strudel, and more than a few other things, leading up to chocolate glazed pumpkin cake. Reservations: ext. 3801.

CAR