December 18, 2002

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Action to help recruit women profs
Grebel president is heading west
This week's positions; other notes

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Joey Grimaldi, the first clown, born 1778

Of interest on the web

Record describes UW speech communication program
News release profiles winner of UW distance education award
Star reports on Ontario space crunch
Funding confirmed for Ontario computer network
Canadian science experts and the media
U of Winnipeg president 'forced to resign'
Globe says Perimeter gift is in doubt . . . Lazaridis angry
Perimeter physicist noted in Scientific American
Nipissing U marks 10th anniversary
UW museum pioneer talks about how games change
Training and Adjustment Board seeking skilled labour for this area
Federal funding for 'academic mobility' exchanges
'Building a civil society': This year's Killam Lecture

Action to help recruit women profs

Action is coming on some of the recommendations of the recent report on "Welcoming Women Faculty", and in many cases both sexes will benefit, provost Amit Chakma told UW's senate on Monday.

The senate spent more than half an hour discussing the report, which was issued in October and is now available on-line. It was written by a six-member committee headed by Gail Cuthbert Brandt, past principal of Renison College.

Attracting women faculty members "is a high priority item for a lot of people on this campus," Brandt told Monday's meeting. She noted that while "recruitment" was the original key word, the study is also about "retention", keeping women faculty once they come to UW. "If you establish a reputation of being a great place to work," she said, "it will be a lot easier to do the recruitment."

Support for the study and its recommendations came from all sides during the senate discussion. But Catherine Schryer, president of the faculty association, said she and her association's "status of women and inclusivity" committee are slightly concerned that good intentions won't be matched with concrete action: "We would like to see a plan."

Among the things Chakma said will be happening:

Appointment of a "coordinator of faculty recruitment and retention" to help departments share information about "best practices" in interviewing and hiring, and to help potential faculty members find schools for their kids, jobs for their spouses or whatever else might be needed.
A program of "bridge funding" so promising young faculty can be hired when they're available, even if a position isn't yet open for them. The math faculty is already doing that, said the provost: "Now the question is, can we do it for other faculties?"
Improvements to the parental leave policy, which have been approved by the faculty relations committee and are now being considered by other bodies. Maternity leave and day care are cited in the report as two aspects of working conditions that are important to young women considering coming to positions at Waterloo.
Start-up funding for young researchers -- of interest to men as well as women, and definitely in the works. Such funding will be accompanied by a reduction in teaching load during a new professor's first year, so he or she can get settled in and started on research work.

Also under consideration is some kind of program to fund temporary hiring of new professors' spouses if they also are qualified for faculty positions.

[Toews]

Grebel president is heading west

John Toews (left), president of Conrad Grebel University College for the past seven years, will leave his job December 31 and head back to California.

"We have family there," Toews noted this week as he took a brief break from "trying to clear my desk". Friday will be his last day in the president's office, and his successor, Winnipeg-based Henry Paetkau, will be on hand in the new year.

Toews is leaving administration, but not scholarship. Now 65, "I'm in good health, lot of energy," he said. "I hope to devote the next years to a series of scholarly projects."

For the next six months, he'll be taking a sabbatical leave that was actually due several years ago. He'll spend it at the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, which has one of the world's top libraries for research in religion. "It's a wonderful academic setting to work at," says Toews, who will start off by completing a commentary on the Biblical book of Romans, as part of a Mennonite series that's been under way for two decades. In working on Romans, Toews returns to the topic on which he wrote his PhD dissertation at Northwestern more than 30 years ago.

Other scholarly work lies ahead, including a series of articles on ancient Jewish law and the "Second Temple" period of Judaism. Also ahead will be formal retirement on June 30, when Toews and his wife will settle in Fresno, where they lived before coming to Waterloo in 1995.

"I'll be back periodically," Toews promised, calling his term at Grebel "a good seven-year run". He said he'll be here for the college's 40th anniversary celebrations in August and for the opening of its new building, now under construction, in October.

This week's positions; other notes

It's a week to Christmas, and lots of turkey is getting eaten daily. Today there are two opportunities on campus: the luncheon buffet continues at the University Club, and the Club also has a dinner buffet, 5 to 8 p.m., at $21.95. (Don't like turkey? Try the "baked sole with spinach and mornay sauce", or "roasted pork loin with a tomato and basil coulis".) Reservations: ext. 3801.

Today brings the second half of "Reducing, Releasing and Managing Anger", a noon-hour session by Dave Mackay of counselling services. . . . Graphics copy centres across campus will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today. . . . The weekly gay and lesbian discussion group has a seasonal topic today: "Home for the Holidays". The talk starts at 7 p.m. in Humanities room 373, with a social hour following. . . .

It's Wednesday, so there is a Positions Available list from the human resources department -- this week including three staff jobs currently needing to be filled:

Shipper-receiver, school of optometry, Centre for Sight Enhancement, USG 3, part-time
Executive assistant to the registrar, registrar's office, USG 8
Switchboard operator, information systems and technology (telephone services), USG 3, part-time

Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site. As always: "The University welcomes and encourages applications from the designated employment equity groups: visible minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and aboriginal people. For more information call ext. 2524."

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
December 18, 1956: The board of governors of Waterloo College Associate Faculties meets and is still discussing what kind of program to offer -- perhaps technical training with students going on to other universities for their degrees.