February 15, 2002

Friday, February 15, 2002

Average average steady at 84.2
Fellowship supports systems student
Many leave for reading week

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Ancient Romans celebrate Lupercalia today

Average average steady at 84.2

For the second year in a row, the average high school mark of first-year students entering UW was 84.2, says a report from the director of admissions.

The university-wide average was 84.2 in the fall of 2001 and 2000, 83.7 in 1999, 83.6 in 1998, 83.5 in 1997 and 84 in 1996.

"These data will be of interest in the next few years as students completing the new Ontario secondary school curriculum including modified grading enter Ontario universities," says the report, sent to the board of governors by admissions director Peter Burroughs.

He says the standard of students admitted last fall was "very high", and notes "a very modest increase in applications, a more substantial increase in our year one target and the continued high quality of our applicant pool".

Average marks in September 2001 were 78.2 for students entering arts, 80.3 for science, 81.0 for environmental studies, 82.2 for applied health sciences, 87.7 for mathematics, 89.5 for engineering and 92.0 for the new program in software engineering.

Another traditional way of looking at the quality of entering students is the percentage of them who are Ontario Scholars. There actually are no Ontario scholarships any more, but universities still count how many students met the traditional criteria of a high school mark (best six final-year subjects) over 80. The figure for UW this fall was 75.2 per cent, up from 74.9 the year before (but 77.2 per cent in 1996, clearly a bumper year).

For years now, Waterloo has ranked second in Ontario in the percentage of arriving students who are Ontario Scholars, behind only Queen's. Province-wide numbers for 2001 aren't available yet.

The percentage of Ontario Scholars ranged from 43.1 in arts to 97.5 in mathematics -- and 100 in the little software engineering program.

Figures from Burroughs's report suggest that women are gaining on men: this year 48.3 per cent of first-year students were female (2,304 compared to 2,467 men). Last year it was 45.3 per cent (1,947 compared to 2,349 men). Women make up as much as 70 per cent of the arts faculty but only 18 per cent of first-year software engineering students.

Fellowship supports systems student -- reprinted from Insights, UW's planned giving newsletter

When Mark Korhonen (below) chose the University of Waterloo to study Systems Design Engineering, he didn’t know what to expect from the program. "I chose Waterloo because of its great reputation, but everything else was unknown to me. I guess I wanted a bit of an adventure," he says. And it was this adventurous spirit that led Mark to become the 2000 recipient of the M. Chandrashekar Memorial Fellowship.

Mark Korhonen takes in the scenery at Mulu Park in Malaysia (a neighbouring country to Singapore). Mark arrived at the park after two days of hiking through a rainforest.

Due to the generosity of Dr. Muthu Chandrashekar (a UW systems design engineering professor from 1973 to his early passing in 1998), three substantial awards were created in the Faculty of Engineering for the benefit of students. "Shekar (as he was referred to by colleagues) was always deeply concerned about students," says Dr. Keith Hipel, a friend and fellow professor in Engineering. "He died quite suddenly, and it was a shock to all of us. It came as a pleasant surprise that his bequest was designated entirely to students and their learning."

Mark was awarded the M. Chandrashekar Memorial Fellowship for Pacific Rim Exchange Students in November 2000. The award goes to an undergraduate engineering student who participates in one of the active exchange programs between UW and overseas engineering schools in the Pacific Rim (including Australia and New Zealand).

Mark’s love of adventure is what led him to apply for an exchange program to the Pacific Rim. "I chose Singapore because I wanted a location that taught in English, but would still be a total culture shock!" But it was only after he applied for the exchange that Mark learned about the award. And did the award make a difference? Absolutely! While Mark was on exchange in Singapore, he missed an entire work term and the opportunity to earn money during that period. The M. Chandrashekar Memorial Fellowship enabled Mark to pursue his love of adventure without having to sacrifice financially.

After Mark graduates in the spring, he plans to take some time off and then work for awhile before returning to Waterloo to pursue a Masters. "I do hope that at some point in the future (years from now), I will go travelling to East Africa, Nepal, and Central/South America," he says.

The Chandrashekar Endowment was the vision of a caring professor who wanted to encourage learning and the enjoyment of learning. He would surely be proud of how his planned gift made a difference for this enterprising student.

Many leave for reading week

Expect the campus to get very, very quiet as the day passes. It's the last day of classes before "winter study period", otherwise known as "reading week", for two-thirds of the campus. There are no classes all next week in arts, science, environmental studies and applied health sciences. In the other two faculties, engineering and mathematics, classes continue Monday through Wednesday, and there's just a two-day break, February 21 and 22.

[Beer pitcher's almost empty]
The International Students Association has been an active group this year, with events including regular Tuesday night get-togethers at the Weavers Arms pub on Phillip Street. An outing to the Brick Brewery earlier this week provided exposure to an essential part of Canadian culture, and there have been trips to Montréal and Québec City, Georgian Bay and Niagara Falls lately. For part of reading week, they're off to Ottawa to see the sights and sleep in a hostel that was formerly a jail.
Reading week, otherwise known as "spring break", is an opportunity for trips of various kinds, including the famous Environment and Resource Studies 475 field trip to Texas and Mexico.

But spring break, otherwise known as "ski week", isn't exactly a vacation, even for students whose classes are cancelled all week long. For one thing, it really is supposed to be study time, and for another, the co-op job process keeps rolling along. Co-op students can preview their job ranking choices on the Access computer system starting later today, and paper copies of the ranking forms will be available Tuesday morning and have to be returned Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile . . . open meetings for faculty members about the proposed rules on layoffs and program closings, begin with one today at 2:30 p.m. in Carl Pollock Hall room 3388. Similar meetings are scheduled for next Wednesday (3:30) and February 28 (4 p.m).

The philosophy department presents a colloquium today by post-doctoral fellow Gerry Callaghan (2:30, Humanities room 373). Topic: "Logic as Calculus and Logic as Language: Frege's Answer to the Booleans".

There will be two more performances of the drama department's absurdist evening, "Absurd Person Plural" -- tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 in Studio 180, Humanities building. Tickets: 888-4908.

The Engineers Without Borders group will sponsor a "pedal generator workshop" tomorrow morning at 10:00 in the student machine shop in Engineering III. Says vice-president Ellen Kaye-Cheveldayoff: "We will be building pedal generators for our Engineering Week demonstrations of the Light Up the World Project."

Quest, the student inquiry system, is still down for an upgrade (isn't that kinda like being closed for the grand opening?). It's expected to be back in full operation Monday morning.

The basketball Warriors will host Wilfrid Laurier University's Golden Hawks tomorrow. The women's teams play at 12 noon and the men's teams at 2 p.m., both in the Physical Activities Complex main gym. Elsewhere, the hockey Warriors play at Toronto tonight, and the track and field teams are off to meets at Western and the University of Michigan over the weekend.

Electrical power will be shut off throughout the Optometry building from 5:30 to 7 a.m. on Monday, the plant operations department says. Advice: turn off your computer before you leave tonight.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
February 15, 1971: The Humanities building is named in honour of founding president J. G. Hagey. February 15, 1993: The senate approves a 1993-94 budget that involves closing the department of dance, as recommended by the dean of applied health sciences.