July 26, 2002

Friday, July 26, 2002

Engineers shave for cancer
Money isn't the deterrent, study says
Friday and the end of term

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Engineers shave for cancer

Systems design engineering student Vincent Fazari may be losing his hair from chemotherapy treatments, but he won't be alone.

[Macgregor] When his classmates heard he had been diagnosed with cancer, they organized "Vince Day," a head shaving event to support the Canadian Cancer Society. Last week, 51 men and one woman shaved for the cause.

But the fur is still flying in engineering. Systems design professor Carolyn MacGregor (right) promised to have her head shaved, as well, if the students managed to raise $1,000. With a total of $1,300 collected from the event, MacGregor will be keeping her promise with an appointment with destiny on Monday, July 29, at 1 p.m., outside the POETS Pub in Carl Pollock Hall.

"The privilege of cutting off my locks goes to the person who makes the largest donation," says MacGregor. Tax receipts are available for amounts of $10 or more.

Money isn't the deterrent, study says -- a news release from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

Three out of four Canadian youth (77%) cite non-financial reasons to explain why they chose not to pursue post-secondary studies. An authoritative summary of recent research on access to post-secondary education by Acadia University sociologist E. Dianne Looker identifies a need to provide youth with non-financial help in planning for post-secondary education.

The paper, entitled, Why Don't They Go On?: Factors Affecting the Decisions of Canadian Youth Not to Pursue Post-Secondary Education, suggests that youth should be given better information on post-secondary education prerequisites, program options, and student financial aid at the beginning of high school, in addition to targeting parents with information on the advantages of post-secondary education.

"Until now, almost all access policies have focused solely on financial barriers," noted Alex Usher, the Foundation's director of research. "These findings show that we need to find additional ways of increasing participation in post-secondary education."

Holding onto what's yours
"Several times a week," Doug MacLean writes in the arts computing office newsletter, "someone comes to us with the problem of lost data from a floppy, zip or hard drive. Most times it's unrecoverable. Sometimes, they/we get lucky. Don't you get caught!"
Here's his advice: "Have you ever lost anything on your computer? An address? An email message? A paper that's due? How about your thesis or a year's worth of research? Not very pleasant to think about, is it? Well, it happens, and more often than you may think. Your data is much more fragile than you know. We all think, Oh, that will never happen to me. But don't be too sure!
"Using a floppy for backup is a good idea, but using two is better. Floppy disks are susceptible to damage, so storage should be a concern. Don't just put them in a knapsack, purse or pocket. Instead, be careful when you put them away. A floppy holds 1.38MB of data or potentially up to 200 pages. All of the computers in Arts have floppy disk drives. Most have Zip drives. A Zip disk will hold 100MB of data. And that's hundreds and hundreds of pages.
"While floppy disks and Zip disks are quite reliable, they can fail. Make sure that you have a copy of your data on the hard drive too. An extra floppy disk or Zip disk doesn't hurt either. Floppy disks are cheap and so are Zip disks when you consider losing any data."
Later, Maclean had this additional comment: "Keep in mind that many other parts of the campus have CD writers and most new home systems come with CD writers as well. This has become a preferred backup medium."

Why Don't They Go On? highlights the significance of two new studies published by the Foundation. It analyzes the findings of Why Stop After High School?, a report by independent researcher Kelly Foley examining data from Statistics Canada's 1991 School Leavers Survey and 1995 School Leavers Survey follow-up, and Deciding about Post-Secondary Education: Hearing the Voices of Non-Attendees, an analysis of interviews with people in their 20s who have not pursued post-secondary education, conducted by research firm COGEM in 2001.

Foley, who is a former vice-president (education) of UW's Federation of Students, reports in her study that youth are less likely to attend post-secondary education if their parents have a low level of educational attainment.

Some highlights of the COGEM study:

Non-financial barriers mentioned by respondents include a lack of awareness of post-secondary education as an available option, a lack of academic ability and/or learning disabilities, and unexpected disruptions to plans.
Some youth who could have attended post-secondary education chose not to pursue this route in favour of other priorities (family, work, or travelling), while others deemed post-secondary education to be of no advantage, inferior to work experience, or too costly in terms of time and money given its relative benefits.
Parents, friends, and school were identified by youth as being their most important sources of information on post-secondary education, in turn influencing their decision not to attend post-secondary education.

"The federal government created our organization in order to improve access to post-secondary education through the granting of scholarships so that Canadians can acquire the knowledge and skills needed to participate in a changing economy and society," said Norman Riddell, executive director and chief executive officer of the Foundation. "Fulfilling our mandate of facilitating access to post-secondary education requires us to understand why some Canadians do not consider post-secondary education to be a desirable option and to find ways in which money can be used to encourage them to get the education they need."

Friday and the end of term

Plant operations sends word that the closure of the steps on the east side of Needles Hall will continue until at least August 1 to do the additional work required.

Spring term classes end today, and exams begin on Monday. They will continue through August 10, with a break on Monday, August 5 for the civic holiday long weekend. Summer session lectures end on August 9, with exams held on August 10.

With the end of term comes a reminder from the TRACE office that nominations are now being accepted for this year's Distinguished Teacher Awards. The nomination deadline is, as always, the first Friday in February. Further information is available by calling the Teaching Resource Office at ext. 3857. Nominations are also being accepted for Distinguished Teaching by a Registered Student Awards. That nomination deadline is the second Friday in February, 2003.

Today at 3:15 p.m. on CKMS100.3 FM Visions in Sound will focus on the music of composer Jeff Danna. Danna's music has been featured in O and Green Dragon.

Tonight is Open Mic Night at the Grad House. The event begins at 9:30 p.m., and there is no cover charge. The announcement from the GSA says "bring your talents... bring your friends!"

And today is, of all things, System Administrator Appreciation Day. "A special day, once a year, to acknowledge the worthiness and appreciation of the person occupying the role, especially as it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning." Do something nice for your system administrator today.

Avvey Peters

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
July 26, 1993: The board of governors approves wage freezes and unpaid days for staff members under the Ontario Social Contract.