June 18, 2002

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Departments back Keystone Campaign
Some funding in Ontario budget
Health conference opens tomorrow
Energy open house, and other events

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Battle of Waterloo, on this day in 1815

[Three with still life]

Nourishment for the Keystone Campaign will come from the likes of Liliana Hutuleac (food services wait staff), Darrell Kane (manager of the UW Shop for retail services), and Christine Goucher (graphics designer).

Departments back Keystone Campaign

Three of UW's "ancillary" departments -- ones that earn their own income rather than getting any money from the university budget -- will sponsor the on-campus Keystone Campaign to the tune of more than $100,000 over the coming five years, campaign organizers have announced happily.

Graphics, food services and retail services will be providing everything from campaign flyers to food for Thursday's picnic, said Bonnie Oberle of the UW office of development.

[It's Our Waterloo]
That newsletter: Maybe this'll jog your memory. A majority of staff and faculty members said in yesterday's Daily Bulletin poll that they "don't remember seeing" the first issue of the Keystone Campaign newsletter. As of this morning, 122 people had given that response to yesterday's question about the newsletter. Other responses: "Interesting, and told me things I hadn't heard before," 11; "Same old thing all over again," 22; "I didn't bother to read it," 38.
She said contributions from the three departments are expected to be worth $105,000 by the time the Keystone Campaign winds up in 2007. Much credit is being given to the directors of the three departments -- Mark Murdoch (food), Linda Norton (graphics) and May Yan (retail) -- as well as to Tom Galloway of plant operations, who chairs the Keystone sponsorship committee, and his colleagues.

The sponsorship means those departments are helping to provide what's needed for this week's launch party, communication activities, volunteer materials, prizes and much more over the life of the campaign.

The Keystone Campaign is the on-campus segment of the $260 million Campaign Waterloo. Keystone aims to collect $4.5 million for the university from staff, faculty and retirees by the time the campaign concludes during UW's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Parade route
Thursday's parade to Federation Hall starts at 11:30. Faculty and staff can meet at these "staging areas":
arts quadrangle

in front of the Graduate House

rock garden

Davis Centre courtyard

Village west cul-de-sac
It's being launched this Thursday, and invitations are out across campus for the free barbecue, dunk tank, carnival games, entertainment, speakers, and other attractions. Things will get started with a parade across campus, starting at 11:30. The party itself runs from noon to 2:00 at Federation Hall. Door prizes are promised, including gift certificates for groceries, quality stores, and restaurants. Of special interest will be various department representatives building a huge puzzle display in keeping with the overall theme of Campaign Waterloo: Building a Talent Trust.

Evening staff are invited to a special coffee break at 10 p.m. Thursday in South Campus Hall's Festival Room.

To encourage participation at the launch, the administration has designated June 20 as a casual dress-down day, with the 2 1/2 hour event designated as paid work time. Attendees are being encouraged to wear UW colours and clothing that promotes the university.

Some funding in Ontario budget

The sigh of relief you heard late yesterday came from university leaders across the province, as they learned that finance minister Janet Ecker was confirming a funding increase they had hoped for.

In her first budget, Ecker made what she called "major investments" in health care and education, and that included $75 million that universities have said they need to cope with the extra students who are arriving on campuses this year.

Reaction from the Council of Ontario Universities
"Last year," she said, "we made a multi-year operating grant commitment to support the expected increase in enrolment. But revised projections show a greater-than-anticipated enrolment over the double-cohort period. So we are increasing our previous multi-year funding commitment to colleges and universities by $75 million, raising it to $368 million by 2003-04."

The news arrived while UW's senate was meeting yesterday afternoon, and provost Amit Chakma announced it briefly. That sigh of relief was accompanied by some caution: "Our problems are not completely solved," said Chakma. "This government still refuses to admit that there's something called inflation." All the new funding is for enrolment growth, he pointed out, with nothing to cover costs that go up every year, from salaries to hydro bills.

The provincial budget also announced a new round of SuperBuild funding for college and university construction; an expansion of the Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund for low-income students; extra funding for northern universities; and new research funds through the Ontario Innovation Trust and the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund.

Health conference opens tomorrow

To better understand human health and disease is the aim of an inaugural conference to be held tomorrow through Friday. The event, entitled "From Cell to Society: UW's First Interdisciplinary Health Research Conference", will draw campus researchers from health-tied disciplines including work on no-smoking bylaws, adolescent health and time pressures, and ergonomics in the workplace.

Sessions will explore Understanding Health Behaviour and Behaviour Change; Technological Applications in Health Research; Understanding the Biological Bases of Health and Disease; and Disease and Injury Prevention and Adaptation.

The conference begins with a keynote speech by Carolyn Bennett, federal MP and author of To Kill or Cure: How Canadians Can Remake their Health Care System. Her talk, entitled "From Cell to Society," begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Clarica Auditorium (room 1621) of the Lyle Hallman Institute for Health Promotion, Matthews Hall. Bennett, who holds the Toronto riding of St. Paul's, is a well-known health care advocate and strong supporter of interdisciplinary health research.

"The conference seeks to establish links between University of Waterloo researchers across all disciplines with health-related interests," said Heather MacDougall, associate dean of arts for graduate studies and research. "We also want to showcase current research projects ranging from health behaviour and behaviour change to understanding the biological bases of health and disease."

Here are some conference highlights:

Wednesday, 1 p.m.: "Landmine De-Mining and Peace-Keeping: Protective Equipment"
Also 1 p.m.: "Adolescent Health: Time pressure, stress, emotional well-being and health in the daily lives of adolescents."
Thursday, 9:30 a.m.: "Ergonomics in the Workplace: A workplace exposure assessment tool to simulate ergonomic interventions in the workplace."
Thursday, 11:15: "Regional Smoking Bylaw: Understanding the policy process."
Also 11:15: "Home Care in the Community: Ethic of care in the community."
Friday, 11 a.m.: "The Future of Health Research at UW," by John Thompson, UW's associate vice-president, university research.

Organizers say the event is being held to demonstrate that UW researchers span the full spectrum of biomedical and social science research from basic protein function to socio-economic determinants of health, health promotion, and health policy.

They note that health is a major theme at this university: UW is creating a new program in health informatics, addresses aging, adolescence and leisure in several academic departments, and has well-known research and teaching programs in optometry and kinesiology.

Energy open house, and other events

From noon to 2:00 today, the Residential Energy Efficiency Project (REEP) is hosting an open house to celebrate its move to downtown Kitchener, and to launch a second phase of the program. REEP is a joint project of UW's faculty of environmental studies and the Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence (a member of the Green Communities Association). In January, after two years on campus, the REEP office moved to Kitchener to join several other community-university projects in the Centre for Core Area Research and Design, at King and Frederick Streets.

REEP continues to perform EnerGuide for Houses home energy evaluations in the Region of Waterloo, a program developed by Natural Resources Canada. This summer REEP adds a new focus, "Taking Action", encouraging the 3,300 homeowners who have had evaluations to make the recommended changes, and acknowledging those who have. With the support of government, municipalities and utilities, REEP offers home energy evaluations to Waterloo Region residents for a price of $35, compared to the actual value of approximately $300.

Today's open house at 70 King Street East promises a ribbon-cutting, door prizes, remarks by people involved, including a description of what REEP did for one household, and "flying money -- catch it if you can."

Also today: It's ranking day for co-op students in search of fall term jobs. Ranking forms will be available in Needles Hall at 10 a.m. and must be returned by 4 p.m.

Engineers Without Borders presents a talk today (5:00, Davis Centre room 1302) by Lowell Ewert of peace and conflict studies, speaking on "the role of engineering in post-conflict situations and the need for engineering to promote and maintain peace around the world".

And tomorrow: A panel of experts will review issues of information technology in the health system, as the year's series of "smarter health" seminars winds up -- 4 p.m., Davis Centre room 1302.

A public forum will present the results of the recent "satisfaction survey" of co-op students -- 4:30, Arts Lecture Hall room 116.

Muslim Students for Universal Justice will present Naeem Jennah, leader of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa, speaking on "Parallels in South African and Israeli Apartheid" -- 7 p.m., Davis Centre room 1350.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
June 18, 1960: At UW's first convocation ceremony, held in Seagram Gymnasium, Dana Porter is installed as the university's first chancellor, and eight master's degrees are presented. June 18, 1997: Communitech holds its founding meeting in Federation Hall.