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Friday, May 30, 2003

  • Astronomers gather at Waterloo
  • A letter from the Keystone organizers
  • Seven sentences on seven topics
  • It's the weekend, and almost summer
Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

With calendar reform, tomorrow would not exist


[Labels on the furniture]

Ready for the move: The welcoming smile of Jane Farley -- packing up her old office -- will greet visitors to the Office for Persons with Disabilities in its new location on the first floor of Needles Hall (room 1132), starting next week. The move to the renovated, more spacious and accessible location is continuing today, with an official opening planned for later this summer.

Astronomers gather at Waterloo

UW will host the 34th annual meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society, expected to attract more than 200 astronomers, which starts with a reception Saturday night and will continue through Tuesday.

"Structure Formation in the Universe: From Planets to the Horizon" is the theme of this year's event, hosted by UW's physics department. Physics professor Mike Hudson is chair of the organizing committee.

All scales of structure formation will be considered -- from planets to the universe itself, said another physics professor and CASCA organizer, Michel Fich. As well, there will be lectures and poster papers covering a wide range of astronomical topics and findings.

They make astronomy sound every bit as exciting as it is, with titles like "Splendors and Misery of Massive Stars in Starbursts" and "Galaxy Evolution in the Redshift Desert".

Collision between stars is the topic of the 2003 Helen Sawyer Hogg Public Lecture, which is open to the public and will be given at 8 p.m. on Sunday in the Theatre of the Arts. The speaker is Michael Shara, of the American Museum of Natural History, and the title is "Stellar Promiscuity and Destruction". Tickets are available from the physics department office, phone ext. 2215.

[CASCA logo] Among other conference highlights:

Along with Fich, other UW researchers making presentations at the conference are Gretchen Harris, current president of the society, and Walter Duly and Russell Smith.

[It's Our Waterloo]

A letter from the Keystone organizers -- from Shelley Rudd, development and alumni affairs

To mark the first anniversary of the Keystone Campaign launch and the tremendous success of the campaign to date, organizers are planning a special "beach" celebration on June 18. The event is bound to outdo last year's great party. Personalized invitations will go out in early June.

Highlights of the event include a colourful campus parade winding its way down to the main event (on the green space adjacent to the Peter Russell Rock Garden); food, drink, games, music, entertainment, campus displays, a look back at UW's history and more. There will be a chance to win fabulous prizes playing beach card bingo, as well as door prizes.

The day provides a chance to show UW pride by wearing an assigned colour (gold, black, or white). Keystone department reps will inform employees of their colour and meeting place for the parade.

The campaign has come a long way over the last year. At the official Keystone Campaign launch in June 2002, $1.1 million had been raised (24 per cent of the goal). Now the campaign has reached 49 per cent of its $4.5 million goal, with 1,289 donors contributing $2.2 million.

More than 200 volunteers have put the campaign into motion. Their talent, creativity, and dedication are immeasurable. Volunteer achievements include the launch, the monthly donor profiles, semi-annual newsletter, the year-end appeal, the liaison work of departmental reps, recruiting sponsors, and much more. A thank you goes out to all the faculty, staff, and retirees who have contributed financially or as a volunteer to the Keystone Campaign's success.

Campaign gifts are making a difference. Fifty-eight per cent of donations are now supporting scholarships, bursaries, and awards. For example, in the last fiscal year, 66 donors contributed $24,042 toward Graduate Senate Scholarships and 273 donors contributed $104,590 towards Undergraduate Senate Scholarships. The impact of these gifts is doubled through matching funds.

The Keystone Campaign is the campus community portion of Campaign Waterloo: Building a Talent Trust. Strong support from faculty, staff, and retirees shows pride in the university and sets a persuasive example for our friends across the country to follow. Those not already supporting the campaign are asked to consider a gift. Each gift will help the campaign reach its ambitious target -- and help UW students.

More information on the Keystone Campaign is contained in the third issue of the "It's our Waterloo" newsletter, mailed in mid-May. The newsletter highlights Keystone Campaign volunteers, scholarship recipients, and faculty, staff, and retirees who make a difference.

Seven sentences on seven topics

"Good progress was made" in mediation discussions yesterday over possible reopening of the two student pubs, says university secretary Lois Claxton, "and we're hopeful of an agreement." . . .

SpamAssassin was indeed installed on watserv1 yesterday, as I was saying in Wednesday's Daily Bulletin, but it was taken away within a few hours when technical problems developed. . . .

The department of health studies and gerontology is proposing a name change to "population health sciences", according to a note in a report that came to the May senate meeting. . . .

Official opening of the new regional Emergency Services Training Complex on Erb Street West, including a $5 million UW fire research facility, is scheduled for June 20. . . .

Queen's University gave an honorary degree the other day to Adel Sedra, who's scheduled to come to UW (from the University of Toronto) on July 1 as dean of engineering. . . .

Members of UW's student Progressive Conservative Association will be at the PCs' national convention in Toronto over the weekend, pushing for what a news release calls "an eventual merger" between the Tories and the Canadian Alliance. . . .

The "alumni e-community", which links UW graduates through the Internet, reached its 20,000th member registration last week, the alumni affairs office proudly reported. . . .

It's the weekend, and almost summer

As I was saying yesterday, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association is collecting funds for the battle against SARS in China. A fund-raising evening runs from 7:30 to 10:00 tonight in Davis Centre room 1350.

A benefit concert for the Canadian Cancer Society, "featuring Sandy MacDonald and Friends", starts at 9:00 tonight at the Graduate House. . . . Reunions of engineering alumni start tomorrow and continue into Sunday, with various special events (last minute information, ext. 6838). . . . The Waterloo County and Area Quilt Festival winds up this weekend, along with the Ontario Juried Quilt Show being held in the East Campus Hall gallery. . . . Signs indicate that Columbia Street between Phillip Street and the campus entrance will be closed all weekend, as road work continues. . . .

Happening off campus, but with various university people involved (including Carol Ann Weaver of Conrad Grebel University College), is "An Evening of World Sacred Music", starting at 8:00 Saturday night at First United Church in Waterloo. Music includes a Muslim call to prayer, First Nations drumming and music from Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian traditions. Cost is $10 general admission, $8 for students and seniors. Information: 747-8733.

Must be wine season: A staff association bus tour heads off tomorrow to Peller Estates and other Niagara sites. And on Sunday, the Graduate Student Association runs a "lobster and wine trip" to Cox Creek Cellars in Guelph.

Monday brings an "informal demonstration on Interactive Case Studies", led by Tom Carey, UW's Associate Vice President, Learning Resources and Innovation. "We'll be taking a close look," he says, "at how case stories have evolved from basic text to interactive learner-centred products of benefit to many different disciplines, including accounting and engineering (among many others). Come see various speakers looking at alternative and mainstream roles of the past, present and future of interactive case studies." The session will start at 10:30 in the Flex lab in the Dana Porter Library. Registrations go by e-mail to peter@LT3.uwaterloo.ca.

The annual general meeting of the staff association will be held Monday at noontime in Davis Centre room 1302. "Light refreshments" are promised at 11:30 and the business meeting at 11:45. It's an opportunity hear updates from the executive and ask questions about anything in the association's recently-distributed annual report. And the newly-elected members of the executive will take office at this meeting.

Finally -- we are going to be hearing a lot in the next few days about the Commuter Challenge. This event, now in its fourth year, calls on people to eschew the car for at least one day next week and get to campus on foot, by bike, by bus, on camelback, or with some other means of transportation that cuts down on the use of the internal combustion engine. The challenge runs June 1 through 7 -- all next week -- and participants can sign up on-line, in a system organized by the UW waste management office. Prizes are promised, and I understand some publicity stunts are looming.

CAR


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