![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, September 25, 2003
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Black and gold panels]](/images/2003/0924fair.gif)
UW's booth at last year's Fair in Toronto. The 2003 event runs from 10 to 9 today, 9 to 7 Friday, and 9 to 6 Saturday, with some 70,000 potential students expected. |
Trained in August, they're ready now to hit the road, meet students and parents, and answer questions about admission policies, academic programs, co-op, part-time jobs, how to afford university, and campus life.
Six liaison officers were hired for this year, says the article by Gazette editor Barbara Elve. As part of their summer training, the liaison team visits faculties, colleges, residences, co-op, and other services on campus, learning "the important messages" to take on the road. After gathering the information, it's organized into a 40-minute presentation. "We spend many hours in lecture halls around campus, practising in front of each other and developing the UW message," says Primeau.
From September through November, they represent UW and its colleges at high school presentations to groups of 30 to 100 students as part of a "traveling road show" with other Ontario universities, or independently at high schools with small groups interested in up-to-date information about UW. "In the past six years," says Primeau, "there have been changes in the (high school) guidance offices resulting in more students, less time, and more reliance on liaison people."
This year, the liaison team incorporated more success stories -- tales of Waterloo students' at the Disney Imagineering competition, development projects conducted by Engineers Without Borders, and the co-op student who did a work term in Uganda. Says Primeau, who does some 25 high school visits herself: "Along the way, we dispel such myths as 'UW is an engineering school'. If we tell stories for 40 minutes while giving them information, they'll remember more.
"The most important thing is to be able to make a connection with the audience. I'm 30, and starting to feel the age gap. It's nice to visit students and learn what's important to them" -- and keep up with "the cool factor."
In addition to the high school visits, the liaison team is participating in the Ontario Universities' Fair September today through Saturday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where UW joins universities across the province in meeting some 40,000 prospective students and their parents.
They'll also participate in You@Waterloo Day, open house on campus on Saturday, November 8.
| Arguing for improved funding for Ontario universities, UW president David Johnston has a letter in today's Globe and Mail: "The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, in a state that has not been blessed with affluence over the past two decades, shows a student-faculty ratio of 9:1 and operating support per student of $25,000. For MIT, the ratio is 4:1 and the operating support $100,000. The comparable figures from my own institution are 25:1 and $11,000." |
Jean Becker, who began her post based at St. Paul's United College on the UW campus last January, said the main objective of the speaker series will be to enhance the learning experience of native students and others on campus as well as foster ties with the local Aboriginal community.
"The 370 Contemporary Issues in Native Communities in Canada" speaker series is open to the public and will be held Thursdays from 8 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. in MacKirdy Hall at St. Paul's, except for one lecture that will be moved to the Humanities Theatre. The series will end with a traditional feast and social event on November 27.
The first lecture is set for tonight, when Dan Longboat will speak on "Language, Tradition and Contemporary Aboriginal Life."
Other speakers: October 2, Edna Manitowabi, "Healing Through the Arts"; October 9, Rick Hill, "Recurring Aboriginal Stereotypes"; October 16, Corinne Mount Pleasant Jette, "Building Capacity Through Improvement In Teaching In Aboriginal Communities"; October 23, Ernie Benedict, "Relevancy of Native Traditions: Present and Future"; October 30, Clifford Larry, "Overview of the Burnt Church Conflict"; November 6, Chief Roberta Jamieson, "The Governance Act and Relations Between Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State", speaking in the Humanities Theatre; November 13, Maggie Hodgson, "Residential Schools and Healing"; November 20, Dan Smoke, "Ethics of Aboriginal Representation: A First Nations Perspective"; November 27, Traditional Feast and Social.
![[Becker]](/images/2003/0924becker.gif)
Becker (right) is discovering more native students at UW by making
her service
known, and with funding from the Ontario ministry of education, she
extends assistance to "anyone who is Aboriginal."
She's amazed to discover that most of the native students she's encountered "have never known another Aboriginal student at UW. There are students who go through four years and are astounded to learn there are other Aboriginal students on campus. "They come to Waterloo from all over the country," she adds, "from Labrador to Whitehorse. With more than 20,000 students at UW, you just get lost." And it adds to the stress of being a student if "you never see anyone who looks like you or has had your kind of experiences."
For native students coming to university for the first time in an unfamiliar city, "there are layers of culture shock. Some students do very well and don't need our services, but they can still gain by having Aboriginal connections."
Part of her job is to create opportunities for those connections. As well, her mandate includes providing social, academic and personal guidance; acting as a link between students and services available at the university, as well as with Aboriginal service providers in the local community; assisting in vocational and scholarship exploration for Aboriginal students; assisting the university in developing and implementing long-range Aboriginal recruitment strategies.
Links with community agencies are critical, says Becker, because they give students somewhere to go to feel supported, to meet with elders, to act as role models for the next generation. As well, Aboriginal students away from home can participate in cultural activities and ceremonies with people in the community and even find job connections. "There's a feeling of support and acknowledgement -- especially for students from far away, from isolated communities in the north -- that gives you a groundedness and strength you don't have otherwise."
She says she would like to see more Aboriginal students gain access to UW programs. A first step has been an agreement since 1993 between UW and Six Nations Polytechnic at the reserve in Ohsweken. UW instructors teach a number of courses -- along with staff from four other universities -- in a first-year general arts program.
A Volunteer Fair runs in the Student Life Centre, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- "come and visit with representatives from a variety of agencies to find out about volunteer opportunities. Agencies that work with children, health issues, seniors, arts and many more interest groups will be available."
Heather MacDougall, associate dean in the faculty of arts, announces "a presentation from one of Europe's leading researchers on the impact of computing in the humanities. Jan Christoph Meister of the University of Hamburg will speak on "Humanities Computing -- a What, a How and a Why" in Arts Lecture Hall 116 from 2:30 to 3:30. A reception will follow the question period. Professor Meister believes that as students are now growing up with information technology, the humanities have to find new ways of reaching them with the perennial problems of the world's cultural wealth, of communicating with them in terms they will understand and of equipping them with the means needed for a critical analysis of their world."
Opening celebrations are scheduled for 5:00 at St. Paul's United College, which has finished a new residence wing -- 44 air-conditioned single rooms in a third-floor addition. "Construction hard costs were $21,000 per room, says St. Paul's principal Graham Brown: "This cost represents a 16 per cent saving from budget." He notes that In addition to the new rooms, St. Paul's renovated the existing washrooms in the west wing, and air conditioned all existing student rooms in that wing as well. Premier Project Consultants of Kitchener managed the project, which was designed by Snider Reichard March Architects. It's the first phase of a larger development that includes an apartment building for graduate student families and visiting scholars. Construction on the graduate building begins in late October.
And there are many, many other events today -- but please note that the Career Fair was a one-day event, yesterday only, in spite of what the UWevents listing said.
![[Coupland]](/images/2003/0919coupland.gif)
Author Douglas Coupland (right) speaks at 7:00 in the Humanities Theatre, presumably about his most recent novel, Hey Nostradamus!, as well as the world of gen-X and microserfs. Tickets for the evening are $5 at the theatre box office or the UW bookstore, and copies of the new book will be on sale.
The faculty of mathematics will hold its annual banquet tonight in South Campus Hall welcoming 18 new faculty members (including two whose PhDs are from Waterloo), honouring three professors who have retired, and presenting Alumni Achievement Medals to three of its graduates. "We continue to be delighted by the extraordinary achievements of our graduates," says math dean Alan George. This year's exemplars are all professors: David Cheriton, computer science at Stanford; Richard Kane, mathematics at Western Ontario; and Nancy Reid, statistics at Toronto.
And . . . it'll be "Black Light Night" at the weekly Boys 'n' Girls singles night at Federation Hall. The idea is to wear white and shine under the lights; doors open at 9:00.
A launch event is planned for the development of a next-generation astronomy camera. The Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) is described as a major advancement for space exploration. UW physicist Michel Fich is the lead scientist; federal industry minister Allan Rock is expected to be here to announce funding. The celebration starts at 4 p.m. tomorrow in room 1015 of the new Centre for Environmental and Information Technology.
A memorial service for Ardeth Wood, who was killed last month in her home town of Ottawa, will take place at 4 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts. Anyone who wants to attend is welcome. Details are to be announced soon, I understand, of a scholarship fund in Wood's memory in the department of philosophy, where she was a graduate student.
A "Waikiki Weekend" tomorrow and Saturday will be the first of this year's Warrior Weekend series. Special events are planned in the Student Life Centre, including dance lessons, movies, snacks and a "mocktail" contest. I'm hoping to have more details tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow night, St. Jerome's University will mark its annual Feast for Catholic Education, with guest of honour Allan MacEachen, former federal cabinet minister. Dinner starts at 6:30 in the college's community centre.
Finally . . . yes, there was something dramatically wrong with some of the text in yesterday's Gazette, including the weekly Positions Available list. Fortunately, the job list is also available online from the human resources department. My colleagues in communications and public affairs have no idea yet what went wrong with the electronic transfer of type to the printed page, but we're sure working on it.
CAR