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Monday, February 2, 2004

  • Federation candidates meet voters
  • Happening for international week
  • Students counting on throne speech
  • Just a few other notes
Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Waiting for the groundhog


[Grab around the waist]

Princes and dragons and wolves are promised in this year's FASS show, and I'm not sure which of the three are seen tackling the princess (or she-wolf?) at centre in this rehearsal photo. Things can be anything you want them to be in a fairy tale -- or in FASS, UW's annual variety and comedy production. Performances are Thursday through Saturday in the Humanities Theatre; the box office, at 888-4908, has tickets.

Federation candidates meet voters

Candidates for Federation of Students leadership for 2004-05 will face the voters today, and tomorrow, and over and over from now until voting opens on February 10.

Election coverage from 'uwstudent.org'
Today's forum starts at 5:30 p.m. in the "comfy lounge" on the third floor of the Math and Computer building.

Voting next week will be possible both online and at ballot boxes in nine UW buildings that will be open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the three days of the election. The newly elected Fed executive will take office May 1. Candidates for positions on the Feds executive don't have to run as part of a team, but they often do. Here's how this year's candidates are allied:

For president Rebecca Wroe (science) Kevin Ma (math) Will Hamilton (arts)
For vice-president (education): Jeff Henry (engineering) Muneeba Omar (arts)  
For vice-president (internal): John Andersen (science)   Brent Taylor (science)
For vice-president (administration and finance):   Raveel Afzaal (math) Andrew Clelland (arts)

Arts students will vote next week on whether to create a voluntary endowment fund similar to funds that already exist in all the other faculties. The proposal is for a refundable fee to be paid by undergraduates each term. In next week's balloting they'll be asked whether, if creation of the endowment is approved, the fee should be $10, $12, $15, or $17.

Graduate students are about to vote as well. A call for nominations has been issued for election of the 2004-05 Graduate Student Association executive -- a president and three vice-presidents. Details can be found on the GSA web site. Nomination deadline is February 12.

Happening for international week

[Badoe] Much is happening as International Celebration Week gets going today -- even before the opening at 12:15 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. At that event a top UW official -- associate provost Bruce Mitchell -- will share the stage with the UW Drum Circle, and winners of the international literary contest will be announced.

Meanwhile, this morning at 10:30, storyteller and dancer Adwoa Badoe (left) will read at the UW bookstore for children from campus day care centres. She'll also be at the 12:15 opening event in the SLC.

The Aboriginal Students Association will hold a day-long event in the SLC that includes creation stories, drumming, art and craft exhibition, and speakers, says Darlene Ryan of the international student office. And more, as the day goes by:

"Students can find information about international study and work programs at the 'Youth on the Move!' information kiosk in the SLC. Laszlo Sarkany presents 'Two Weeks in the Past: The Experience of Preparations and Travels in Czechoslovakia' at 1 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the SLC.

"Tour the Earth Sciences Museum and fill out a ballot to win a crystal specimen and copies of books authored by the curator, Peter Russell. Visit the International Photo Exhibition at UW's residences to see photos of places, events, and history from all over the world. Check out Food Services outlets and St. Jerome's University cafeteria for the international cuisine of the day.

"There will be henna painting and Raas dance lessons at 9 p.m. in the Great Hall of Renison College."

And students are invited to sit in on a number of lectures in regular courses. Today's offerings include Philosophy 324 ("Introduction to Political and Social Philosophy"); History 205 ("History of North American Sport"); Psychology 356 ("Personality Theory"); and French 354 ("19th Century French Literature"). Details are on the International Week web site.

ONE CLICK AWAY
  • Where to get your exercise (campus fitness centres -- Iron Warrior)
  • Comments on 'uwstudent.org' about Tuesday's storm closing
  • Iron Warrior editor talks about engineers and beer
  • $10 million gift puts U of T over $1 billion raised
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council heads for 'transformation'
  • Lazaridis credits his teachers in Windsor
  • WLU board gives approval for Kitchener facility
  • International credentials lose value in Canada (Globe)
  • Ontario will move to end mandatory retirement at 65
  • Ontario college faculty prepare for strike vote
  • 'Scholarly look at Canadian scholars'
  • American students in other lands form US advocacy group
  • Alberta aims to be 'healthiest campus'
  • Students counting on throne speech

    Students are joining the university leaders who have already called on the new prime minister, Paul Martin, to make higher education a priority in today's throne speech and -- by implication -- the Liberal election platform.

    A letter from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada urged "that the federal government commit to working with provincial and territorial governments to design and implement a fiscal transfer to the provinces and territories for the specific purpose of funding post-secondary education".

    Students will be lobbying along similar lines, says a news release from the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, a national group that includes UW's Federation of Students. "Our goal is let this new government know that Canadians expect the accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education to be the first order of business. Students have suffered greatly from the policy decisions of the last decade and it's high time for action," said James Kusie, national director of CASA, in a news release.

    CASA says its "ambitious agenda" includes reaction to the throne speech; the launch of a nation-wide petition calling for reforms to student financial aid and a new funding arrangement with the provinces for post-secondary education; efforts to influence and respond to the release of the federal budget; and a broad-based public awareness campaign during the federal election, expected this spring.

    "It is crucial that, in the coming months, students and concerned Canadians express themselves clearly and loudly on the issue of post-secondary education. With these initiatives, CASA will play a leading role providing opportunities for its members to have their voices heard," says Kusie.

    He called today's speech, setting out the program that Martin and his government will put before Parliament, "the first test of the Martin government's commitment to post-secondary education. In a meeting with CASA in October, Martin said students could expect higher education to be a key theme when his government's agenda is announced. CASA will be looking for "a promise to create new grants for students from low-income backgrounds and those with high financial need. It also expects the Prime Minister to commit to negotiating with provincial premiers a funding arrangement for post-secondary education that would ensure the costs of a university or college degree are affordable to all qualified individuals."

    The Governor-General will read the throne speech this afternoon, setting out the Liberal government's agenda.

    Just a few other notes

    I wrote in the Daily Bulletin on Thursday that Ernie Regehr of Project Ploughshares, having been named to the middle rank of the Order of Canada, was now a "member" of the Order. That's incorrect: he becomes an Officer of the Order, entitled to put the letters O.C. after his name. The three ranks are Companion (C.C.), Officer, and Member (C.M.).

    WHEN AND WHERE
    Climate change lecture, "Urban Dimensions of Climate Change", Quentin Chiotti, 10:30, Arts Lecture Hall room 124.

    Senate executive committee, 3:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 3004.

    'Making Job Fair Work for You', 3:30, Tatham Centre room 1208. The job fair is scheduled for Wednesday, 10:00 to 3:30, RIM Park.

    As noted the other day, staff members will be undergoing their annual performance appraisals in the next few weeks; appraisal forms are due at the human resources department on March 15. As in the past, ratings are on a 1-to-5 scale, and this year quarter-points as well as half-points are an option for ratings. There's also something else new. The top ranking is 5, defined as "Exceptional performance in all areas of the job requirements which is recognized throughout their unit or broadly through the University." Another sentence has been added this year: "Normally, an employee would not receive a rating of 5 in consecutive years." Freddie Swainston, manager of salary administration, said the new sentence was agreed on by the staff compensation committee, representing administration and the staff association. "They wanted to reiterate what a 5 meant," she said. "It's intended to recognize when you've had a stellar year. . . . Sometimes people (managers) give a 5 and then they find it's hard to move back from a 5."

    There may be a bit less spam in your e-mail than there was a few days ago, as the information systems and technology folks have introduced new software to filter out some garbage. Dawn Keenan of IST reports that the new "mail-checking cluster" handles about half the incoming mail that's addressed to 'userid@uwaterloo.ca' addresses from off campus:

    Service will be ramped up to take over the bulk of incoming email over the next several days, ending in full replacement of the SMTP services currently provided by the server 'ego'. All incoming mail to userid@uwaterloo.ca is being filtered with j-chkmail to refuse messages containing executable content. Additional filtering, possibly including anti-virus software and SpamAssassin (honouring user-configurable blacklists and whitelists and possibly other per-user preferences) is under test and development. These filters will be available for use on other mail servers on campus for the benefit of people receiving mail directly to faculty, department or workgroup mail servers.

    The unsupported, undocumented 'nickname' feature and similar mail addressing options may stop working without notice. Mail to addresses of the form 'firstname.lastname@uwaterloo.ca' will not stop working immediately, but should not be relied upon as this feature is deprecated and may be removed in the near future after its current usage has been examined in more detail.

    She said IST originally intended to run the software just for a few hours, to see how it went, "but the combination of the MyDoom virus and excellent performance led us to leave the system in production." Other members of the project team included Giles Malet, Rob Schmidt and Jeff Voskamp.

    Also from IST: "The Information Systems and Technology department (IST) is offering computing courses in February to UW faculty, staff and students. The following courses are being offered for students: Introduction to Unix, Using PowerPoint for a Class Presentation. The following courses are part of the Skills for the Academic e-Workplace program, and are offered to faculty, grad students, and staff with instructional responsibilities: Scientific Computing Using Maple, Statistical Analysis Using SPSS, SAS Part II: Basic Statistical Analysis, Technical Diagrams Using Visio, Word and PowerPoint Equations, Posters with PowerPoint, Parallel Computing with MPI, Keeping Current Digitally -- Engineering. Information about the courses, along with a registration form, can be found on the web."

    Finally . . . Carolyn Vincent of human resources says the next "Get Up and Grow" brochure, listing staff training and development opportunities, will be mailed to staff members this week. "Leadership for Results, Personality Dimensions and Maximum Achievement are the courses that will be offered this term," she writes. "The SEW brochure will be mailed out the week of February 16. New courses include Creating Organization Charts using Visio and Using a BlackBerry at UW. Those interested in registering for any of the courses can complete the appropriate registration form." More information is available from Vincent at ext. 2078.

    CAR


    Communications and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
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    (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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