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Thursday, February 19, 2004

  • Grad students getting new leaders
  • English department 'a fine example'
  • Check the keyword index
Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Web Awareness Day


[Budhwani]

Grad students getting new leaders

Nadir Budhwani (right), a graduate student in political science, will be the next president of UW's Graduate Student Association.

He'll take office May 1, said the GSA's chief returning officer, Jason Grove, announcing that all the association's executive positions have been filled by acclamation for the coming year. A nomination period ended last week with just one candidate for each seat.

Two of the executive members will continue from this year's group: Kelly Byers, also of political science, as VP (student affairs), and Shabnam Ivkovic, of computer science, as VP (corporate affairs).

New on the GSA executive will be Jennifer Hunter, of physics and vision science, as VP (operations).

English department 'a fine example'

UW's English department offers "a fine example of the type of activity that should be encouraged in Arts", says a report on its academic program, recently submitted to UW's senate.

It's one in a series of reviews that are to be done for all UW academic programs on a seven-year cycle. Based on a self-study and an assessment by outside experts, the English department review was submitted to senate, along with others, by the associate vice-president (academic), Gail Cuthbert Brandt.

It says the English department has "a nationally distinctive profile" but -- like most other UW departments that have had reviews so far -- a heavy workload for faculty members. In fact the English department review also notes that "workload for staff appeared to have increased dramatically over the past year, mainly due to the introduction of the new PeopleSoft system."

Some excerpts from the program review report:

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  • "In the late 1990s, the Department decided to focus on the traditional and historical study of Literature and Rhetoric, its original mandate, as well as on the study of information technology in a humanistic context, to build on the strengths of UW. English is the only department in Canada that combines the study of Literature and Rhetoric at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in addition to offering co-op education. . . .

    "In 1996, English had 5 faculty retire under SERP and 1 took normal retirement, reducing the faculty complement to 19. Subsequently, two FTE's were added, due to the Department exceeding its teaching targets, and the total complement of FTE faculty is now 21. Thirteen are allocated to Literature, and 8 to Rhetoric. More than half of the current faculty came to UW after 1996, making the faculty relatively young. . . . The normal teaching load is 5 term courses annually. . . .

    "The faculty have active research careers, and many have been recognized with external awards. One research group -- the Interaction Design Group -- has been established, and involves members from English and from Drama and Speech Communication. This group recently received a Canadian Foundation for Innovation grant, as well as a $1.5 million contract with iSchool, a non-profit private sector company working on the federal government's smart communities program. Another group has been successful in obtaining SSHRC funding for research on the rhetoric of healthcare. . . .

    [Looking up at screen on Legal Blindness]

    Low vision was the topic last Friday when optometry professor Ann Plotkin led a noontime seminar for the disabilities office, marking "low vision awareness month". At noon on Tuesday, February 24, the disabilities office will host "Jennifer's Story", described as a personal life story of a UW student. Both workshops (Needles Hall room 1132) are free and all faculty, staff and students are welcome.

    "The evolution of the English program reflects a steady and ongoing pattern of growth and enhancement in the range and quality of its contributions at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. . . . It is well positioned to sustain and indeed enhance this contribution to the University's next phase of growth, [and] has a nationally distinctive profile due to its unique blend of literary studies and innovative programs in digital design and rhetoric. . . .

    "The Department has had extraordinary success in liaising with the private and public sectors to secure grant funding not usually associated with English departments. The review team also commented that it found a strong sense of cohesiveness and common purpose across the different areas of research and teaching, a widely shared commitment to build in a way that extends the overall reputation of UW in technology and science, and a strong sense of involvement of newer and younger faculty in the key decisions shaping the Department. . . .

    "The undergraduate experience appears to be an extraordinarily positive one both in and out of the classroom. . . . The success of English provides a fine example of the type of activity that should be encouraged in Arts so that the Faculty can raise its profile in a university well known for science and technology. . . .

    "English is encouraged to consider further changes to simplify . . . a very complicated and wide-ranging undergraduate major with nearly overwhelming student numbers. . . .

    "English needs more computer-based support than is usual for English departments. Some short-term progress has been made, but the team urged the development of a long-term strategy. Part of this should include establishment of a staff position. . . .

    "Renewed support for distance education is strongly recommended."

    Responding to the report, the department said that its plans include creating a development committee "to promote the Department and seek to build contacts with alumni, government, cultural institutions, and the private sector", and looking at "options to cap admissions to being an English major, but recognizing that implications of this need to be considered at the Faculty level".

    WHEN AND WHERE
    Pension and benefits committee 8:30 to noon, Needles Hall room 3004.

    Theatre Beyond Words performance for children, "My Father's Circus", 10:00 and 1:15, Humanities Theatre.

    Maple software in the mathematics and applied science curriculum, seminar by Robert Lopez, Maplesoft, 9 a.m. to noon, Carl Pollock Hall room 1346.

    Senate finance committee 2:30 p.m., Needles Hall room 3001.

    'The Latent Maximum Entropy Principle', statistics seminar by Shaojun Wang, University of Alberta, 3:30, Math and Computer room 5158.

    Instrumentation and Control User Group first meeting, with a presentation on LabVIEW and other software, Friday 10 a.m., Carl Pollock Hall room 1346. RSVP campbell@ist.

    Hagey Bonspiel (34th annual) Saturday at the Ayr Curling Club -- last-minute information, ext. 3638.

    Check the keyword index

    One of the things I do, when I'm not editing the Daily Bulletin, is maintain the "keyword" index to UW webspace. The index is a way of going quickly from the UW home page to the main site of a department, or a heavily used page on a major topic, without getting tangled in perhaps hundreds of Google results. It's easy enough to use: type "chemistry" or "civics" or "climate" or "conflict" into the home-page search box, select the "keyword" button, and click Search.

    Other web pages of interest

  • List of UW buildings
  • Senior administrators, past and present
  • Kitchener-Waterloo web starting points
  • The keyword index is kept accurate by hand -- my hand -- and I invite departments, particularly department webmasters, to help make it better. Please try it out today or tomorrow, searching on your department name or other words that users would likely try if they wanted to find you. If you don't like the results, please send me a clearly-worded e-mail (credmond@uwaterloo.ca) suggesting changes.

    While you're at it, would you please take a look at another web page for which I'm responsible? That would be the list of University Officers and Administrators, which likely needs some updating. (If you're ever looking for it in future, you can find it from the home page by doing a keyword search for "Administration".) Corrections can be sent to the same e-mail address.

    CAR


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