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Monday, March 29, 2004

  • Davis library closed for spring term
  • Now a 'school' of social work
  • U of T notes benefits of pharmacy plan
  • UW entrepreneurs win contest
Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Two years to plan for the eclipse


[Panoramic view from the great hall]

View into the Davis Centre library after the coming renovations -- drawing by Helena Vamberger (architecture) and Rex Xu (systems design engineering).

Davis library closed for spring term

The Davis Centre library will be closed during the spring term to allow for major renovations, says a memo from the library office. "In order to complete these renovations on time and within budget, the Davis Library will officially close on Friday, April 30, at 6:00 p.m. and will reopen on Tuesday, September 7, at 8:00 a.m."

The announcement says the spring renovations "are the first phase of a major project planned for the Davis Centre Library. The $5 million Davis Library renovation is a key project within Campaign Waterloo.

"The first phase includes building the RBC Information Commons, wiring study tables and carrels for power and Internet access, creating a lounge on the main floor, and bringing natural light into the main floor with a redesigned glass entrance and exit."

The library says it "intends to provide access to information resources as well as reference and user services during the construction period. We will do all we can to minimize disruption to our students, faculty, and to Davis Library staff."

During the closing, the Dana Porter Library will provide circulation, course reserves and reference services. Books or journal articles located in Davis can be requested from TRELLIS, the electronic catalogue, and made available within one business day. "There are also more than 1,100 study spaces in Porter," says the memo, "so we expect there will be sufficient space for students."

A website has been created to provide information about the closing, service adjustments, and the planned renovations. In addition, the memo says, the library will provide regular updates on the project.

Now a 'school' of social work

The "department of social work" at Renison College is now a "school of social work" instead, a UW news release has announced after the change was approved by the Renison board of governors.

Says the release: "The change is in line with practice across North America, where schools of social work are the norm. It is also consistent with practice at UW, which has used the term 'school' to distinguish academic units within the faculties of Arts, Science, Environmental Studies and Mathematics that have professional accreditation and affiliations." Schools at UW include accountancy, architecture, computer science, optometry and planning -- and anatomy, within the kinesiology department.

More from the news release: "Renison College was founded by the Anglican community in Kitchener-Waterloo to provide a supportive residence environment for students studying at post-secondary institutions in the local area and offer university programs for students pursuing careers in the helping professions.

"The 10-month, post-BA, Honours Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Program has been available at Renison College since 1998 and received its first accreditation by the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work in January 2000. The school prepares generalist social work practitioners to provide service to a broad range of populations at all systems levels."

It notes that the school, which is headed by director Ellen Sue Mesbur, will launch a part-time BSW program this fall. "The new initiative will provide opportunities for people not able to study full time to obtain a Bachelor of Social Work degree. The school is planning to offer the BSW courses through multiple modalities, including evening, on-line and intensive format courses, thus providing greater access to professional social work education." An information session about the part-time program will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the chapel lounge at Renison.

Says Mesbur: "The new designation of School of Social Work and the upcoming launch of the part-time stream are very exciting, especially at this time in Renison College's history. We are fortunate to have support from Renison's principal, Dr. John Crossley, faculty and staff at Renison College and the University of Waterloo, and the school's Community Advisory Committee."

U of T notes benefits of pharmacy plan

The University of Toronto has issued a news release giving the U of T angle on a proposed Toronto-Waterloo collaboration to set up a school of pharmacy in Kitchener. Here's the text of the release, written by U of T news officer Jessica Whiteside:

"The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at U of T is examining the possibility of setting up a satellite program at the University of Waterloo.

"Dean Wayne Hindmarsh signed a memorandum of understanding with Waterloo earlier this month to enable continuing discussions about the satellite proposal which arose after Waterloo approached U of T for advice on setting up a pharmacy program. The Leslie Dan faculty, the only faculty of pharmacy in Ontario, had already been considering the idea of a satellite program as part of its strategic planning, partly in response to a shortage of pharmacists in the province. Hindmarsh noted that a number of pharmacy schools in the United States have successful satellite programs.

"'I think that the University of Waterloo has some innovative practices,' he said. 'Both of our universities will benefit from the collaborative relationship at the undergraduate and graduate level in research.'

"Under the proposed satellite concept, the Waterloo program would adopt the U of T curriculum with some modifications, such as the insertion of Waterloo's co-op model.

"A senior associate dean in charge of pharmacy at Waterloo would work collaboratively with U of T to ensure that the satellite program meets or exceeds the minimum standards required for entry to practice and to maintain U of T's standards of accreditation. The pharmacy lectures at Waterloo would be delivered by cross-appointed faculty -- with U of T representatives sitting on the faculty search committee -- and there's a possibility some lectures may be delivered through alternate means such as videoconferencing or online instruction. The universities are also discussing whether students would be granted a joint degree, said Hindmarsh.

WHEN AND WHERE
Jocus toy sale, Monday and Tuesday, 9:00 to 2:00, early childhood education centre, PAS building.

Planning professor Laura Johnson speaks at Kitchener Public Library ("The Co-Workplace: Teleworking in the Neighbourhood"), 12 noon.

LaTeXing Your Work Reports, Computer Science Club talk by Simon Law, 6 p.m., Math and Computer room 4058.

Last day of classes for the spring term tomorrow in engineering and math; Friday, April 2, in the other faculties. Exams begin Monday, April 5.

Graduate student research conference, Tuesday-Friday, Davis Centre, details online.

'Single and Sexy' auditions for actors, stage manager and musician. Thursday 6:30 to 10 p.m., Humanities Theatre. Rehearsals and performances, August 16 to September 10. "This is a paying gig."

Customer Service continuing education course, Friday 8:30 to 4:30, $275 plus GST (50 per cent discount for UW staff), information 888-4002.

Remembering Vince Fazari

Engineering student Vincent Fazari, who died of cancer last week, was 21, not 25 as the Daily Bulletin wrongly said on Friday. The funeral service for Fazari will be held tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11 a.m. at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in Ancaster, Ontario.
"Waterloo has a long-term goal of expanding its presence in the health sciences and is interested in pharmacy in part because its chemistry department has identified medicinal chemistry as a future area of research interest and a number of biology faculty are already involved in various types of pharmaceutical research, said Professor Amit Chakma, vice-president (academic) and provost at Waterloo. The next steps for the University of Waterloo are to secure funding support from the city of Kitchener (where the proposed satellite program would be located) and to receive permission for the proposed program from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Chakma expects a decision from the province by the end of the month.

"'We would have been excited with our pharmacy initiative on its own but we are really excited to have this opportunity to partner with the University of Toronto,' Chakma said. 'Leaving the pharmacy issue aside, I think it's just a good thing for two strong institutions of our province to collaborate on this sort of initiative. We hope the synergies will play out in a very positive way.'"

UW entrepreneurs win contest -- from the UW media relations office

A student team representing the new Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program recently won a North American business plan competition.

The Graduate Student Licensing competition was sponsored by the Licensing Executives Society, Canada and U.S. chapter, a professional body with more than 5,000 members involved in the transfer, use, development, manufacture and marketing of intellectual property.

Tangam Gaming Technology Inc, led by Prem Gururajan and members Harish Patel, Ethan Henry and Joyce Kyeyune, was chosen as one of the three North American finalists. Team members were flown to San Francisco to present their plan.

The distinguished judging panel, which included Todd Dickinson, former Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, and Michael Lyons, of Stanford University and a prominent venture capitalist, awarded Tangam first place for the team's innovative technological venture. Key criteria for qualifying business plans included significant intellectual property, investment potential and overall quality of the plan.

"Winning the competition was a good validation of the business opportunity," Patel said. "We will now return our focus on product development while entertaining funding opportunities."

The MBET program at UW is targeted at individuals with a technically strong background who need the required business skills to move ideas to commercial success. MBET's combination of knowing skills from a traditional graduate level business program and the doing skills of participating in a start-up venture equips entrepreneurial graduates with skills that assist successful new venture creation and provides organizations with graduates who are able to successfully commercialize new innovations.

CAR


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(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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