![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, October 8, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Balloon, posters and big smiles]](/images/2004/1008uway.gif)
Staff in the university secretariat -- Tracy Dietrich, Christine Ledbury, Trenny Canning, Karen Jack -- are famous for their United Way fund-raisers. Today brings the second in a series of campus dress-down days for the cause. |
"It's been quite an exciting few days here at the UW United Way office!" writes administrator Donella D'Souza, expressing enthusiasm for the quick start to faculty and staff gifts and pledges. "I hope everyone has their packages by now," she said, "but if anyone doesn't, get in touch with me and I'll see that one is sent out."
More from the United Way campaign: "It's important to keep in mind all the worthwhile things being done with the money raised. One of the five key focus points is 'Promoting Children and Youth to Succeed'. Agencies such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kitchener-Waterloo, Child Witness Centre of Waterloo Region, and ROOF-Reaching Our Outdoor Friends are just a few of the ones that help in this area. As seen on the posters and web site, young people who are on the street, away from family and friends, and in trouble can receive help and support from United Way agencies to get their lives back on track. And all of you are helping to make wonderful things like this happen!"
While the bulk of university contributions to the campaign come from individual gifts, there's also an October tradition of fund-raising events -- including a silent auction that started yesterday, and continues through noon today, in the civil engineering department. More than 30 items are on display in Engineering II room 2336, says department secretary Sandra Machan, adding that the department is also running a 50-50 draw, ending at 2 p.m. today.
Other special events include the campus-wide Dress Down Days every Friday, Bingo, and special coffee breaks, says D'Souza, pointing to an online events listing with all the details.
And there's more, as she sends "a heads-up about a couple of our donor draws. In each case the prize is $35 UW Retail Services gift certificate. Our first draw is going to be for all those donors who have their pledge forms in by the 8th of October. Our second draw is especially for new donors (did not donate last year) who have their pledges in by the 15th."
And just a little more about what a United Way contribution is worth: "$2 a week makes it possible for 30 Grade 5 students to attend an anti-bullying workshop through the John Howard Society. . . . $20 a week makes it possible for a teenager to be provided with leadership training, camping skills and program development and implementation experience at the residential leader-in-training program through the YMCA of Kitchener-Waterloo." A total of 87 programs from 43 local agencies are supported through the United Way.
The engineering faculty has announced the winners of this year's Alumni Achievement Medals, which were presented at the annual Faculty of Engineering dinner last week. The three winners are Stephen C. Carpenter, (BASc mechanical 1978, MASc mechanical 1980), president of Enermodal Engineering, for "significant contribution to the design of environmentally friendly and innovative green buildings"; Terence R. Cunningham, (BASc mechanical 1983), a vice-president at NGRAIN Corporation and founder of Crystal Decisions Inc., for "vision, tenacity and leadership in building dynamic and growing businesses"; and Robert B. Magee, (BASc chemical 1978), CEO of The Woodbridge Group, for "outstanding business leadership and management in the automotive industry and for his significant contributions to the betterment of his community."
This fall's "Get Up and Grow" brochure from the staff training and development program will be in the mail next week, says Carolyn Vincent of the human resources department. "Leadership for Results, Reaching for Stellar Service, Caring for Customers and Personality Dimensions will be offered this session," she says. Coming to each staff member along with that brochure will be the November-December listing of Skills for the Electronic Workplace courses.
A "Power to the People" interactive art installation created by Rob Gorbet of electrical and computer engineering and his colleagues in Gorbet Design, first shown off at Kitchener City Hall two years ago, will be a feature of the McLuhan Festival of the Future, opening today in Toronto.
If you're on campus Monday and see (and hear) a helicopter flying low, maybe you'll end up in the picture. A camera crew will be taking footage of the campus for use in a UW informational video that's in preparation. I'll report more about this project early next week.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Pension and benefits committee 8:30 to noon, Needles Hall room 3004.
Thanksgiving Pie Day, sponsored by Math Society, brings free pie for all math students, third floor of Math and Computer, from 12 noon. Teacher training information session Tuesday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tatham Centre, register online. GLOW Coming Out Week runs October 11-16. Tuesday: "Wear Jeans Because You're Gay Day". Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System training available for staff, faculty and grad students -- video and quiz take a total of about 90 minutes, Tuesday 10 a.m. or Thursday 2 p.m., Davis Centre room 1304. Business and Investment Club presentation: "How Do You Impress Your Employer?" Tuesday 5:30, Davis Centre room 1351. Toronto alumni networking and pub night Tuesday from 6 p.m., Frog and Firkin, 4854 Yonge Street. Jewish Students Association Holocaust speaker Eva Olsson, Tuesday 7 p.m., Math and Computer room 2065. Sharcnet high-performance computing training workshop at Wilfrid Laurier University, October 13-15, details online. 'Metamorphoses' at Theatre & Company, outing organized by UW Recreation Committee, Friday, October 15. 'Bridging the Gap' third annual Adaptive Technology Fair, October 28, Davis Centre lounge. Staff association craft sale November 25-26 -- staff and retirees interested in selling should call Sue Fraser at ext. 2968. |
| In case anybody doesn't recognize the allusion . . . |
A proud note from the department of French studies: "François Paré has won the prestigious Victor-Barbeau Prize for his book La distance habitée, an essay on literature and migration in the Americas. Created in the early 1980s by the Académie des Lettres du Québec, the prize is given each year to a 'literary essay of major significance'. Paré received the prize from the president of the Académie, Jean Royer, on October 4 in Montréal." Earlier this year the book won the Prix Trillium, Ontario's top award for French-language writing.
Caroline Woerns of Renison College passes along a request from the East Meets West Garden committee at the college: "They are asking for donations of plants, specifically hosta, pachysandra and epimedium. If anyone has plants to spare, they would be most gratefully accepted for the East Meets West Garden, which will officially open on Thursday, November 4, at 1:30 p.m. -- the first day of the East Asian Festival." Best to e-mail first: Susan Bryant of the committee can be reached at shbryant@renison.
I'm sorry to say I know nothing about the person dressed as a big white bunny who has apparently been in evidence lately on the green north of the Biology buildings. "It was a little strange," writes one student who saw the lapine wannabe earlier this week. "We approached him and tried to get him to speak, tried pushing him a little, but no response. Was it a psychological experiment? Is he a mascot? He apparently was later seen by other students carrying a box of Trix."
Health services will be operating flu shot clinics the week of November 9-12 (and students in the "high risk" category should be able to get their shots sooner at the main building). . . . "Students are advised to keep their address, e-mail and telephone number(s) updated through Quest," says a memo from the registrar's office. . . . WINQ, the inquiry system for student records that's much used by staff and faculty, will be down on Tuesday, from 8:30 until a technical upgrade is completed. . . .
Sports this weekend: women's rugby vs. Guelph, 4 p.m. at Columbia Field; women's hockey vs. Laurier, tonight at 7:30 at the Icefield; soccer vs. RMC tomorrow at Columbia Field, men at 1 p.m. and women at 3 p.m.; men's hockey vs. Guelph tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Icefield; football vs. Western tomorrow at 7 p.m. at University Stadium. Out of town: the field hockey team is at Western for games against Queen's and Carleton today; men's rugby tomorrow at Brock; men's volleyball all weekend at a tournament in Regina.
All these vehicles are the products of student teams, based in the faculty of engineering but drawing on other parts of the campus as well, and their presence in the parade will draw national attention to the work of UW students.
"It's one of our favourite local community events!" says Calli Citron of the Midnight Sun team. The parade begins at 8:30 Monday in downtown Waterloo and heads south along King Street into central Kitchener. The weather is forecast to be sunny and warm, capping one of the loveliest Thanksgiving weekends in memory.
The parade is a Thanksgiving Day fixture in K-W and across the country, a highlight of the nine-day Oktoberfest "Great Bavarian Festival". It's the 36th annual Oktoberfest for this community, "bigger and better than ever", and starts with ceremonies in downtown Kitchener at noontime today.
Oktoberfest includes a number of special events aimed at
families, including Saturday morning's barrel race in central Waterloo,
and the "Oktoberfest Idol" competition Sunday and Monday in Kitchener.
![[Oktoberfest logo]](/images/2001/1005okt.gif){kind=small}
But the heart of the festival is the "festhalls"
scattered across the city, with German music, German food and a certain
German beverage in abundance. Among the festhalls will be "Seagram Haus",
formerly the gymnasium at University Stadium, which seats some 600
revellers at a time during Oktoberfest.
Meanwhile, the campus will be quiet for the next three days as Thanksgiving is observed. Monday, October 11, is a holiday -- UW offices and most services will be closed, and classes will not be held. The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries will be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Monday. Campus-wide, it's back to normal on Tuesday morning.
![[Turkey]](/1996/oct/turkey.gif)
As always, the UW police (888-4911) will be at work, the Student
Life Centre (888-4434) will be open, and the central plant will
monitor UW's buildings (maintenance emergencies, ext. 3793).
With the beginning of Oktoberfest, there can be more than the usual number of too-merry drivers on the road; may we celebrate with moderation and drive with care. And at Thanksgiving may we be, as the old grace says, truly thankful. The sorrows and burdens come easily enough to mind, but still, I try to remind myself, we at Waterloo have much for which we can give thanks.
CAR