![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Friday, November 11, 2005
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Poppy]](/images/2004/1111poppy.jpg)
No words
can add to their fame, nor so long as gratitude holds
a place in men's hearts can our forgetfulness be suffered to detract
from their renown. For as the war dwarfed by its magnitude all contests
of the past, so the wonder of human resource, the splendour of
human heroism, reached a height never witnessed before.
-- Arthur Meighen, prime minister of Canada Remembrance Day observed at UWPeople across the university have been asked to observe Remembrance Day with a minute of silence. "Following November 11 last year," says a memo from provost Amit Chakma, "Becky Wroe, who was President of the Federation of Students, suggested UW start the practice of observing a minute's silence at 11 o'clock on November 11. 2005 is the Year of the Veteran and it would seem appropriate in this year of commemoration to initiate this practice at UW. I would therefore ask that, if possible, whether you are alone, with a group, or in front of a class, you take time at 11 o'clock on November 11 to observe a minute's silence, remembering and honouring our Canadian veterans."On campus, two events this morning will mark Remembrance Day. Both ceremonies start at 10:45. A service at the Chapel of St. Bede at Renison College will include music, prayers and a speaker, Myroslaw Tataryn, dean of St. Jerome's University. A ceremony in the foyer of Carl Pollock Hall, organized by the Engineering Society, will include the placing of a wreath, music, brief remarks, and the usual minute of silence. UW will also be represented at the City of Waterloo observances at the Cenotaph on Regina Street this morning, with two students from History 106, "Canada and War", laying a wreath on behalf of the university. |
"Canadian Forces sent a contingent of over 230 people to the Netherlands in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of this country," she writes in the co-op student newsletter Inside Scoop. "As a co-op student at the Department of National Defence in Ottawa, I was given the opportunity to accompany this contingent. Liberation of the Netherlands came in 1945 near the end of World War II. Remembrance Day today is the 87th anniversary of the end of World War I, when the guns fell silent on November 11, 1918.
In her article about the Netherlands trip, Scagnetti tells how it happened and what she saw: "I applied for the job of Assistant Historical Researcher at the Directorate of History and Heritage, DND, through the application process on Jobmine, and I could not have been luckier in a job match. This job is perhaps the best placement a history student could hope for.
"My job (was) to complete research papers on various aspects of Canadian military heritage. My employer uses these papers as a reference in completing the currently in-progress multi-volume book on Canadian military heritage. I was invited to stay for a double work term (an 8-month contract) so that I might participate as a public affairs assistant. This work included assisting in filming, photographing, collecting information through interviews, etc.
![[Cracked concrete under her feet]](/images/2005/1111scagnetti.jpg)
Tara Scagnetti standing on the last World War II German bunker still in existence on the Leopold Canal. |
"The ability to not only see the battlefields of this flat country but also to stand on that same land and gain the perspective of the soldiers at that time, brought a sudden realization of the feats achieved and obstacles overcome that pictures, words, or speeches could not. To stand on a dyke once possessed by the enemy and from this vantage point look down onto the flat, wet lowlands and farmers' fields which our soldiers had to cross, to only then battle for possession of the dyke, is terrifying.
"After the tour, the participants were taken to Bergen Op Zoom Canadian War Cemetery. Here are buried the men that had died in the battlefields just seen. The connection made was overwhelming, and brought tears to many eyes."
Scagnetti says the opportunity of accompanying the military tour "was extraordinary, and I recognize that I am very fortunate to have experienced this event, made possible through the co-op program. To also have participated in the battlefield tours given by two remarkable historians has forever changed my perception and understanding of remembrance and commemorative events and, especially of the veterans who granted us the freedom and the ability to enjoy life's privileges."
Johnston is in East Asia with an Ontario business development delegation, talking up the importance of education as part of international economic connections, and yesterday's event was scheduled to be the high point of his trip. With other UW officials who came to be on hand for the big day, Johnston met with UW alumni and Hong Kong business leaders to strengthen the university's connections in this booming region.
The endowed Fund, with its million-dollar goal, "will help UW recruit outstanding undergraduate students from Hong Kong and Mainland China by building on the existing HK Alumni Association Award Fund and expanding scholarship support to include graduate students," a news release explains. "As well, it will promote faculty excellence through grants, fellowships and professorships, and promote international projects such as the UW Math and Computing Contests."
Campaign co-chairs David Yau and George Chan and other alumni leaders had a chance to meet fellow alumnus and Canadian business leader Bob Harding, who chairs the overall $350 million Campaign Waterloo.
A key figure, as the UW Hong Kong Alumni Association works to help more of the country's brightest students pursue their education at Waterloo, is Rex Auyeung, a senior vice-president of Principal International and honorary chair of the UW Alumni@HongKong Campaign and the University of Waterloo-China Hong Kong Fund. Auyeung said his own experience at Waterloo was invaluable: "I am a proud graduate of the University of Waterloo, known as Canada's best overall university. By studying at Waterloo I not only got a first-class world-level education, it set up my development in later life and much of the success I have enjoyed in business here in Hong Kong. It is very important to me, and to our Hong Kong alumni, that our best and most-talented students continue to find opportunities to study at UW in order to give themselves a great boost in their own development."
The first scholarship fund sponsored by Hong Kong alumni dates back to 1987, when the alumni group there marked its 10th anniversary, and has so far provided entrance scholarships for 15 students from Hong Kong.
As for UW's side of the relationship, "Hong Kong and China are very important to our strategic plans for the future," says Johnston. "We are very proud of the fact that we attract some of the very best students that Hong Kong and China have to offer. Waterloo is known as a magnet for the very best talent, including students and faculty and staff. We intend to ensure, through this new scholarship initiative, that we continue to open our doors to these very bright young people from this key part of the world."
The news release notes that there are now more than 800 Waterloo alumni in the city: "When they return to Hong Kong, the Waterloo alumni take positions in business and industry that contribute substantially to the economy and forge new links between Canada and Hong Kong. The trip by UW leadership to Hong Kong is indicative of the university's expanding interests in international activities, particularly in such important areas of Asia."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Warrior sports: basketball vs. York tonight (women 6:00, men
8:00) and vs. Laurentian tomorrow (women 2:00, men 4:00), Physical Activities
Complex. Swimming vs. Toronto, Saturday 3 p.m., PAC pool. Women's
hockey vs. York Saturday 7:30, Guelph Sunday 2:00, Columbia Icefield.
Women's volleyball at Brock, Saturday. Cross-country at the CIS national
championships Saturday in Halifax. Men's hockey at Guelph, Sunday
afternoon.
Black Knight Squash Tournament Saturday, Physical Activities Complex, sponsored by campus recreation. Renison Institute of Ministry workshop: "Ministers of the Church: Lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons," Saturday 10 a.m., Renison College, details online. Yates Cup football, Western at Laurier, Saturday 1 p.m., University Stadium, tickets $25, UW students $20. Mathematics Society semi-formal Saturday night, Waterloo Inn. Da Capo Chamber Choir, based at Conrad Grebel University College, "Nocturne: music of remembrance and hope", Saturday 8 p.m., St. John's Anglican Church, Kitchener, tickets $15, students $10. 'Exploring Mennonite Hymnody in Historical Perspective', workshop sponsored by Institute for Worship and the Arts, Conrad Grebel University College, Sunday 2:30 p.m., Waterloo North Mennonite Church, free will offering. Tourism lecture series: Judy Rogers, Research Resolutions and Consulting, "Demographic Change and Tourism Market Segments in Canada," Monday 9:30 a.m., Arts Lecture Hall room 105. Fields Institute symposium honouring new Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, including David Jackson and Edward Sudicky of UW, Monday 1 p.m. at the institute, 222 College Street, Toronto, details online. Study in Germany presentation by visiting students from Braunschweig and Hamburg-Harburg, Monday 4:30 p.m., Davis Centre room 1304. 'Mental Health Services in Waterloo Region' presentation by speakers from Canadian Mental Health Association and Grand River Hospital, sponsored by UW Employee Assistance Program, Tuesday 12 noon, Davis Centre room 1302. Authors of two political books -- John Ibbitson, The Polite Revolution, and Maude Barlow, Too Close for Comfort, debate Canada's political future, Tuesday 7 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, 57 Erb Street West, sponsored by UW bookstore, $2 at the door. 'Our Town' drama department production, by-invitation preview Tuesday 7 p.m. (not 8 p.m. as stated yesterday); general performances Wednesday-Saturday 8 p.m., tickets 888-4908. Geographic Information Systems Day with poster displays, keynote presentation and research discussion, Wednesday 12:00 to 3:30, Environmental Studies I courtyard, details online. Impact conference, student-organized entrepreneurship event, November 18-19, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, details online. |
Engineering student dies in SaskatchewanFuneral arrangements have been announced for Kenton Carnegie, a third-year geological engineering student who died Tuesday.Visitation will be Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 at the Armstrong Funeral Home, 124 King Street East in Carnegie's home town of Oshawa. The funeral will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. |
Meanwhile, St. Jerome's University will be giving its Fr. Norm Choate Distinguished Graduate Award tonight. (The award, given since 1986, is named for a former president of the college.) The 2005 winner is Eva Kmiecic, a senior executive of United Way of Canada, whose previous career included work establishing the federal department of citizenship and immigration, working on refugee services in Australia, and serving as a deputy commissioner in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She will speak on the topic of "The Greater Good: Enacting Personal Values to Build Community", starting at 7:30 Friday night in Siegfried Hall at St. Jerome's. Kmiecic draws on her experience in both government and non-profit organizations to demonstrate how organizations and communities must be shaped by individuals and small groups with strongly held values.
The United Way campaign on campus hasn't reached its goal yet, with October come and gone; hence this message to people campus-wide: "The University of Waterloo United Way Campaign appreciates the support of its donors in helping to ensure that fundamental needs of the K-W community are met. The co-chairs of this year's campaign recognize that recently, there have been many crises abroad (earthquakes, the tsunami, and hurricanes) that call out for our support. We hope, though, that members of our campus community will continue to support the work that the K-W United Way does in addressing our local community's needs. Please help us reach our campaign goal of $165,000 by sending your pledge form to the Campaign office (Davis Centre 3620). If you have misplaced your form and would like another one, please contact Jonah Levine at ext. 3840, or download one in PDF format."
Today brings the opening of a solo exhibition for Jane Buyers, sculptor and chair of the UW fine arts department. The work featured in "Inscriptions: is based on the image of the open book. The sculptures turn text into actual forms while the works on paper explore found marginalia and hand-written notes on texts including Milton, Shakespeare, and Wordsworth. Buyers's show opens today at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, and will come to UW's own gallery in February and March and to Toronto's Koffler Gallery next fall. In addition, Buyers has a second show as part of a joint exhibition at the Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. The joint exhibition -- "The Suitcase Show" -- is presented with the Torontoniensis Collective. The show combines Canadian and Scottish artists, opened last week, and will be going to Scotland during 2006.
The plant operations department sends word that painters will be at work, starting Monday, on the busy third floor of the Dana Porter Library, and also on the first floor of Engineering III (main corridors). "Please use caution in both areas," is the advice.
It's likely no coincidence that a two-day workshop on "Understanding Conflict" is being held today, Remembrance Day, and tomorrow by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College. . . . Two busloads from the UW staff association set off today for a shopping weekend in Erie, Pennsylvania. . . . UW president David Johnston is among the signers of a letter to the prime minister and federal finance minister, published as a full-page newspaper ad yesterday, calling for elimination of the capital gains tax on gifts of stock to charities. . . .
Finally, a correction of a rather odd mistake. On Wednesday, the Daily Bulletin carried a report of new research grants, including one to Ken Stark, who operates the Nutritional and Nutraceutical Research laboratory in the kinesiology department. Stark is receiving $180,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to support work on the use of fatty acid profiling to assess disease risk. The university's news release, quoted here, said that the funding "will provide for the determination of fatty acids and lipids in various matrices (two-dimensional arrays of values) at a rate five to 10 times faster than conventional methods". Well, that makes no sense. "Unfortunately," writes Stark, "'matrices' has been defined in mathematical terms (two-dimensional arrays of variables), when I have used it in biological terms (various mediums or biological fractions). I should have realized that at Waterloo the mathematical definition would be the default."
CAR