September 7, 2005

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Professors, too, get oriented
Courses go online as term begin
Species unchanged for a billion years

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

[Eight in purple]
Single and Sexy, all eight of them! They're the cast of UW's thought-provoking play aimed at new students, raising issues such as date rape, substance abuse and harassment. The hour-long show has had four performances so far this orientation season, with six more to come: Wednesday at 9:30 and 1:00 (mostly for mathematics students) and 4:00 (engineering); Thursday at 10:00 (for science) and 1:00 and 4:00 (arts).

Professors, too, get oriented

While first-year students roam the campus getting to know people, places and services, some of the professors who will face them in the classroom next week are also getting a day's worth of orientation to Waterloo.

Today brings a Welcoming New Faculty program, organized by the New Faculty Recruitment and Support office, in cooperation with a number of other groups. Recently-arrived professors -- there should be around 60 of them if last year's figure is any indication -- were invited to start today with a 90-minute session on "Discovering Campus Resources", based in the Flex Lab in the Dana Porter Library.

UW help for New Orleans
As rescue efforts continue in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf area, plans for the future are being made and help is being promised from all directions, including Canada. Martin Van Nierop, UW's director of communications and public affairs, would like to hear from anyone at UW who is involved, particularly in assisting the colleges and universities that have been shut down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, or who is interested in providing UW assistance. He can be reached by e-mail at vanierop@uwaterloo.ca.
That's followed by lunch in South Campus Hall with deans and department chairs, and then an afternoon panel on "How to Succeed at UW". Speakers are Roydon Fraser (president of the faculty association), Diana Denton (of the drama and speech communication department), Carey Bissonnette (of chemistry), and Beth Jewkes (chair of the management sciences department).

The day concludes with a barbecue for new faculty -- and their partners -- at the farm where UW president David Johnston makes his home. That event is co-sponsored by the faculty association.

Tomorrow, the research office will hold its "Fall Faculty Workshop", which is "aimed at orienting faculty (especially new faculty) to the various research funding related resources available". The event will be held in the CEIT building starting at 9:00, and includes speakers from the research office, as well as university librarian Mark Haslett talking about subject specialist librarians as "your allies in research". After lunch there's a "Research Tradeshow" and a workshop on Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grants. (A separate session about the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council is scheduled for September 15.)

POSITIONS AVAILABLE
On this week's list from the human resources department:

Administrative assistant to the dean, environmental studies, USG 6

Teaching services coordinator, mathematics undergraduate office, USG 5

Assignments and examinations assistant, distance and continuing education, USG 4/5

Assistant to the chair, electrical and computer engineering, USG 7

Special projects manager, Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, USG 9/10

Project co-ordinator, Centre for Behavioural Research and Evaluation, USG 7

Administrative assistant/graduate secretary, French studies, USG 6

Senior manager, evaluation/smokers' help, Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, USG 10
Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site.
Meanwhile, orientation for new first-year students continues to keep the campus loud and bright. Highlights today include the engineering "Junkyard Wars" at 9 a.m., a science spaghetti dinner, and a day of events and briefings specifically for international students, in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre. Most faculties are taking part in social events in the SLC tonight. Tomorrow, international student orientation continues, along with a few other events, although the majority of new students get most of tomorrow off. Thursday evening, however, brings one of the social high points of the week, the alcohol-free semiformal "Monte Carlo Night", again in the SLC.

New students should be writing the English Language Proficiency Exam at one of five sittings over the next two days: today at 11:00 (arts), 1:00 (architecture, environmental studies and science) and 3:00 (arts), tomorrow at 11:00 (engineering) and 1:00 (math, applied health sciences and software engineering). "If you are unable to attend the session for your Faculty," says an announcement from the writing clinic, "you can write the examination in December."

Courses go online as term begin

The huge majority of UW's students will be turning to the Internet for material for at least one of their courses this fall, says Jan Willwerth of the information systems and technology department. She's the training and support coordinator for UW-ACE -- the "Angel Course Environment" system that instructors use to deliver assignments, keep class lists, and in many cases teach part of a course, even when most of the action is still face-to-face.

She says 337 on-campus courses and 43 distance education courses are registered with UW-ACE this fall term, "serving a population of just over 17,000 students". The figure is up from 318 courses last winter and just 228 a year ago.

But, Willwerth writes, "I'm getting concerned that some instructors expect their courses will magically appear in UW-ACE!" No, they won't, she says, not unless the instructor does what's needful: "If you wish to have your course available on UW-ACE for the Fall 2005 term, please make sure to submit a request. If you wish to have course content copied from a previous term, please e-mail uwacehelp@uwaterloo.ca. Students will be given access to UW-ACE courses on Monday, September 12, the first day of classes."

In other news . . . preparations for the beginning of term are happening everywhere you look, and one group that's being given a head start on things is the roughly 120 students who are entering second year in the Accounting and Financial Management program. "We've been holding professional development activities for AFM students throughout the past three years," writes Allison Wells from the school of accountancy, "but with mixed success." So the previous program of speakers and workshops has turned into a full-scale "Future Professionals Conference", running today and tomorrow to "prepare AFM students for their first co-op work term and life after graduation". Activities include resumé critiques, mock interviews, "team-building activities", a True Colours personality assessment, briefings on professional ethics, and a panel on career tracks. Things wind up Thursday evening with dinner and an "induction ceremony" at the University Club.

Non-academic services are also gearing up, and most food services outlets are open this week on their regular schedule. The exception is the Festival Fare cafeteria in South Campus Hall, which will open Monday. Tim Horton's in the Student Life Centre is closing at midnight this week, but returns to 24-7 operation as of Monday. And yes, the Modern Languages coffee shop is open, after a bad start yesterday in the wake of a break-in during the long weekend.

A memo from the UW library: "Library books that were signed out by faculty, graduate students, and staff before the beginning of August are due on September 14, 2005." So books should be returned before then, or renewed using the Trellis online system. Online help for renewals is available. The library memo adds: "Patrons should not try to renew more than 50 books at a time."

Some Warrior scores from early-season and exhibition action: In baseball, McMaster 5, Warriors 0; Toronto 9, Warriors 5; Toronto 8, Warriors 5. In men's rugby, Warriors 7, Bishop's 0. In men's soccer, Laurentian 3, Warriors 0; Laurentian 3, Warriors 1. And in women's soccer, Laurentian 3, Warriors 0; Laurentian 5, Warriors 0.

[Müller]

Species unchanged for a billion years -- by Graeme Stemp for the UW media relations office

"When I was in Grade 7, I wanted to be a marine biologist and study whales. Oddly enough, I actually kept that dream alive and I am a marine biologist," says Waterloo professor Kirsten Müller (right). "But I don't study whales -- they were too hard to dissect. I study the evolution of algae, which represent some of the most ancient organisms still present on the planet."

WHEN AND WHERE
Fall term fees are due today; late fees begin Thursday. Fee payment information is online.
Class enrolment appointments for winter undergraduate courses listed on Quest as of today; appointments start October 17.
Engineering exchange students welcome session today: general session 11:00, Carl Pollock Hall room 1346; lunch, CPH patio; information session about course enrolment, 1:30, room 1346.
Gays and Lesbians of Waterloo welcome-back social 7 p.m., Graduate House second-floor lounge, more information online.
Warrior soccer at Guelph, women's teams 4 p.m., men's teams 6 p.m.
Warrior baseball vs. Brock, 6 p.m., Jack Couch Park, Kitchener.
Warrior men's rugby vs. Alumni, 6:30, Columbia Field.
Engineering reunion for classes of 1965, 1970, 1975, September 10-11, faculty members invited to attend, details online.
Müller studies Bangia, a species of red marine algae in which the chlorophyll (the green pigment that gives most plants their colour and enables them to carry on the process of photosynthesis) is masked by a red or purplish pigment and is a source of agar and carrageenan.

This species was reported in the fossil record dating back 1.2 billion years, making it one of the first life forms to populate the earth. "We know that Bangia is very old, but the most fascinating thing about it is that it hasn't changed very much in all that time," Müller said. "By studying Bangia, we can almost look back in time." It allows researchers to study early life forms and ask questions about plant cells and why some organisms stay the same for many millions of years.

Bangia is important for more than just research purposes. It is closely related to the species Porphyra (Nori) used extensively for aquaculture, while red algae is also used in toothpaste, ice cream and sushi.

"We have a really tough time understanding what differentiates species among Bangia and the relationship with the genus Porphyra is also not clear," Müller said. "This species is highly genetically divergent."

Müller's team has collected a large number of samples of Bangia from around North America and has used various techniques to aid in differentiating species. "Using better tools in species identification and categorization," she says, "we observed that some species that had been previously thought of as the same were actually different. For example, Bangia in the Great Lakes is actually an invader from freshwaters in Europe rather than from the Atlantic Ocean as was previously thought. Plus, we found some new species, which is pretty cool."

When Müller isn't dressed in hip waders collecting algae, she can be found teaching courses on evolution, bioinformatics and applied phycology (the study of algae). "I think studying the evolution of different life forms, like algae, gives one a greater appreciation for the diversity of life. You never quite look at a living organism the same when you realize that we are all connected in some way," Müller said.

CAR

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