Renovations coming to Dana Porter

from the UW library’s e-newsletter

The main floor of the Dana Porter Library is set to be fully renovated this spring/summer, with construction scheduled from approximately April 28 to August 15.

Made possible through the successful Kresge Challenge, which raised over $2.8 million for the Library, the planned renovations will transform the main floor into a welcome and vital learning space that is flexible to the needs of UW's growing and ever-changing student body.

Design decisions have been informed by feedback provided from students, faculty, and others — so expect the changes to reflect more of what you want. Specifically, the renovated main floor will have increased public spaces, with increased individual study areas, increased group study areas, additional workstations, more natural lighting and window views, and improved signage and displays.

Design plans are close to being finalized and the project architects at The Walter Fedy Partnership are busy taking measurements of the public and staff areas. The proposed renovation plans will be moving to tender in late February or early March with renovations scheduled to begin in late April, once final exams are completed.

The main floor will be entirely closed to the public and staff during the renovations. This is a necessary closure to ensure that the project is completed by its firm deadline of fall term. Library staff will be providing alternative access to services and resources during this time. Stay tuned for more information as the renovations approach.

Back to top

Go ask Alice, when she's on 3 stages

Student actors will explore the wonderland that is Alice’s next week, and will do it on three stages at the same time thanks to Internet connections that link three universities thousands of kilometres apart.

This new adaptation of scenes from Lewis Carroll’s children’s classic “will be performed live, simultaneously, and in real time in three different locations”, the UW drama department says.

The show — “Alice (Experiments) in Wonderland” — is being described as “a multi-point, telematic performance for children and adults” that will combine the talents of actors, designers, directors, video artists, and technicians from three different campuses across North America — at UW, the University of Central Florida (in Orlando), and Bradley University (in Peoria, Illinois).

Audiences at all three locations will experience Alice’s encounters with the White Rabbit, Humpty Dumpty, The Queen of Hearts, and the Jabberwock, “both in the fantastical world of the theatre and the ‘real’ world of virtual realty”, a news release says. “Utilizing the latest innovations in digital transfer and distribution technologies, this fully mediatized production will, for the first time in theatre history, have performers interact in the same production even though they are separated by thousands of miles.”

Says director and drama faculty member Gerd Hauck: “Lewis Carroll's ageless fantasia receives an electronic overhaul in which virtual characters interact with live ones, leaping on and off screen, and from one venue to another with lightning speed.”

There will be evening performances January 24-26, January 31 and February 1-2; matinees January 26-27 and February 2-3; and morning performances January 25 and February 1. Tickets are $12 general, $10 students and seniors, and $5 children. The UW portion of the production will be in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building.

Back to top

Celebration for grad studies, and more

This afternoon brings an important event for graduate studies at UW: a reception in South Campus Hall honouring winners of the President's Graduate Scholarships and NSERC undergraduate student research awards, as well as the two faculty members who are winners of the 2007 Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. It all starts at 3:00, and is expected to draw between 250 and 300 students as well as faculty members and UW officials. One graduate student will give a short speech about the experience of holding a graduate scholarship at UW. Brief talks will also be given by provost Amit Chakma, dean of graduate studies Alan George, and associate dean Bill Power. After the speeches, the students and others will mix and mingle at the reception (cold hors d'oeuvres are promised).

And more about grad studies: there’s news about the 8th annual Graduate Student Research Conference, which is set to be held April 21-24. Says Carrie Nickerson of the grad studies office, which is sponsoring the conference along with the Graduate Student Association: “We are very excited to be able to announce the keynote speaker for the conference will be award winning author (The Upside of Down, The Ingenuity Gap etc.), and scholar, Thomas Homer-Dixon. Currently director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto, Homer-Dixon will be stepping down from that post to take up positions at CIGI and the University of Waterloo this summer. Homer-Dixon will be speaking at the Humanities Theatre the afternoon of April 21. Tickets will be free to conference presenters and additional tickets will be on sale later in March for a nominal fee. Further information is available on the conference website.” And a reminder: the organizers invite all UW graduate students to submit an abstract and present either an oral or a poster presentation at this year's conference. Some abstracts will be selected for the judged category and will be eligible for prizes. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is February 8.

Voting is to begin Thursday, January 24, as UW faculty elect an at-large representative on the University’s Senate (term to April 30, 2009), says a memo from the university secretariat. Brief campaign statements are available online for the two candidates who are now contesting the position: Zina Gimpelevich, Germanic & Slavic Studies, and Jean Duhamel, Chemistry. All regular faculty are eligible to vote online. The by-election runs through January 29.

An announcement of interest from the Federation of Students "FedsPulse" web site: "A subcommittee of the One Waterloo campaign is currently reviewing inclusivity in event planning for various UW/Feds events. We are looking for members of the UW community to give feedback on positive and negative experiences they've experienced at campus events, along with suggestions regarding inclusivity. The committee will be investigating current and best practices in the operations of events at the UW campus and focusing on any areas of inclusivity, included but not limited to experiences relating to diversity in cultural backgrounds, gender, sexual orientation, creed, age and dis/abilities. Experiences could include those at Orientation, club events, pub nights, etc. Please reply with specific thoughts and experiences or questions to Darcy Higgins at vpin@feds.uwaterloo.ca."

Phyllis Dahl, who's been a member of the plant operations custodial staff since October 1995, will officially retire February 1. • Accountancy students preparing for the Uniform Final Examination, the post-graduation qualifying test, will have a morning-long session tomorrow in the Humanities Theatre. • Offer of the week from food services: "enter your guess weight of the giant salami" at Brubakers cafeteria in the Student Life Centre.

And . . . there were some confusing dates in Monday’s Daily Bulletin article about the procedure that will be used to find the university’s next president, a successor to David Johnston when the current leader’s term ends in 2009. As noted, the process set out in UW Policy 50 was followed in 1997, leading to the choice of Johnston, and in 2003, leading to his reappointment. What might have been helpful was to note that Johnston’s first term as president began July 1, 1999. His second term began July 1, 2005 and was for four years (not for five years beginning in 2004, as the article mistakenly said).

CAR

Back to top