UW ranks high in sustainability

The University of Waterloo has finished first in several categories that rank the ‘planet friendliness’ of various academic programs, including one dominated by universities with a school of business.

UW has finished first amongst schools of architecture and schools of planning in the annual ranking by Corporate Knights Magazine of how well sustainability issues are integrated into curriculums and the student experience. It finished third amongst schools of engineering. And despite not having a school or faculty of business, UW finished first amongst undergraduate business programs.

The university’s Centre for Environment and Business (CEB), located within the Faculty of Environment, finished first amongst 47 institutions across Canada. According to Corporate Knight’s news release on the rankings, UW stands as a model of how business and the environment can be integrated. Faculty members research responsible business and teach courses that “connect these two seemingly incompatible subjects.”

Steven B. Young, director of the CEB, notes the success of the program has a great deal to do with the fact that it is part of a faculty of environmental studies, rather than a conventional business school.

“Societal needs are being addressed as businesses seek to understand and respond to growing social concerns regarding the environment and the greening of business,” says Young. “The program also addresses students’ educational needs. We saw enrolment increase dramatically in the last two years, as greater numbers of high-quality students sought a practical education that aligns with their outlook.”

UW established its program in Environment and Business eight years ago to meet an anticipated increase in interest and need. In 2007, the faculty of environmental studies enlarged and strengthened its capacity in the area, officially establishing the Centre for Environment and Business.

In addition to well over 300 students studying at UW, the program recently attracted an additional 40 students in Nanjing, China, who are studying there before coming to Canada in 2009 to finish their degrees. In June 2008, Export Development Canada (EDC) partnered with the faculty to establish the EDC Chair in Environment and Finance. The faculty is now planning a professional masters degree, targeted directly at people already in the business world who are seeking to enhance their ability to direct businesses towards smart green solutions.

“Skeptics of the integration of business and environment need look no further than the University of Waterloo,” reads the Corporate Knights news release.

Corporate Knights analyzes how Canadian universities fare in integrating sustainability into the school experience. Its definition of sustainability considers issues of social justice, human rights, professional ethics, cultural diversity, climate change and conservation. The Canadian-based media company was founded in 2002.

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Musings on academic integrity

an excerpt from “To Advance an Honest Mind: Academic Integrity at the University of Waterloo”, an article by Patricia Bow in the spring issue of the UW Magazine

As associate dean (undergraduate studies) for engineering, over the last 10 years Wayne Loucks has sat across the desk from close to a thousand students — the defiant, the desperate, and the simply confused. In his first year he saw 30 cases; now it's more like 200 a year. Why? Increased enrolment, better detection mechanisms, and larger classes where it's harder for the professor to know all the students. But that can't be the whole story, Loucks says.

Sheila Ager, who recently stepped down as associate dean (undergraduate studies) in arts, says there are many reasons for cheating, just as there is "a spectrum of students." At one end of the spectrum are a few "hard-core cheaters"; at the other end are those who err through ignorance; in the middle are the majority, the basically honest and well-intentioned who will knowingly cheat only when under great pressure.

Not much can be done to change the mindset of the few described by Loucks as "ethically challenged," those who habitually break rules in order to get ahead. The appropriate response, he says, is vigilance: using plagiarism detection software, tightening exam security, and clarifying rules and penalties. They need to know that they are likely to be caught, and if caught will be penalized: that in cheating, "the cost-benefit equation is not on their side."

For the great majority of students who stray, however, education is the answer. Many come to grief over plagiarism, Ager says, because they haven't been shown how to use and cite sources. "Some of them don't even understand the importance of quotation marks." These are skills they must be taught, and as early as possible.

Group work can be an ethical quagmire. Young people have been working together on assignments since kindergarten: it's a good way to learn, which is why schools and universities encourage it. But, as David Taylor, past associate dean (undergraduate studies) in mathematics, points out, "There is a finely graded continuum between acceptable collaboration and copying." For both profs and students, the line is hard to draw. And it gets harder when each instructor has different rules. That makes it all the more important to set out those rules very clearly.

When students understand the rules and procedures, and still knowingly cheat or plagiarize, most act out of desperation. Imagine you're a student again. You're snowed under with assignments. You've just come in, exhausted, from your part-time job. Your time-management skills are less than perfect. And it's midnight, and that report is due first thing tomorrow. Will the instructor give you an extension? Not likely! You panic. A fingertip's touch away lies salvation: an essay mill or a web page that says exactly what you want to say, only better. You take the risk: you download the text, and hope nobody notices. After all, the mark for the assignment is way out of whack with the work required, and you probably won't need to know that stuff after graduation anyway. Besides, you know others who have cut corners, and got away with it.

These students, Ager says, are often genuinely remorseful when caught. They are unlikely to re-offend, especially if they get the help they were afraid to ask for, and if the instructor takes the time to explain that the assignment is not just busy work, it conveys knowledge they'll need in future. "We have to show that we take academic integrity seriously," she says. "That means talking to students about it right at the start. And, as faculty members, we need to be models to the students as well," citing sources properly in lectures and handouts, for example.

If cheating does occur, the instructor should gather the evidence and report the case to the associate dean, Ager says. When instructors deal with cheaters themselves, the result can be a confusing and unfair mishmash of penalties even in the same department. And turning a blind eye sends the message that a certain amount of cheating will be ignored. That's a key point, Loucks agrees — "There has to be a real expectation in the honest student that dishonest students will be caught. If the cheating student does not get caught and gets a better grade, then even the honest are going to be tempted."

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Associate provost wins research prize

UW researcher and administrator Alan George was this year’s winner of the Research Prize from the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society, and was called on to give one of the Prize Lectures at a major mathematical conference in Montréal.

George spoke on “Thirty Years of Progress in the Solution of Large Sparse Systems” during the Second Canada-France Congress 2008, held in early June at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

George (right) is a long-time faculty member in the school of computer science, has served as dean of mathematics and provost of UW, and is currently associate provost (information systems and technology) as well as acting dean of graduate studies.

CAIMS gives the research prize “to recognize innovative and exceptional research contributions in an emerging area of applied or industrial mathematics. The award will consist of a prize of $1,000 and a commemorative plaque,” as well as the invitation to give a major public lecture.

An abstract briefly explains the topic of George’s lecture, based on his research work: “The majority of systems of equations that arise in science and engineering models are sparse. Moreover, solving these systems represents a major component in the total cost of solving these models. The development of efficient methods for solving these systems involves questions about the complexity of certain computations and their numerical stability and accuracy, along with software issues related to the design and analysis of efficient methods for storing sparse matrices and the use of multiprocessor architectures.

“This talk will trace the development of efficient methods for solving large sparse positive definite systems of equations over the past thirty years. This class of systems enjoys some significant advantages, and very efficient methods are now available for their solution. If time permits, approaches to solving more general systems (e.g., unsymmetric, indefinite, overdetermined, constrained) using the tools developed for sparse positive definite systems will be discussed.”

The text of the full talk is available online.

George was in the news again last week as he was named to the board of the Optical Regional Advanced Network of Ontario — the agency that operates the Orion high-speed computer network linking Ontario campuses.

“We are very pleased that Alan will be part of our Board,” said board chair Maxim Jean-Louis. “He is one of our country’s research and technology leaders and will bring a very focused perspective to our governance team.”

“Alan has been part of the ORANO family of stakeholders and champions since the very beginning of the network,” says Phil Baker, president of the agency. “He’s among the pioneers in the application of computing in scientific research in Canada, and we’re excited that he will be able to make a contribution to ORANO and the network as we move to the next phase of the network’s evolution in serving the needs of Ontario’s science and research community.”

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