Pension and benefits committee reports

First things first: a reassurance about UW’s pension investments appears at the very top of a report sent to the university’s faculty and staff last week by the pension and benefits committee.

“In recognition of the current market volatility,” says the strategically placed sentence, “the Committee wishes to advise the community that the pension plan is prudently managed and investment returns continue to be monitored on a regular basis.” That’s been a concern since North American stock markets started dropping a few weeks ago as the worldwide economic crisis developed.

“UW has a Defined Benefit Plan,” the committee reminds readers later in the report. “This means that your pension is based on your final average earnings and the number of years you have contributed to the Plan; it is indexed to inflation. Your pension does not depend on investment results.”

The report — the first full overview of P&B’s work since 2005 — lists the issues the committee has dealt with over the past three years and provides a reminder of the changes introduced during that time. It runs three and a half printed pages in the form that was distributed by campus mail, and the text is also available online. Some excerpts:

“For much of 2006, the Committee was occupied with the effect of the elimination of mandatory retirement on UW’s pension and benefits programs; in 2007, it was immersed in Pension Plan funding and design; and the first half of 2008 was spent restructuring the Pension Fund’s global investments.

“For the remainder of 2008 and 2009, the Committee will continue or begin to discuss: options to enable retirees to purchase a dental plan; sick leave/LTD; vision care; health spending accounts; dental coverage; internal coordination of benefits; and benefit maxima. Further information on any of these topics or the topics identified below may be obtained by contacting the Committee Secretary, ext. 35924, or trenny@uwaterloo.ca.

“Benefits are provided by the University from operating funds. The costs of extended health, dental and basic life insurance benefits are charged to the University in the form of premiums. These premiums are a direct result of claims paid and are borne by the University. . . .

“The Pension & Benefits Committee is a standing committee of the Board of Governors responsible for overseeing UW’s pension plans, extended health care and dental plans, self-insured sick leave and long term disability plans, and life insurance plans. It also considers other University-related benefits such as the tuition benefit. The Committee consists of representatives from senior administration, the Board of Governors, retirees, university support staff, faculty and CUPE Local 793. In addition to its semi-annual investment manager review meetings, the Committee meets on a monthly basis (except July and August); meetings are open to the UW community and agendas and minutes are available on the web. Recommendations for changes and improvements are developed, refined and approved by the Committee and forwarded to the Board of Governors for approval.

“The Committee’s approach to pension and benefit plans is based on the following principles: There will be one pension and benefits plan for all members of the UW community regardless of the type of work performed or the employee group to which one belongs. Benefits are provided for both the employee and his or her family where relevant. Employees should be covered for catastrophic events. The current level of benefits should be maintained. Cost implications to both the University and its employees should be considered.”

Sections of the report touch on specific issues that have been handled over the past couple of years, such as insurance coverage for dental implants, the launch of the self-service MyPensionInfo facility, indexation for deferred pensions, and the companies that manage the pension fund’s international investments.

It reminds readers that the health, dental and long term disability plans, previously managed by separate companies, were all put in the hands of Great West Life last year, and that individual contributions to the pension plan saw a two-step increase in July 2007 and July 2008.

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Library Day marks Porter renovations

Tomorrow has been dubbed “Library Day”, with an open house, balloons and all celebrating the spectacular renovations on the main floor of the Dana Porter Library.

The occasion, a web site explains, “celebrates the Library's role in supporting the learning, teaching, and research needs of the UW community. It is also a day to celebrate the reopening of Porter's main floor and provides an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to visit the floor and learn about its many features and services.”

That area — actually the second floor, because of Porter’s up-in-the-air design —features snazzy new circulation and information desks, 62 public access workstations (increased from 48), individual and group study spaces plus “a bookable group collaboration booth for up to 6 people that includes a 28-inch LCD monitor”, and a redesigned Browsers Café. There’s also a glass “quotation wall” that divides Browsers from the reference collection “and displays quotations in a selection of languages to read, contemplate, and discuss”.

The renovation, designed by the Walter Fedy Partnership, opens up the broad sweep of the main floor, with its arched windows overlooking the colonnade that surrounds the building, just as the original architects intended (photo). The second floor, home to reference services as well as circulation, a copy centre, the café and heavy traffic, had been badly cut up (and grown shabby) over the buildings four decades.

The Arts Library, designed by Shore & Moffat with support from Mike Brookes, UW’s superintendent of buildings and grounds in the 1960s, and Doris Lewis, then the university librarian, was officially opened October 23, 1965. It was named in honour of Dana Porter, Ontario politician and judge and UW’s first chancellor, after his death in 1967.

As part of tomorrow’s celebration, the library is extending an invitation to “Doodle Dana” the way you see it — and to “check out the Library Day Flickr site for a handful of doodles submitted early by library staff and others,” including the present university librarian, Mark Haslett.

At tomorrow’s open house, from 10:00 to 2:00, visitors can tour the renovation, sample free coffee, cider and cookies, get their pictures taken to illustrate “a cartooned e-card” from the copy centre, and see special displays.

“The Dana Porter Library has been an icon of the University of Waterloo, representing learning and scholarship,” says UW president David Johnston. “It is recognized widely, especially by our returning alumni, as a beacon for the university and its wide-ranging community. It's wonderful that the renovations to Dana Porter have once again revealed and highlighted its unique ground floor architecture while also making it a more welcoming place for studies and research. Mark Haslett and his team are to be congratulated on this superb project. I invite everyone to drop by tomorrow for the open house where we can celebrate this achievement together.”

The renovated space “has been designed to promote optimal accessibility and access”, the library’s web site notes, with motion sensors in the doors, widely spaced aisles in the reference section, and an adjustable counter at the circulation desk. “The floor’s varying textures, inset path, and contrasting colours create spatial and visual cues for individuals with vision loss.”

The renovations, it adds, “were made possible as result of support received from UW students, faculty and staff, as well as community supporters through initiatives such as the Kresge Challenge.”

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Monday morning, couldn't guarantee

This e-mail from the registrar's office went out to 25,680 undergraduate students a few days ago: "Pre-enrollment for the spring 2009 term begins October 27, 2008. We want you to pre-enroll for the spring 2009 term during the week of Monday, October 27 to Sunday, November 2, 2008. Once you pre-enroll, we'll use your course preferences to create a timetable that you'll finalize during your enrollment session time in February 2009. By pre-enrolling you'll help us reduce the number of conflicts you might experience and help you get into courses that you need in the spring term. While we can't guarantee that we'll remove all possible conflicts or satisfy every one of your course requests, we'll try to come up with a plan that works best for you and your classmates."

Here’s news: “The Waterloo Applied Complexity and Innovation Seminar series, hosted by Social Innovation Generation (SIG@Waterloo), is the first phase in the development of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation. WICI is being created to facilitate transdisciplinary, collaborative research focused on promoting innovation and resilience within the complex adaptive systems at the core of human well-being. In the coming decades, rapid systemic change on multiple levels will contribute to global problems, potentially inducing pandemics, violent meteorological events, economic collapse, and social and political unrest. The weakening of national public institutions, widening gaps between rich and poor, increasing scarcity of high-quality energy, and worsening damage to the global environment coupled with increased global connectivity will erode systemic resilience and boost the incidence of surprising and even catastrophic change. By creating a forum and providing a common language to facilitate rigorous multidisciplinary discussion, WICI is intended to attract leading researchers in applied complexity and put UW at the forefront of efforts to understand and address multi-scale, systems level problems.” The first WICI seminar — with Stuart Kauffman, MacArthur Fellow and professor of biological sciences and physics at the University of Calgary, speaking on ‘The Evolution of Economic Wealth and Innovation’ — is scheduled for today at 3:00 in the dining room of the University Club. Information: e-mail cmombour@uwaterloo.ca.

"Think you know the score about gambling?" asks Cora Dupuis of the student life office, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't looking at me any more than anybody else. "The Responsible Gambling Council of Ontario will have a booth at multiple locations this week where you can visit the display, learn something new, and get a great giveaway including a $1,500 Scholarship Award. Just stop by any of the following locations to find out more." Namely: the Student Life Centre, today through Thursday from 11:00 to 2:00; REVelation cafeteria in Ron Eydt Village, tonight from 5 to 7; Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, Wednesday from 5 to 7. There's more information about the "Know the Score" campaign online.

"The areas to be paved this week did not go quite as scheduled," says a note from Donna McCracken in the plant operations department, who says work is now scheduled to wind up today in the area of South Campus Hall and Doug Wright Engineering. The paving crew will then move on to the CEIT building area and the Math and Computer loading dock. Tuesday take them to Matthews Hall, and Wednesday to the area between Needles Hall and the Dana Porter Library. "There will also be a few concrete bicycle pads being installed across campus," she says, "but that should not affect traffic too much."

The latest report on first-year enrolment, issued by the office of institutional analysis and planning, confirms what has been pretty clear for months: UW is going to have more students than the “target” numbers for November 1, the day when official counts are taken. “By November 1 we should be between 200 and 350 over target for total fall year one enrolment, and between 200 and 300 for new admits,” writes Mary Soulis of IAP. (The difference between the two figures is a number of students who weren’t newly admitted this September but are still counted as being in first year.) She says the estimate for November 1 registered year one students is 6,010, against a target of 5,726. “This would put us at 105% of our total November 1 target. The estimated November 1 registered new admits is 5,576 against a target of 5,316.” That too is 5 per cent above the target. “The Faculties vary,” Soulis adds, “from 94% of target for Science to 115% for Mathematics. Domestic students are at 107% of target and international high-fee paying students are at 83% of target. We are expected to be about 365 above target for domestic students and 81 below for international high-fee paying, for a total overage of 284 students.”

CAR

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