Thirty-three students from six faculties — most of them acting a lot less silly than this, most of the time — make up the Student Ambassador team for this year, says Kim McKee, manager of the UW Visitors Centre. "These amazing students," she says, "give campus tours to future students and their families, work in the Visitors Centre answering inquiries about admission to UW, and provide everyone with a warm and friendly welcome." They'll be busy at the fall open house scheduled for November 7. Today, meanwhile, UW takes part in the "Campus eFair" organized by the Globe and Mail for future students who can't get to campuses in person but want to know more about their options at universities across the country.

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Board discusses IT services, UW budget

UW officials were asked at Tuesday’s board of governors meeting why Waterloo gets low ratings from students for the quality of information technology on campus. The subject came up as part of a report on the recent Globe and Mail “Canadian University Report”, in which students polled by the newspaper gave UW only a B-plus for IT, with such institutions as McGill, McMaster, Ryerson and Western rating better.

“We don’t, probably, spend as much as we should,” said Alan George, associate provost (information systems and technology).

Several voices said the real explanation may be that UW students have high expectations, because of Waterloo’s high-tech reputation, while students going to a campus with a different image may be pleasantly surprised by whatever they find. And mathematics dean Tom Coleman said firmly that, whatever weaknesses there may be, the technology used in teaching high-tech subjects, in his faculty and other such as engineering, is certainly first-rate.

These comforting answers aren’t the whole story, said Sam Andrey, one of the student representatives on the board. “It’s not all peachy on the ground,” he told Tuesday’s meeting. “Students complain about the quality of wireless connections, and about JobMine crashing.”

UW president David Johnston concluded: “We should be a leader, and we’re not doing as well as we should be.”

The board meeting also heard a long briefing about the pension plan, gave official approval to the university’s 2008-09 financial statements, and approved a site for the proposed student services building, on part of parking lot H near the University Avenue entrance to the south campus.

Reporting on UW’s 2009-10 budget, Hamdullahpur noted that the deficit currently stands at around $2.2 million. He’s taking into account the arrival of one-time funding from the Ontario government, intended to help make up for unfunded graduate student positions in previous years, and additional tuition fee revenue from enrolment increases this fall. “We anticipate that the deficit will be eliminated” by the time the fiscal year ends on April 30, he said.

A board member asked whether, with the recent publicity about the high cost of education, the Ontario government might put new constraints on universities’ ability to set fees. Johnston reminded the board that the provincial “Reaching Higher” tuition fee formula expires after this year. A committee representing the government and the Council of Ontario Universities is working on what the government commitment on fees and direct grants will be for 2010-11 and later years.

And as for the coming year, 2010-11, “we’re looking at a 5 per cent budget cut,” said Johnston — confirming figures quoted earlier this year — “but we’re continuing to work at it.” The president had some cautious words about salaries for UW faculty and staff, with agreements due this year for adjustments starting May 1, 2010. Whatever funding government does provide, he said, there’s likely to be pressure from Queen’s Park “to make sure that not all the net increase goes in salaries.”

Other highlights of the meeting:

• Approval was given to three amendments to Policy 76, the document dealing with faculty appointments. Provost Feridun Hamdullahpur reported that the changes, already approved by the university senate, were being made “to address the desire to accommodate serious illness in preparing for tenure consideration, and those cases where lecturers have no expectations for, nor time or opportunity to pursue, scholarship as part of their jobs.”

• The provost reported that as of September 30, the market value of UW’s endowment funds was $208 million, compared to a book value of $236 million. The “expendable rate” for this year — the interest on endowment funds that can be spent, on things ranging from scholarships to endowed chairs — is 2 per cent, and Johnston reminded the meeting that at one time, before last year’s financial crash, the rule of thumb was 5 per cent.

• Vice-president (external relations) Meg Beckel distributed a written report, and told board members that much work has been done to move UW’s fund-raising activity from the hurly-burly of Campaign Waterloo to a long-term effort to bring in at least $100 million a year in private gifts. The “next focus”, she said, will be on marketing, communications and government relations, including the identity and positioning project; appointment of an associate vice-president for public affairs and marketing; web redesign; and increased use of social media.

• The board approved a change to the fine print of the pension plan, designed to “clarify that a member cannot commence receiving a pension while remaining continuously employed at UW beyond his/her normal retirement date, until reaching the maximum age as prescribed under the Income Tax Act,” which is 71.

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Viral communication, in both senses

Vaccinations against the H1N1 flu started yesterday at health services, with members of "priority" groups encouraged to get their shots between 9 and 11 or 2 and 4. I was over there in the morning and found the place bustling, though most of the traffic was sick people rather than those getting their shots. I've learned that the figure of 91 students reporting that they have the flu, as quoted in yesterday's Daily Bulletin, is actually a count of those diagnosed with that disease at health services (and in most cases, public health experts think, "flu" that turns up this month is H1N1 rather than the "seasonal" influenza). The total number of flu cases is substantially larger, since most flu patients don't actually need to see a doctor. The registrar's office says a total of 706 students have "self-reported", through Quest or by phone, that they have what seems like the flu and will be missing some classes and assignments.

On to other matters . . . "our spring term applications open next week," says Ryan King, marketing coordinator for the UW residences, "and we're still trying to fill bed space for the winter term." The housing department is marketing its offerings under the headline "Community and Convenience: No Hassle, No Sublets, No Worries." Rooms are available in Village I, UW Place, and Columbia Lake Village South.

“The documentary The Quantum Tamers: Revealing our Weird and Wired Future has won one of the top prizes at the Pariscience Film Festival,” says an announcement from UW’s Institute for Quantum Computing. “On October 11, the documentary was awarded the Prix Audace in a ceremony at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris. The prize is given out by the Ile-de-France region ‘to a film showing originality in its subject matter and treatment’. The Quantum Tamers was produced by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Raymond Laflamme, director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, was the senior scientific advisor for the film, and IQC faculty member Joseph Emerson was a scientific advisor and co-writer. The documentary has also recently won a “Best of Show Award” in the television category at the 2009 Accolade TV Awards in California.”

The Faculty of Environment presented its annual Alumni Achievement Award at an event in Toronto the other day. And the award goes to . . . Linda Mortsch (right), an early co-op geography grad who is now a senior researcher with the Adaptations and Impacts Research Division of Environment Canada. She ranks as a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Along with presentation of the alumni award, the event, on October 15 at the Botanical Garden, was also a celebration of the launch of the Centre for Ecosystem Resilience and Adaptations. The featured speaker was James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century. Kunstler answered some questions posed by ERA director Stephen Murphy, of the environment and resource studies department, and the results are posted on the ENV web site. The October 15 event was also videotaped and is available for viewing.

A note distributed to local high-tech firms this week by the Communitech consortium: "Got a mechanical engineering design problem? The University of Waterloo Master of Engineering (MEng) Design Certificate program is seeking design challenges from industry. Minimum commitments, potential funding and model agreements are available. For more information, please contact Oscar Nespoli, (519) 888-4420, oscar@ uwaterloo.ca."

The field hockey season is at an end, and Ehsan Ali (left), head coach of UW's Warriors, has been named Coach of the Year by Ontario University Athletics. The Warriors finished in fourth place in the province, with their first winning season since 2005, and four players have been named to the OUA's second team all-stars: Courtney Bisch (forward), Kara Moro (midfielder), Amay Tabbert (goalkeeper), and Katherine Olsen (defender).

Daniel Nadolny, coordinator of the Graduate Student Endowment Fund, reports that the fund "is extending the application deadline for the fall term to Friday, October 30. We encourage all interested groups to apply, by filling out the form and sending it to dnadolny@ artsmail.uwaterloo.ca. PDF submissions are preferred. GSEF solicits funding applications from graduate students for any projects that meet the general goals of GSEF, including but not limited to improvements to graduate student common space; symposia, conferences, and journals organized by or targeted at graduate students; hosting guest speakers for areas of graduate student interest; improvement of physical and electronic resources for graduate students."

Cathleen DiFruscio, coordinator of the UW women’s centre, asks: “Are you interested in equal representation of women in the Canadian Parliament? Have you always wondered what an MPPs daily schedule looks like? This is your chance to have an inside look at women in the Canadian government. UW Women in House is a one-and-a-half-day trip to Toronto. Participants have the chance to shadow a female Member of Provincial Parliament, learn about women in Canadian politics, and have the opportunity to network with other women interested and involved in politics.” The event runs November 17-18 and is open to “all female students, from all departments”. There’s an application process, but the first step would be to e-mail uwwomeninhouse@ gmail.com to see whether space is still available.

CAR

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