Bird flu. SARS. Mad cow disease. West Nile virus. Ebola. If these and other threats to public health have you feeling a bit like Chicken Little, try not to panic. That’s the main message of a new book by a University of Guelph professor.

In The Chickens Fight Back: Pandemic Panics and Deadly Diseases That Jump From Animals to Humans, David Waltner-Toews aims to disentangle myth from reality about zoonoses, diseases that people get from animals.

A professor in the Department of Population Medicine in Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College, Waltner-Toews is the president of Veterinarians Without Borders, Canada, and president of the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health. He is also arts and culture editor for the journal EcoHealth and is a published novelist and poet.

The Chickens Fight Back, which was recently released by Greystone Books, covers the main zoonoses that have attracted recent headlines from SARS, HIV/AIDS and West Nile virus to avian influenza, encephalitis and BSE.

Waltner-Toews also looks at diseases that are less common in North America, including sleeping sickness, Lassa fever, brucellosis and cystic hydatid disease. The book is organized not by disease alone but also by the way diseases are transmitted.

For example, one section discusses things humans get from mammals and bugs, such as plague, Lyme disease and leptospirosis, the most common zoonotic disease in the world. Another section focuses on bird-borne diseases, including West Nile virus and avian flu. Bats, rats and other mammals take the stage with SARS, ebola, hantavirus and rabies.

Waltner-Toews also brings a personal touch to discussing his work around the world as a longtime veterinary epidemiologist. His experiences, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia, have shaped his main thesis: we need to look not at isolated diseases but at entire ecosystems where zoonoses cycle naturally among various hosts, including people.

“We keep saying the public should be better informed. Who’s helping the public to get engaged?,” he says. Waltner-Toews hopes the book will arm readers with information and questions about the health effects of everything from factory farming to filling in a wetland for a housing development.

This fall, Waltner-Toews will publish a second edition of Food, Sex and Salmonella: The Risks of Environmental Intimacy, about the ecological and social context of food-borne diseases, first published in 1992. Also appearing in June is Fear of Landing, a murder mystery based on the author’s experiences in Indonesia in the 1980s.

Prof. Jack Weiner of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics has received the 2007 Teaching Excellence Award from the Central Student Association (CSA).

The student-sponsored award is presented each year to a U of G instructor who demonstrates profound dedication to teaching and university education and has the ability to motivate and inspire students in and out of the classroom.

"This is wonderful and gratifying," said Weiner. "This award comes directly from students and that makes it truly special. Thanks to my students for nominating me and to the University of Guelph entrusting me as their teacher. Best job in the universe!"

Weiner was recognized for his innovative teaching practices that motivate students to learn.

Some of Weiner's unique teaching methods include developing software to help his students visualize mathematic problems and giving weekly presentations on applications and interpretations of mathematics in society.

“Prof. Jack Weiner is well-known for his genuine passion for teaching and his commitment to helping students succeed,” said Derek Pieper, academic commissioner of the CSA. “The number of students who supported his nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award by submitting comments and letters was overwhelming.”

The tendency of men and women with the same educational level to be married to one another has increased in both Canada and the United States over the last three decades, according to a new study based on census data.

In Canada, 54% of couples younger than 35 had the same level of education in 2001, up from 42% in 1971. In the United States, 55% of marriages among young adults consisted of couples with the same level of education in 2000, up from 49% in 1970.

Changes in the relative supply of more and less educated partners could potentially contribute to the rise in the level of educational homogamy (that is, the tendency of like to marry like). In both Canada and the United States, average educational attainment rose for both sexes over the three decades, but much more so for women than for men.

In 2001, 24% of wives and 19% of husbands finished university education in Canada, compared with 4% and 10% in 1971. Wives now have a higher average educational level than their husbands, while the opposite was true three decades ago. The United States also experienced a similar change.

However, this study found that these changes in the distribution of educational levels for both wives and husbands accounted for only a small portion of the increase in educational homogamy over the three decades in both countries.

Rather, the rise in the overall level of educational homogamy mainly reflects the fact that men and women are deliberately basing their choice for a mate more and more on level of education. In other words, there has been an increase in the level of educational homogamy over and above what would be expected from the narrowed gender gap in educational attainment.

The rise in educational homogamy, along with increased selection into marriage based on education, has been a potent force underlying rising inequality in earnings in both countries between families at the low end of the income scale and those at the high end.

Intermarriage rare across more than two educational levels

In both countries, intermarriage across education levels occurs primarily between education levels that are adjacent. Intermarriage across more than two educational levels is rare.

For instance, 54% of Canadian young couples had the same educational level in 2001. However, 33% of couples differed by one educational level, while only 12% of couples differed by two educational levels. Less than 2% of couples differed by more than two educational levels.

Educational homogamy has been rising mainly because intermarriage between adjacent education levels has been declining both at the top and bottom of the educational hierarchy.

Declining intermarriage between those with university degrees and those with less education was a major factor in both countries. In Canada, the rate of intermarriage between the university educated and those with only some post-secondary education fell by 38%; in the United States, the rate fell by 45%.

Similarly, the intermarriage rate between high school graduates and those who had completed less than high school fell by 30% in the United States and by 58% in Canada.

Overall trend reflected different patterns for men and women

While the average couple was more likely to be in an educationally homogamous marriage in 2001 than in 1971, the overall trend reflected very different patterns for men and women.

The rapid increase in educational attainment of women relative to men implies declining opportunities for women to marry better educated men. But it implies rising opportunities for men to marry more educated women.

There was a large decline in the share of homogamous marriages among university educated women. In the United States, the decline was 8 percentage points, and in Canada almost 17 percentage points.

By 2001, only 53% of young Canadian university-educated married women had partners with university degrees. In contrast, 68% of university educated men were married to university educated women in 2001, more than twice the proportion of 29% in 1971.

At the other end of the educational spectrum, the share of male high school graduates who married better educated women, for example, rose from 12% to 40% in the United States over the three decades. In Canada, it quadrupled from 13% to 56%.

Among female high school graduates, the percentage marrying up increased on a much smaller scale over the three decades from 27% to 29% in the United States, and from 30% to 41% in Canada.

Overall, rising education levels have improved the marriage market for men much more than for women.

Net of the changes in educational attainment of wives and husbands, there was a small increase in intermarriage in the 1990s between university graduates and those with some post-secondary education for both sexes in Canada, and between female university graduates and men with some post-secondary education in the United States.

This is the reverse of the trends in the 1970s and 1980s, suggesting that levels of educational homogamy among the better educated may be stabilizing.

The research paper "The changing role of education in the marriage market: Assortative marriage in Canada and the United States since the 1970s" is now available as part of the Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series (11F0019MIE2007299, free) from the Analytical Studies module of our website.

Note to readers

This study uses data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 US census public use sample files, and the Canadian 1971 census one-third sample microdata file, and 20% sample microdata files for the census years from 1981 through 2001. It focuses on all unions among young adults under the age of 35.

The US census does not explicitly differentiate legal marriage from common-law unions. Beginning in 1980, couples who lived together but were not legally married were allowed to report the marital status they considered the most appropriate. Therefore, marriages from the US census include an increasing proportion of common-law unions starting from 1980. Beginning in 1981, legal marriages and common-law unions are distinguished in the Canadian census. In 2001, about 41% of all young couples are common-law unions, compared to 13% in 1981.

For the purpose of this analysis, education is grouped into five levels: elementary school or less, some high-school (9 to 11 years of schooling in the United States), high school graduation, some post-secondary (some college in the United States) education, and university (college in the United States) graduation.

WATERLOO — The Board of Governors of Wilfrid Laurier University has approved an operating budget for 2007-08 that funds growth, increases scholarships, adds staff and faculty, and increases services for students.

“The university has presented a balanced budget and continues to show improvement in its financial position in the context of its recent enrolment growth and higher inflationary pressures,” said Jim Butler, vice-president: finance and administration.

Revenues for the 2007-08 fiscal year are budgeted at $159.7 million, with $77.5 million coming from government grants (up seven percent), $76.6 million coming from fees (up five percent), and revenue from other sources up 10 percent to $5.6 million.

Academic salaries are budgeted at $66.5 million (up 11 percent) and administrative salaries are forecast to be $37.9 million (up eight percent). Benefits are budgeted at $17.3 million, an increase of seven percent.

Departmental expenses will increase by just two percent.

The budget assumes a first-year intake this fall of 3,275 students and a tuition increase that averages 4.4 percent. It also assumes that the province will fully fund all enrolment growth.

“Looking beyond 2007-08, the university may need to cut its expenditures if it is to maintain its balanced financial position,” Butler said. “This will depend on the level of government support in future.”

The incoming student body this fall will include 70 Faculty of Education students, 520 first-years for Brantford and 2,685 for the Waterloo campus. This should bring Laurier's total full-time undergraduate student body to 11,922.

Prof. Rich Moccia of the Department of Animal and Poultry Science has agreed to serve as interim associate vice-president (research) agri-food and partnerships for one year starting May 14.

He will be focusing on the development of a new partnership agreement between the University and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The current agreement expires in April 2008, and discussions are under way with the ministry to develop a new agreement that will again build on research, education and laboratory services activities.

“Rich is committed to working with all faculty on the new agreement, ” said Alan Wildeman, vice-president (research). “We need to ensure that it captures the University’s capacity to shape and meet the partnership’s objectives and provides strong services that contribute to the health and well-being of Ontario.”

Moccia has 20 years of experience within the OMAFRA agreement. A researcher and extension specialist in the agri-food sector, he played a leading role in developing the Alma Aquaculture Research Station and has served as director of the animal research program.

In the coming months, Moccia will be engaging in dialogue with the campus community about how the desired outcomes of the agreement can best be met and how the programs can be managed most effectively.

"The OMAFRA agreement is a vital pillar within the University,” Moccia says. “We have an opportunity to set a course of action for the coming years that will show what Guelph really can do for agriculture, food and public health across rural and urban Ontario.”

The associate vice-president position became vacant when Rob McLaughlin agreed to take on a bigger role in enhancing the profile of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

What do you call a food scientist whose travels in search of bizarre eatables have seen him hunting down civet droppings in Ethiopia and collecting argan nuts excreted by goats in Morocco? Or exploring caves in Southeast Asia and getting a first-hand look at how smugglers transport high-priced nests for use in bird’s nest soup?

University of Guelph food scientist Massimo Marcone, the professor who made these journeys, has an idea: “I’m Mr. Magoo. I was out of my element. I’m a university researcher who all of a sudden finds himself in the middle of the jungle.”

Safely out of the jungle, Marcone has written about his travels and bizarre foods in a volume called In Bad Taste?: The Adventures and Science Behind Food Delicacies recently released by Key Porter Books. He will sign copies of his book at Chapters in the Stone Road Mall May 26 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Part travelogue and part science, the book details the author’s journeys to various countries in search of unusual foods. But don’t look here for sheep eyes or pig brains or other Fear Factor-style antics. What interests Marcone are not gross-out sophomoric pranks but common foods with an uncommon twist.

Plenty of people drink coffee, but few of would probably relish Kopi Luwak — and not just because it’s the most expensive beverage in the world. It’s made from beans extracted from the feces of civet cats living in Ethiopia and Indonesia.

And everyone has consumed salad oil, but not oil made from argan fruit excreted by goats and collected and processed by Berbers in Morocco.

Similarly, your everyday cheddar cheese is a world away from casu frazigu, a cheese made with maggots in Marcone’s ancestral homeland of Italy. And few of us would go to the lengths of morel lovers who partake in an annual contest to find wild mushrooms in a Michigan forest.

Why do people eat certain foods? What makes a food a delicacy? Is a delicacy really different from or better than its conventional cousins? These are some of the questions Marcone explores.

He returned from his travels armed with samples that he tested in his U of G lab. He found some surprises there, such as discovering fewer bacteria — and fewer kinds of microbes — in that Kopi Luwak coffee bean than in control samples.

He also found that a number of food delicacies are vulnerable to adulteration and product misrepresentation. And he has uncovered many violations of nutritional labelling standards, even after accounting for what he calls the outrageous leeway in food standards normally accorded to manufacturers.

Marcone wrote the book over the past two years, based partly on a diary and notes about his trips.

Dudley Herschbach, a Nobel laureate and Harvard University chemist, wrote a blurb for the book jacket. Both researchers belong to the editorial board of the Annals of Improbable Research. Herschbach calls the book "very striking and exciting. The exhilarating thing about science is that it opens our eyes to new possibilities in terms of making us aware of remarkable foods that people have evolved and the lengths that an enterprising guy like (Marcone) will go to find out all he can about that.”

WATERLOO — Laurier music Professor Paul Pulford is one of the recipients of a $175,000 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant.

The money is for a three-year project that will bring together six academics — including a medical ethicist and an interactive media specialist — and many students from Laurier, Concordia University and Memorial University to study Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Their research will form the basis of an instrumental theatre work titled, Frankenstein’s Ghosts, which will be staged in 2009 by Blue Rider Ensemble, of which Pulford is a founding member.

The grant proposal was formed last year when Paul Bendzsa, a professor at Memorial and clarinetist with Blue Rider, told others in the ensemble he had been reading Frankenstein and had been struck by its ideas.

“We realized that the book spoke to various contemporary issues, from genetic engineering to cloning to our society’s fear of aging,” Pulford says. “We were driven by a desire to create something socially relevant that would shed light on the political and social events of our day.”

Over the next three years, student teams and academics will write papers based on Shelley’s book that will be shared at workshops and conferences. Blue Rider Ensemble members will then use the material to build their response to the book.

“It is hoped that the academic researchers will be able to continue their inquiries with a deeper understanding and to produce more insightful work, and that the artists will have exceptional material for development,” Pulford wrote in the grant application to SSHRC.

Blue Rider Ensemble was formed in 1990 to re-examine the relationship between composer, performer and audience. By bringing artists from various disciplines together, the ensemble has created innovative instrumental theatre. Past projects include the world premiere of the opera Mounting Picasso by Laurier composition Professor Peter Hatch, and Blue Rider Marmalade, a sound and language project developed with Quebec playwright and poet Michel Garneau.

Given that the project is only just beginning, Pulford says that those in the ensemble don’t yet know how the material gathered in the next few years will fire their work.

“It may be tempting to go in a certain direction if someone suddenly has a particular idea that’s been prompted by an early discovery,” he says. “The key will be to stay neutral during the collection of research. The project requires us to be dispassionate as material is gathered and then to be seduced by the ideas that interest us.”

WATERLOO — Three journalists are among the six people who will receive honorary degrees at Laurier’s spring convocation ceremonies June 6-13.

This year’s convocation will involve the largest group of students ever to graduate from Laurier. About 40 percent more people than last year are receiving degrees as the first wave of the “double cohort” caused by the elimination of Grade 13 in Ontario passes through the undergraduate system. The additional numbers necessitated raising the number of convocation ceremonies to six this year from five last year.

The honorary degree recipients are:

Mike Duffy is Ottawa editor for CTV NewsNet and has been host of CTV’s Sunday Edition for 11 years. He has won an ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) award for live television reporting, has twice been nominated for the “Best in the Business” award by the Washington Journalism Review and has been named to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Duffy will receive an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the June 13 convocation at Laurier Brantford.

Fred Kuntz is editor-in-chief of the Toronto Star. His career includes five years as group publisher of Grand River Valley Newspapers, which includes The Record in Kitchener and the Guelph Mercury. He has served on the board of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the Rotary Club of Kitchener, and the Salvation Army Community Advisory Board of Waterloo Region. He will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the June 7 convocation for the School of Business and Economics.

Geoffrey Stevens, whose career in journalism extends more than three decades, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the afternoon June 8 convocation for the Faculty of Arts. Stevens has been Ottawa correspondent for Time magazine, parliamentary correspondent, Queen’s Park bureau chief, Ottawa columnist and associate editor, national editor, sports editor and managing editor of The Globe and Mail, and political columnist for the Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun and Montreal Gazette. He is currently an adjunct professor of political science at Laurier.

Dr. Gordon Greene was dean of Laurier’s Faculty of Music from 1979 to 1989 and interim dean from 2005 to 2006. Over the course of his career, Greene received several Canada Council fellowships and seven research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study French secular polyphonic music in European libraries. He has presented papers on medieval and renaissance topics in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia. He will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the June 7 convocation for the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Music.

The Hon. James K. Bartleman, a member of the Mnjikaning First Nation, is Ontario’s Lieutenant-Governor. He previously had a distinguished career of more than 35 years in Canada’s Foreign Service. Bartleman has worked tirelessly to encourage literacy among Aboriginal young people in the North, launching the Lieutenant-Governors Book Drive, literacy summer camps, and partnerships between Native and non-Native schools. He will be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the June 6 convocation for the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Susan Burke has been manager/curator of the historic Joseph Schneider Hause in Kitchener since 1981. Under her guidance, the museum is now an official National Historic Site and offers 16 education programs to children from Waterloo Region and beyond. She is co-editor of the book From Pennsylvania to Waterloo: Pennsylvania-German Folk Culture in Transition, and has been honoured with many awards. Burke will receive an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the morning June 8 convocation for the Faculty of Arts.

Five members of the University of Guelph community and a former student have been named recipients of the 2007 Women of Distinction Awards by the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph.

Margaret Carter, president of Local 4120 of the United Steelworkers; Jennifer Maddock, leadership education and development adviser in Student Life; Prof. Brenda Coomber, Biomedical Sciences; Heidi Smith, manager of the nutrition program at the Health and Performance Centre; Constance Rooke, director of the master of fine arts program in creative writing; and Guelph graduate Cathy Bazinet were recognized for their outstanding contributions at Thursday night’s 12th annual awards presentation at the River Run Centre.

These six were among a total of 39 women who were nominated for their achievements in eight categories: arts and culture; business, labour, the professions and entrepreneurs; education and training; public service; science, technology and research; voluntary community service; wellness and health; and young woman of distinction. In addition, two women were nominated for lifetime achievement awards, including Rooke.

Rooke, U of G's former associate vice-president (academic) and a former chair of the English department, was honoured for her work in education and training. For decades she has influenced and encouraged women with her boundless energy, courage and compassion. She is an award-winning writer and teacher and has become a prominent figure in literary and academic communities. With a strong belief in equality and justice for women, she has contributed significantly to feminist literature in Canada and abroad.

“I can’t overstate my gratitude to the University of Guelph,” said Rooke during her speech. “It’s a university with a deep concern for individuals and community.”

As president of Local 4120, Carter was the recipient of the business, labour, the professions and entrepreneurs award in recognition of her efforts in empowering others. She has acted as an excellent role model to a bargaining unit made up mostly of women by showing them that their feelings were not to be invalidated in the workplace and that their voices should be heard.

Maddock was named the recipient of the education and training award for the tremendous impact she has had on students. In her role as leadership education and development adviser, she oversees more than 230 student peer helpers and serves as a resource to elected and appointed student representatives. Students don’t see Maddock as another staff person, but rather as a friend, mentor and role model.

“The one thing I try to highlight with students is to be open to receiving teaching moments both inside and outside the classroom,” she said.

The science, technology and research award went to Coomber for her role as a mentor for women in biomedical sciences. As a past member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations' Status of Women Committee, she helped implement policy matters relating to concerns of female academic staff and also evaluated equity clauses in faculty collective agreements. As a scientist, she established a cancer research lab from practically nothing and built it into one of the larger laboratories in biomedical sciences.

“I think it’s important for people to know that there is more than one type of creativity and the best scientists are very creative,” she said. “My advice to women is to embrace your inner geek.”

Smith was named the recipient of the wellness and health award for touching thousands of people's lives with her message of healthy eating, wellness and care for the whole individual. With a primarily female client base, Smith gives advice, support and encouragement around weight management, clinical disorders, sports nutrition and general health. She is involved with the local Eating Disorders Coalition and the Community Heart Health Network and has also written a number of books, guides and papers on nutrition.

Bazinet, a 2005 BA graduate of Guelph, was named the young woman of distinction for her leadership. She created the only all-female basketball camp through Guelph Catholic Youth Organization. She is also a Big Sister and has volunteered in several classrooms, spending time with young female students with special needs and helping students struggling to read.

Six other members of the U of G community were nominated for Women of Distinction Awards and recognized during Thursday's event. Profs. Kathleen Brophy and Susan Evers, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, and Deborah Stacey, Computing and Information Science, were nominees in the science, technology and research category. Prof. Ann Wilson, English and Theatre Studies, was nominated in the voluntary community service category. Angela Orton, manger of intercollegiate programs in the Department of Athletics and head coach of the women’s basketball team, was nominated in the wellness and health category. U of G students Kira Kumagai, Brianne Dollery, Stacey Molengraaf and Stephanie Pellizzari were nominated in the young woman of distinction category.

The world’s first centre for high-volume DNA barcoding has officially opened on the University of Guelph campus. The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) will provide researchers with the equipment needed to discover, identify and catalogue species from around the world using barcode technology.

“Today we are celebrating the opening of a facility that has the potential to literally change the way the world looks at life on our planet,” said Alan Wildeman, vice-president (research). “There are no topics more fundamental to biology than the relationships of species to each other.”

Inside the $4.2 million-facility, researchers are working on creating a complete inventory of the world’s species using tissue samples. A short DNA sequence from a gene found in all multi-cellular organisms is analyzed and used to identify the species. DNA barcoding conducted at the centre has already led to the discovery of new species of birds, butterflies and fishes. The information is then entered into an online database of established DNA barcodes called the Barcode of Life Data System.

It’s anticipated the centre will enter about 500,000 barcode analyses per year once it is in full production.

“We are building a master key to life that will represent a major advance in accessibility to biological identifications,” said Paul Hebert, University of Guelph Canada research chair in molecular biodiversity and director of BIO. “What it effectively means is that researchers will find a barcode linked to just about anything they encountered anywhere on the planet.”

Hebert was the first scientist to propose this form of species identification. He called it “DNA barcoding” to reflect the fact that analysis focuses on a short, standard gene region. Just as retail barcodes allow for the quick identification of millions of items on store shelves, so too will DNA barcodes allow the rapid identification of species.

The centre’s technology can help reduce species identification time from days to a matter of minutes. Hebert estimates that in about 20 years, the technique could enable completion of a catalogue of the estimated 10 million species of animals on the planet, of which only 1.2 million have been formally identified over the past 250 years.

Hebert said the ultimate goal is to introduce barcoding technology to public use for applications, such as border control, pest management, food safety and environmental monitoring.

“The facility represents what the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is all about: providing the tools to institutions and researchers so that they can do the cutting-edge research that will have a profound impact in Canada and around the world,” said Eliot Phillipson, CFI president and chief executive officer. “This is a shining example of Canadian science leading the way.”

CFI is among a number of organizations that have funded the facility including Genome Canada, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canada Research Chair program and the Ontario government through Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT).

“The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario is a terrific example of what can be achieved through collaboration when scientists and researchers of new technologies come together with a common goal,” said Kenneth W. Knox, OIT president. “On behalf of the people of Ontario we congratulate University of Guelph and your research partners. The Trust is proud to be a player in providing world-class tools to these researchers so they can do the leading-edge barcode technology research that will benefit not just Ontarians, but the world.”

WATERLOO - A high-level delegation of health experts from China will participate next week in a University of Waterloo public forum on chronic diseases confronting the populous Asian country.

Geoffrey Fong, a UW psychology professor, will host a visit Wednesday (May 16) by prominent Chinese health officials involved in the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC project). They are working on a survey of 1,000 smokers and non-smokers in seven Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Yinchuan and Shenyang.

The Chinese experts will take part in the forum, entitled Meeting the Challenge of Chronic Diseases in China: Perspectives from Officials of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Clarica Auditorium in the Lyle Hallman Institute, Room 1621, on the UW campus.

Fong is the founder and chief principal investigator of the ITC Project, the first international cohort study of tobacco use. The collaboration now involves more than 60 researchers in 14 countries inhabited by over half of the world's smokers.

A leading world expert on the impact of tobacco control policies, Fong focuses on such areas as smoke-free laws, warning labels, advertising and promotion restrictions, and taxation. Last year, he received $3.9 million from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to further his efforts over the next five years.

"In the ITC China survey, we are evaluating tobacco control policies and working directly with the Chinese government to evaluate policies of the worldwide Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which China ratified two years ago," Fong says. "They have a lot of work to do as there are 350 million smokers in China and close to two-thirds of adult men in China smoke."

More generally, chronic diseases pose an enormous challenge to China's aspirations for economic development and well-being. A recent WHO report estimates that the loss of income to the Chinese economy owing to heart disease, stroke and diabetes will be $550 billion US over the next 10 years.

The ITC project team includes leading Chinese health officials on chronic disease prevention in the seven ITC-surveyed cities, which altogether, total a population of more than 68 million people.

Last January, Fong's Waterloo team travelled to Beijing to work with their Chinese colleagues on recently collected data. "And now, the China team is coming to Waterloo to continue to work with the baseline data and to plan our upcoming second survey wave," Fong says.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of premature death and disability throughout the world. "In the last century, 100 million people died of tobacco use and in this century, that number will grow to one billion people and 70 per cent of the deaths will occur in developing countries," Fong says.

WATERLOO — Two very talented Laurier graduates will be continuing their studies at England’s prestigious University of Oxford this fall.

Jon Krohn, who has just completed his studies in honours psychology and biology, will be enrolling in Oxford’s four-year neuroscience MSc and DPhil (the Oxford equivalent of a PhD) program.

Erika Nitsch, who is graduating with a degree in honours archaeology, will be pursuing an MSc in archaeological science at Oxford.

Oxford, founded in the 12th century, is considered one of the world’s finest universities. It has about 24,000 students, one third of them graduate students.

Krohn, who has lived in Waterloo since he was 11, says he is “broadly interested in how the mind arises from the biology of the brain. More specifically, I enjoy researching how information from multiple sensory systems — vision, hearing, touch — are integrated coherently and then represented as a singular conscious experience.”

His four-year Oxford program (which takes in only five students each year) consists of one year of an MSc in neuroscience, followed by a three-year DPhil under a research supervisor.

Krohn is currently planning on a career as a professor of cognitive neuroscience, although he has not ruled out medical school for neurology or psychiatry.

Nitsch, also a Waterloo native (her father, Dr. Detlev Nitsch, is a professor in the School of Business and Economics), says she came to study classical archaeology at Laurier because “I was always interested in science and art and math and history.”

She says she focused on archaeology rather than classics because she is very interested in the scientific perspective. Her experience here included seven weeks at the archaeological field school in Jordan run by Dr. Michèle Daviau.

“I’d like to look at ancient diets as revealed by skeletal remains,” she says. “Bone chemistry can tell you something about a person’s diet.” Plants, for example, do photosynthesis in different ways, which will change the ratio of Carbon 14 to Carbon 13 in a skeleton.

“Millet has a different carbon ration than another grain,” she says. One recent study revealed that Roman gladiators in what is now Turkey ate plants and fats rather than meat.

Oxford’s 12-month program in archaeological science is designed to lead to studies at the doctoral level. “I’d like to get a PhD and so research and teach,” Nitsch says.

Both Krohn and Nitsch turned down scholarships from Canadian sources to attend Oxford, but have other scholarships in hand. Nitsch is receiving a Commonwealth Scholarship, which covers her tuition and gives her a living allowance.

Krohn, who came very close to winning a Rhodes Scholarship last year, will receive four years of full funding from the Wellcome Trust, which offers funding for more years of study than the more well-known Rhodes.

• Lt.-Col. Simon Hetherington, former commanding officer of the Canadian Forces PRT in Kandahar;

• Dr. William Maley, author of Rescuing Afghanistan and director of the Asia-Pacific School of Diplomacy at the Australian National University;

• Prof. Ramesh Thakur, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, professor at the University of Waterloo;

• Mr. Diego Ruiz Palmer, Head, Planning Section, Operations Division, International Staff, NATO Headquarters;

• Mr. Daoud Yaqub, Research Scholar at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University and former member of Afghanistan’s National Security Council;

• Mr. Tom Gregg, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan;

• Prof. Terry Copp, director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies.

The two-day conference is the fourth in a series of workshops on Afghanistan organized by the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (LCMSDS), the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).

Individual reports have been published after each workshop. Select papers from the last workshop will appear in a book to be published later this year by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. The book, Afghanistan: Transition Under Threat, will be edited by Prof. Geoffrey Hayes, a Laurier graduate and professor of history at the University of Waterloo, and Mark Sedra of the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the University of Waterloo.

The University of Guelph will host the first Scientific Symposium of the Canadian Barcode of Life Network May 10 and 11.

The event will be held in Rozanski Hall, with additional workshops offered at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), the world’s first centre for high-volume DNA barcoding. The centre is located on the U of G campus and will officially open May 9.

“Since the introduction of DNA barcoding four years ago, scientists from around the globe have been capturing the excitement of rediscovering the natural world using this technique,” said Paul Hebert, a Guelph integrative biology professor and director of the BIO.

“This symposium will bring all of these scientists together for the first time in Canada to talk about their findings and advances and the potential for future discoveries.”

Hebert was the first scientist to propose that a short DNA sequence from a standard gene region found in all animals can be used to identify species. He called the system “DNA barcoding,” analogous to how retail products are tagged in supermarkets to allow quick identification of millions of items.

The technology can reduce species identification time from days to a matter of hours, with anticipated technological development further reducing the time to minutes. So far, it has led to the discovery of new and overlooked species of birds, bats, butterflies, fishes and protists, including marine algae.

“Our job is to reveal how many species there are on the planet and provide really simple tools to tell one species from another,” Hebert said.

The open symposium will include talks, workshops, presentations and poster displays on research related to barcoding. There will also be updates on advances in DNA and database technology and a tour of the BIO.

In addition, Charles Godfray, holder of the Hope Chair of Zoology (Entomology) at the University of Oxford will give a plenary lecture on “Taxonomy and the Web.” He will discuss how taxonomic science is being revolutionized by molecular techniques and by new means of organizing and disseminating information.

More information about the conference is available online. The symposium is open to all interested in registering. Media are invited to attend all sessions.

WATERLOO -- An international team of space scientists, including several Canadian astronomers, has discovered molecular oxygen in interstellar space. Oxygen is one of the main constituents of the Earth's atmosphere and was expected to be common in space too, but surprisingly this molecule appears to be quite rare in most of the universe.

A team of Canadian, Swedish, French and Finnish researchers has been seeking the elusive oxygen molecule with the Odin space observatory. The team has spent countless hours in observation and data evaluation in search of molecular oxygen. The search, a principal goal of Odin, is important to understanding the chemistry in large interstellar clouds, the birthplaces of planets and stars.

"Earlier attempts to find the elusive oxygen molecule frustrated observatories on the ground and in space until space researchers realized something crucial," said Michel Fich, UW professor of physics and astronomy. "The abundance of oxygen was much lower than assumed before the search started. The Odin measurements have now told us just how low."

The team's findings are reported in the current issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics. The Canadian members of this Odin team include Fich, Sun Kwok and Rene Plume of the University of Calgary, Christine Wilson of McMaster University, and George Mitchell of Saint Mary's University.

Astrochemists have long argued that the basic molecules of life, water (H2O) and oxygen (O2), are highly abundant in the denser regions of the interstellar medium. One of the primary goals of the Odin astronomy mission was to use spectral line data from molecular oxygen and water to study processes of star formation.

Models at the time predicted that these molecules would be abundant enough to assist the formation of stars by radiating away excess energy produced when clouds collapse to form new stars. The collapse results in compression of the gas, which is therefore heated. Unless this excess heat can be radiated away stars will not be able to form.

Many attempts have been made from the ground, balloons and space to detect oxygen, but have, until now, all failed.

The molecule was found in a dense (astronomically speaking) gas cloud (called rho Oph A) in the constellation of Ophiuchus at a distance of about 500 light years. The oxygen abundance is a thousand times lower than can be explained by today's chemical models.

Odin is a space-based radio observatory for studying both celestial objects and Earth's atmosphere. The spacecraft is equipped with a 1.1-metre diameter radio telescope operating in the millimetre and submillimetre wavelength ranges. Odin was launched into a 600-km altitude orbit on Feb. 20, 2001.

The importance of molecular oxygen led to the inclusion in the Odin five-channel microwave radiometer of a dedicated radio receiver tuned to the ground state transition of oxygen at 118.75 GHz. This frequency is about a factor 1,000 higher than the typical FM radio band.

The actual observations were made during 33 days over a period from August 2002 to February 2006. After careful processing and detailed analysis of more than 300,000 spectra, the oxygen line is convincingly visible, at a level of five times above the noise.

The characteristics of the observed oxygen profile are precisely as expected, based on the profiles of the spectral lines from other species, such as atomic carbon, carbon monoxide and water vapour, observed from the same cloud with ground-based telescopes and with Odin.

Odin was developed by the Swedish Space Corporation, which is also responsible for the operations, on behalf of the Swedish National Space Board, the Canadian Space Agency and the space agencies of Finland and France. It serves astronomers and aeronomers (who study the Earth's atmosphere) of all four partner countries.

WATERLOO - Malcolm Gladwell, a visionary and influential author, and Jim Balsillie, a high-tech executive and philanthropist, are among those receiving honorary degrees during the University of Waterloo's convocation to be held June 13-16 in UW's 50th anniversary year.

Gladwell and Balsillie will receive their honorary doctorates at separate spring convocation ceremonies to be held over four days in the physical activities complex on the UW campus.

Leading off convocation on Wednesday, June 13, kinesiology pioneer Norman Ashton will be awarded a doctor of science degree at the ceremony for graduates in the faculties of applied health sciences and environmental studies. Ashton, a retired UW professor, developed and formed the university's first kinesiology program, which explores the science of human movement. Other universities in Canada have since emulated the program, which combines several disciplines.

At the same event, which begins at 10 a.m., Terry Prowse, an internationally known physical geographer, will receive a doctor of environmental studies degree and address convocation. A professor at the University of Victoria, Prowse is a leading expert on the impact of climate variability and change on hydrology, water resources and freshwater ecosystems in northern environments. He heads the Water Climate Impacts Research Centre, jointly sponsored by UVic and Environment Canada.

Honorary degrees will be given at the following convocation ceremonies:

* Science, Wednesday, June 13 at 2 p.m.

Rudolf Thauer will receive a doctor of science. A nominee for the Nobel Prize, Thauer is widely respected for an outstanding teaching and research career in the field of microbiology. A specialist in the biochemistry of anaerobic bacteria and archaea (microorganisms), he founded the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Germany.

Richard Peltier will receive a doctor of science. Regarded as the world's top geoscientist for his scientific achievements, Peltier holds the title of university professor in the physics department at the University of Toronto. He has made landmark research contributions to earth geophysics as well as to the area of global ice ages, including human-induced changes to climate variability.

* Arts (first ceremony), Thursday, June 14 at 10 a.m.

Jim Balsillie will receive a doctor of laws and address convocation. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Jim Balsillie is co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), developer of the BlackBerry. In 2002, Balsillie provided core financing for the creation of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian think-tank dedicated to researching issues of global importance.

Carl Dare will receive a Doctor of Laws. Now in his nineties, Dare is the only living member of the original board of governors of the University of Waterloo. Besides being one of the founders of UW, he headed Dare Foods Ltd., one of Waterloo Region's most successful businesses.

* Arts (second ceremony), Thursday, June 14 at 2 p.m.

Malcolm Gladwell will receive a doctor of letters and address convocation. A world-renowned author and essayist, Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. He has written two bestselling books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference, and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which demonstrate how to translate knowledge from the social sciences to the general public.

Denise Donlon will receive a doctor of laws. Music company executive as well as former television producer, host and program director, Donlon began her music career in the early 1980s when she worked for UW's federation of students. Considered the "most influential female music executive on the continent," Donlon is a former president of Sony Music Canada and former vice-president and general manager of MuchMusic and MuchMore Music. She has also been a leader in advocating for change in music, such as getting rid of violence and sexism, as well as promoting literacy among the young.

Reg Haney will receive a doctor of laws. Haney is senior partner of the law firm Haney, Haney & Kendall in Waterloo. UW has drawn on Haney's services as university solicitor for the last several decades, especially his expertise in administrative law and education law.

* Mathematics (first ceremony), Friday, June 15 at 10 a.m.

Paul Embrechts will receive a doctor of mathematics and address convocation. One of the most prominent researchers in actuarial mathematics and finance in the world, Embrechts holds the prestigious chair in insurance mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He is an expert on extreme risks, particularly the problem of insuring against earthquakes and hurricanes.

Richard Stanley will receive a doctor of mathematics. The world's leader in algebraic and enumerative combinatorics, Stanley is the Norman Levinson Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an accomplished mathematician, known for his superb ability to create new topics for study in their own right and his insights have led to deep conjectures on these topics.

* Mathematics (second ceremony), Friday, June 15 at 2 p.m.

Andries van Dam will receive a doctor of mathematics and address convocation. A prolific researcher, educator and administrator, van Dam is a pioneer in hypertext editing and presentation systems on the Internet. He has played key administrative roles at Brown University, where he is one of the founders of the university's computer science department.

Duncan Luce will receive a doctor of mathematics. Widely considered a pioneer in mathematical behavioural sciences, Luce has pursued a scientific understanding of human behaviour for more than 50 years. His work blends mathematical theory and experiments, designed to provide insights on individual behaviour and orientation to the world.

* Engineering (first ceremony), Saturday, June 16 at 10 a.m.

Mona Zaghloul will receive a doctor of engineering and address convocation. Founder of the Institute of MEMS and VLSI Technologies at George Washington University, Zaghloul is the first woman PhD graduate from UW's faculty of engineering, receiving a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1975. She has worked extensively in the areas of sensors and their circuits, interfaces and microelectronic systems.

George Raithby will receive a doctor of engineering. In building the technology of computational fluid dynamics, Raithby has contributed to the education of generations of mechanical engineers and to the international engineering community. A UW distinguished professor emeritus, he is a highly cited researcher for his work on the design and development of efficient energy systems.

* Engineering (second ceremony), Saturday, June 16 at 2 p.m.

Rod Coutts will receive a doctor of engineering and address convocation. After graduating from UW in 1964 with a bachelor of applied science degree in electronics engineering, Coutts worked for a computer peripheral equipment manufacturer. In 1967, he co-founded Teklogix, a global provider of real-time data collection and communications systems for industrial users.

Savvas Chamberlain will receive a doctor of engineering and will also address convocation. Chamberlain is a UW distinguished professor emeritus and founder of DALSA Corp., a successful semiconductor and electronics UW spin-off company. In 2004, he received the life achievement award from the Automated Imaging Association for his world leadership and contributions to the imaging field.

Also at convocation, distinguished professor emeritus titles will be presented to nine retired UW professors: Jennifer Ashworth, of philosophy; Darrol Bryant, of religious studies (Renison College); John Cherry, of earth sciences; Sydney Davison, of applied mathematics; Dragomir Djokovic, of pure mathematics; Rolf George, of philosophy; Art Green, of fine arts; Fred McCourt, of chemistry; and Jan Narveson, of philosophy.

Three retired staff members will receive the honorary title, member of the university: Angelo Graham, a leader in the safety office; Bruce Lumsden, a director of Co-operative Education and Career Services; and Shirley Thomson, a key figure in the faculty of mathematics.

Two out of five graduates from the class of 2000 who had left school owing money to government student loans had completely repaid their debt five years after graduation.

Of all graduates from a Canadian college or university in 2000, 56% had no debt from government student loan programs while 44% owed money to such programs. It is among this latter group that two out of five graduates had completely paid off their debt in 2005.

The proportion of graduates who have paid off their student loans varies according to the level of study. Graduates from master's and doctoral programs were most likely to have repaid their loans, with 46% having done so, compared to 42% for those from bachelor programs and 36% from college programs.

The average debt remaining in 2005 amounted to $8,900 for college graduates, and was practically the same for graduates with bachelor degrees ($14,400) and master's or doctoral degrees ($14,300).

Debt load, income and having a debt from a non-government source were some of the factors that could affect a graduate's ability to repay a student loan.

Graduates who still owed in 2005 were twice as likely to have an outstanding debt from non-government sources (60%) than those who had repaid their student loans (30%).

Moreover, the average debt from government student loans at graduation for those graduates who had paid off their loans by 2005, was approximately $6,000 less than that of graduates who still owed money: $12,800 compared to $19,400. The greatest difference was among university graduates. The difference in the average debt for those graduates who still owed money versus those who were debt free was slightly more than $8,000 for bachelor graduates and almost $10,000 for master's and doctoral graduates, and $4,000 for college graduates.

Overall, 9 out of 10 graduates were employed in 2005 whether they had paid off their loans or not. On the other hand, the total personal income in 2004 for graduates who had paid off their loans was 20% higher than that of their fellow graduates who still owed money. This relative difference was the same for bachelor graduates and for those with master's degrees or doctorates, but much lower (13%) for college graduates.

In addition, slightly less than half of the graduates who still owed money on their student loans reported having difficulty repaying these loans, compared to one out of five among graduates who had paid off their loans by 2005.

College graduates were more likely than bachelor graduates to experience difficulty in repaying their student loans, with the proportion reporting difficulty repaying being 10 percentage points higher than that of bachelor graduates.

Note: Data are from the Follow-up Survey of Graduates (Class of 2000) conducted in 2005. This survey is a follow-up to the National Graduates Survey. The analysis of student loans essentially covers government student loans and only includes graduates who did not pursue further education after they graduated in 2000.

Graduates owing money to government student loans at graduation, according to whether or not they had repaid their student loan in 2005
	All levels of study	College	Bachelor	Master and Doctorate
Graduates who had paid off their student loans in 2005
Estimated number of graduates	24,882	9,592	11,618	3,673
Average debt owed at graduation ($)	12,800	10,400	14,900	12,700
Average debt owed in 2005 ($)	...	...	...	...
Employed in 2005 (%)	93.9	93.3	94.8	92.7
With personal income in 2004 (%)	96.4	96.6	95.9	97.7
Average income in 2004 ($)	49,900	38,400	53,100	68,200
Married or living common law (%)	60.3	58.8	58.0	71.6
With dependents (%)	37.1	37.7	34.6	43.3
Still owe money to non-government sources (%)	29.6	28.1E	30.2E	31.1E
Average remaining debt to non-government sources ($)	11,700	6,200E	13,300E	17,900E
Difficulty repaying their government student loan (%)	18.2	25.5	14.0	12.3
Graduates still owing in 2005
Estimated number of graduates	32,207	13,723	14,487	3,998
Average debt owed at graduation ($)	19,400	14,500	23,200	22,600
Average debt owed in 2005 ($)	12,000	8,900	14,400	14,300
Employed in 2005 (%)	92.4	89.4	94.3	95.9
With personal income in 2004 (%)	96.9	96.4	97.3	97.3
Average income in 2004 ($)	41,700	34,000	44,200	57,200
Married or living common law (%)	57.2	55.5	56.4	65.8
With dependents (%)	41.4	44.9	38.3	40.2
Still owe money to non-government sources (%)	59.5	60.4	55.1	71.7
Average remaining debt to non-government sources ($)	10,700	6,600	12,800E	11,500
Difficulty repaying government student loan (%)	45.5	51.3	41.0	42.1
... not applicable E use with caution Note: Graduates who pursued further education after 2000, as well as those who did not provide the amount owed at the time of the 2002 or the 2005 interview, are excluded from this table.

Profile of debt to government student loan programs for graduates owing at graduation
	All levels of study	College	Bachelor	Master and Doctorate
Graduates with debts at graduation (%)	43.7	43.2	46.5	37.5
Average debt owed at graduation ($)	16,500	12,700	19,600	17,900
Graduates who still owed two years after graduation (%)	33.2	33.2	35.7	25.7
Average remaining debt for those who still owed two years after graduation ($)	13,700	10,300	16,200	16,200
Graduates who still owed five years after graduation (%)	22.6	22.5	24.2	18.7
Average remaining debt for those who still owed five years after graduation ($)	12,000	8,900	14,400	14,300
Estimated number of graduates	62,271	26,422	27,847	8,002
Note: Graduates who pursued further education after 2000 are excluded from this table.

UNESCO and the Forum will play a key role in making sure that members of the Partnership can contribute not only financial but also technical resources and expertise. It will play a crucial role in ensuring efficient donor coordination as well as enabling country-level participation of the private sector as an important stakeholder in the development and improvement of national education systems.

The new Partnerships for Education represents a major contribution towards the fulfilment of a promise made by over 160 countries at the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, to mobilize resources from other parts of society “including different levels of government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations” in the quest to achieve Education for All by the target date of 2015.

A key to success will be the alignment and coordination of the added private sector engagement alongside the efforts of major education donors. The World Economic Forum and UNESCO, on behalf of all members in the Partnerships for Education, look forward to facilitating increased collaboration with all key education donors over the coming months to achieve these objectives.

BRANTFORD — Post-secondary education in downtown Brantford received a $2-million boost on April 30, 2007 from the Ontario government. Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Chris Bentley joined Brant MPP Dave Levac in announcing $1 million in capital funding for Laurier Brantford’s proposed Academic Centre and $1 million for Nipissing University’s Brantford campus.

Laurier Brantford’s proposed Academic Centre, which still requires approval of the university’s Board of Governors, will be the latest addition to the Heritage Block. The new building will provide Laurier Brantford with more academic space — classrooms, lecture halls and tutorial rooms — as well as a community bookstore, residence space and food services, all of which are much needed for future growth of the campus.

“Today is a great day for Brantford and Laurier Brantford for two major reasons,” said Dr. Leo Groarke, Principal/Vice-President of the Brantford campus. “First of all, it takes us one step closer to making the Academic Centre a reality. But perhaps more important than that, this is the first provincial capital funding for post-secondary education in Brantford. This is a sign that post-secondary education in Brantford is here to stay.”

Groarke was joined by Laurier’s incoming president, Dr. Max Blouw, and Nipissing president Dr. Dennis Mock in thanking the provincial government and recognizing the efforts of a variety of partners.

Members of the Grand Valley Educational Society, the community organization that helped bring Laurier to Brantford initially, were also on hand for the announcement. Society president Colleen Miller had a message for the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities: “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said.

Special recognition was given to the City of Brantford for all its hard work and financial support. Levac, Bentley and Groarke each recognized the partnerships between Laurier, Nipissing and Mohawk College, as well as those between these institutions and the city.

Nipissing University plans to use the funding announced today to further expand the Concurrent Education program in conjunction with Laurier Brantford, and to expand the Masters of Education program and the additional qualification (AQ) and additional basic qualification (ABQ) courses currently being offered in Brantford.

Public-sector leadership in the 21st century is at the heart of an international leadership conference being hosted at the University of Guelph May 4 and 5 by the Centre for Studies in Leadership (CSL).

"Leadership is an evolving field, and the body of knowledge is growing," said Michael Cox, director of the CSL.

"This conference is an excellent opportunity to learn from established leaders and gain insight for innovation and breakthrough in the art and practice of leadership in action."

The conference will bring together leading academics, practitioners and public servant decision-makers to discuss leadership, ethics, governance, accountability and best practices for individual and organizational transformation.

The conference features keynote speaker Maria Barrados, president of the Public Service Commission of Canada, senior members of the Canadian Defence Academy, Toronto and regional police service units, decision-makers working in key federal and provincial government agencies and U of G faculty and students from Guelph's MA in leadership program.

A reception and conference dinner will be held on May 4 commencing at 6 p.m. Gemini Award winner David Akin, a CTV parliamentary reporter and U of G grad, will deliver the evening's keynote address and talk about the changing worlds of parliamentary leadership and the media.

The two-day forum will highlight a variety of topics for discussion and case analysis, including ethical leadership challenges in the 21st century. Other topics include ethics, accountability and culture change, managing relationships and citizenship engagement and leadership education and knowledge transfer. Françoise Morissette, co-author of Made in Canada Leadership, will present findings of a nationwide study of the practice of leadership.

Prof. Tim Mau and retired professor Richard Phidd of Guelph's Department of Political Science will be among panellists discussing the development of leadership in Canada from Confederation to today.

In addition, expert speakers will discuss ethical leadership challenges in challenging contexts. A case study highlighting the military and the media is planned. This case panel will be of practical relevance for leadership decision-makers in any organization who are responsible for communicating with the media and community stakeholders in complex environments.

"This conference helps generate dialogue for new perspective," said Cox. "It's a great learning opportunity for decision-makers as we strive to create a change of culture across organizations and foster communication for professional and personal growth. This should be of importance to leaders in all organizations."

The CSL was created in 2003 to cultivate and advance the study of transformational ethical leadership and its application in the 21st century.

Launched at the beginning of April, Explore Your Intelligent Waterloo is a Web-based program that is inviting the city’s youth to either share their vision of what Waterloo and its technologies will look like in the year 2057, or to learn more about the companies and initiatives that have helped position Waterloo in its bid to become the Top Intelligent Community 2007. To date, the contest has received more than 200 entries.

Says Vic Degutis, Intelligent Community Steering Committee member and CAO, Resource Development Office, with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, “We’ve created this program to engage our Waterloo students in age appropriate projects and activities that will help them learn more about Intelligent Waterloo. This city has a longstanding history of being a leader in technology, and in fostering innovation that constantly builds community. The Explore program invites students to gain a better understanding of just how unique we are as a community – something we can all take great pride in.”

The program, which is a joint effort between the City of Waterloo, the Waterloo Region District School Board, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, eSolutions and a number of the area’s premier high tech companies, offers two ways for students to participate – a home challenge and a classroom challenge.

The home challenge invites students to log onto a Web site to explore the companies that are located in Waterloo. Depending on grade level, students are asked to either identify logos, place logos, or research information about these companies.

The school challenge invites students to create a project – whether individually, in small groups, or as a whole class – that shares their vision of what Waterloo in the year 2057 will look like, and to think about the technologies that will be impacting quality of life for this community. The Web site offers a number of suggestions to help students get started. Projects can be submitted to iwexplore@waterloo.caand anyone who participates in the Explore challenge will be eligible to win draw prizes including one of five iPods.

Says Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran, “Encouraging young people to learn more about what puts Waterloo on the map as an intelligent community is important. We have a number of organizations and initiatives that have focused on technology and on applications and innovation that makes our community, and in fact communities around the globe, a better place. It’s fitting that as we celebrate our 150th Anniversary and mark our prosperous past, we can also celebrate the many organizations and initiatives that have set us apart as a leader, that will ensure a promising future for our community.”

In January, Waterloo joined Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom; Gangnam, District, Seoul, South Korea; Issy les Moulineaux, France; Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario-Quebec; Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom; and Tallin, Estonia as the Top 7 Intelligent Communities named by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). ICF is a special interest group within the World Teleport Association that focuses on the uses of broadband technology for economic development by communities large and small in both the developed and developing world.

Each year, ICF selects communities from around the world to appear on its list of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year. These seven communities are selected based on indicators that include the significant deployment of broadband communications, the extent to which the community enables a knowledge workforce, the promotion of digital democracy, the ability to foster innovation, and effective economic development marketing that leverages the community’s broadband, labor and other assets to attract new employees.

On May 18, the ICF will announce the Top Intelligent Community 2007 at its annual conference in New York City.

A distinguished group of Canadian post-secondary leaders — including University of Guelph president Alastair Summerlee — is heading off to Africa today to build a figurative bridge to Botswana.

They are part of a special university and college mission organized by World University Service of Canada (WUSC). The mission, taking place from April 28 to May 8, is being hosted by the Botswana Tertiary Education Council.

In addition to Summerlee, who is WUSC’s chair, the mission includes executive director Paul Davidson and representatives from the University of Manitoba, Trent University, the Humber College Institute of Technology and Advance Learning, the University of New Brunswick and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Together, they will travel to Botswana to deepen and broaden WUSC contacts, activities and programs.

“This initiative represents an important opportunity for Canadian universities,” said Summerlee. “Partnerships will evolve out of fields of common interests with our counterparts, opening both doors and minds. But more important, this mission has the potential to have a profound influence on the people of Botswana, which echoes WUSC’s notion that we are one world and must work together to make a difference.”

Partnerships may include opportunities in student mobility, internships and exchanges; faculty exchange and research opportunities; joint education programming with WUSC; and joint research opportunities.

The mission is timely because Botswana is currently seeking partnership and joint opportunities in education abroad, said Davidson. The University of Botswana has more than 100 international partnership agreements and is looking to increase collaboration with Canada. Botswana is also seeking partners to develop a second university of science and technology.

The mission builds on WUSC’s 26 years of programming experience in Botswana. More than 800 Botswanan students have studied in Canada through WUSC’s scholarship program, and more than 95 per cent of them complete their studies and return home. “While in Canada, these students enrich the learning experience for Canadian students.”

WUSC also operates a Students Without Borders program in Botswana, as well as its volunteer program, Uniterra.

A leading Canadian international development agency for six decades, WUSC teams with students, faculty and institutions to internationalize Canada’s universities, increase knowledge of global issues and foster human development through education and training.

Students, faculty and staff will have a chance to discuss ideas for enhancing science education at Guelph during a two-day forum held on campus.

The aim of the forum, which will be held April 26 from 1 to 8:30 p.m. and April 27 from 9 a.m. to noon at the OVC's Lifetime Learning Centre, is to examine improved ways of engaging first-year students, said chemistry professor Dan Thomas, associate dean of the B.Sc. program.

"Students in their first year don't feel as engaged in their education as we sometimes believe they should be," said Thomas. "What can be done to help students feel they have made the transition to university and can prepare for their careers?"

The forum will feature guest speaker Carl Wieman, a physicist who has received both a Nobel Prize in physics for his research and a National Science Foundation Distinguished Teaching Scholarship Award. Wieman, who joined the University of British Columbia earlier this year, will be discussing ideas for using scientific tools to teach university science. This lecture is scheduled for April 26 at 7 p.m. in Room 1714 and is free and open to the university community.

The forum will also include workshop sessions, where participants will discuss aspects of first-year science instruction at Guelph and recommend improvements. The B.Sc. program committee will share these recommendations with curriculum groups across campus involved in delivering first-year science courses.

Thomas expects workshop topics will include the transition between common first-year courses and specialized majors, content and scope of first-year courses, and balancing course content with scientific inquiry.

For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Deirdre Healey, Ext. 56982.

WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo is turning 50 this year and the signs of its anniversary are now appearing off campus.

Banners celebrating the milestone first appeared along the university's Ring Road and can now be seen flying on University Avenue West, Columbia Street West, Westmount Road North and Phillip Street.

The university expanded the banner project off campus in order to share the landmark celebration with the public that has been so supportive and as a way of partnering with the City of Waterloo, said Martin Van Nierop, UW's director of communications and public affairs.

"We wanted to share the celebration of the 50th with the community, alumni and university friends," he said. "Their support over the last half-century has played a key role in making UW Canada's most innovative university, a leader in co-op education and in many academic areas."

From the beginning, the university has been strongly connected to this region. Founded by a group of local businessmen, UW has been linked with the community since its inception in 1957 and maintaining that connection is a university priority.

Two designs hang from lampposts and hydro poles. One banner features the image of the university's silver mace and the other portrays the number 50. Both include the anniversary slogan, "the spirit of 'why not?' "

The slogan comes from the George Bernard Shaw quote: "You see things; and you say 'Why?' But I dream of things that never were; and I say, 'why not?' " It stands as a symbol for what the university has so far accomplished.

The university is working with the City of Waterloo, which is also celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2007. Banners celebrating Waterloo's have been hung alongside those of the university.

UW is also sharing its 50th anniversary in Waterloo with a series of sponsored radio promotions. Messages from UW students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members have started playing on 570 News, and will continue throughout the year.

Those featured in the congratulatory messages were chosen to represent a diverse range of people connected to the university. The first recording featured Laura Hagey-Nichols, granddaughter of founding president of the university, Joseph Gerald (Gerry) Hagey,

Although the university's official anniversary is not until July 1, the celebration was launched in January and will come to an end in December.

Reading Shakespeare can be a daunting and even dreaded task for kids. That is, until a University of Guelph English professor added a futuristic spaceship and an outer-space mission into the mix.

Daniel Fischlin has found an innovative way to use Shakespeare’s language to teach literacy skills through a fast-paced computer game called, ’Speare. It was officially launched today on campus and could soon become commonplace in the classroom.

The first of its kind, ’Speare raises the bar on Flash technology and is a pioneer in educational gaming. It was designed to teach students about literacy within a familiar arcade environment, using cutting-edge technology to create a highly interactive educational tool.

“‘Kids love this game, and when we tested it, we found that literacy scores increased by an amazing 72 per cent after just one hour of game play,” said Fishlin, who created the video game with the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) team.

“Imagine the possibilities considering statistics show the average young person spends six hours or more playing video games each week.”

Aimed at students age 10 to 15, ’Speare starts with the player building their own battle ship. Then they are sent out on an outer-space mission to reclaim stolen knowledge spheres, containing the words of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. The spheres are needed to restore peace in the galaxy, which players accomplish by stringing together recaptured spheres to form Shakespearean phrases. Players are then scored based on how well they do on the literacy component.

“Gamers are rewarded for making it through all five levels of the game by being linked to an interactive version of Romeo and Juliet,” said Fischlin. “The Interactive Folio is quite simply the most interactive form of the book we were able to imagine.”

To complement these online learning opportunities, CASP has created a new online Learning Commons in consultation with local school boards that will feature learning modules for teachers and students, he said. The Learning Commons is open to everyone and includes lesson plans with specific activities and strategies using ’Speare in the classroom as part of a comprehensive literacy program.

“Our goal is to have ’Speare on every kid’s and parent’s desktop in the country,” Fischlin said.

More information on ’Speare is available on the CASP website. The game can also be played online.

Once again, staff, faculty, retirees and board members recognized the importance of raising money for the Our Community, Our Laurier campaign by making 2006 another record year.

More than $475,000 was raised to support exciting new initiatives like student awards, accessible learning, athletics and the library. With 356 people participating this year (including 42 new donors), we were able to easily surpass our goal by more than $225,000.

“This is a fantastic achievement,” said Laurier president Dr. Robert Rosehart. “The success of the Our Community, Our Laurier campaign is a reflection of the generous spirit of our faculty and staff. It’s wonderful to see such commitment to our institution — there’s a real passion for excellence in education at Laurier.”

The 2006 campaign would not have been as successful without the dedicated team of volunteers who gave much of their time, in addition to their money. Campaign co-chairs Kimberly Barber, Gary Bott, Bev Wemp, Heather Froome and Tupper Cawsey worked tirelessly throughout the year to encourage others to get involved. And the Faculty of Science fielded an entire team of volunteers: Colleen Loomis, Scott Ramsay, Jane Gohl, Rick Elliott, Rick Henderson, Jill Tracey and Jeanette Haas all came together with a common goal — to raise money to enhance the student experience. Obviously, they succeeded!

To celebrate the success of the 2006 Our Community, Our Laurier campaign, and to launch the 2007 campaign, there will be a BBQ in May. Watch your email and the Laurier website for more details.

WATERLOO - One of Canada's top not-for-profit leaders is joining the University of Waterloo to lead its external relations team as the university embarks on its sixth decade.

Meg Beckel, currently chief operating officer for the Royal Ontario Museum, was approved as vice-president, external relations by UW's board of governors on Friday, April 20. Beckel joins UW's senior management team and will lead a department of approximately 100 development, alumni affairs, communications and government relations staff. Her appointment is for five years and begins Oct. 1.

"I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Meg to our exciting university," said UW president David Johnston. "She has great advancement and senior management experience in the education and culture sectors, and our senior administrative team looks forward to working with her."

Beckel joined the Royal Ontario Museum as president and executive director of the ROM foundation in 1998, and was appointed chief operating officer the following year. In this latter role she serves as spokesperson for the ROM on all operational and board governance matters, overseeing the operation of the museum including management of the capital and operating budgets, currently about $250 million and $41 million respectively. Her commitment to the ROM will begin to wind down following the opening of the Crystal, scheduled for June.

Previously, she was director of development for both the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre and later the Vancouver Symphony Society and Foundation. A two-year stint as manager, individual giving at the University of Calgary led to her appointment as executive director, external relations and president of the University of Victoria Foundation from 1995 to 1998.

"I am very excited by the great opportunity presented to me in leading the University of Waterloo's advancement efforts," said Beckel. "I believe Waterloo has demonstrated in its first 50 years that it is truly among Canada's elite institutions, a leader in many areas of research and academics, and a pioneer in co-op education."

Beckel completed her BA at Queen's University in 1981, beginning her professional career at the Bank of Nova Scotia. She moved to the National Ballet of Canada in 1986 after completing an MBA at the University of Western Ontario.

The university's professional advancement team includes fundraising, alumni affairs, communications, marketing and government relations staff. They are currently involved in the final year of the multi-year Campaign Waterloo: Building a Talent Trust, which will see Waterloo raise in excess of $350 million. Beckel's appointment comes at the end of a six-month, nationwide search. The search was led by a UW search committee, chaired by President Johnston and supported by the search firm Egon Zehnder International.

Founded in 1957, the University of Waterloo is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary and its 15th consecutive year as Canada's most innovative university. One of Canada's leading comprehensive universities, Waterloo offers undergraduate and graduate programs in mathematics, science, health sciences, engineering, arts and environmental studies. Waterloo accomplishments include introducing co-operative education in Canada; launching a unique master of business, entrepreneurship and technology program; and creating one of the world's first quantum computers. As well, UW's faculty of mathematics is the world's largest centre for education in the mathematical, statistical and computer sciences.

Getting to and from the University of Guelph from the greater Toronto area will be much easier beginning this fall. The University has teamed up with GO Transit to offer new routes that will start and end on campus.

GO will offer a new express route between U of G and Square One in Mississauga and the Cooksville GO Station. The non-stop buses will leave approximately on the hour during working hours Monday to Friday, in addition to an evening trip.

GO is also extending its existing Highway 407 express bus route that serves its Meadowvale and Bramalea GO stations and York University.

Both express routes will also serve a new GO park-and-ride lot that will be located in Aberfoyle at Brock and McLean roads, north of the 401. Multi-ride tickets and passes will be available for both routes, allowing riders to save up to 40 per cent. Schedules and fares for these new services will be available in mid-summer.

“The University of Guelph is an important destination for GO bus services,” said GO Transit chair Peter Smith. “We are very pleased to be working together with the University to improve and expand services for students and other GO customers.”

Ian Weir, Guelph’s manager of parking services and transportation planning, added: “This is wonderful news for U of G students, faculty and staff and for the entire Guelph community. We are anticipating growth in the number of travellers using transit services to the University, and these new express routes will provide members of the University and local communities with improved services and greater access.”

U of G will be building a transit hub within the entrance mall area in front of the University Centre to accommodate the increased bus service. This will involve building new passenger platforms and bus bays, improving sidewalks, creating barrier-free ramps, installing new lighting and building new bus shelters. Once the project is complete, vehicular traffic on the mall will be restricted to buses and taxis.

P42, the new parking lot located south of the University Centre, will have a designated passenger pick-up/drop-off area, along with barrier-free parking spaces and short-term parking meters. P1, located near the Axelrod Building, will also provide additional barrier-free spaces.

“The new transit hub is intended to create a safer, more efficient, environmentally friendly and barrier-free environment,” said Weir.

As part of the overall initiative, the City of Guelph and Greyhound Canada will also be improving bus services to campus.

Investment In Learning Environment Supports The Success Of The Reaching Higher Plan

WATERLOO REGION – Our Region will benefit from a new Ontario government investment to support quality and facility improvements at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener Centre, announced April 20, 2007.

University of Waterloo is receiving $16,113,318 in new, one time funding for 2006-07.

- $14,175,859 in funding from the 2007 Ontario Budget
- $1,937,459 to support graduate expansion

Wilfrid Laurier University is receiving $6,361,363 in new, one time funding for 2006-07.

- $5,622,213 in funding from the 2007 Ontario Budget
- $739,150 to support graduate expansion

University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry is also receiving $1,005,554 to help support clinical costs for 2006-07.

“Record numbers of students have found opportunity in our colleges and universities – 86,000 more than when we started – and now students at UW and WLU will benefit from even higher quality education,” said Milloy. “Ontario’s new economic strength depends upon access to quality postsecondary education and training – which is why we’re helping students gain skills that will last a lifetime.”

“Our additional investment will not only ensure we have a postsecondary education and training system that is among the best in the world, but will also deliver economic benefits by fast-tracking projects at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University,” said Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

"The University of Waterloo appreciates this significant investment in our city's two universities," said David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo. "This funding will support several important undertakings at our institution, including expansion of our graduate programs and the provision of eye-care services to the community."

“This funding will allow Laurier to improve physical facilities and provide academic services to our growing student body on the Waterloo, Kitchener and Brantford Campuses,” said Robert Rosehart, President of Wilfrid Laurier University. “We are very grateful for this investment.”

As announced in the 2007 Ontario Budget, the McGuinty government is providing an additional $365 million to create a better learning environment for students in college and university, including support for new classrooms, modernized lab equipment and greater energy efficiency.

Under the $6.2 billion Reaching Higher plan, funding to colleges and universities is increasing by 35 per cent over five years. Funding to the University of Waterloo has increased from $151.6 million in 2003/04 to nearly $199 million in 2006/07 and Wilfrid Laurier University’s operating funding has increased from $52.4 million to over $81 million.

WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo has named eight instructors, four of them faculty members and four student teachers, as teachers of the year.

Winners of the 2007 Distinguished Teacher Award (DTA) are: Gary Bruce, of the history department; Steve Furino, of the mathematics department at St. Jerome's University on the UW campus; Barbara Moffatt, of the biology department; and Wei-Chau Xie, of the civil and environmental engineering department.

Also, winners of the exceptional teaching by a student award are Mubarak AL-Mutairi, systems design engineering; Adam Arnold, civil and environmental engineering; Stefan Buettcher, computer science; and Muhammed Ali Ulku, management sciences. They will receive an acknowledgment at the convocation when they graduate, along with $500 and a certificate.

The DTA awards, which recognize outstanding professors and instructors nominated by UW students, colleagues and alumni, will be presented at UW's spring convocation ceremonies in June. Recipients will receive a citation and $1,500 each to support teaching activities.

"These awards celebrate a continued record of excellence in teaching," says Catherine Schryer, director of UW's new centre for teaching excellence.

"A selection committee considers intellectual vigour and communication skills in the interpretation and presentation of subject matter," Schryer says, "as well as the teacher's human quality and concern for and sensitivity to the needs of students."

The centre will hold a special event next May 2 to celebrate 50 years of teaching excellence, honouring instructors who have won teaching awards over the years. The event will also mark the official opening of the centre.

The DTA winners are:

* Gary Bruce, professor of history. In an award citation, students note that Bruce has the gift of rhetoric and the "ability to capture his students in a lecture, dazzle students in discussion and his creativity generates thought outside of the classroom." A colleague describes his courses as a bridge between the past and the present. "His courses are journeys and he invites students to accompany him on them."

* Steve Furino, professor of mathematics. Furino is keen and willing to try new teaching strategies in order to engage the students in his classes, a citation says. For instance, during his weekly history Friday he spends time incorporating the history of mathematics into his lectures. A colleague says that "one need only to sit in Steve's class for five minutes to realize that this instructor is doing what he loves to do most -- teach."

* Barbara Moffat, professor of biology. A citation says that Moffatt's research in molecular biology seamlessly finds its way into her courses. Students are routinely encouraged to learn the use of the latest technology in pursuing biological problems. One student notes that her "intimate grace in delivering lectures charmed the students through the dry and sometimes difficult material that she had to cover."

* Wei-Chau Xie, professor of civil and environmental engineering. Students appreciate Xie's well-prepared lessons, a citation says, and his eagerness to offer assistance and guidance. He often puts additional time into preparing extra help sessions and assisting with tutorials. As well, Xie's relationship with his students is friendly, supportive and oriented to success in both their studies and subsequent careers.

Recipients of the awards for exceptional teaching by a student are:

* Mubarak AL-Mutairi, systems design engineering. A citation says AL-Mutairi is always willing to help students and other teaching assistants, going "beyond the call of duty." He answers e-mails in a timely fashion and creates a positive atmosphere in the class. "He never told anyone that their answer was wrong but merely steered them in the right direction."

* Adam Arnold, civil and environmental engineering. Arnold has an innate sense of giving students what they need when he is teaching, a citation says. "He has great communication skills, was always prepared for tutorials and helped students understand complex theories."

* Stefan Buettcher, computer science. A citation says that Buettcher makes learning enjoyable. He is concise and knowledgeable and could answer all questions. "Buettcher is a very committed teacher who explains abstract concepts so that everyone understood."

* Muhammed Ali Ulku, management sciences. Ulku's supervisor says he has the personality and demeanour to make everyone comfortable that they belong to the group. "He randomly asked students questions which made everyone prepare for the lectures. Students say that because of this they were well prepared for exams."

WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo's official historian, Ken McLaughlin, will launch his new book on UW and give a talk on the university's 50-year success at the Friends of the Library lecture and authors event April 25.

McLaughlin's public lecture will touch on the university's past, present and future, as well as what differentiates Waterloo from other universities and what contributes to its success. It takes place Wednesday, beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the theatre of the arts in the modern languages building.

This year's lecture is based on McLaughlin's new book, Out of the Shadow of Orthodoxy: Waterloo @ 50, which will be officially launched at the event. With archival research and more than 300 oral history interviews, the book is richly illustrated with historical and contemporary images of the university and its people.

"It celebrates Waterloo's history and brings alive the challenges facing the university in the present as it plans for the next 50 years and the hurdles that it has overcome in the past half century," McLaughlin says.

"This year's event coincides with the university's 50th anniversary and we're excited to be showcasing the fine work of over 60 talented members from the UW community," says Mary Stanley, manager of library communications and development.

The annual public lecture and authors event, hosted by the university library, highlights the creative process and features a display of books, musical scores, photography and art produced by UW's faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Since his arrival as a student in 1961 and hiring as a faculty member in 1970, many observers would say that UW is McLaughlin's second home. A former dean of St. Jerome's University, McLaughlin is currently the chair of its history department.

Besides being UW's official historian, he has served as director of public history and the director of the tri-university graduate program in history for UW, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph.

McLaughlin has also developed a website on the history of computing and information technology achievements at UW. The project, funded by a grant from the J. W. Graham Information Technology Fund, conducted a series of oral history interviews with key members linked with Waterloo's history of computing and technology transfer.

The project, entitled Unbundling Computing at Waterloo, will be launched on a website hosted by UW's David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, coinciding with the release of McLaughlin's new book next week.

UW, which initiated the idea of co-operative education in Canada, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of events throughout 2007. Waterloo has adopted the Spirit of Why Not? as its anniversary theme. Based on a line by George Bernard Shaw, the theme reflects the spirit of aspiration that has propelled UW to date and will continue to drive the university in the coming decade.

WATERLOO - The largest graduate student research conference in Canada takes places next week at the University of Waterloo, with the public welcome to learn about the latest discoveries hatched by the university's young minds.

The seventh annual Sharing Discovery conference, from April 23 to 26, unveils research accomplishments by more than 200 Waterloo master's and doctoral students. The presenters will give poster or oral presentations covering the areas of health, life and environment, humanities and social sciences, along with physical science, math and technology.

All sessions, open to the public, will be held in the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre, rooms 1301, 1302 and 1304, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For a program schedule, visit link

"The conference showcases both the quality and vast diversity of graduate student research at the University of Waterloo," said Bill Power, a professor of chemistry and associate dean of graduate studies at UW.

"It's fitting that in this anniversary year, where we look back at the achievements of the first 50 years of the University of Waterloo, that we take this opportunity to look ahead at the breakthroughs that will shape the next 50 years, currently emerging from these new scholars, educated through graduate studies at Waterloo."

This year's keynote speaker is Roberta Jamieson, First Nations leader and conflict resolution expert. Jamieson has collaborated with political and legal experts in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America to advance democracy through institutional change. Her talk, entitled Globalization: What it Means to Real People, will take place next Monday in the theatre of the arts in the modern languages building, beginning at 8 p.m.

A total of 212 master's and doctoral students from UW's six faculties -- applied health sciences, arts, engineering, environmental studies, mathematics and science -- will participate in the four days of oral and poster presentations highlighting their scholarship. This year, students of the certificate in university teaching program will also present their work.

Poster presentations describing research projects will be on display throughout the week in the Davis Centre. The diverse research topics include:

* The Politics of Climate Change: Factors Driving Municipal Decision Making by Devin Causley, local economic development/tourism program in the faculty of environmental studies.

* Consistencies and Differences in Family Conflict by Marcia Gordeyko, department of psychology in the faculty of arts.

* The Effects of Water-Based Exercise on Physical and Psychological Well Being in Parkinson's Disease Patients by Alex Crizzle, department of health studies and gerontology in the faculty of applied health sciences.

* Vulnerability Assessment of Water Resources Systems in the Eastern Nile Basin by Mohamed Hamouda, department of civil and environmental engineering in the faculty of engineering.

* Chromium Dioxide as a Candidate for Spintronic (spin-based electronics) Applications by Helia Jalili, department of physics and astronomy in the faculty of science.

* Message Authentication in Ad Hoc Networks Using Two-Channel Cryptography by Atefeh Mashatan, department of combinatorics and optimization in the faculty of mathematics.

The conference, organized through the office of the dean of graduate studies, has received support from the president's office, Graduate Student Association, graduate studies endowment fund, retail services (CampusTech Shop), deans of the six faculties and the Graduate House.

The supply of PhDs plays an increasingly important role in determining Canada's ability to compete in the emerging global knowledge economy. According to a new study, there were 100,000 employed PhDs in 2001, of which 57,000 were science and engineering doctorates.

The study, using 2001 Census data, examines the labour market characteristics of Canada's stock of scientists and engineers based on their major field of studies and highest degree obtained.

Of the 100,000 total employed doctorates in 2001, 47,000 were born in Canada while 53,000 were foreign-born. Of the Canadian-born PhDs, 22,000, or 46% were science and engineering doctorates, while the rest had doctorates in other fields.

Two-thirds of the 53,000 foreign-born employed doctorates held PhDs in science and engineering fields. The foreign-born doctorates could have immigrated after or before obtaining their PhDs.

Nearly 23,000 immigrants with PhDs came to Canada between 1991 and 2000, double the amount of those who arrived between 1971 and 1990. The ratio of two immigrant science and engineering PhDs for every one immigrant non-science and engineering PhD in 1991 increased substantially to five to one by 2000.

Asia, and in particular China and India, have become the major source of foreign born PhDs since the beginning of the 1980s. Proportions from the United States and United Kingdom, the two dominant sources prior to 1981, have been declining. The US share went from a high of 24% over the 1971 to 1980 period to a low of 6% over the 1991 to 2000 period, while China's share went from a low of 2% to a high of 25% over the same time periods.

Men still continue to dominate the Canadian PhD landscape. The proportion of female doctorates was 27%, an improvement of 15 percentage points over the past 25 years. The study found that female doctorates were under-represented, especially in science and engineering, and particularly in the engineering field where they were less than 1 in 10.

Kingston and Ottawa–Hull proportionately had the highest concentration of science and engineering PhDs in Canada's largest labour markets, followed by Saskatoon, Victoria and Sherbrooke.

In the largest labour markets, Victoria and Halifax had on average the oldest employed science and engineering doctorates, whereas Toronto, Montréal, and Québec had on average younger employed science and engineering doctorates.

The study revealed that there was a 10 percentage point decline in the proportion of PhDs who were university professors, from 34% in 1986 to 24% in 2001, despite a 93% increase in the total number of PhDs over the same time frame.

WATERLOO — Deborah Enns, a post-doctoral fellow in Laurier’s Kinesiology and Physical Education department, has received a prestigious award from the American Physiological Society (APS).



The APS selected Enns for the Environmental and Exercise Physiology Section Post-doctoral Recognition Award for the study, “Estrogen influences satellite cell activation and proliferation following eccentric exercise in rats.” The study was conducted with Kinesiology and Physical Education chair Peter Tiidus.

The award recognizes the most scientifically significant research contributions submitted to the organization’s annual conference by a post-doctoral fellow. The APS described Enns’ research as an “outstanding study with significant merit.” Enns is one of six post-doctoral award winners this year, and the only Canadian among winners from American universities such as Harvard, the University of California, Berkeley, and Penn State.

“Dr. Enns is very deserving of this post-doctoral research award,” says Tiidus. “It is a significant recognition by a major research society. The award recognizes the quality of her creative input into developing the laboratory techniques and design of this complex research project, as well as interpreting the significance of its results. She has been an indispensable part of my laboratory for the past two years.”

Enns will be given the opportunity to present her study at the Experimental Biology 2007 Conference in Washington, D.C. at the end of April. She will also receive a cash prize.

"I am delighted to receive this award, as it recognizes our lab's contributions to muscle research at an international level,” says Enns. “My post-doctoral work at Laurier has allowed me to develop a number of novel laboratory techniques, and this award will support my continued study of the role of estrogen in muscle inflammation and repair. This work has particular significance for older women, as it may allow us to develop therapeutic strategies to maintain their functional abilities as they age."

Enns is one of only a few post-doctoral fellows at Laurier. Following the completion of a PhD and typically before becoming faculty members, post-doctoral fellows work in the labs of established researchers and faculty. This stage of career development, common in the natural and life sciences, allows young researchers to further develop their skills before beginning independent research careers.

The American Physiological Society is a major research society and nonprofit organization devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences. The APS has over 10,500 members, most of whom have doctoral degrees in physiology and/or medicine or other health professions.

More than a dozen ways to measure “efficiency” and “value for money” at UW are sketched out in a report brought to UW’s board of governors April 3 by provost Amit Chakma.

The one-page report was in the board agenda material but didn’t come up for discussion. It includes some indicators of “quality” and some of “productivity/cost management”.

The University Daily Bulletin published these examples:

• The student-faculty ratio is a familiar figure cited as an indicator of the quality of teaching. UW’s ratio hit 27.6 (students per professor) in 2004-05; the goal is to get it down to 20.0 within a decade, the chart says.

• Per-student spending is another way of measuring quality; UW’s figure in 204-05 was $14,349, and performance over recent years is “improving vs. Canada, deteriorating vs. USA”, the report says.

• Graduate enrolment as a percentage of total enrolment is listed as a “quality” measure and shown as 10.3 per cent in 2005-06; the goal is an increase of 10 per cent a year, or doubling enrolment within a decade.

• The first “productivity” indicator is “annual revenue per staff position”, which the report says has been rising at about 5 per cent per year.

• Energy consumption (measured in easy-to-remember gigajoules per square metre) was at 1.35 in 2005-06, a slight increase from the previous figure of 1.27, but still making UW one of the three lowest energy consumers among Ontario universities.

• The number of lost work days as a result of work-related injuries has averaged 400 annually over the past several years, and was 384 in 2006, “among the lowest” for universities.

In a report by the Daily Bulletin other indicators refered to included. fund-raising, co-op placement, the marks of entering students, purchasing consortiums, administrative costs and the value of deferred building maintenance.

WATERLOO — The term ‘psychoanalysis’ usually brings to mind some typical associations: Freud, patients on couches, childhood memories, translation….

Translation?

For Marta Marín-Dòmine, an assistant professor in languages and literature at Laurier, the association between psychoanalysis and translation is a natural one. In her research, Marín-Dòmine uses psychoanalytic theory to challenge universal concepts such as truth and faithfulness in literature and language, and to offer a critical appraisal of how these concepts are translated into Western thought.

Her research efforts recently earned her the coveted Prize of Excellence in Research from the University Autonoma of Barcelona (UAB), Spain. The award is given for the best PhD dissertation in each department during a specific period of time. In Marín-Dòmine’s case, her thesis was one of 300 defended in 90 different programs between 1998 and 2003. Because of the lengthy deliberation process involved in selecting award recipients, the honours are not given until years later.

“I had good colleagues with whom I debated,” Marín-Dòmine says of her dissertation. “I am enriched by these debates and grateful to them. I am also happy and honoured by the recognition of this award.”

She has since written a book based on her research findings: Traduir el design. Psicoànalis I traducció (Translating Desire. Psychoanalysis and Translation).

Although many think of translating text from one language to another as a mechanical linguistic process, Marín-Dòmine explains that it is a more subjective and creative undertaking.

“One cannot merely translate word for word from one language to another, because the meaning of the original text may be lost,” she says. “But there is subjectivity in how the translator interprets the meaning of the original text. We all have doubts about language representing reality, because there is the assumption that others understand exactly what you understand.”

But beyond losing subtleties such as irony and double entendre, there is the larger question of how a translator understands universal concepts and then translates his or her own understanding of these concepts — along with the language — into the translated text.

“We never reach the truth,” Marín-Dòmine says.

Her research concludes that by introducing the hypothesis of the unconscious (through psychoanalytic theory) into the theory of translation, it destabilizes traditional concepts and brings a new reading of the ideals that permeate the accepted discourse on translation.

Marín-Dòmine moved to Canada from Spain in 2001. She came to Laurier from the Clark Institute of Psychiatry. She holds a degree in literature and languages, a master’s degree in adult education, and a PhD in translation studies and interculturalism. Her current research examines the literature produced by Spaniard survivors of concentration camps, from the Spanish Civil War to the French and Nazi camps of the Second World War.

In regulated undergraduate programs — architecture, business and math, computational math, computer science, engineering, optometry and software engineering — fees will go up 8 per cent for first year and 4 per cent for upper years. In accountancy programs, the increase is 4.5 per cent in the "provisional" first year, 8 per cent in second year and 4 per cent in upper years. In other undergraduate programs, such as arts and science, fees will go up by 4.5 per cent for first year, 4 per cent in upper years. In all undergrad programs, international students will pay 2 per cent more than this year's level.

The increases are effective with the spring term. They'll take the one-term fee for a first-year engineering student to $4,069; a first-year arts student, $2,291.

Co-op students will also pay a per-term co-op fee of $535, up from this year's $510. And the student services fee is scheduled to go up by 4 per cent for undergraduate students and 7 per cent for grad students.

Graduate student tuition fees are being increased in two stages. For most grad programs, fees will go up in the spring term (5 per cent for domestic students in first year, 2 per cent for all international students) and then in the fall term (4 per cent for upper-year domestic students). For most master's programs in engineering, there will be an additional boost in the fall term of 3 per cent for domestic first-year students, 13 per cent for all international students.

Fees are not rising for the MBET and Master of Taxation programs and several specialized master's programs in engineering. For the Master of Accounting program there will be no increase until winter 2008, when fees will go up 8 per cent for all students. (At the undergraduate level, the accountancy diploma program will also see no increase until an 8 per cent hike in the winter term.)

For the first time, UW is setting fees for the two graduate theology programs that now come under university authority: a boost of about 1 per cent, from $450 per half-course to $468.

Copyright Daily Bulletin, University of Waterloo

WATERLOO - A University of Waterloo mathematics student was the top Canadian in North America's William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition, while a UW team placed 12th overall.

In another prestigious competition, the recent ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) International Collegiate Programming Contest, a UW team finished among the top 10 and was the leading Canadian team in the event.

Ralph Furmaniak, a computer science student, was the highest ranking student at a Canadian institution, finishing 11th overall in the Putnam competition. As well, UW math students Tor Myklebust and Xiao Wang received honourable mentions for their high scores.

The Waterloo students competed against 3,640 students from 508 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Since 1985, Waterloo has been consistently in the top tier of the Putnam competition. The event tests originality as well as technical competence in the field of mathematics.

The UW team, made up of Furmaniak, Elyot Grant and David Rhee placed 12th overall. They were coached by Stephen New, a professor of pure mathematics. Last year, a UW team placed fifth in the event.

"Once again, Canadian students have distinguished themselves in the annual Putnam Mathematics Competition," says Edward Barbeau, chair of the mathematical competitions committee of the Canadian Mathematical Society.

"Four Canadian universities, McGill, Toronto, Waterloo and British Columbia, had among them 14 students who placed among the top 200. Half of these came from Waterloo."

This year, the top five teams were Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto and the University of Chicago.

The 67th annual Putnam Mathematical Competition was held on campuses throughout North America last Dec. 2. The test is administered by the Mathematical Association of America and results were made available this week.

In another UW achievement, a UW team placed ninth overall in the world finals of the 31st annual ACM international contest held in Tokyo on March 15.

The UW team joined MIT and California Institute of Technology as the only North American university teams finishing in the top 12 in the 88-team competition. Team members Myklebust, Simon Parent and Malcolm Sharpe were coached by Gordon Cormack, a professor of computer science.

"Waterloo has qualified 15 years in a row for the ACM ICPC world finals," says Cormack. "In these 15 years, Waterloo has been world champion twice, North American champion five times and a podium finisher 12 times."

TORONTO – The School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University is hosting an executive symposium in Toronto on the state of Canada-U.S. relations, featuring prominent experts Allan Gotlieb, Pamela Wallin and Stephen Handelman.

The three outspoken commentators will engage in a lively round-table discussion before an audience of top business and government leaders on April 11 at 3:00 p.m. at The National Club, 303 Bay St., in downtown Toronto.

The topic — A Continent Divided: The Uncertain Future of Canada-U.S. Relations — will address the need to develop a constructive, long-term strategy for improving relations with Canada’s most important economic and political partner.

“The management of the complex relationship between Canada and the United States is without question the most important external challenge confronting Canada today,” says Laurier dean of business and economics, Ginny Dybenko. “The Laurier School of Business & Economics is proud to help meet this challenge by sponsoring this symposium.”

Each of the panelists has keen, first-hand insights into Canada-U.S. relations. Gotlieb is an author and former senior diplomat who spent eight years as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Wallin, a former journalist who served as Canada’s consul general in New York from 2002 to 2006, is a senior advisor to the President of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas. Handelman is a Canadian journalist and commentator on international affairs who writes for Time magazine and serves as managing editor of the journal, Americas Quarterly.

The Laurier School of Business & Economics, one of Canada’s most innovative business schools with campuses in Toronto and Waterloo, is hosting the event as part of its on-going commitment to foster positive international relations, especially in the area of trade and economics.