Six members of the University of Guelph community have been named recipients of the YMCA-YWCA’s 2006 Women of Distinction Awards. The 11th annual awards ceremony was held Thursday at the River Run Centre, with several hundred people attending.

Forty-six women were nominated for their achievements in eight categories: arts and culture; business, labour, the professions and entrepreneurs; education, training and development; public service; science, technology and research; voluntary community service; wellness and health; and young woman of distinction. In addition, four women were honoured for lifetime achievement from among the various categories.

Virginia Gray, director of U of G’s Office of Open Learning, received a lifetime achievement award in education and training. Gray’s career in education spans more than 35 years, and under her leadership, Open Learning’s offerings have grown from 55 to 208 degree courses, and enrolment in distance courses has surpassed 17,000, with students coming from more than 50 countries. She also helped create the Science @ Guelph Experience (S@GE), which introduces students in grades 7 and 8 to science and university life.

Another lifetime achievement award went to Dr. Margo Mountjoy, a sports medicine physician who works with the University’s Health and Performance Centre. She was recognized for her voluntary community service and for being a local, national and international advocate for sports and fitness. A former competitive synchronized swimmer and the team physician for the Canadian Olympic synchronized swimming team, she is the first Canadian and the first women to serve as chair of the Fédération Internationale de Natation, the international federation that governs all aquatic sports. She is also the first female member of the International Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Committee.

Cyndy McLean, director of U of G’s Health and Performance Centre, received the award for voluntary community service award. She is a national ambassador for the Rick Hansen Foundation and was instrumental in bringing to Guelph the annual Wheels in Motion fundraising event, which has raised more than $40,000 in the past two years to help local residents with spinal cord injuries. McLean also volunteers to help families who have loved ones with disabilities and is an outspoken advocate of the need for education, research and improved accessibility.

“It was tragedy that brought me to the Rick Hansen Foundation,” said McLean, a former marathon runner and elite-level athlete who became paraplegic in 2003 after falling more than 100 feet off a cliff. But life-changing incidents can offer new beginnings, she said, adding that she now encourages the people she mentors to look at the roadblocks in their lives merely “as speed bumps.”

The science and technology award went to Prof. Moira Ferguson, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology. Ferguson, who is also a U of G graduate, is the first woman to chair a department in the College of Biological Science. She was recognized for her contributions as a scientist studying genetics and evolution, as an educator and for her service to the broader scientific community.

Cathy MacMillan, a 1991 BA graduate of Guelph, received the award for business, labour, the professions and entrepreneurs. She was lauded for being a role model for women in business as the owner and chief operating officer of MacMillan Marketing Group, which has a primarily female workforce. MacMillan is also active in numerous volunteer community groups.

Another U of G graduate, Philomena Bonis (B.Sc. ’86) was honoured in the education and training category. An award-winning teacher, she is known for encouraging students, especially girls, to follow non-traditional career paths. Bonis is the first public school teacher to be accepted into the prestigious International Space University in Pomona, Calif.

WATERLOO -- University of Waterloo student engineers will unveil this year's model of the competition-ready UW formula race car on Monday (May 15).

The event takes place between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at UW's "C" parking lot, near the intersection of University Avenue and Seagram Drive.

"Activities include a driving demonstration of the new model, a chance to meet the student designers and a barbecue," said Gareth Kenworthy, team leader for the UW Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Team.

Each year, a team of about 15 engineers designs, builds and tests an open-wheel race car from the ground up and to the limits of performance and weight. "The entire car is designed by students, with the exception of a few parts, like the engine which is sourced from a Honda CBR600 motorcycle," Kenworthy said.

The team will compete in the annual Formula SAE competition to be held May 17-21 in Pontiac, Mich. Considered the largest student-engineering competition in the world -- with 140 universities representing more than 11 countries -- the student teams aim to prove their designs in presentations and on-track racing.

The Formula SAE competition seeks to evaluate each car's design, cost, marketability and dynamic performance through a series of events testing each team's knowledge and ability.

Last year, UW's team placed fourth overall, a result current team members hope to surpass next week.

"Highlights of this year's design are a well integrated tubular steel space frame that mounts a re-designed suspension, which has improved stiffness and control," Kenworthy said.

"The engine is custom dyno-tuned to use electronically controlled, variable intake runner lengths and staged fuel injection for improved power. A bespoke lightweight limited slip differential provides better control over wheel spin."

Kenworthy said the innovations could not be possible without the team's sponsors. "Their support is greatly appreciated," he said.

Broadcasting - Radio and Television has long been a popular program at Conestoga. Offered at the Doon campus in Kitchener, it explores many aspects of the broadcasting profession: news and entertainment, on-air performance, programming, mobile production, regulations, sales, camera operation and videography, editing and management. Senior-level students specialize in either radio or television, and all students in the program gain considerable experience at Conestoga's television studio and at 88.3 CJIQ-FM, Conestoga's radio station that has a signal that covers most of southwestern Ontario. Many students add to the value of their studies by working part-time in the broadcasting industry during their period of enrolment.

Beginning in the fall of 2006, the program will be restructured into two programs, each two years in length. One will be titled Broadcasting - Radio, the other will be Broadcasting - Television. This decision has been made for several reasons: the increasing level of specialization required in each broadcasting field; the opportunity for students to choose their specialization and complete their studies sooner, in order to start their careers sooner; and the increased ease of linking to related university programs that allow advanced standing for diploma graduates.

Winners of multiple awards are:

* Christina Marshall of Eden Mills --

The $250 Carl A. Pollock Memorial Award (sponsored by Electrohome Ltd.) for the highest academic standing in the second year of program studies and the $250 Broadcaster of the Year Award (CTV/CKCO-TV) for outstanding talent and excellence in programming and production;

* Ken Milmine of Kitchener --

The $500 Betty Thompson Memorial Bursary (CTV/CKCO-TV) for community involvement through volunteer work and the $250 Broadcasting Faculty Award (CHUM Radio) for outstanding support of the program's teaching team;

* Matt Schichter of Waterloo --

The $500 John Larke Memorial Award (CHYM-FM/CKGL 570 News) to pursue further broadcasting-related education and the $300 K.A. MacKenzie Memorial Award (former faculty colleagues and friends) for innovative use of technology;

* Jennifer Vallee of Kitchener --

The $250 Creative Writing Award (CJCS/107.7 MIX-FM) for excellence and variety in commercial writing and the $250 Community Programming Award (FM 98.5 CKWR) for radio production related to community activities or stories.

Winners of individual awards are:

* Mark Araujo of Ayr --

The $250 Station Manager's Award (Rogers Television) for excellence in production of local television during field placement with Rogers;

* Jamie Gibson of Cambridge --

The $250 third-year Announcer of the Year Award (CHYM-FM) for progress and excellence in announcing;

* Daniella Huber of Plattsville --

The $250 Promotion Award (106.7 KICX-FM) for achievement in developing a specific promotional campaign within a predetermined budget;

* Jeff Johnson of Drumbo --

The $250 Newsperson of the Year Award (CJOY/MAGIC-FM) for enterprise and expertise in news reporting;

* Nikki Konarski of Waterloo --

The $250 91.5 The Beat Student Achievement Award (CanWest Global) for significant academic improvement demonstrated during the second year of program studies;

* Adam Krulicki of Kitchener --

The $250 second-year Announcer of the Year Award (CHYM-FM) for progress and excellence in announcing;

* Matt Pancer of Kitchener --

The $500 Award for Excellence in Radio Programming (CHUM Radio) in recognition of demonstrated advanced skills in documentary or magazine-format programming;

* Barry Rooke of Guelph --

The $250 Radio Production Award (107.7 MIX-FM) for demonstrated individual ability in creative commercial production;

* Randy Sachs of Dobbinton --

The $250 first-year Announcer of the Year Award (CHYM-FM) for progress and excellence in announcing;

* Steve Vanderheide of Kitchener --

The $500 Pat Fitzgerald Award (CKCO-TV staff) for collegiality with respect to other students through demonstration of motivation, goodwill, patience and consideration;

* Tim Vanderspek of Waterloo --

The $250 Award of Contribution (Rogers Television) in recognition of a student volunteer on field placement with Rogers who demonstrates outstanding commitment to local television;

* Lyndsey Woolcock of Kitchener --

The $500 Christopher-Allen Rawnsley Award (SONY of Canada) for the demonstration of exceptional visual production skills.

On May 9, 2006 Mayor Kate Quarrie congratulated Conestoga College on yesterday’s announcement by Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities that confirmed support for the school’s co-op/ apprenticeship/ diploma program and committed $11.5 million in funding for skilled trades to colleges across Ontario over the next four years.

The growth of this innovative apprenticeship curriculum will expand the millwright program at Conestoga College’s Guelph campus. Students will have the to opportunity make contacts with prospective employers that could be converted to full-time apprenticeships. Employers will see the tax credits for training new apprentices and the ability to see them working before taking them on as a full-time apprentice. The net result is a growing number of youth involved in Ontario’s economy.

"Given the importance of skilled trades in our economy, I am pleased that Conestoga’s Guelph campus will play such a key role in training and supplying apprentices to employers the area and the province."

WATERLOO - Canada's Nobel Prize Laureate John Polanyi is among the speakers sharing their visions of nanotechnology at the 2006 Ontario Nano Symposium to be held May 19 at the University of Waterloo.

The all-day event seeks to build and strengthen local nanotechnology research communities, as well as spawn new collaborations, said Flora Li, one of the graduate student organizers. She added that the event will offer information about UW's new nanotechnology initiatives.

"The Ontario Nano Symposium will provide an excellent opportunity for students and researchers from across the province to present their work in the area of nanoscience and nanotechnology," said Li, also a member of the Giga-to-Nano Electronics Laboratory at UW. "It will allow for an exchange of ideas and create an environment for collaborative work with fellow researchers."

Polanyi, a professor of chemistry at the University of Toronto, will give a talk on the Nanoscale Printing Press. A researcher exploring the molecular motions in chemical reactions in gases and at surfaces, Polanyi received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Other featured speakers include: Peter Grutter, director of the NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) Nano Innovative Platform; Jim Webb, director of the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences; and Gehan Amaratunga, a professor at the University of Cambridge in Britain, who heads the Electrical Power and Energy Conversion Research Group.

Organizers expect to attract scientists and researchers from diverse backgrounds, including physics, biology, chemistry, engineering and medicine. The event will consist of invited talks by speakers at the forefront of research, poster presentations, along with a panel discussion.

Nanotechnology is a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of atom-sized structures in order to produce breakthrough properties.

For example, the next generation of electronic devices may contain smaller and faster circuits built from single strands of carbon nanotubes, or powerful drugs may be delivered precisely to targeted areas in the body by means of customized carrier molecules.

The symposium, organized by graduate students in the electrical and computer engineering department, is supported by the NSERC Nano Innovative Platform, Ontario Centres of Excellence and UW.

Challenges, say members of the City of Waterloo Town and Gown Committee, that can be addressed through collaboration and through an ongoing and collective focus on providing a happy, healthy and safe community. Although the Town and Gown Committee has existed in Waterloo for many years, and in many different forms, 2005 marks the first year that the committee has opted to create a report highlighting the many ways this group has worked together to affect change and foster a spirit of collective and inclusive resolution.

Explains Kaye Crawford, Chair of Waterloo’s Town and Gown Committee and Manager, Community Relations, for the City of Waterloo, “This report provides the first comprehensive list of programs, activities and initiatives that town and gown stakeholders have put their energy towards over the past school year. As we head into the next school year, it will be an excellent foundation for our committee because we can look back on our past successes, as opposed to starting from scratch every time.”

Working on the Town and Gown committee are representatives from the universities, the college, area municipalities, the region, local residents, students and police. The report highlights the areas of education and prevention, policing, planning and by-law enforcement, licensed establishments and community relations.

“There have been some real successes in Waterloo” says Crawford, “and they aren’t all focused on responding to complaints. We’ve developed a welcome bag program that asks permanent residents to pass on information about Waterloo to new students, worked together to unveil the Veterans’ Green Parkette.”

A new initiative for the committee this past year was the Door Knocker Program, a program headed by Waterloo Regional Police Service that brought together enforcement officials from the police, the city and the campus in a door-to-door campaign in neighbourhoods near the university to welcome newcomers and give out information about living in Waterloo.

“We are doing lots of really good work,” said Wilfrid Laurier University Dean of Students David McMurray, who chaired the subcommittee that wrote the report. “Until you put all of the information together, it’s hard to get a clear picture of all of the things that are being done to better address the concerns and issues of people living close to the universities. This report reflects the many ways the Town and Gown Committee is working not only to understand the issues, but to be part of a solution.”

In addition to the local committee, the City of Waterloo also supports a provincial initiative for town and gown communities focused on sharing information across Ontario. Through a new website and a symposia held each year, all stakeholders have an opportunity to learn about trends and successes from each other. For more information see www.tgao.ca.

The newly formed Town and Gown Association of Ontario will host its fourth symposium in Brantford on May 11 and 12, 2006, focusing on ‘Building an Educated Community’. The evening dinner and key note address, featuring former Ontario premier Bob Rae, is open to the public. Tickets can be obtained through townandgown@wlu.ca.

WATERLOO – The Link, a student-run association for Laurier business undergraduates, and the Laurier school of business and economics have partnered to present the fourth annual Leadership in Business conference, an opportunity for Grade 11 and 12 students from across Ontario to experience business studies at Laurier.

The four-day conference will be run Thursday, May 11 through to Sunday, May 14. Participating students will spend three nights in Macdonald residence and take part in a case simulation and experience university life. In addition, participants will have the chance to interact with industry leaders, Laurier alumni, fellow high-school students, and university students, staff and faculty.

“Our purpose is to connect past, present and future students of Laurier,” says Darren Quinton, president of The Link. “The high-school students can come and experience business at Laurier and meet successful alumni, which will hopefully aid them when they’re thinking about a career.”

The theme for the weekend is financial management. The students will be divided into groups headed by Laurier undergraduates and participate in academic sessions and workshops and work through their case simulation, which they will present on the last day of the conference. A gala dinner will feature keynote speaker Laurier alumnus Dennis Kavelman, chief financial officer of Research In Motion, who was recently named by The Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

“The conference has grown since its first year,” says Quinton, who remembers participating in the original Leadership in Business conference when he was in high school. “The sessions are bigger and the calibre of guest speakers is elevated.”

Established in April 2002, The Link is a student-run association with a mandate to create a cohesive business community and offer opportunities for students to be involved both creatively and academically outside of the classroom. The Link also partners with the school of business and economics to host a speaker series, which has presented notables such as Angela Mondou, a renowned entrepreneur and creator of ICE Leadership, and David Chilton, author of the bestseller The Wealthy Barber and a Laurier alumnus.

This investment supports construction of a $34-million, 54,000-square- foot facility on the corner of King and Victoria streets. Besides classrooms and state-of-the-art technology for the medical students, there will be a family medicine teaching clinic. This facility will be co-located with UW’s School of Pharmacy, which is currently under construction.

“This Region has a tradition of making community investments which set it apart from many others “ said Regional Chair Ken Seiling. “In the area of health care, it has long seen the value of supporting health care capital projects. This is one that will be looked on in future years as a key investment that was pivotal to the future health and prosperity of our people.”

The Ontario government has put $8 million towards the capital costs. It will also pay the operating costs of the satellite medical school, estimated at $70 million over the next 10 years.

The McMaster satellite medical school will start with 15 students in September 2007 and grow to a complement of 90 within seven years. Physicians will be recruited to Waterloo Region to teach them and, by 2012, more than 140 students and residents will have a medical experience in Waterloo Region each year.

Gerry Thompson, associate vice-president of strategic initiatives at UW said: “These changes will have a noticeable effect in alleviating the shortage of physicians in this area.”

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, the second-largest medical school in Ontario, produces physicians faster than other schools -- in three years rather than four. The school is world- renowned for its innovations in teaching doctors using a small group, problem-based learning style with early exposure to patients and community focus.

“The Region of Waterloo has proved its reputation for innovation and vision again with its support of this unique opportunity to locate the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine with a school of pharmacy,” said Dr. John Kelton, dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University and dean of the medical school. “This will be specifically beneficial to the community, as well as the province and Canada.

“We’ve been honoured by the warm welcome we’ve received from everyone in the Region of Waterloo.” The innovative project builds on Kitchener's $30-million commitment and gift of land to the University of Waterloo. The UW Health Sciences Campus is expected to attract a wide range of health professionals and address the need for expertise in health technology, health informatics, biosciences, population studies and biomedical engineering, while filling the urgent demand for more pharmacists and doctors in Ontario.

“Our partners are McMaster and the region, and we at the University of Waterloo, are committed to seeking excellence in all that we do,” said David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo. “This innovative partnership demonstrates what a community can accomplish when its members seek to turn a unique situation into an opportunity.”

Among the benefits for the community in Waterloo Region:

* Locating a satellite medical school in Waterloo Region will improve attraction and retention of doctors to an under-serviced community. It is known that a high percentage of physicians tend to practice where they are trained.

* McMaster University will offer its students a choice of campus based on preference and geographic background.

* The development of a primary care clinic and specialist clinics across the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) will improve community access to an integrated spectrum of health care services.

* UW and McMaster are ready to collaborate in several integrated teaching opportunities, including some joint learning of the medical and pharmacy students.

* A dynamic community with innovative thinking as its hallmark, along with a rapidly growing population, will allow for transformation of research advances and knowledge into health benefits, economic opportunities and improved health care.

One of the University of Guelph’s most prominent graduates, world-renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith, died Saturday at age 97. Known for his humanitarian approach to economic and political thinking, Galbraith was a Harvard University professor and served as an adviser to Democratic presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.

“John Kenneth Galbraith was one of the greatest liberal thinkers of all times and his contributions to the University, to Canada and to the entire world are phenomenal,” says U of G president Alastair Summerlee.

“He was known not only for his amazing encyclopaedic intellect and commitment to knowledge, but also for being a conscience and a voice of reason at times of great unrest and uncertainty. He became an intellectual giant, but always remembered his roots and was a dedicated friend and supporter of the University.”

Galbraith, who was born on a farm in Iona Station, Ont., in 1908, attended Guelph’s Ontario Agriculture College, earning an associate diploma in 1929 and a bachelor’s of science degree in 1931. As a U of G student, he devoted some of his energy to organizing the University’s annual open house, College Royal. In fact, it was Galbraith who first proposed the event be publicized so that people from the farm community could attend.

He later moved to the United States, earning a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of California and enjoying a distinguished career as a professor of economics at Princeton University and Harvard University. Many of his books became bestsellers and have been translated into almost every major language. He also served as John F. Kennedy’s ambassador to India and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1997.

Galbraith helped support various University of Guelph campaigns, most recently by agreeing to be an honorary patron of the Science Complex campaign. The University’s John Kenneth Galbraith Scholarship in Economics is established in his name.

“In John Kenneth Galbraith’s writings, the future of humanity always plays a central role,” president Summerlee says. “The University of Guelph shares his outlook and remains committed to providing learning environments like the one that helped produce a thinker of Galbraith’s calibre.”

Comprehensive, senior-level projects display a wide range of skills and applications. What you know is important, but how you use it is everything.
Senior-level Conestoga College students from more than a dozen programs will demonstrate and explain their comprehensive projects in a trade show/information fair setting on Friday, May 5 at Conestoga's Doon campus in Kitchener.

The event, from 1-5 p.m. (with the presentation of excellence awards immediately afterwards), is at the Conestoga Recreation Centre. Tech@Work is free of charge and open to the public as well as to business, industrial and educational representatives.

All projects are student-developed and student-produced, and reflect a full integration of skills gained during their years of study and co-op experiences in business and industry. The projects are student-driven in all aspects: concept, research, feasibility studies, consultation with professionals in the field, development, problem identification and resolution, costing and budget development, production and full documentation.

The projects include items such as: a BlackBerry-based home security system; a computer program and applications to automate operations of a wine business; an MP3 player for automobile installation; an apartment building designed to meet the needs of senior citizens; complete plans for a residential subdivision in a rural setting near Plattsville; a portable electronic note-taker for students; and a computer-based tracking system to locate defects in roads and sidewalks and alert the local public works department that repairs are needed.

Tech@Work
Friday, May 5
1-5 p.m. (Award presentations follow)
Conestoga Recreation Centre
Conestoga College, Doon Campus, Kitchener
http://techatwork.conestogac.on.ca

WATERLOO - On May 1, Four University of Waterloo faculty members, researching such diverse areas as multimedia communications, computer simulation, entrepreneurship and social relationships, have been named recipients of Canada Research Chairs by the federal government.

The Canada Research Chairs are positions that allow a faculty member to concentrate on research and on training the next generation of scientists. UW received a total of $2.3 million for the four research chairs, including associated infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

"These new appointments bring the total number of Canada Research Chairs established at Waterloo to 45," said Alan George, UW's interim vice-president, university research. "UW will continue to attract leading researchers, initiating new directions for scholarship that will benefit the entire nation."

UW's Canada Research Chairs are:

* En-Hui Yang, professor of electrical and computer engineering, receives a second term as the Canada Research Chair in Information Theory and Multimedia Data Compression. Funding: $100,000 a year for five years.

Yang's renewal is a recognition of UW's research excellence in the areas of information theory, multimedia compression and multimedia communications. It will enable him to remain an international leader in the development and use of new information transmission, storage, protection theory and algorithms. "With this CRC award, my research group is looking forward to further advancing theory and practice in these research areas," he said.

* Grainne Fitzsimons, professor of psychology, receives a Canada Research Chair in Social Cognition. Funding: $100,000 a year for five years. Associated infrastructure project: "Social Cognition and Relationship Interaction Laboratory." CFI funding: $126,750.

"We will construct a new set of integrated laboratories that will permit us to conduct high-quality and innovative research with this award," Fitzsimons said.

"By combining the rich data collection capabilities of a social interaction laboratory with the high-tech computerized and eye- tracking systems of a social cognition laboratory and the flexibility of a mobile data collection laboratory, we will have the ability to collect rich and varied experimental data," she said.

Fitzsimons studies self-regulation, the pursuit of important goals and motives (such as achievement, health and romantic goals) in everyday life, and how self-regulatory processes can shape subjective experience. Most of her work examines the role of these processes in the context of interpersonal relationships.

* Justin Wan, professor of computer science, receives a Canada Research Chair in Scientific Computing. Funding: $100,000 a year for five years. Associated infrastructure project: "Resources for Scientific Computing and Visualization." CFI funding: $132,274.

"The Canada Research Chair will provide me the time to develop sophisticated, computational algorithms that advance computer simulation technology for the scientific and health-care sectors," Wan said.

The research will improve simulation techniques in computer-aided visualization and enhance results in medical imaging diagnostics, leading to better patient care and savings for health-care systems.

The CFI award will provide the computing infrastructure resources to complete intensive computations, develop scalable algorithms, produce complex simulations of physiological processes, and produce detailed and animated visualizations.

* Moren Levesque, professor of management sciences, receives a Canada Research Chair in Innovation and Technical Entrepreneurship. Amount: $100,000 a year for five years. Associated infrastructure project: "Innovation and Technical Entrepreneurship Laboratory." CFI funding: $22,844.

"The field of entrepreneurship has seen numerous research developments, yet it still lacks a definition of its own domain as theories of entrepreneurship are almost non-existent," Levesque said, adding that the new chair and infrastructure award will allow her to develop and test entrepreneurship theories.

She will examine the relationship between new firm survival and growth rates, along with how country characteristics influence entrepreneurial activity and how entrepreneurial activity affects economic growth. "This research is likely to stimulate innovative cross-cutting, interdisciplinary research on societal problems and has the potential to impact public decision making and actions."

At Université Laval earlier today, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who is responsible for the Canada Research Chairs program, announced a total investment of $87.5 million for 109 new Canada Research Chairs at universities across the country. "The important investments made in university research have re-energized our campuses and given the country's top researchers-our Canada Research Chairs-the support they need to fully realize their innovative ideas," he said.

May 1st announcement also includes $11.4 million from the CFI to provide the new chairs with research infrastructure ranging from computer equipment for information databases to housing for laboratory facilities.

There are two levels of Canada Research Chairs: seven-year chairs (Tier 1, valued at $200,000 a year) for experienced researchers widely acknowledged as world leaders in their fields; and five-year chairs (Tier 2, valued at $100,000 a year) for researchers considered by their peers as having the most potential to lead in their fields.

The CFI is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. Its mandate is to strengthen the capacity of universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non- profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.

OTTAWA - Foreign students studying in Canada can apply for off-campus work permits effective immediately, the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced April 27, 2006.

"Foreign students make a significant contribution to Canada," said the Minister. "They enrich campus and community life with new ideas and new cultures, and they are an important pool of potential future skilled workers that Canadian businesses need to remain competitive."

Foreign students contribute approximately $4 billion a year to Canada's economy. There are about 100,000 foreign students in Canada who could be eligible for work permits under the Off-Campus Work Permit Program. The program is not intended to take jobs away from Canadian students. Each applicant will be required to compete for employment on an equal basis with Canadians.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has signed agreements with most provinces to implement the program, and agreements with New Brunswick and the Yukon are currently being finalized. The agreements allow eligible foreign students at public post-secondary institutions to work off-campus for up to 20 hours a week during the school year and full-time during study breaks. Eligible foreign students can apply for an off-campus work permit immediately, and may be able to work off-campus as early as this summer. The work permit is valid for the duration of their study permit.


"CIC is working in cooperation with the provinces and territories to make Canada a destination of choice by making it easier for foreign students to work in Canada during and after their studies," said Minister Solberg. "Off-campus work agreements will make it easier for students to gain work experience in the Canadian labour market and earn extra income while studying," he said.

The Canadian Federation of Students, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, who have all been consulted on the initiative, support efforts to make it easier for foreign students to work in Canada.

"With Canadian work experience, foreign students will be able to integrate into the Canadian labour force more quickly. This will help address skilled labour shortages in Canada," said Minister Solberg.

The study examines shifts in student employment, pay and working hours for students who had a summer job and for those who combined school and work during the academic year.

It showed that the summer job market has grown at a far slower pace in recent years than the job market for students who held jobs during the school year.

In the summer of 2005, the employment rate for students who were planning to return to their studies in the fall averaged 51.7%. This was a moderate gain of 4.8 percentage points from 46.9% in the summer of 1998, when the student job market started to trend up.

During the 2004/2005 academic year, students had an average employment rate of 38.9%, up 7.0 percentage points from the 1997/1998 school year.

Employment rates in both cases were below peaks just prior to the 1991 recession, especially during the summer months. In the summer of 1989, 61.4% of students on average were employed. During the 1989/1990 academic year, the proportion was 41.7%.

The study also found that older students were far more likely than teens to have combined school and work in 2004/2005. Female students were more likely to have jobs than male students, in part because of better job opportunities in retail trade and accommodation and food services sectors, where women are more likely to work.

In terms of summer employment, opportunities improved moderately for both younger and older students. Again, however, girls were the main beneficiaries of employment growth, and by 2005, they were far more likely than boys to have had a summer job.

Adjusted for inflation, average hourly wages for full-time students who had jobs during the school year were unchanged over the last eight years. But, because students worked an average of one hour a week more during the 2004/2005 school year than they did in 1997/1998, their total weekly wages increased slightly.

During the summer of 2005, younger students were paid less and were working fewer hours than they did in 1998. On the other hand, older students earned more than they did eight years earlier because of longer periods of work and higher base pay on average.

Combining school and work: Big gap between young teens and older students and between male and female students

Working during the academic year has become increasingly common. During the 2004/2005 academic year, an estimated 939,000 of the 2.4 million full-time students aged 15 to 24 had a job while they went to school.

Prior to 1990, employment rates for young people aged 15 to 17 and for the older group aged 18 to 24 were similar. However, the early 1990s recession hit the 15-to-17 group harder, resulting in an employment gap that still remains.

In 2005, students of all ages are more likely to be working than they were in 1997/1998, but older students are much more likely to work than their younger counterparts.

A record high 45.9% of students aged between 18 and 24 worked during the 2004/2005 school year. This compares with 31.2% of students aged 15 to 17, which was well below their peak rate of employment of 40.8% in 1989/1990.

An employment rate gap also exists between male and female students, and it has never been wider. In the 2004/2005 school year, 34.3% of female students aged 15 to 17 were working, much higher than the proportion of 28.2% among males the same age.

The gender gap was even greater among older students. Just over one-half (50.5%) of female students aged 18 to 24 were working, compared with 40.7% of male students, a record gap. This reflects employment growth in retail trade and accommodation and food services, sectors in which women are more likely to work as cashiers, salespersons, or food servers.

Two sectors combined employed 6 in 10 working students during the 2004/2005 academic year: retail and wholesale trade, and accommodation and food services. These sectors offer students flexibility to combine schooling with part-time employment. But they also often offer lower pay and less security.

Summer job market: Only moderate gains

Although gains were not strong, summer employment opportunities have nevertheless improved for both younger and older students.

As in the case of the school year, females have been the main beneficiaries of summer employment growth. Prior to the recession of the 1990s, male full-time students were more likely than female students to be employed during the summer months.

The recession of the early 1990s hit male students harder than female students and the recovery has been weaker for male students. As a result, female full-time students are now much more likely than their male counterparts to be employed in the summer.

The employment rate for females students hit 55.2% in the summer of 2005, up 7.1 percentage points from 1998. This compares with a gain of only 2.2 percentage points for male students, whose 2005 employment rate was 47.9%.

The diminishing employment role of the goods-producing sector has had an impact on summer employment among male full-time students. Male full-time students are currently more likely to be working in the services sectors while fewer work in agriculture, construction and manufacturing.

No gain in wages for students working during school year

Average hourly wages have not increased for students combining work and school over the last eight school years, although the trends have been different for the two age groups. After adjusting for inflation, hourly wages for students aged 15 to 17 actually declined 1.8% from 1997/1998, while they rose 2.1% for older students.

In the 2004/2005 academic year, students aged 18 to 24 earned an average of $9.60 an hour, compared to $7.82 an hour for those aged 15 to 17.

Hourly wages for younger students closely resemble minimum wage rates which vary by province, ranging from $6.00 to $8.00 per hour in 2005.

Students who have jobs during the school year are working longer than ever before. In 2004/2005, student employees spent on average 15.3 hours a week at their main job, compared to between 13 and 14 hours a week in the 1980s and 1990s.

During the summer of 2005, students aged 15 to 24 made an average of $246.84 a week, up 2% from 1998, adjusted for inflation. Because older students were better paid and worked longer hours, they earned more than younger students.

Older students earned $294.98 a week on average last summer, while younger students earned $157.37.

Alberta tops for jobs during school year, Prince Edward Island during summer

Booming Alberta led the nation in terms of employment rates among full-time students who combined work and school. About 44.3% of full-time students in Alberta were employed during the 2004/2005 school year, compared with only 23.0% in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Employment rates were above the national average in the Prairie provinces, Quebec and Ontario in 2004/2005. All provinces experienced employment rate increases among full-time students between 1997/1998 and 2004/2005, the largest occurring in Quebec and New Brunswick.

But during the summer months, Prince Edward Island topped all provincial labour markets. Last summer, two-thirds of the island's full-time students were employed (67.1%), largely due to the host of tourism and agricultural jobs available. The Prairie provinces, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick followed close behind.

In Canada's three largest provinces (Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia), employment rates for full-time students last summer were at or below the national average.

Note to readers

This release is based on an article in the April 2006 edition of Statistics Canada's free online publication Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada.
The article uses data from the Labour Force Survey to examine trends in the labour market experiences of young men and women aged 15 to 24 years who are full-time students.
It further breaks the analysis into two age groups: younger students aged 15 to 17 years (of normal high school age) and older students aged 18 to 24 years old (a typical age for attending postsecondary institutions). The analysis also investigates employment during the school year (September to April) and employment during the summer months.
Education Matters, released every two months, is a source of facts and analyses on education, training and learning. It offers quick access to the latest education indicators and in-depth research from Statistics Canada. It also links electronically to a wide variety of data, news on education, learning resources and tables, charts and analyses.

A University of Guelph student is one of eight women across the country to receive a 2006 Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation (CEMF) Scholarship. The awards were created to encourage women to choose a career in engineering and to honour the memory of the 14 women who were slain at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.

Melanie Mullen, an environmental engineering student and member of Guelph’s Engineers Without Borders, was awarded one of five undergraduate scholarships. Three graduate scholarships are also awarded by CEMF. Recipients are chosen for being community leaders, active volunteers and role models, especially for girls and young women. Scholarship winners also promote engineering as a career through local schools and community programs.

“The Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation believes in change and positive enlightenment within the engineering profession,” said Mullen. “I am honoured to represent the University of Guelph and Ontario this year.”

Mullen said the scholarship will allow her to continue speaking to elementary and high school students about engineering, unity and well-being. “I believe in being active and I believe in change. That’s why this award means so much to me, because it supports and promotes the consciousness of our peers. "We have this wonderful ability to genuinely share and to learn from each other. This is and will increasingly remain a crucial factor in our survival. If we face the coming environmental and social challenges together, we will be able o support each other the way this award has supported engineering for years.”

Mullen, who came to Guelph from Niagara Falls, is also active in the Sierra Youth Coalition of Canada, Guelph Students for Environmental Change and Environment Radio on the local CFRU station.

“These eight women are truly remarkable,” said Suzelle Barrington, president of the CEMF. “They are strong leaders, volunteer in their community, work hard to encourage others and are actively involved in their education and extracurricular activities. We are very proud to present these well-deserved scholarships.”

Paul Maxim to focus on expanding university research funding and participation

WATERLOO – Laurier is taking an important step toward expanding its research activities and graduate programs with the appointment of Paul Maxim as the university’s first associate vice-president for research.

Maxim, currently the associate dean, research and operations, in the faculty of social science at the University of Western Ontario, has been very successful in boosting the number of active research grants per faculty member, and the size of those grants.

Building Laurier’s graduate programs and research activities are key goals of The Century Plan, Laurier’s blueprint for the coming five years. Maxim’s appointment is a step toward achieving those goals, says Sue Horton, vice-president: academic at Laurier.

Maxim, who holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, has been a professor in the department of sociology at Western since 1981. Initially interested in criminology, his research interests shifted to population economics, particularly the demography of First Nations peoples, socioeconomic integration of immigrants and minorities, and patterns of urban residential segregation. He is also interested in statistics and research methods. In addition to many other publications, Maxim is author of Quantitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences, published by Oxford University Press.

During Maxim’s four-year tenure as associate dean, research and operations, in the faculty of social science, the total number of active grants for faculty members increased from 337 to 460 (from 1.8 to 2.2 per faculty member).

Grant funding research expenditures increased from approximately $5.4 million to almost $8.5 million in the same time, and now average slightly more than $40,000 per faculty member.

“Needless to say, it is the individual researcher and not associate deans who primarily write grant applications and receive research funding,” Maxim says. “However, I do believe that an active program of providing granting workshops, serving as a mentor, informing faculty of funding opportunities, and helping one’s colleagues put together interdisciplinary and collaborative teams helps.”

Horton says Maxim’s colleagues at Western report that “he has been a wonderful mentor. His interpersonal skills are very strong and have been key to success in some aboriginal research initiatives in which he was involved.”

Western administrators, Horton adds, have described Maxim as a good strategic thinker and an ideas person.

“He is a very productive researcher, used to working with large datasets, and working to get outside funding,” says Horton.

Maxim says he was attracted to Laurier because “growing the research and graduate programs here is an opportunity to make a significant impact.”

Maxim says he recognizes that the university has excellent undergraduate programs and that Laurier’s students are “among the best in the country.”

He says he is looking forward to helping Laurier’s faculty, many of whom are young and are eager researchers, develop their skills in obtaining funding.

“I would like to see the percentage of researchers with grants increase significantly,” he says, “and the dollar amounts, too. The participation rate (in funding programs such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) is good for a university in the primarily undergraduate category, around 15–20 percent averaged over all faculties. But it could be 40–50 percent overall, given the quality of faculty here. That’s an obtainable goal.

“I also want to see more interdisciplinary research. Part of my goal is to build teams, not just within Laurier, but with Laurier’s sister institutions, as well.

“We also need to grow the graduate programs – expand the existing ones and add new programs. Graduate training and research go hand in hand. To support that research, you need resources and facilities. The funding for that must come through grants.”

Maxim begins his five-year renewable term on July 1.

New research by a University of Guelph psychology professor will make it easier to assess and help children who have problems with math.

Marcia Barnes’ research, published in the current issue of Journal of Learning Disabilities, found that, contrary to what was previously believed, visual-spatial skills and math calculation skills are unrelated. She also found that children’s math difficulties stem from only a couple of key problems.

It’s often been thought that math calculation and visual-spatial skills, such as putting block puzzles together, are somehow related, said Barnes. She and her colleagues tested this theory by looking at children with spina bifida.

Spina bifida, North America’s most common disabling birth defect, affects the development of both the spine and brain. Because 40 per cent of children with spina bifida have math disabilities and a large proportion of them have difficulties with visual-spatial skills, the study group allowed Barnes and her five colleagues to pinpoint types of math difficulties and determine if they are related to visual-spatial problems.

“About 50 per cent of children who have math disabilities also have reading disabilities, so to get a math disorder on its own is more rare,” said Barnes.

For her study, Barnes looked at the math skills of about 100 children with spina bifida in Grade 3 to high school, compared with the skills of a control group of about 100 typically developing children of the same age, grade and reading ability.

“We found no relation between math calculations and visual-spatial skills,” said Barnes. “Even the children with the most severe visual-spatial problems did not make visual-spatial errors in their written multi-digit calculations, and visual-spatial abilities were not related to calculation abilities more generally.”

In a previous study, Barnes found that children’s visual-spatial skills are related to other areas of math, such as estimation and geometry.

The researchers looked at both speed and accuracy of math calculations and found that the children with math difficulties often got the answer right but were slow in getting it.

When children take too long to do simple math functions, it can lead to “bottlenecks” in multi-digit problem solving, said Barnes. “It’s similar to slow readers having difficulty understanding what they’ve read because the overall picture gets lost.”

Regardless of a child’s type of disability – straight math, reading and math, association with a brain disorder, such as spina bifida – the researchers found that the problems with math looked very similar. “This means you can start to be much more strategic in planning assessment and intervention for children with math difficulties,” said Barnes. “The programs that work for kids without brain disorders may be the same programs that will help children with brain injuries improve their math skills.”

Barnes and her colleagues have presented their findings to international, national and provincial meetings to help parents, health professionals and educators understand math disabilities. Barnes also contributed to the recently released Ontario Ministry of Education report “Education for All: The Report of the Expert Panel on Literacy and Numeracy Instruction for Students With Special Needs, Kindergarten to Grade 6.”

TORONTO - With the news of Jane Jacobs's death April 25, Random House Canada joins Jane's family, friends and readers to mourn the passing of an extraordinary woman, and one of the most provocative and influential thinkers of our time. She is the author of such brilliant works as The Death and Life of Great American Cities, a work that has never been out of print since it was published in 1961 and that has transformed the discipline of urban planning and city architecture. Her most recent book, Dark Age Ahead, published in 2004, was a national bestseller and won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

Jane was working on two books for Random House Canada and Random House US before her death. The first was a short history of the human race in six chapters, drawing on some of the themes in Dark Age Ahead, and dwelling on the shift from the "plantation age" to the unfolding age of human capital. The second book was a "self-anthology" called Uncovering the New Economics, in which she was choosing excerpts of her own writing on economic life, and commenting on those excerpts: in effect, revisiting and annotating a lifetime's thinking about cities and economies.

"What's important is not that she died but that she lived, and that her life's work has greatly influenced the way we think. Please remember her by reading her books and implementing her ideas since that is what she would have wanted. She was a remarkable woman who loved to write and she will be greatly missed. We remember her with deep love and esteem," says Jane Jacobs's family.

Anne Collins, publisher of Random House Canada and Jane's editor in Canada, says, "I will miss Jane's amazing curiosity and intellectual vigour - she had the ability to take the common everyday 'realities' of our lives and turn them on their heads, shaking out new ways of perceiving how we live and how we can move forward, in cities and in the world. My heart goes out to her family, who know so intimately how wonderful she was, so down-to-earth and so wry, and have to live with such a huge loss. I can't believe we won't be reading new work from her remarkable mind, but I encourage everyone to take the Jane Jacobs books down from their shelves and to remember her by encountering once again the freshness of perception and insight in every line."

Jane Jacobs was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1916. She came to Canada in 1968 and became a naturalized citizen in the 1970s. She is survived by a brother, James Butzner; two sons, James and Ned, and a daughter, Burgin Jacobs; by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

JANE JACOBS was the award-winning, bestselling author of several books, including the classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Systems of Survival, The Economy of Cities, The Nature of Economies and her last book, the bestselling Dark Age Ahead. Jane Jacobs has been named to the Orders of Canada and Ontario.

Students say: "Bob Rae is a disaster for affordable, public education in Canada"

Prof. Alan Wildeman has been reappointed to a second five-year term as vice-president (research). The announcement was made today by president Alastair Summerlee.

“The University has experienced major growth in its research activities during the past five years,” said Summerlee, who chaired a committee that reviewed Wildeman’s first term in office, which began in 2001.

Each year for the past three years, U of G has been named Canada’s No. 1 comprehensive research university, a ranking that is based both on research income and output measures such as publications and research intensity. In addition, Guelph has been the top comprehensive university for four straight years in the annual “Top 50 Research Universities List,” which ranks Canadian universities based solely on sponsored research income.

“Dr. Wildeman has shown strong leadership and guidance in facilitating this growth while managing a research portfolio that is extremely complex and has undergone significant change,” said Summerlee.

The Office of Research mandate includes managing some $124 million in annual research funding.

Research and scholarship across the disciplines are of fundamental importance because they make Guelph a richer institution, they underpin innovation and they enhance the University’s ability to deliver outstanding education and training, said Summerlee.

“Alan has worked hard to build on Guelph’s reputation for its multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research excellence, to foster important external partnerships that broaden the way the world sees us, and to improve the quality of the University’s research infrastructure.”

In 2002, Wildeman oversaw the extensive consultative planning process associated with the restructuring of services and facilities funded under U of G’s enhanced partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The partnership includes the University’s campuses in Ridgetown, Kemptville and Alfred, numerous research stations and Laboratory Services.

Looking forward, Summerlee and Wildeman see three important priorities for the Office of Research. First, there will be a complete review of the office’s service mandate, looking at ways the office can support the growing research community and support how regulatory issues are introduced and managed. Second, U of G will be renegotiating the OMAFRA contract, which provides a vital component of the innovation agenda for agriculture and life sciences in the province. Third, the University will review the way research infrastructure is managed at the institution. Guelph will also continue to focus on the unique ways teaching and research are integrated and supported here.

“The University of Guelph is truly an extraordinary place for creative endeavours,” said Wildeman. “Our success is due entirely to the quality of our faculty, staff and students, and I am truly honoured to have been asked to serve another term. I look forward to continuing to help the Office of Research best support everyone’s aspirations and to working with the president and my colleagues to position Guelph so that it makes an even greater difference in the world.”

In addition to Summerlee, the review committee included deans, professors and staff members. They examined services, grant applications, ethics practices, technology transfer, international activities and commercialization under the Office of Research. The committee sought input and feedback from the U of G community on the areas of leadership, administration and management, relationship and partnership building, communications and oversight of the OMAFRA contract. The committee also sought and received wide feedback from members of internal and external communities associated with the University’s research enterprise.

TORONTO - Ontario students warn that if Bob Rae is successful in his federal Liberal leadership bid, tuition fee increases, massive student debt, and privatisation are in store for students studying at Canada's colleges and universities.

"A Bob Rae federal government would be terrible news for Canadian students and their families," said Jesse Greener, Ontario Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, pointing to Bob Rae's track record as a staunch advocate for increases in tuition fees and student debt. "Rae's name is synonymous with bad public policy."

"As Ontario Premier, Bob Rae ushered in a decade of unprecedented tuition fee increases that out-paced the rate of inflation more than five times over," said Greener. "Rae increased tuition fees every year he was in office, even twice in the same year."

As Premier, Rae also eliminated Ontario's system of need-based grants, making it the only jurisdiction in North America and Europe without government grants for low-income students. During the following ten years, Ontario's students had to rely on loans as their only means of financial aid. As a result, average student debt for a four-year program tripled to over $25,000.

"Ontarians rejected Rae's elitist vision for higher education by dumping him after only one term," said Greener. "Liberal Party members should follow that example and stop him in his tracks."

Last year, Rae was commissioned by the Ontario government to review post- secondary education. His Review fell into controversy from the outset when Rae made public statements indicating his desire to see unregulated tuition fee increases before even beginning his consultation. "Rae had one conclusion on his mind, so it was no surprise that he ignored student and community input and recommended his own conclusions," said Greener. "Rae was the architect of 20% tuition fee increases recently announced by the McGuinty Government."

"Given that over 80% of Canadians think that tuition fees are already too high, it is clear that Mr. Rae's approach to higher education is still out of touch with the vast majority of voters," said Greener. "Rae's abysmal record leaves no hope for his future as a federal leader. At a time when access to post-secondary education is a crucial driver of the economy, Bob Rae-style leadership would be a disaster."