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posted May 1: Incoming MSU president centred on students and student centre

The in-coming president of the McMaster Students Union (MSU) faces big challenges, the most significant of which is the opening of the new student center. Evan Mackintosh, 23, starts his one-year term today. "The opening of the MUSC (the McMaster University Student Centre) is a great time of opportunity for the MSU. Students will know we exist and everyone will know where to find us." He thinks this will give the elected body a much more prominent and visible role, with increased contact with the general student body. However, responsibility for sharing the costs of operating the new 158,000 sq ft facility (along with Hospitality) poses a major concern for Mackintosh and his executive. In an agreement with McMaster University Centre Inc, the board that operates the three-storey building, the MSU is expected to pay the operating costs of its retail spaces - the convenience store, the bar/restaurant known as Quarters and the copy shop. During 2002, the organization will pay $50,000, but Mackintosh says estimates have pegged those costs at $350,000 in ten year's time. "We will have to generate alternative means of raising revenues." This fall, the MSU faces another problem. Many first-year students will be 17 and 18-year-olds, under the legal drinking age. In addition to "the typical bar nights", Mackintosh says the MSU will have to consider alternative activities to accommodate these students. Other issues and challenges for the coming year include working with the University in the on-going battle with the provincial government for increased funding, improving teacher evaluations, increasing student-professor class ratios, increasing funding for student services, and implementing the recycling program on campus. One new MSU initiative which Mackintosh hopes to have up and running by September is sure to be a hit with cash-strapped students. A proposed student reward program card (which operates much like an air miles card) offers card-holders an opportunity to accumulate points at a wide variety of participating local businesses. These points can in turn be redeemed at any participating location. Mackintosh, who graduates this spring with a BA in English, has been active in student affairs since arriving at McMaster in 1998. He has served as president of the University's Humanities Society and was the Humanities undergraduate Senate representative in 2000. Most recently, he was the MSU Vice President, Education. (End of story)

posted May 6: Highlights from Board of Governors meeting

Highlights from the April 25 meeting of the Board of Governors include the approval of: tuition and miscellaneous fees for the 2002-03 academic year, four new capital projects and The Management Group (TMG) Total Rewards Redevelopment. Tuition Fees Effective September 2002, tuition fees for Canadian students enrolled in undergraduate programs in Arts & Science, Engineering, Humanities, Science, Social Science, Nursing and Business will increase by 2.0%. Tuition fees for graduate programs other than the MBA program are frozen at 2001-02 levels. The MBA program will have a fee increase of 19.0%. International student fees for undergraduate programs have been frozen at 2001-02 levels, with the exception of the Faculty of Business, which has decreased its fees for undergraduate international students. International student fees for graduate programs have been frozen at 2001-02 levels, except for full and part-time international MBA fees, which will increase by 20.0%. Miscellaneous fees are collected on behalf of and remitted to student organizations. Increases to these fees were approved by student referendum prior to approval by the Board of Governors. The fee structure for miscellaneous fees (students taking 18 or more units) can be found by linking to Supplementary Fees Capital Projects A Health Sciences Expansion will be constructed north of the existing east wing of the McMaster University Medical Centre (MUMC) and east of the Life Sciences Building. This five-storey, multi-use facility will accommodate lecture theatres, Faculty of Health Sciences educational program space, the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Health, a research incubator, laboratories and hospital space (linked to MUMC by a bridge). Each floor will be approximately 55,000 square feet. Estimated project cost is $60.5 million. A five-level, 550 space Parking Structure will be constructed in the southwest area of campus in the Zone 3 Annex parking lot. Project costs are estimated at $9 million, plus associated professional fees. The parking structure will be completed by fall of 2003 to accomodate the campus parking demand impact of the double cohort. Expansion to the Information and Technology Building (ITB) was first approved in July of 2001. The scope of the project has now been expanded to include a basement which will add an additonal 9,000 square feet and increase the original cost from $7.5 million to $8.6 million. The additional $1.1 million will be fully recovered from the Faculty of Engineering. A Temporary Classroom has been approved for use beginning September 2002. The location for the classroom is currently under review. There are four possible locations: the tennis court area; Zone 2 parking lot south of the tennis courts; between the Institute for Applied Health Sciences and the Information Technology Building; in Zone 4 parking lot. The 50 X 100 foot pre-engineered steel structure will accomodate 350 students at a projected cost of $480,000. The temporary classroom will be used only until the lecture theatres in the new Health Sciences expansion are available. (End of story)

posted on April 30: Results of the teaching staff election for the University Planning Committee

The University Planning Committee teaching staff election has been completed. Seven teaching staff were listed as candidates, and an on-line election was held from April 24 to 26 for three positions on the Committee. The successful candidates are: Brian McCarry to serve a term from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2005 Susan Elliott to serve a term from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2005 Trevor Chamberlain to serve the remainder of a term from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2004 (End of story)

posted on April 30: TMG 2002-03 compensation structure approved by Board of Governors

McMaster's Board of Governors approved the 2002-03 compensation structure for members of The Management Group (TMG) at its April 25 meeting. The approved recommendations include: Overall salary increases of up to 4.5 per cent for 2002-03 for employees in TMG. These increases will be a combination of economic revision (formerly known as across-the-board) of two per cent and merit pool of 2.5 per cent. Salary increases take effect June 16 and will be reflected in the July 15 pay. Changes in the salary ranges of up to six per cent for 2002-03 for employees in TMG. This movement of the salary grid is the second phase in a transition to ensure TMG salary ranges are at the 60th percentile, or above average, when compared to comparable organizations. An approved pay philosophy of being at the 60th percentile of comparable organizations and a definition of a "comparable organization" that includes national and regional market analyses, public and private sector institutions and corporations. These recommendations came from extensive work completed in the last year by the Total Rewards Redevelopment Task Force that included delegates from TMG and University senior management. After consultation and input, the Total Rewards Redevelopment Task Force forwarded the compensation structure to the University's senior management team and to the Board of Governors remunerations committee for approval.

posted on April 29: Faculty and staff directory available for download

When the Faculty and Staff Directory for the university was launched on-line in early March (Telecommunications launches new online faculty, staff directory), the reaction from many in the campus community was positive, with comments that the online directory meant "good riddance to paper." "There was a large portion of the campus community, however, who was disappointed that we no longer offered a hard copy." says Tara Pasalic, system administrator, telecommunications. In an effort to satisfy those who prefer a printed copy of the faculty and staff directory, or for those who do not have regular access to a computer to check the online listings, the telecommunications department has been hard at work to provide this option to the McMaster community. The directory can now be downloaded from the telecommunications website, printed as hard copy and used as a desk reference. "As with anything available in print, the hard copy of the directory will be out of date almost as soon as it is printed. There will be a date displayed at the bottom of each page, indicating when that page was last updated," explains Pasalic. There are still a significant number of moves yet to take place on campus and Pasalic cautions that the campus community might want to hold off on printing hard copies until the majority of offices have been relocated. "We definitely encourage them to download, but for those paper and toner-conscious people, it might be best to wait for all of the updates to be made after the moves," says Pasalic. There are four different directories currently available for download in Rich Text (.rtf) format, organized as: Faculty & Staff Sorted By Department Faculty & Staff Sorted By Name Building Reference by Abbreviation Building Reference by Code Telecommunications will attempt to update the printable directories on a daily basis as changes are submitted to them. The online directory, however, remains the most up-to-date listing of faculty and staff contact information. (End of story)

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posted May 1: Incoming MSU president centred on students and student centre

posted May 6: Highlights from Board of Governors meeting

posted on April 30: Results of the teaching staff election for the University Planning Committee

posted on April 30: TMG 2002-03 compensation structure approved by Board of Governors

posted on April 29: Faculty and staff directory available for download

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