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posted on April 5: Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award goes to Board of Governors chair

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business is pleased to announce that Edward A. Minich, MBA '74, is the third recipient of the Wayne C. . . .

posted on April 4: New Canada Research Chairs study nanostructured materials, bioinformatics

Nanotechnology and bioinformatics will be the focus of research by McMaster's two newest Canada Research Chairs. The two new chairholders, Gianluigi A. Botton and Brian Golding, bring McMaster's total of Canada Research Chairs to 30. Botton, an associate professor in the Faculty of Engineering, is the Canada Research Chair in Electron Microscopy of Nanostructured Materials. Botton will use TEM/EELS technology to achieve three goals: improve techniques to detect signals from few atomic layers at interfaces and nanostructures; develop models to describe the analytical data in terms of structure and bonding changes; and describe the relationships between the observations and the properties of the materials. Golding, a biology professor in the Faculty of Science, is the Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is a new, multi-disciplinary field combining biology, computer science and mathematics to analyze data generated by genomics and to extract knowledge from it. The long-term objectives of Golding's research program are to determine the patterns and mechanisms of molecular evolution and influences of the natural processes of mutation, gene transfer, and selection on sequence evolution. The federal government allocatted $900 million to the Canada Research Chairs program in 2000 to help Canadian universities attract and retain the best researchers and achieve excellence in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, social sciences and the humanities. The goal is to have 2,000 chairholders in place by 2005. To date, 532 chairholders have been awarded. Sixty of the chairholders represent a "brain gain" as they have either come to Canada from the U.S. or overseas or returned home to pursue their research. (End of story)

posted on April 1: Faculty ratify new three-year agreement

Faculty at McMaster have ratified a new three-year contract. Of those members who voted, 98 per cent were in favour of the salary and compensation package which provides annual wage increases of three per cent in each year of the agreement. The current agreement expires on June 30. The agreement was ratified by McMaster's 768 tenured faculty on March 28. The audited vote results were released today. The agreement runs from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2005. Acting University President Peter Sutherland said the contract provides stability and predictability for the University and its faculty and students. McMaster University Faculty Association president Tom Davison is pleased with the ballot results. "Our remuneration committee thought this was an excellent agreement for our members and the result shows the members agreed. We've improved salaries across the board and adjusted the Career/Progress Merit system to make it a better mechanism to reward individual faculty excellence. It's a good deal for the University, too, in that it provides a basis for planning through the period of the double cohort and higher enrolments generally."

Pension surplus update

The announced deadline of April 30 for responses from Plan members concerning the disposition of their surplus share has now passed and it is time for an update on where we are in the process. The University's consultants are about to file the necessary documents with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO). The normal minimum turnaround time is 90 days but the OPSEU strike (FSCO staff are OPSEU members) will likely extend this timeline. Even after final approval from FSCO, the trustee, CIBC-MELLON indicates it will take another 5 to 6 weeks to process and distribute payments. This suggests September as the earliest date payments will be received by individuals. The good news on this front, however, is that interest is being paid on the surplus shares until the time of distribution. Until recently, that was not much consolation as the market returns had been poor in our fund as in most others. However, the return from July 1, 2000 to March 31, 2002 is now 5.6% and recent monthly returns have been quite good. Let us hope this trend continues. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (formerly known as Revenue Canada) will allow individuals to select tax sheltering options up until the date of approval by FSCO. Therefore, for the time being we will accept late option forms. Once we have a better idea about the approval timetable, we will announce a new submission deadline. Over 3500 individuals have now responded by sending in their option forms. We still have some way to go and encourage you to submit your form. Even if you are happy to accept the cash-only default option (which will result if no response is received) it would help us if you would send in your form. Once final approvals are received, payments to those who submit forms will likely be faster than to those members who choose not to submit their forms. We appreciate the patience of plan members as we move through the final steps of the surplus pension distribution. Les Robb - on behalf of the employee groups Simon Ouellet - on behalf of the University Surplus Hotline 905-525-9140 ext.24272 e-mail surplus@mcmaster.ca

posted on March 28: New building will house molecular medicine centre, classrooms, expanded hospital services

Construction crews at the new University Centre may soon disappear but that doesn't mean construction on campus is going to end. A new project is . . .

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posted on April 5: Wayne C. Fox Distinguished Alumni Award goes to Board of Governors chair

posted on April 4: New Canada Research Chairs study nanostructured materials, bioinformatics

posted on April 1: Faculty ratify new three-year agreement

Pension surplus update

posted on March 28: New building will house molecular medicine centre, classrooms, expanded hospital services

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