Daily News

posted on Feb. 2: Provost answers questions today about State of the Academy talk

Provost Harvey Weingarten will meet the McMaster community today (Friday, Feb. 2) to discuss and answer questions about issues raised in his State of the Academy address presented on Jan. 24. "I have been approached by more than a handful of people who attended the State of the Academy talk expressing disappointment that there was no opportunity to ask questions, or to discuss some of the issues raised during the presentation," said Weingarten. "This is very encouraging as it suggests that the presentation was sufficiently informative or entertaining to retain people's interest and attention." The question-and-answer session pertaining to the State of the Academy address will be in HSC-1A1 from 2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. today. Weingarten will have his slides from the presentation available. "I look forward to seeing you there," said Weingarten, provost and vice-president academic. A story summarizing Weingarten's presentation from Wednesday, Jan. 24 is posted on the Daily News. The headline is "Campus must embrace change to manage growth, meet challenges". (End of story)

posted on Jan. 31: Ottawa vows to double federal research, development money by 2010

The federal government promised yesterday to "at least" double current research and development dollars by 2010 in a move to make Canada one of the top five countries in research performance. Ottawa will strengthen research capacity at universities and will give the Canadian Institutes of Health Research more money, Gov. Gen Adrienne Clarkson said, reading the throne speech on behalf of Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The throne speech is a blueprint for the direction the federal government will take during the next session of Parliament. Clarkson said: "In making new investments, the government will: continue to pursue excellence in Canadian research by strengthening the research capacity of Canadian universities and government laboratories and institutions; accelerate Canada's ability to commercialize research discoveries, turning them into new products and services; and pursue a global strategy for Canadian science and technology, supporting more collaborative international research at the frontiers of knowledge." Gerhard Gerber, vice-president research and international affairs, said: "Yesterday's throne speech is great news for McMaster. As this federal plan is implemented, and assuming we maintain our competitive position in research, we expect our funding to double to more than $60-million a year from the three funding councils alone -- the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research." The federal government said the new money will "include strategically targeted research that is co-ordinated with partners." Areas that should benefit include health, water quality, the environment, natural resources management, and oceans research. (End of story)

posted on Jan. 30: Getting a leg up on their careers

You're a science major. You don't want to be a doctor and you're not sure you want to spend your days under a fume hood. Where do you go for information on jobs, employers and possibilities that are specific to science? The new Science Career Services office. In operation since May, the career services office is a joint project of the McMaster Science Society and science dean Peter Sutherland's office. Students voted in an October 1999 referendum to pay a $25 ancillary fee to set up the office and the dean's office kicks in a matching amount. The service is meant to augment, not replace, the help provided by the Career Planning and Employment Centre. "It was a conscious effort to make sure it's specific to sciences and not overlapping with CPEC," said Steve Ewoniak, science society president. "It's more targeted to jobs they would be looking for. We're not running career planning groups." Science Career co-ordinator Annette Poechman often starts a meeting with a student by asking them to describe an ideal day in the world of work. "I ask them 'What does your perfect day look like? Are you in a small city? A big city? Do you like to be with people or prefer to work on your own?'" she says. Photo: Annette Poechman and Steve Ewoniak