Enough Already!

How many times are they going to "officially open" CCIS?  It's a beautiful building (though I'm not sure I would enjoy working in its fishbowl environment). However, I grow tired of reading about all the wonderful collaborations that can happen now that we have put scientists in close proximity to each other.  One wonders how anyone managed to put together a collaboration before this edifice was erected.

Does the Cost of Pursuing Postsecondary Education Influence Choice of Majors?

Maclean's On Campus has a short blurb on the problems associated with rising tuition in Canada.  It includes the following quote:

"...higher tuition payments tend to mean higher debt loads upon graduation and debt loads put pressure on graduates to take jobs that pay and pay right away. Nothing wrong with that, except that there might be other things recent university graduates might do that could be more socially valuable than joining the corporate rat race."

Do you think this is really the case?

The Next Premier

In Alberta, it's a foregone conclusion that the Conservative Party will control the government.  With Ed Stelmach stepping down and a 6-way leadership race, we have a number of possibilities.  Polling indicates that Gary Mar is the frontrunner, trailed by Alison Redford, Doug Horner and Ted Morton.  Conventional wisdom says a Calgary-based politician should win this time (i.e., Mar, Redford, Morton, or Rick Orman), though I am surprised that Horner is not doing better on the basis of his prominent role in the Stelmach government.  Myself, I wish Peter Lougheed was were still in the mix--there's a guy who always seemed to be able to think strategically.  Anyway, the purpose of this post is to troll for comments:  who do you think is the candidate that is most likely to be supportive of the U of A and advanced education in general?

John Harvard Wept

Bit of a kerfuffle at Jeremy's place that started with a commenter complaining about the budget cuts in Arts.  Remember the quote attributed to robber baron Jay Gould:  "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half."  Don't forget who is/are imposing the budget cuts, and whose mismanagement and inflated salaries made them "necessary."

Fraud Investigation at York

Here's an intriguing report on MacLean's On Campus about a fraud investigation going on at York resulting from a forensic accounting investigation.  No details have been provided regarding what unit(s) was/were involved.

Administrative Compensation

From the UofA's 2011 Financial Statement, I see that we have 5 senior administrators who receive in excess of half a million dollars in total compensation:

Indira Samarasekera (1,005.000)            
Carl Amrhein (647,000)
Lorne Babiuk (612,000)
Don Hickey (588,000)
Phyllis Clark (571,000)

You will be relieved to know that the two highest paid received overall increases of 7.4% and 8.2% relative to the previous year.  The VP(Research) got a mere 4.2% increase, while the last two going up by 6-7%.  Please bear this in mind when you are told to be grateful for the recently negotiated 1.75%/2% compensation package for AASUA members.

"Upping the Ante"

I really don't understand why the University goes with this sort of nearly pointless news story.  Wow, the province doles out $3M in cancer grants!  Is that a lot?  How does it compare to cancer research funding elsewhere?  (A guess:  probably very much on the low side.)  And how exactly is it "upping the ante"?  Is it more than in previous years?  The story does not tell us.

Pensions

Jeremy has a post about Parking Services that has devolved into a lengthy discussion about early retirement and the state of the U of A's pension fund.  Well worth perusing.

Also, Happy Canada Day, everybody.