Earlier this month, Harvard University president Lawrence Summers made some unfortunate remarks about women that are unbefitting the leader of one of the most eminent institutions of higher learning.
Summers reportedly claimed that women have not been as successful in fields related to math and science because they lack innate abilities. His comments were inappropriate, disappointing and, above all, absolutely incorrect.
Summers has apologized for his remarks, and although I don't wish to dwell on the absurdity of his claims, they have raised concerns on university campuses around the world — Guelph included — about the attitudes towards women in science, math and engineering, as well as their future prospects in these fields.
His comments have also tarnished the great strides universities such as Guelph have made in attracting and supporting outstanding female faculty.
For many years, Guelph has made a concerted effort to ensure that we meet our goals of employment equity. Since 2000, we have hired close to 200 new faculty members, and more than 42 per cent are women.
University-wide, nearly 40 per cent of our assistant professors and some 30 per cent of our associate professors are women. We are working diligently to cultivate their academic pursuits with the goal of increasing the number of female full professors on campus, which currently stands at 17 per cent.
As well, in contrast with Harvard, the percentage of our contractually limited and sessional faculty who are women is in line with our other professorial ranks, at 44 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.
In our science programs, about 20 per cent of all professors are women — on par with the national average of women in these fields. In Canada, about 22 per cent of professionals working in science and engineering are women.In addition, three of the University's four vice-presidents, two of its four associate vice-presidents and three of its seven deans are women.
Not only have we boosted the number of female faculty across the disciplines, but we also support and encourage them to be role models and mentors for our many outstanding female graduate and undergraduate students.
The University is proud of these achievements and will continue to step up its efforts to recruit, support and retain female faculty. Indeed, there is still much progress to be made.
Regrettably, Lawrence Summers's remarks show that misconceptions about women persist. The most effective way to correct the damage from such statements is to continue fashioning learning environments in which inclusiveness, sensitivity, mutual respect, and gender and racial equality thrive. These will always be central values at U of G.
Maureen MancusoProvost and vice-president (academic)
With the growing concern about the disastrous effects of global warming and the estimated 2,000 plus premature deaths caused by air pollution in Ontario alone, the University of Guelph has a duty as a community leader to take a stand on this issue.
The culprit behind these two problems is our inefficient use of energy. As the “moral conscience” of society, we must take a proactive and innovative approach to reducing the damaging emissions caused by this inefficient energy use.
Last year, the University took a small first step by instigating a retrofit of the Crop Science Building. It's time to step forward and expand the retrofit to include the whole campus.
Such a retrofit can not only reduce these emissions but also drastically cut our energy costs, saving us all money. Specifically, the retrofit would save the University at least $1.6 million a year in energy costs. The costs of the retrofit can be completely covered by a loan that can be paid back with energy savings alone in six to nine years. In addition, as energy and natural gas costs continue to rise, so, too, do the benefits of a retrofit and the costs of inaction.
The University of Manitoba, which conducted a retrofit in 1999, estimated that it would save $1.9 million a year. Due to higher energy prices, the retrofit savings have jumped to $2.65 million a year!
Students and staff at U of G will also benefit. McMaster University, after conducting a similar energy retrofit through its campus renewal partnership, reported dramatic improvements in lighting, air quality and comfort.
If U of G truly wants to save money, improve comfort, be a good corporate environmental citizen and live up to its reputation as a community leader, why hasn't more action been taken?
Guelph Students for Environmental Change — Renewable Energy Group
Editor's note: The following letter by Nancy Sullivan, vice-president (finance and administration), is in response to a letter she received from Guelph Students for Environmental Change as well as to the letter printed above, which appeared earlier this month in the Ontarion, Guelph Mercury and Guelph Tribune.
Several initiatives are currently under way across campus that relate both to energy conservation and to ensuring that U of G is taking steps to constrain the effects of utility price increases.
The Crop Science Building retrofit project was recently completed. We are now analyzing its effect and comparing the results to the energy-savings forecasts. From the University's perspective, this $852,000 project constitutes more than “a small first step.” It was a significant investment with substantial upfront capital costs.
As with any such large-scale project, it is anticipated that the upfront costs will be recovered over several years. We intend to allocate any net cash savings toward the repayment of these costs.
Projects like this can help us achieve our long-term energy goals. These include constraining inflationary increases to the utilities operating budget; improving the efficiency and quality of our buildings' lighting, heating and cooling systems; and reducing greenhouse gases.
This is not the only U of G initiative designed to reduce or constrain energy consumption. We have, for example, replaced the building automation systems campus-wide. This involved reprogramming the heat exchanger sequences, which saves on heating costs, reduces required steam production and allows us to optimize some of our other energy initiatives.
Two other innovative initiatives with a combined price tag of $1.5 million are nearing completion — a boiler controls project that will help us burn gas more efficiently and a water treatment project that will reduce the consumption of salt, chemicals and water.
In addition, we plan to extend our new stack heat recovery system to service the planned extension to the MacKinnon Building. This will allow us to heat the 40,000-square-foot extension at no additional cost and without adversely affecting the environment. The new science complex was also designed to maximize energy efficiency.
And we are a few weeks away from completing a campus-wide tunnel steam trap survey to ensure the steam system distribution is as efficient as possible.
All these projects will have a positive effect on the environment and demonstrate the University's commitment to constantly monitoring and improving its energy use.
The Physical Resources Energy Committee continues to meet regularly. We have added two new members — the sustainability co-ordinator and a new energy consultant — to ensure that environmental concerns are adequately addressed.
The University believes there are a number of ways to approach energy conservation. We will carefully analyze the results of the Crop Science retrofit and determine the feasibility of other similar projects on campus, bearing in mind the very significant capital costs of a campus-wide project, the long payback period for this investment — usually about 10 years — and the numerous other pressing capital needs of the University related to our facilities.
We will continue with our long-standing practice of making changes progressively, focusing on areas most in need of improvement with regard to energy consumption. Ultimately, the goals of any energy conservation plan are to decrease consumption, improve efficiency and reduce negative environmental effects. We are committed to finding the best methods to achieve these goals.
Nancy SullivanVice-president (finance and administration)
My husband, Walter, and I would like to sincerely thank everyone who supported us during our recent ordeal. We were both overwhelmed by the number of cards, calls, e-mails and gifts. You have no idea how much it meant to both of us, and we will never forget it.
Kindness such as this never ceases to amaze me. It has truly touched my heart and that of my family, and for this, we are eternally grateful. A million thanks, and I hope I can personally thank all of you one day.
Toni Pellizzari, CBS dean's office
