News in brief: May 19, 2010

More summer courses offered
Despite concerns for a shortage of summer class offerings this year, the total number of courses available on campus and online has increased from last year. Laurier registrar Ray Darling noted that in-class courses have increased from 116 to 130, while online courses increased from 72 to 79 offerings.

More notably, course enrolment has increased with 5,560 students currently registered in comparison to only 4,382 students registered last year.
–Linda Givetash

MLSB begins a new season
Major League Summer Baseball (MLSB) has launched for its 18th season, providing Wilfrid Laurier University students with an official group to enjoy the summer pastimes of baseball and beer.

Despite a minor encounter with by-law officers due to noise complaints at a May 5 house party, Adam Gingrich, a convenor for MLSB, has confirmed that the season is still up and running.

This year, students can register to play in one of 30 teams that have been sponsored.
–Linda Givetash

Laurier profs’ salaries rank better than average
According to a Statistics Canada report released at the beginning of May, tenured professors at Wilfrid Laurier University made an average of $131, 467 in 2007-2008, the latest available data.

Laurier professors are paid similar or more on average than those at most Canadian universities.

The report states that the 109 full professors at Laurier made more than those at Carleton University and the University of Guelph, and earned nearly the same as those at Queen’s University.
–Mike Lakusiak

NYU prof speaks at finance conference
Laurier’s school of business and economics (SBE) hosted its sixth annual finance conference May 14.

The conference attracts keynote speakers from all over North America who present and discuss papers on global corporate finance.

One presentation was by New York University economics and finance professor Marti Subrahmanyam whose paper focused on the U.S. corporate bond market during the recent economic crisis. “We always bring in some U.S. and Canadian speakers,” explained conference co-ordinator and SBE professor Madhu Kalimipalli.

“We had someone from Harvard last year, we have people come from all the big schools….This is mostly a research conference,” said Kalimipalli. “Most of the audience is PhD students that come from other schools, though there were a few undergraduates from here as well.”
–Mike Lakusiak

Fewer applications to WLU
The number of applications to the undergraduate program at Laurier this fall are down one per cent from last year according to Lois Wood, associate registrar.

This reflects a decrease in applicants of 0.1 per cent from Ontario secondary students and 11.1 from non-secondary students, excluding direct international applicants. In comparison, the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre reported an increased of 2.9 per cent to universities across the province.
–Linda Givetash