UW Gazette, September 3, 1997
     
     Dr. Michael Sharratt is predicting "cautious and
moderate growth" for UW's smallest faculty, which he will
head as interim dean from now through next summer.
     "I'm optimistic that we could grow again over the next
few years," says Sharratt.
     But the old days aren't coming back, he adds, and
growth and new activity "probably can't be done without the
help of sponsors or outside groups".
     That's where Sharratt gets really animated, as he
talks about some of the links and partnerships already
working in his faculty, and possibilities for others.
     He became interim dean of applied health sciences on
August 1, when Dr. Bob Norman left the dean's office to
devote his full efforts to heading a research project that
is, in fact, Sharratt's first big example of a
"partnership" between the university and the outside world.
     The major partner in Norman's case is General Motors
Canada, and the project has to do with industrial health
and safety in its plants. A couple of other corporations
are also involved, and Sharratt can easily imagine others
seeking links with UW to build on what's developed in the
second half of the five-year project.
     Sharratt says his predecessor made "a gracious
decision and a bold one" in moving out of the dean's office
to head that big project, "to support the research
activities of the university". He calls it "a strong signal
for university-industry collaborationÉ a big part of the
solution".
     Says the interim dean: "I believe strongly in
research." While he's dean, he will be continuing, "in a
modest way", with his own current research work on
breathing patterns and how they affect physical
performance.
     As dean, he says, "I may be in a better position to
facilitate the research of others here."
     A faculty member at UW since 1974, Sharratt has served
as chair of the kinesiology department and as an associate
dean. He says he hasn't decided whether he'll be a
candidate to hold the dean's job for a longer period than
the current eleven months; a nominating committee to fill
that post has just started work.
     While doing the dean's job and keeping research work
going, Sharratt will also continue his teaching,
particularly an upper-year course on coronary heart disease
which is dear to his own heart, and not only for academic
reasons.
     "This ties in," he explains, "with a community-based
cardio rehabilitation program that we have." Students, some
as early as second year, work as volunteers in the program,
based at Grand River Hospital downtown, and gain valuable
experience in how heart attack survivors can be helped
through "exercise management". After taking the course as
well, "they're in a very good position to get jobs in that
field! Physicians around the country know that somebody
coming out of this program has these qualifications and
this expertise."
     Sharratt sees the program as linking teaching,
research - because new ideas are constantly being developed
- and community service, the classic three roles of the
university.
     Much the same can be said of the Alzheimer's disease
education and research project, also based in AHS. "I like
it because I can see the interface between the research and
the application." The project has, among other things,
developed manuals on treatment of dementia patients that
have been distributed - free - to all the nursing homes in
Ontario.
     "We haven't had one cent from the government,"
Sharratt notes, though he's now looking at ways of
persuading government to match the existing private-sector
funding, "to take the project to the next level".
     Having spoken enthusiastically about applied research
in his faculty, the dean hastens to add that basic research
is on his mind too, and he also does some work of that
kind, related to breathing and heart function. "It's one or
two steps removed," he comments, "but it's the foundation.
     "I'd like to have people realize that that's an
important part of the research process, just as important
as the application. But it's a hard sell."
     So he expects to be working with UW's vice-president
(university research), Dr. Carolyn Hansson, to help "sell"
Waterloo expertise to funding sources, and to help make re
search proposals from here so compelling that the granting
councils will have to say yes. Budget cuts in Ottawa have
meant there's less, rather than more, money available for
"basic" research, he points out.
     He wonders aloud whether it might be possible to get a
percentage of the money from university-industry
partnerships made available with no strings attached, to be
spent on basic research, even if a large part of a project
is tightly defined. "I'll do what I can to cultivate
opportunities."
     While he serves as interim dean, Sharratt will also
continue as director of the umbrella research agency within
AHS, the Centre for Applied Health Research. He's counting,
he says, on "a little more help" from the two associate
directors, Dr. Eric Roy and Dr. Steve Brown.
     And while his first examples come from kinesiology
-his home department - and health studies and gerontology,
he hastens not to exclude the other academic department in
AHS, recreation and leisure studies. Tourism research in
that department, for example, holds big promise because
travel is now one of the largest industries in Canada.
     "In each of the departments there are really
interesting and exciting things going on," he says. "Those
are easy sells!"
     AHS has added a couple of faculty members this year -
after several years of cut, cut, cut - and Sharratt thinks
life is going to get a little easier. "All the indicators
in the economy are positive," he says, "and hopefully we
will not have any more substantial cuts from the
government.
     "I'm optimistic that we could grow again over the next
few yearsÉ cautious and modest growth. But we have to have
some flexibility in alternate sources of income."
     He says he has to deliver the "tough message" that
staff, faculty, and AHS as a whole won't be able to do
everything it used to do, with fewer people and more
demands.
     "I think it's a challenge at this point to assess the
consequences of where we've been over the past four or five
years," he says "and to persuade people that we're in a
position where we can move forward.
     "As people see the possibilities of that, then morale
will improve."
     His own morale is great. "I'm a real campaigner for
this place, and I'm very optimistic."
     And he's not scared of the pressures of being a dean,
one of the dozen top officials of the university. After
all, he looks back on his years as as a coach and referee
in top-level amateur wrestling, including referee stints at
two Olympic Games. (While working right in the ring with
wrestlers, he was also doing research on athletic
performance and fitness, he points out: "What contributes
to excellence in sport?")
     He remembers one day when, before 10,000 fans in Kiev,
Ukraine, he was referee in a bout between a current Olympic
wrestling champion and his rival, the world champion.
"After that, would I worry about the pressure back in the
university?"