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Reminder: A Better First Draft Workshop Series coming up in May
A message from the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.
Are you a researcher interested in improving the EDI requirements of the Discovery Grant process? Then this workshop is for you.
The Inclusive Research Team within the University of Waterloo’s Office of the Vice-President Research and International is hosting hosting a two-part series on supporting both experienced and early career researchers in the EDI planning and implementation of the NSERC Discovery Grant. This session will be facilitated by Nicole Kaniki, PhD.
About the facilitator
Dr. Nicole Kaniki is the Director of Senomi Solutions Inc., an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Consulting company based in London, Ontario where she supports institutions and organizations in developing and implementing EDI strategies. Dr. Kaniki has held several EDI leadership roles in post-secondary education in Canada, including the Director of EDI in Research and Innovation at the University of Toronto and as the former Special Advisor on Anti-racism to the President at Western University. She holds a MSc in Kinesiology, PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with and emphasis in Measurement and Methods, and a MA in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. Dr. Kaniki is passionate about social justice and uses an anti-racism and decolonization framework in her EDI work.
Workshop sessions
The sessions will support both foundations and context of the EDI requirements as well as to support the actual writing process.
- Part 1 (Virtual overview of EDI requirements in Discovery Grants) will take place on Thursday, May 2, 10:00 a.m. to noon. Please register.
- Part 2 (in-person workshop on EDI sections of Discovery Grants)* will take place on Tuesday, June 4 (in-person). Details to be announced
*Please note that attendance at Part 1 is required to be eligible to attend Part 2.
Please note: There is limited space available for the in-person workshop in Part 2, and we will be accepting faculty members on a first-come, first-served basis once you have attended Part 1. There may be opportunities to participate in similar sessions in the future. For more information or questions, please reach out to research.equity@uwaterloo.ca
Award-winning student art installation speaks to the current geopolitical moment
By Sam Toman.
Visitors to the President’s Office have a new art installation to marvel over during meetings with Vivek Goel and other senior leaders. The installation, titled, Silent Explosion is an award-winning piece by Fine Arts student Xuemei Lu, known professionally by the mononym Mei.
The 16-tile arrangement was crafted using advanced chemical processes to reflect Mei’s feelings of helplessness due to on-going wars globally. “I don’t know what I can personally do to help,” she said while discussing her process with President Goel. “I made these pieces to show the randomness of violence innocent people in those places are facing.”
The installation is a Department of Fine Arts’ initiative called Brush with Art, open to all students enrolled in a Fine Arts major, minor, or course. Submissions were reviewed by a panel comprised of Ivan Jurakic (Director/Curator of UWAG) and representatives from Fine Arts, the Office of the President, Dean of Arts Office, and CEE. After meticulous deliberation, each office selected a piece of artwork to showcase prominently in their spaces for the coming year. In addition to having their work displayed, winning artists were awarded a prize of $500 as a token of recognition.
“Each work submitted was impactful in its own way and the deliberation wasn’t easy,” said Caitlin Vaux, Project Manager in the President’s Office. “We felt Silent Explosion spoke boldly to the moment we’re in and the unique innovation that occurs when different disciplines intersect, like here, with science and fine arts.”
Mei, who works almost exclusively in ceramics said, “We know from history that ceramics exist long after cultures go extinct. Through archeology, ceramics are one of the ways we learn from those in the past. I hope this piece can teach about what is happening today.”
Professor Joan Coutu joined Mei, Goel, and President’s Office staff to unveil the piece on Monday, April 8.
“This provides an opportunity to meet the talented artist, gain insight into the concept and creative process behind the artwork, and extend our congratulations for their well-deserved Brush with Art award,” said Coutu.
It wouldn’t be a UWaterloo art installation without a bit of applied science involved. Mei, who called Fine Arts at UWaterloo, “a true hidden gem,” spent more than a month researching and experimented with different chemical reactions to get the striking colours represented in the work.
“I glazed the tiles with ferric chloride and copper sulfate. When baked in with in a kiln, the combination of extreme heat and those chemicals, you get the pattern and colour you see.”
While Mei was confident the chemical reaction wouldn’t be dangerous, she built a kiln in her backyard just to be safe. “That day was unusually cold, minus 5 degrees Celsius,” she said. “That’s why you see the yellow, that comes from the kiln not quite reaching full temperature. That’s the magic of ceramics.”
Join the Accessible Education User Testing Group
A message from the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic.
The University of Waterloo is invested in identifying and removing existing systemic barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating in and benefiting from a Waterloo education.
As part of the University’s pursuit of this vision for accessible education, the Teaching Innovation Incubator (TII) is seeking support from University of Waterloo faculty, staff, and students who have an interest in providing feedback and enhancing their knowledge about accessible education by participating in an Accessible Education User Testing Group.
The Accessible Education Project is currently in the process of developing resources and processes for use across campus to enhance accessible education for instructors and students. Members of this user testing group will be invited to provide their insight and feedback to trial various resources and processes when needed (likely at most one request per term, beginning in the Spring 2024 term). The format of this testing will likely vary by term, but participation may include and is not limited to, attending focus group meetings, providing feedback on developed resources via email, and reviewing resources to provide feedback and questions to the Accessible Education Project Team. These resources could include guides about accessible course design and learning materials, processes and policies for students to trial new educational technologies, and accessible alternatives to existing educational tools (e.g., PDFs). Student participants in this user group can expect to receive equitable compensation for their time spent reviewing the artifacts produced by the accessible education project.
The main criterion for participation in the Accessible Education User Testing Group is a keen interest in learning more about accessible education or having lived experience with disability – expertise on this topic is not required. Your feedback will help ensure that the resources and processes being designed to support accessible teaching and learning at the University of Waterloo are informed by members of our institution, particularly from those with lived experience, and receive critical feedback.
If this sounds of interest to you, please complete the expression of interest form by May 13, 2024, by the end of day and a member from the TII team will be in contact. To read more about the Accessible Education User Testing Group and your commitment, please refer to our Terms of Reference. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kyle Scholz.
Empower your student staff with the Community Leadership Certificate
A message from the Student Success Office (SSO).
Registration is open for the new Community Leadership Certificate (CLC). Designed to empower undergraduate and graduate students, CLC offers a tailored curriculum focusing on compassionate, curiosity-driven leadership.
CLC replaces the Student Leadership Program (SLP) and Foundational Training Program (FTP). In response to feedback and insights gathered from current students, including student leaders and co-op students, through focus groups, feedback forms and more, the decision was made to combine the two programs. By combining SLP and FTP, the goal is to provide a more cohesive and impactful learning journey for students.
Made by students, for students, CLC workshops provide insights into anti-oppressive and community-centered leadership practices. The program includes four sequential workshops:
- Foundations of Collaborative Leadership
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Leading with Curiosity
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Collaborative Team Building
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Harm Reductive Communication and Conflict Resolution
Upon completion, students must accumulate 10 leadership hours through paid or volunteer positions, accompanied by a guided reflection.
Promote CLC to your student staff and encourage them to register to help them develop essential leadership skills while contributing to a more inclusive community at the University of Waterloo.
Operating Budget Town Hall update, Safety Office annual report, and other notes
Yesterday's 2024 Operating Budget Town Hall Meeting had one of the biggest online audiences in recent memory, with more than 1,500 people tuning in via livestream to hear from President Vivek Goel, Provost Jim Rush, and Vice-President, Administration and Finance Jacinda Reitsma. The only problem was that for the first 20 minutes or so it was difficult to actually hear from the University's senior leaders as the livestream's audio was plagued by technical difficulties relating to an audio mixer used for the event. After an alternative solution was found, the event proceeded with the Q&A segment, which included questions send in by registrants, questions asked in the online chat, and questions asked in person.
To provide the University community with materials and context they may have missed during the first half of the town hall meeting, resources have been added to an Operating Budget Town Hall Meeting page on the Provost's website that includes a video of the event, a transcript of the available audio, the presentations from the Vice-President, Academic and Provost and Vice-President, Administration and Finance, and the answers to the first set of questions posed to the University's administration, with more to be added in the coming days.
The Safety Office has announced that its 2023 Annual Health, Safety, and Environment Report is now available (in PDF format). Highlights of the report include updates on risk assessment compliance, lost-time injury frequency, a review of Policy #34 - Health, Safety and Environment, emergency planning updates, and more.
The 2023 report, and previous years' reports, can be found on the Safety Office's Sharepoint site.
Information Systems & Technology (IST) published the latest in the Atlassian blog series on Friday, April 18 entitled Streamline Your Jira Software Projects with the New List View feature.