Wednesday, April 8, 2015

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• Walking the talk on campus co-op hires
• The birds are back in town
• Canadian Team Mathematics Competition today

Walking the talk on campus co-op hires

by Jeremy Steffler.

After the University of Waterloo’s Thank-you Open House for On-Campus Employers of co-op students, members of the campus community were surprised to learn that the University of Waterloo is the largest single employer of Waterloo co-op students.

Normally, the institutional activity surrounding co-operative education focuses on our efforts to partner with thousands of employers around the globe, providing more than 18,000 employment opportunities for our students annually. However, there are a number of individuals on campus who, like our off-campus employers, understand the immense value that co-op students can bring to their organization and have made co-op hiring an integral part of their business.

Here are some testimonials from our on-campus colleagues that were shared at the Campus Employer Thank -you event:

“We typically hire four co-op students per term, often first years, and we continue to be inspired and impressed with their accomplishments. Most recently, one of our technical students co-created 3D printed enclosures for our tablet-based lead collection system. This included independent design and development of the 3D model needed, right down to a detailed Waterloo logo. This initiative gave our travelers an interesting ‘ideas start here’ co-op story to share with prospective students.”

Tina Roberts

Director

Marketing & Undergraduate Recruitment

“I am always impressed with the level of professionalism and enthusiasm that our Waterloo co-op students bring with them when they come to work.  They take pride in their work and their workplace, and are able to rise to any challenge that they face.  In a word – they are outstanding!”

Peter Teertstra

Director

Sedra Student Design Centre

“We hired our first co-op in fall 2014 to take action on some of our strategic priorities.  She was an absolute pleasure to work with. We were very impressed with her enthusiasm, work ethic, and dependability right from the start. Her proficiency with tasks from data analytics to event management was exceptional. She consistently surpassed our expectations — her ability to perform at such a high level certainly attests to the quality and strength of Waterloo co–op students. We look forward to hiring the next CFM Program & Recruitment Associate.”

David Ha

MAcc, CPA, CA, CFM Program Manager

School of Accounting and Finance

Cheriton School of Computer Science

At Waterloo, we certainly “walk the talk” when it comes to co-operative education. It is a testament to our confidence in the skills and abilities of our students when we recognize the value they bring to our organization. They provide an excellent example for potential employers who are considering bringing our students on board.

The birds are back in town

This time of year is for the birds.

As our fine feathered friends continue to make their presence known from the Open Text parking lot to the courtyards of UWP, it's time to review some precautions in the interest of personal safety.

The University's safety office recommends checking out a warning leaflet prepared by the Ohio state government that outlines how to avoid getting on a goose's bad side. Some tips:

• Maintain direct eye contact and keep your chest and face pointed at the goose;
• If the goose acts aggressively, calmly and slowly back away; and
• Don't act hostile or show fear. Display a neutral demeanour.

Ohio's department of natural resources, which has recently reported an ever-increasing Canada Goose population that stands at more than 130,000, has compiled a larger document that explains the roots of human-goose conflict.

Plant Operations will be taking the usual precautions by posting signs and barricades warning of goose nests and the possibility of aggressive bird behaviour.

The Student Success Office is working with the Faculty of Environment's Mapping, Analysis, and Design to host Goose Watch again for students on campus. Goose Watch is a crowdsourced tool to help the University community navigate campus safely during goose pairing and nesting season.

Users can use a map to view and report goose nest locations or to find a route across campus based on their comfort level around nesting geese. Goose Watch also provides some goose nest etiquette tips to help everyone share campus with the birds this spring.

Twitter users can also follow #GooseWatch15 for updates on nests as Goose Watch is updated, provided by UWaterloo Life.

Retail Services has gotten in on the fun with some new goose items at the Waterloo Store in South Campus Hall. There's a brand new lineup of products including goose-shaped stress balls, coffee mugs, t-shirts, and plush geese. No geese were harmed in the making of these products.

Canadian Team Mathematics Competition today

More than two hundred high school students and thirty-five teachers will be competing in the Canadian Team Mathematics Contest (CTMC) today in the Davis Centre. Hundreds more will be participating at their local schools tomorrow.

There will be individual and team problems to solve, and relay events. Students are organized into teams of six.

Students will participate in the high-energy Relay from 3:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in DC 1351. Each team will be given a set of problems and asked to collaboratively solve them in a short period of time. Since the students range in age and grade, part of a team’s strategy is to assess each team member’s strengths and tackle the problems accordingly. Contestants will answer a challenging math problem and their team-mates will need their answer in order to solve the next problem down the line.

The CTMC is organized by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC), which aims to increase enjoyment, confidence and ability in mathematics and computer science among students and teachers in Canada and internationally. Through contests, face-­-to-­-face workshops, online resources, and publications, the CEMC provides curricular and enrichment support to elementary and secondary schools.

The Daily Bulletin will be getting a facelift

Beginning next week, the Daily Bulletin will be published in the University’s central Waterloo Content Management System (WCMS) as the first phase of a redesign of the publication gets underway.

The current layout of the Daily Bulletin, introduced in 2006, will remain largely intact, with a main column of article text and photos, and right-hand sidebars full of complementary content including the "When and Where" event listing, the Link of the Day, PhD Oral Defence listings and the weekly job postings.

Enhancements to the current Daily Bulletin include a more stable publishing platform (the less said about the Daily Bulletin's current publishing system, Contribute, the better!), better integration with the rest of the University's web identity, and article anchor tags, which will make linking to individual Daily Bulletin stories much easier for readers who wish to share the content elsewhere without having to scroll through other articles first.

The Daily Bulletin's archive of more than 5,000 issues over 22 years will remain intact and searchable through the University's Google Search Appliance.

One other change is that it is entirely likely that the new Daily Bulletin will no longer be automatically published as a text version on newsgroups, such as they are in 2015. Newsgroup support was discontinued in 2010 and it has been running on automatic pilot for the most part since then.

The new version of the Daily Bulletin will launch on or about Tuesday, April 14.

In the coming months, additional enhancements to the Daily Bulletin will be explored and reader feedback will be collected through a survey, which will hopefully inform further innovations. Your feedback is always appreciated.

Wednesday's notes

The Staff Relations Committee wants all staff to know that it has opened up the first portion of its meetings to members of the university community and regularly has agenda items of interest to staff members in all units of the university.

At the meeting this Friday April 10 starting at 12:30 p.m., there will be presentations and discussion on membership trends for the University of Waterloo Staff Association as well as policy changes for Policy 1 and Policy 17. 

The meeting will be in Needles Hall 3001 and the committee invites staff members to bring their lunch and join them in learning more about these issues and activities.

Starting this week, the Library will be hosting donation boxes from Textbooks for Change. Textbooks for Change provides affordable and accessible educational materials to students both locally and abroad, donating thousands of books to African universities annually. They also allocate 50 per cent of proceeds from all books sold to entrepreneurs across the world in the form of microfinance loans. They also help fund socially purposed student clubs on campuses across Canada through textbook collection drives.

Students are invited to donate textbooks by dropping them off in one of the bins in the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries. The boxes will be in place until the end of May.

Anyone with questions can contact Alex McCulloch, head of Circulation Services.

Today, the term loan due date for extended loan library books changes from May 15, 2015 to September 15, 2015. Library patrons can start renewing their books for the Spring 2015 term beginning this afternoon.