Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Celebrating volunteerism at Waterloo

By Jane Kolb, Keystone Campaign Communications Committee volunteer

“Where would the world be without volunteers?” These words were spoken by a true philanthropist, Roni Oestreich, a recent retiree of the University of Waterloo. Roni dedicated 21 years to the department of Housing and Residences, starting her career at UW Place when it was the Married Student Apartments. She felt fulfilled by her job, but early on she realized she needed more. Roni started volunteering with community nights and the United Way Campaign, raising funds for those less fortunate. She also joined the Keystone Campaign, helping out with Treat-a-Gram and with on-campus fundraising runs and the annual Keystone picnic.

To Roni, all of these were about making a difference in peoples’ lives. It was also about making connections and creating a closer-knit University community. She explained it as being an extended family on campus.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time to volunteer. There are others who are in need so give your time – just 30 minutes or an hour goes a long way!”

Roni has been enjoying retirement and plans to involve herself once again with the Keystone Campaign. She also wants to volunteer with children, another passion of hers.

Thank you Roni for seeing a need, acting upon it, and making a difference. 

Canadian researchers converge for campaign

Research2Reality, a new social media and television campaign by six of Canada’s top research institutions — including the University of Waterloo — aims to bring high-impact university research to the living rooms and laptops of millions of Canadians.

The campaign, which will grow to include six public service announcements airing on the Discovery and Discovery Science channels, looks at the ways Canadian research impacts issues that matter deeply to Canadians, including health, technology, natural resources and sustainable energy.

Raymond Laflamme, director of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing, shines a light on the remarkable potential of quantum information science and quantum devices in one of the first-to-air public service announcements.

Philippe Van Cappellen, Canada Excellence Research Chair in ecohydrology, is profiled in another, focused on water research as a key to our future health.

In addition to the television spots, which began airing on May 11, the campaign features interviews with more than 50 Canadian researchers discussing the long-term potential of their work — including nine from the University of Waterloo. The interviews videos will be rolled out in stages over the coming months, supported by a Canada-wide social media campaign.

Other Waterloo researchers participating in Research2Reality include:

• Chris Eliasmith, Faculty of Arts (philosophy) and Faculty of Engineering, Director of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience;
• Melanie Campbell, Faculty of Science, School of Optometry and Vision Science, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology;
• Frank Gu, Faculty of Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology;
• Michele Mosca, Faculty of Mathematics, Deputy Director, Institute for Quantum Computing;
• Daniela O'Neill, Faculty of Arts, Director, Centre for Child Studies;
• Jatin Nathwani, Faculty of Engineering, Executive Director, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy; and
• Chris Bauch, Faculty of Mathematics.

National Mennonite photo archive has Waterloo roots

Family reunions at the old homestead, prime ministers glad-handing across the countryside and nurses serving during the Vietnam War. These are just a few of the photographs found in the new Mennonite Archival Image Database (MAID), giving the public access to photographs of Mennonite life in Canada and around the world. Seven Canadian Mennonite archives contributed 80,000 archival descriptions to the new site. Over 10,000 of these records are already accompanied by scanned images.

Pictured above are Olive and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, speaking with Waterloo Mennonite entrepreneur and community leader Roy G. Snyder and his wife Clara in 1961 at a Waterloo cattle breeding open house. Seated to the left of the Diefenbakers are the Honourable Jay Waldo Monteith, a Stratford-area politician, and his wife Mary.

Expected to be a rich resource for historians and genealogists, MAID’s creators also hope that the Canadian public will be drawn in. “Those of us who worked on this project were constantly distracted by the intriguing images we discovered, not only of Mennonites but also communities across Canada and in other countries,” said Mennonite Archives of Ontario archivist and site administrator Laureen Harder-Gissing. MAID includes an online ordering system that allows visitors to purchase copies of images for non-commercial use.

MAID was born three years ago when Harder-Gissing, based at Conrad Grebel University College, proposed her dream for a national photo database to six other Mennonite archives across Canada. The Mennonite Archives of Ontario already had a publicly-accessible database of about 18,000 catalogued photographs, but wanted to take advantage of the significant improvements in database technology that have come along in recent years.

The group chose the open source AtoM (Access to Memory) archival software developed by Artefactual Systems in Vancouver and customized for MAID by Peaceworks Technology Solutions’ Jason Hildebrand, a University of Waterloo and Conrad Grebel alumni. “As a uWaterloo history grad myself, I enjoyed working with Jason to bring technology and heritage together” says Harder-Gissing.

Greg Bak, former Senior Digital Archivist for Library and Archives Canada, echoes this sentiment. He believes that MAID “shows the future of digital community archives. It is wonderful to see the Canadian Mennonite community working together, embracing digital technologies.”

Photo credit: Personal Studios.

University Club ends memberships; other notes

"The University Club is proud to announce that we have opened our doors to the general public and discontinued memberships as of May 1," says a message from Micaela Buchnea-Chew, marketing and communications coordinator. "This change is made necessary by the current business climate in which private membership is a less valued service. The University Club will continue to offer casual fine dining, a wonderful option for your weekday breakfast and lunch meetings and gatherings."

Visit the website to check out special menus and events, and don’t forget your Staff Association card to receive a 10 per cent discount.

“Mediated Bodies,” the English faculty author event originally scheduled for this Wednesday, May 13 has been postponed and will now take place on Friday, October 2 at 1:30 p.m. in Hagey Hall 373.

"The election for one full-time staff member to the Board of Governors closed Thursday 7 May at 3:00 p.m.," writes Karen Jack. "The Secretariat & Office of General Counsel (SOGC) is pleased to confirm that Jeremy Steffler was elected to serve on the board, term to 30 April 2018.  The SOGC thanks all candidates for their interest in serving the university community."