Monday, July 6, 2015

Student Portal collaborates with student developers

A message from the Student Portal team.

The Student Portal has recently reached an exciting milestone: adding a portal feature created by a student web developer.

Our first student-developed feature is the Open Classrooms widget, which allows students to view nearly real-time classroom availability (in Registrar’s Office managed rooms) which they can use as study space.

The idea was initially conceived at the first portal hackathon last term by JK Liu, a Computer Science student. JK noticed that there were times when classrooms were empty, but didn’t know when the rooms would be occupied for a class or when they became available. Trying to solve this problem on his own, he developed an empty classroom finder on his personal website while on co-op, and attended the hackathon in March to refine it and see if it could integrate with the student portal.  

“Since the portal is used to improve student life, I thought this idea would be relevant to lots of students and it’s important to me that it can be accessed by as many people as possible,” says Liu.

The portal team worked with the Registrar’s Office to access the classroom booking system, which provides accurate availability of classrooms, and published this new feature in late June.

Chris Read, Associate Provost, Students and the portal project sponsor, is excited by this new feature and the student-portal team collaboration. “The open classrooms feature optimizes the use of existing space on campus, responding to the need for more study space,” he says. “This is a great example of how innovative our students and staff are in solving everyday operational challenges, to meet the needs of our students.”

While JK is the first student developer the portal team has worked with, there are plans to collaborate with more student developers in the fall.

You can stay up-to-date on the portal’s progress on the portal website or request staff/faculty access by emailing the student portal team.

Waterloo contingent glows with Pride 

This is the latest in a series of #UWCommunity stories that feature Waterloo in the community.

Over 60 University of Waterloo students, faculty and staff marched in the rain to show their support during the 2015 Toronto Pride Parade. Held on June 28, the event featured a line of spectacular displays and lively music in the downtown core.

“It was incredible to see how energetic people were despite the rain,” said Akeylah Graham MacNeill, a coordinator for the Federation of Students’ Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity. “I felt a lot of acceptance and happiness while walking amongst everyone.”

The FEDS Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity organized the UWaterloo contingent, which has had a presence in the parade for the past few years. The purpose of attending was to raise awareness of the Centre and to celebrate such an exciting annual event for the LGBTQ community.

This year, the theme for the parade was Come Out and Play, so the Glow Centre created an outdoorsy, beach chair style float.

“It took us 45 minutes to put it together, and people really liked the end result,” said Joyce Tsui, a Glow Centre volunteer and third year computer science student.

“We believe it’s important for the University of Waterloo to be a part of the parade because it shows there are different types of students on campus,” said Graham MacNeill, a fourth year arts and business student. “This is a diverse place, and it’s something to be proud of.”

New faculty and staff retirees

Human Resources is reporting that the following faculty members retired as of July 1, 2015:

• Professor Mohamed Kamel, who joined the University in January 1985, retires as Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering;
• Professor Steve Manske, who started at Waterloo in January 1981, retires as Research Associate Professor in the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact; and​​
• Professor Robert Sproule, who started at the University in May 1993, retires as Definite Term Lecturer in the School of Accounting and Finance.

Human Resources has also announced the following staff retirements, effective July 1:

• Anne Jenson, who started at Waterloo in November 1975, retires as Research Financial Co-ordinator in Electrical and Computer Engineering;
• Jeanne Johnson, who joined the University in August 1974, retires as Tritium Technician in Earth and Environmental Sciences;
• James Marshall, who started at Waterloo in June 1975, retires as Client Support Specialist in Information Systems and Technology (IST);
• Olga Nagy, who joined the University in April 1985, retires as Custodian II in Plant Operations.
• Raymond Scheerer, who started at Waterloo in June 1992, retires as Building Serviceperson 1 in Plant Operations;
• Connie Slaughter, whose start date was September 2002, retires as Administrative Assistant at WatCAR in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering;
• Gail Sperling, whose start date was October 1973, retires as Systems Analyst (Library Applications) in the Library; and
• Rebecca Thompson, who joined the University in January 1992, retires as Library Assistant at St. Jerome's University.

Congratulations all, and thank you so much for your service.

Course Selection Week and other notes

Many new Waterloo students will be able to request their fall 2015 courses during Course Selection Week, which runs from July 7 to 13, according to a memo circulated by the Registrar's Office.

Students may request their fall 2015 courses through their Quest accounts. The Registrar's Office's course selection process web page contains step-by-step instructions.

Please note that Quest Mobile cannot be used for fall term course selection. The full Quest site will have to be used.

Depending on their program, plan, or major, students may find core or required courses already placed in their course lists. If they are not there, they can be added manually.

Students will still be able to adjust their course schedules during the drop/add period, which runs from July 23 to September 25. Courses can be dropped without penalty until October 2.

Please note that this arrangement applies to new Waterloo students excluding those from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Mathematics.

Students are invited to contact their academic advisor if they have any questions.

The date for the 13th Velocity Fund Finals has been set for Tuesday, July 23.

Attendees will watch Waterloo's emerging entrepreneurs and early-stage startups pitch for $5,000 and $25,000 prizes. Each contender will get three minutes to pitch their startups to a panel of judges.

Attendees will receive a boxed lunch and a chance to win a Pebble Time smartwatch.

Registration details are on the Velocity site.