Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Fall Open House to draw over 10,000

On Saturday, November 7, close to 10,000 prospective students and their families are expected to visit the University of Waterloo for Fall Open House.

During this all-day event, university-bound students have the opportunity to learn more about Waterloo’s academic strengths through program and faculty-specific sessions as well as hear first-hand about our world-leading co-op program, student life, and leadership opportunities.

Visitors are encouraged to take a guided tour of the campus with a current student ambassador. This is a chance for future students to check out residences, and tour the buildings and lecture halls where they will be spending their time.

“Fall Open House is an event we look forward to each year!" says Tina Roberts, director, marketing & undergraduate recruitment. "It’s a great opportunity for prospective students to explore Waterloo and see if this is the best university for them.” 

The open house runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with tours starting from the Student Life Centre. Free parking is offered all day in several lots on campus, primarily towards the north end of campus.

Creating bonds between research and co-op

by Yuni Jo.

For 3B Biochemistry student Sarah Bickers, her future aspirations after graduation weren’t always crystal clear. Thanks to her co-op work term at the McMahon Lab, she now has a better sense of what the type of work she enjoys – while making an impact in chemistry research.

“I run computational chemistry calculations of growing salt clusters and analyze the properties of the resulting structures,” says Sarah. “During my research, I recognized that there were important stable species that were not documented in existing published studies.”

She will present her findings at the Symposium of Chemical Physics (SCP) conference, which is the largest chemical physics conference in Canada, with speakers from institutions all over the world.

"Co-op students like Sarah are Waterloo’s secret weapon in research,” says Dr. Terry McMahon, who mentors Sarah at the lab. “We attract very bright students and getting them involved in research at a very early stage is a win-win proposition for both the student and the supervisor. My own experience with co-op research students has been overwhelmingly positive.”

This is Sarah’s first research work term, and she likes how she is able to put her academic background to the test.

“I’m able to apply my knowledge gained from all my chemistry courses in this position,” she says. “Before co-op, I wasn’t sure of exactly what I wanted to do after graduation. Now, I would like to pursue a graduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry and further my research studies.”

She credits co-op for helping her identify her ideal working environment. She encourages junior students looking for their first work term to be flexible and keep their options open.

“You don’t actually know what you’ll enjoy until you try it,” she says. “Once you get hands-on experience, you may discover things that you didn’t know you had an interest in.”

SAF hosted its annual Launch Your Career event

The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) hosted its annual Launch Your Career (LYC) event on Saturday, October 3 for 456 1A students in the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM), Math/CPA, Biotech/CPA, and Computing and Financial Management (CFM) programs.

Best selling author and Performance Improvement Specialist Linda Sherwin, the event’s keynote speaker, kicked off the day with a high energy, motivational speech with a focus on encouraging students to dig deeper and discover their incredible ability to forge meaningful career paths for themselves. The one-day event provided an industry focused, experiential learning and professional development experience for the students.

The event is held in the students’ first year of study, both to expose them to the various career paths ahead of them and to help prepare students to become co-op job-ready.

“Networking 101 was a fun way of teaching networking," said a student who attended the event. "An elevator pitch is an important concept to learn.”

Workshops included Dress for Success, Networking 101, Professional Photoshoot, Building Your Personal Brand, the Co-op Landscape, and much more.

"Many students in SAF have questions about co-op and feel stressed about the co-op process as early as their first year of study,"
 said Victoria Bambrick, experiential learning and career development coach. "Launch Your Career is designed to help students feel more prepared and confident about their co-op careers ahead."

SAF would like to thank all staff, faculty, speakers, and volunteers for the time and effort they put forth in making this event successful. The School looks forward to re-hosting the event next year for all of Waterloo’s incoming 1A SAF students.

Coming up: a long night against procrastination

Thinking of changing your major to "procrastination"? Hold that thought!

Instead, join the Writing Centre, the Student Success Office, Counselling Services, the Library, and Athletics and Recreation for Waterloo's second annual Long Night Against Procrastination, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 9 from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre.

The event is an opportunity to get started on your writing, with experts on hand to help you with your time-management, research, and writing questions. Get tips and strategies for managing stress, and academic and extra-curricular workload.

This event includes six optional workshops:

• 6:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. – Time Management (Student Success Office)
• 6:45 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. –Meditation Activity (Counselling Services)
• 7:15 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. – Starting to Research (Library)
• 8:15 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. – Power Yoga (Athletics and Recreation)
• 9:15 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. - Writing from Start to Finish (Writing Centre)
• 10:15 p.m. - 10:45 p.m. – Relax Yoga (Athletics and Recreation)

Prizes, coffee, and snacks will be available for participants throughout the evening.  As well, a furry visitor from MATES will come to mingle with you between 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

This event is brought to you by the Writing Centre, the Library, FEDS, Athletics and Recreation, Academic Integrity, Counselling & Health Services, Housing & Residences, and Student Success Office.

The first 100 participants win a wellness package! Visit the Writing Centre’s events page to register. Follow along with the hashtag #LNAP15

For more information, contact the Writing Centre's Jirina Poch via e-mail at jkpoch@uwaterloo.ca or by calling extension 32329. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do...well, you know the rest.

Take the President's Town Hall Survey; other notes

If you attended the President's Town Hall Meeting in the Humanities Theatre yesterday morning or watched it via livestream, please take a few minutes to fill out the President's Town Hall Survey and provide your anonymous feedback on the event. If you didn't attend the meeting, fill out the survey anyway and share your thoughts as to what can be done to encourage your attendance next year. The survey runs until Friday, November 20.

A pair of students in the Faculty of Environment have received prestigious Fulbright Canada student grants. 

Maxwell Hartt, a PhD Candidate in the School of Planning and a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow won a Fulbright Canada student grant to conduct research at Tufts University during the 2015-2016 academic year. His project is entitled “Transferring Planning Strategies in Shrinking Cities.”

Maxwell’s research focuses primarily on shrinking cities, demographic change, economic transitions and the planning response. His work aims to gain an understanding of how shrinking cities evolve and to assess the potential transferability and applicability of foreign policy into a shrinking city context.

Allison Turner is a student in The Faculty of Environment's department of Environment and Resource Studies and has been awarded a Fulbright Canada student grant to pursue her Master’s degree at Waterloo during the 2015-2016 academic year. Her project is entitled “Rethinking Water Governance: A New Approach for the Great Lakes”.

Upon completion of her graduate degree, she hopes to work for the United States government to help solve water issues in the Midwest.  While at the University of Waterloo, Allison will be studying a systemic approach to water governance and research in the Great Lakes region.

Fulbright is a world-renowned program of highly competitive, merit-based grants and scholarships for academic exchange.  The program, founded in 1946 by United States Senator J. William Fulbright, has supported some 325,000 students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists. The Fulbright Program, which operates in some 155 countries and is one of the world’s most prestigious academic honours, is specifically aimed at promoting mutual understanding and supporting excellence. Fulbright Canada is sponsored by the United States Department of State and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.