Monday, November 9, 2015

The talk of the President's Town Hall

Speaking to a combined live and virtual audience of more than 600 people Tuesday, President Feridun Hamdullahpur delivered an update on the University of Waterloo's progress over the past year and its outlook for the year ahead.

President Hamdullahpur highlighted several key elements in his opening address to the community - the quality of Waterloo's incoming undergraduate and graduate students, the idea of research impact being as important as research income as a performance measure, and the importance of planning for the future, with the current new resource allocation model and strategic enrolment management initiatives as key examples.

Hamdullahpur also spoke about how Waterloo's defining elements, including experiential education and an entrepreneurial spirit, were something that the University was born with and helped insulate Waterloo from making knee-jerk decisions or jumping on bandwagons at the behest of external stakeholders. 

"We should never forget our primarily responsibility as a place to produce the kind of new knowledge and scholarship we are expected to and have committed to and to provide the kind of intellectual environment for our students that they can grow," said Hamdullahpur. "We are committed to those basic principles but we are not embedded in 18^th century principles either. We are able to see the future a little bit as best we can, but we have the ability to stay true to our basic principles, and are able to respond to the needs of society in general."

A lively question and answer period followed the president's presentation, with questions submitted in advance, taken live from the floor, and sent via e-mail and on social media.

Question topics included international co-op opportunities, school spirit, environmental sustainability, temporary foreign workers in academia, athletics and recreation, the maintenance of buildings on campus, and mental health and safety.

A number of questions revolved around the many ways innovation can be defined, from social innovation to innovation in teaching to opportunities for innovation outside of entrepreneurship.

In answer to a question about counselling opportunities for employees, the President and Marilyn Thompson, associate provost, human resources announced that the University has been working with the faculty and staff association to expand the mental health services available as part of an enhanced employee assistance program, and in the meantime, additional resources will be allocated to Counselling Services to meet the need on campus without compromising service delivery to students.

As the town hall drew to a close, Feridun noted that answers to the questions that weren't dealt with during the meeting would soon be posted on the President's Town Hall website, and he invited the audience to join him at a reception held in the School of Accounting and Finance atrium next door.

The President's Town Hall livestream is available to view online.

If you attended the President's Town Hall (or even if you chose not to attend) please take a few minutes to fill out the President's Town Hall survey.

Photographs by Joel Mieske.

Anne Fannon named CAFCE president-elect

Anne Fannon has been named president-elect of the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (CAFCE).

Fannon is the director of the Waterloo Professional Development Program (WatPD).

“We’ve been a best practices leader with CAFCE for years, but now we take an official leadership role with Anne’s involvement,” writes Beth Jewkes, associate provost, resources.

CAFCE is the voice for post-secondary Co-operative Education in Canada. Its mission is to foster and advance post-secondary co-operative education in Canada.

CAFCE members from 79 post-secondary institutions across the country have worked since 1973 to develop resources that promote high quality co-operative education programs through a national forum of professional practitioners; the establishment of national standards, and delivering opportunities for the learning and sharing of best practices.

Fannon also serves as chair of CAFCE’s Professional Development Committee.

Centre for Teaching Excellence publishes annual report

The Centre for Teaching Excellence has published its inaugural annual report for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. CTE’s Director, Donna Ellis, is pleased with the result:

“Developing our first-ever annual report was a daunting but rewarding task. Collecting and analyzing our data confirmed what we already suspected – that we had a busy year! We delivered 220 workshops to 2847 instructors and staff members, provided nearly 6000 one-on-one consultations, and facilitated 123 curriculum events for departments. We organized a well-attended teaching and learning conference, and our online teaching resources were accessed nearly one million times. Nearly 300 graduate students completed our Fundamentals in University Teaching and Certificate in University Teaching, and those who have worked with us provided positive feedback about the value of engaging with our programs and services.”

The full 24-page report can be found on the CTE website.

A Friendship Bench, RAK Day recap, and other notes

The Engineering Society has spearheaded a mental health awareness initiative in the hopes of elevating awareness and support of mental health on the Waterloo campus. It takes the form of a yellow bench.

The Friendship Bench Organization works with existing student service programs dedicated to mental health awareness and mental wellness. In addition to the physical bench, Waterloo will become part of the discussion surrounding mental health, and receive ongoing support from the organization.

The bench was installed during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 4.

On Friday, Waterloo partnered with The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation and the Stratford Perth Community Foundation to spread kindness on our campus and in the community. Celebrating Random Act of Kindness Day for the third year, #UWaterlooRAK saw hundreds of students, staff, faculty, and community members giving and receiving kind gestures.

This year, Waterloo volunteers helped bag groceries at the local Superstore, student leaders and campus partners hosted thank you card stations, taught new languages, handed out tasty and healthy treats with King Warrior, and so much more.

Check out some of the amazing highlights on Storify.

Faculty of Arts Academic Advisor Eric Jardin had quite a platform this weekend to show off his growing Movember moustache - he snapped this pic of himself as he spoke at the Honours Arts and Business presentation at the Fall Open House on November 7, recruiting more than 400 people for his Movember "Pic of the Day". If you'd like to support Eric's Movember fundraising efforts, check out his Movember website.

Tonight is the Long Night Against Procrastination, which will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. It simply can't be put off any longer!