Monday, February 22, 2016

Waterloo wins employee engagement award

The University of Waterloo won an award in the Employee Engagement category at the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards held Thursday, February 18.

“Each week, we hear stories from the University of Waterloo profiling student success, faculty research and staff accomplishments," says Associate Provost, Human Resources Marilyn Thompson. "Behind each achievement is a group of talented, motivated and enthusiastic people working in ways that quite literally will change our world. It’s especially reassuring to be recognized for our efforts to make our faculty and staff feel valued and engaged.”

Key to the University's successful nomination was its commitment to celebrating diversity and promoting inclusivity within its workforce through initiatives including:

• The HeForShe Impact 10x10x10 initiative commitments to reducing employment barriers for women at Waterloo, including boosting female student participation in STEM experiences and academic careers, enhancing female faculty representation to improve the campus environment and drive towards parity in the future, and the attraction and advancement of female leaders into senior academic and administrative positions; 
• Incorporating the Principles of Inclusivity into Waterloo's workplace culture through experiential workshops that raise awareness, deepen understanding, and set expectations relating to inclusive behaviours and skills in the workplace;
• The implementation of the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace: Waterloo is one of six organizations in Canada recognized by the Mental Health Commission of Canada as an early adopter of the program;
• The "Not Myself Today" and Mental Health Wellness Day campaigns aimed at reducing stigma and improving employee mental health at work; and
• Annual conferences including the OHD staff conference and WatITis, leadership training programs, and funding for staff excellence and international experiences.

Other nominees included Axonify, Echosims, Miller Thomson LLP, and Traces Screen Printing.

For arts, a season to declare your major

by Stephanie Bromley.

For many Arts students, declaring a major is a rite of passage. All kinds of considerations go into choosing an Arts major—personal interests, future career prospects, opportunities for skills development both inside and outside of the classroom, to name a few. It's no surprise that the decision can be exciting and confusing.

Cue the annual "Declare Your Major" Information Sessions, coordinated by the advising team in the Arts Undergraduate Office.

These information sessions, taking place between February 23 and March 18, are intended to demystify the process of declaring a major for students in Honours Arts, Liberal Studies, and Arts and Business. The Arts Undergraduate Office's advisors present information and answer questions so that students know about the Arts Major reset and how it impacts them, what forms to fill out, what deadlines to meet, and how to set themselves up for success as they transition into their major.  In addition, all Arts major departments host major-specific information sessions or drop-in hours to support students in their decision making.

"I think that having my major down on paper helped me see my goal in black-and-white and know what I was really working towards," says Joel, a Social Development Studies student. "It helped to give me a sense of purpose when that midterm stress was setting in! Plus, declaring my major made it easier for me to enroll in required courses and helped my academic advisors steer me in the right direction."

Arts students who want to declare their major should submit their Plan Modification Form by Monday, April 11. More information, including session details, is available on the Faculty of Arts website.

Vice-President University Research committee seeks feedback

The Vice-President, University Research Nominating Committee is beginning the process of identifying an individual to hold the senior administrative position under the principles of Policy 68 - Vice-President, University Research, according to a memo circulated by the committee.

"The Vice-President, University Research will be responsible for institutional research (including research partnerships), research commercialization, research ethics, and Waterloo International," the memo reads. "S/he will have lead responsibility for seeing to the realization of institutional objectives as captured in the "Transformational Research" theme of the strategic plan, and for positioning the University as one of the great research institutions in the world."

The committee is inviting feedback from the community.

"Over the next month, committee members intend to consult broadly. You are encouraged to convey your views on matters concerning the position in writing to Logan Atkinson, university secretary & general counsel, at vpresearch.nominatingcommittee@uwaterloo.ca, or to Gerri Woodford, an executive search consultant from Odgers Berndtson at waterloovpur@odgersberndtson.ca."

The committee is especially inviting community members to consider the following questions:

• What are the issues, challenges and opportunities facing the vice-president, university research?
• What advice do you have for the search committee as to the background, credentials, qualifications and leadership style that should be sought in the next vice-president, university research?
• Do you have any suggestions as to individuals to whom the committee should speak about this opportunity?

If you prefer, you may also send feedback directly to any member of the nominating committee.

Comments are due by March 14 and will be held in the strictest of confidence within the committee.

"Your input and feedback will be very important in shaping the position profile and informing the direction of the search," the memo concludes.

WISE announces associate director appointments

The Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy has announced that Professor Heather Douglas of the Department of Philosophy has accepted the position of Associate Director, Science and Energy Policy, WISE.

Douglas is an associate professor and the Waterloo Chair in Science and Society. Her research focuses on the interface between science and policy, including the use of science in policy-making and policies for science.

In addition, Professor Neil Craik of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, has accepted the position of Associate Director, Global Initiatives, WISE.

An associate professor of law in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, Craik teaches and researches in the fields of Canadian and international environmental law. His current research examines the role of procedural obligations in governance structures addressing transboundary and global commons environmental issues.

Both associate directors will serve for a one year term from February 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017.

Senate meets today and other notes

The University's Senate meets today at 3:30 p.m. in NH 3407. Among the agenda items:

• Changes in academic programs including the minimum major average for combinatorics and optimization; changes to the English language requirements for 2017; approval of the Two-Year Report for Germanic and Slavic studies; and approval the Two-Year Report for Bachelor of Social Work;
• Updates on the evolution of Senate membership;
• A research presentation by Alex Wong, Canada Research Chair in Medical Imaging Systems, Director, Vision and Image Processing Research Group, Systems Design Engineering;
• the second reading of proposed amendments to Bylaw 3 allowing the Board of Governors to elect from among its community-at-large members as many as four individuals to serve as members of Senate;
• the presentation of the Working Group on Bibliometrics’ White Paper; and
• an update on the 2015-2016 Operating Budget.

The Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI) 2016 Speaker Series continues with a lecture by Professor César Hidalgo, author of Why Information Grows and Leader of the Macro Connections Group at MIT.

The lecture takes place Tuesday, February 23 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in DC 1302.

Information Systems & Technology (IST) will be applying Microsoft patches to SharePoint servers beginning at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24. During this time, SharePoint service will be briefly interrupted as servers are rebooted after the patches are applied. In some instances, users may be prompted to re-authenticate.

The Waterloo Warriors varsity teams have had a busy weekend. Check out the latest results on the Athletics website.