Thursday, March 3, 2016

Social Entrepreneurship in New Orleans

GreenHouse innovators Trishala Pillai, Elle Crevits, Benny Hua, Rachel Thompson, and Richard Yim presented at the Ashoka U Exchange, a global social entrepreneurship conference.

Five social innovators from St. Paul’s GreenHouse had the opportunity to speak at the premier global social entrepreneurship conference last week – the Ashoka U Exchange, hosted by Tulane University in New Orleans.

They presented at a panel called ‘Best Practices for Supporting Social Innovators,’ co-led by GreenHouse Director Tania Del Matto, Paul Heidebrecht, Director of UWaterloo’s MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement, and others.

“The novel element of our session was hearing directly from young social entrepreneurs who have experienced incubation programs,” says Del Matto. “Rather than speaking about their startups, they shared their unique entrepreneurial journeys.”

She says the session was packed, and the energy in the room was palpable. "Participants huddled around each student to listen to their stories, so the engagement was great. We heard nothing but good things about how folks enjoyed the session afterwards, so we were all really pleased."

GreenHouse, in partnership with Applied Health Sciences, Ryerson, and the University of Southampton in the U.K., was also a Cordes Innovation Award semi-finalist; these Ashoka awards recognize high impact and highly replicable education innovations.

Del Matto says the group was one of 20 semi-finalists asked to submit more information about international collaboration and student engagement in social entrepreneurship at higher ed campuses, but were ultimately not selected for one of the six awards.

Presidential Nominating Committee seeks feedback

"Pursuant to Policy 50 – The President of the University, a committee has been struck to solicit opinion with respect to President Hamdullahpur’s appointment to a second six-year term," says a memo from William Watson, chair of the Board of Governors being circulated today. "His first term expires at the end of June 2017. As part of this process, the committee is seeking informed opinion of the President’s performance from members of the University community."

"In assessing the effectiveness of the President, we are focusing on the University’s strategic objectives as captured in the institutional strategic plan, as well as the duties and responsibilities of the President as detailed in Policy 50. In addition, we are interested in your comments about President Hamdullahpur’s performance more generally, in areas of concern to you. We invite you to submit written or electronic comments to the committee, no later than 24 March 2016. If you choose to submit anonymous comments, please indicate your Faculty, if applicable, and whether you are a faculty or staff member."

Comments should be sent under confidential cover to:

Dr. Logan Atkinson

University Secretary & General Counsel

3060E Needles Hall

University of Waterloo

Waterloo ON N2L 3G1

or by e-mail to presidential.nominatingcommittee@uwaterloo.ca.

"If you would prefer to make your comments orally, please contact any member of the committee by e-mail to make the necessary arrangements. The list of committee members and e-mail contact information is provided below. All comments – written, electronic or oral – will be held in strict confidence by the committee. Any comments communicated to the President will be without attribution. Submissions will be destroyed when the committee’s work is completed."

"On behalf of the Presidential Nominating Committee, I thank you for your contributions to this review process."

Members of the Presidential Nominating Committee:

#AskAPharmacist: On Flu Shots and Vaccines

This is the latest in a series of posts from the School of Pharmacy celebrating Pharmacist Awareness month. 

If yesterday’s snowfall is any indication, we’re not through winter yet! For that reason, it’s especially important to get your flu shot, and to think about getting your children vaccinated.

In today’s #AskAPharmacist, Assistant Professor Kelly Grindrod explains why it’s so important to get the flu shot:

Needles can be daunting, especially for children. Are you a parent who wants to get your child vaccinated? Check out our #AskAPharmacist playlist for some strategies to make the vaccination experience easier.

More pharmacy questions & answers coming next Tuesday.

Thursday's notes

The Warrior Men’s Volleyball team is off to the OUA final four for the fifth straight year as they battle the No. 2 McMaster Marauders in Hamilton tonight at 8:00 p.m. 

A Fan Bus for students has been organized, and tickets can still be purchased before noon today to reserve a spot on the bus. Tickets are $15 and include bus transportation, a game ticket, a Warriors t-shirt and bang sticks. Tickets can be purchased in the PAC Athletics Office or online.

Here's today's Nutrition Month "Myth vs. Fact" supplied by Health Services Nutritionist Sandra Ace:

Myth: You can cut back on sodium by switching to sea salt.

Fact: This is a common misconception but it’s not true. Sea salt, kosher salt and other gourmet salts have about the same sodium content as regular table salt. Since a high sodium diet is linked to high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and kidney disease, reduce your sodium intake by seasoning your food with salt-free herbs and spices instead. Since the majority of sodium in our diet comes from processed foods, reading labels at the grocery store and preparing more foods at home using lower sodium ingredients are healthy steps everyone can take.