Tuesday, June 14, 2016

5,433 degrees hotter than normal at Convocation

A total of 5,433 students—4,467 undergraduate and 966 graduate —will receive their degrees this week at Waterloo's 112^th convocation, taking place June 14 through June 18. Over the next five days, the graduating classes across all six faculties will cross the stage.

Among the many awards and honours handed out include honorary doctorates, distinguished teaching awards, awards for excellence in graduate supervision, University Professor and Honorary Member of the University designations, and alumni medals.

All of the convocation ceremonies take place in the Physical Activities Complex (PAC) on the Waterloo campus. The Convocation web pages in the Registrar’s Office website have been updated to include the 2016 Honorary and Award Recipients and the 2016 Valedictorians for this week's convocation ceremonies.

Processional music will be provided by The Convocation Winds under the direction of Harry Currie.

Receptions will follow in the Great Hall of the Student Life Centre after each ceremony.

The Convocation ceremonies will be livestreamed.

Convocation takes a lot of work both on the stage and behind the scenes, and is a big day for the University and for the thousands of graduating students who will celebrate with their families and friends. To illustrate, here's a video featuring President Feridun Hamdullahpur and graduating Theatre and Performance student Mollie Garrett:

Convocation begins with Applied Health Sciences

Convocation begins at 10:00 a.m. this morning with the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. 341 undergraduate degrees, 45 master's degrees, and 12 PhDs will be conferred upon graduating students. Bearing the mace at the head of the official procession will be Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Rhona Hanning. Julie-Anne Desrochers will sing the national anthem.

James Schembri is the faculty valedictorian and will deliver an address.

Kimberly Madden will be given the AHS Young Alumni Achievement Award. 

Shelley Martin will receive the Governor General's Silver Medal. 

Emily Constanza Brubaker-Zehr will receive the Alumni Gold Medal. 

Dorothy Dowling will receive the AHS Alumni Achievement Award.

Amy Lynne Hackney will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award at the Doctoral level.

Roger Mannell will be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Mannell is the former dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and was chair of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. A health psychologist by training, he was at the forefront of the social psychological study of leisure and theories of play for children and adolescents. His specific focus was on the social and psychological factors that influence leisure and lifestyle choices and how in turn these choices affect maternal and physical health.

Much of what we know of the social psychology of leisure can be traced to his work. Within leisure studies he has pioneered a variety of research methodologies, including laboratory studies, experiential sampling, and path and structural modeling. Indeed, he is recognized as the first leisure researcher to deliberately and successfully "create leisure" in a laboratory setting. His contributions to the field of recreation and leisure studies have been acknowledged in many ways, including as a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Studies (1986). He also received the Allen V. Sapora Research Award and the Parks and Recreation Association's Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Research Excellence Award. He is the former director of the University of Waterloo-Royal Bank of Canada Retirement Research Centre, and past president of the Academy of Leisure Sciences.

He has had an enormous impact not only on his department and faculty, but also the university as a whole. His leadership, vision and authenticity continue to directly and indirectly impact the field of recreation and leisure studies.

Faculty of Environment ceremony this afternoon

At 2:30 p.m., the graduating students of the Faculty of Environment will receive their degrees. 486 undergraduates, 94 Master's students, and 11 PhD candidates will cross the stage.

The mace bearer for the ceremony is Mario Coniglio, the University's Associate Vice-President, Academic. Birgit Moscinski will sing the national anthem.

Ishani Kumar will deliver the valedictory address.

Zinnie Cowing will receive the Alumni Gold Medal. 

Sara Ashpole will receive the Amit & Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student.

Receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award at the Master's level will be Anne Elyse Tadgell, while Steven Alexander will receive it at the Doctoral level.

Kathryn Plaisance will receive the Distinguished Teacher Award. Plaisance, who has been at Waterloo since 2009, has been a valuable foundational member of the Knowledge Integration program, and has had a transformative impact on her colleagues. Along with many presentations to peers about her teaching practices, Plaisance created a workshop with her students to help other faculty members implement collaborative strategies into their teaching. Many faculty members who attended remarked that the experience would change the way they taught in their own classrooms (she and her students have been asked to run a second such workshop in April). Plaisance is known for being approachable to students and makes herself available to meet outside of class to discuss matters that are affecting them – both personally and academically. One undergraduate student commented that “Katie has the ability to challenge her students while simultaneously building academic confidence. Every student that takes a class with Katie grows as a writer, philosopher, learner, and listener.” To quote one of Plaisance’s colleagues, “Her pedagogy is rigorous and exciting at the same time. She is rapidly emerging as one of UWaterloo’s leading exemplars in teaching.”

Ming-ko Woo will be granted an Honorary Doctor of Environmental Studies. Woo is professor emeritus in the School of Geography and Environmental and Earth Sciences at McMaster University.

A scientist of international stature, he has made outstanding contributions to the field of hydrology in three main areas: the hydrology of cold regions; wetland ecosystems; and stochastic and statistical modeling. He is considered to have pioneered the field of cold-regions hydrology in Canada, and in the process supervised two generations of scientists who now are established professors or researchers in government institutions. He has been recognized for his many contributions with several noteworthy awards: he is a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and recipient of the Tuzo Wilson Medal, the highest honour conferred by the Canadian Geophysical Union.

Bruce Mitchell will be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus. For more than 45 years at the University of Waterloo, Mitchell has made exceptional contributions to the field of geography and environmental management in Canada and internationally. His impact as a teacher and mentor, and his service to his university and to scholarly and professional organizations, are equally outstanding.

Trained as a geographer, his contributions have extended well beyond his discipline and the sheer volume and impact of Bruce Mitchell's scholarly output sets him apart from his peers. He has published more than 165 journal articles and book chapters, 37 authored or edited books or monographs, and numerous technical reports. In addition to being an outstanding scholar, he has made a profound impact as a teacher and mentor. During his lengthy career he has been the principal advisor for 28 doctoral students and 58 master’s students, and many of the students he has mentored have gone on to become leading academics and professionals in their fields. In 1996, he received the University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award. His contributions to the University of Waterloo through service are extensive and significant, having served as: chair of the Department of Geography; Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Environmental Studies; Associate Vice President, Academic; Associate Provost for Academic and Student Affairs; Interim Associate Vice-President, International; Interim Vice-President, Academic and Provost; Associate Provost, Resources; and Interim Associate Provost, Human Resources.

His career achievements have been recognized in various ways. In 2005, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and as a Fellow of the International Water Resources Association. In 2008, he was awarded the Massey Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and appointed as an honorary fellow. He was invited to be the distinguished Wei Lun Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2001, and was the ANZSOG-Goyder Institute Visiting Professor in Public Sector Policy and Management at Flinders University, Australia, in 2014. He also has been appointed as honorary professor at four Chinese universities: Nanjing University (2004), Dalian University of Technology (2005), Xi'an Jiaotong University (2009) and Shenyang University (2011).

Photograph of Bruce Mitchell by Aimee McKee.

Watering the young minds of the future

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

For 21 years now, the Waterloo Wellington Children’s Groundwater Festival (WWCGF) has been delivering water-related education to students through a variety of hands-on, interactive activities.

Bringing together industry, government, community groups and educators, including the University of Waterloo, the week-long event focused on the significance of water conservation, protection and science.

This year, our Faculty of Science’s Earth Sciences Museum, a proud partner since the Festival’s inception in 1994, along with the Ecohydrology Research Group and the Groundwater, Geochemistry and Remediation Group, organized a series of seven hands-on water activities and displays.

From exploring the porosity of various materials to conducting simple science experiments on the motion of the ocean, the activities engaged the students’ minds and taught them the importance of our water related resources. 

The Then & Now exhibit, a popular attraction reminiscent of a giant pop bottle machine, visually illustrates how much water the average person uses in a single day. The interactive display lights up with the touch of a finger, giving youth an inside look at the amount of household water used for daily tasks such as showering and laundry.

“What's so special about the groundwater festival is that it ignites a passion for learning in children through interactive presentations and activities,” says Alisia Mar, Assistant Curator at the Earth Sciences Museum and festival volunteer. “There is nothing more exciting than the spreading of knowledge to youth and seeing their faces light up with awe when they figure out the answer to tough questions. It is extremely rewarding for myself and the University of Waterloo to know that we have a chance to leave a positive lasting impression on a student.”

The WWCGF attracts more than 5000 students in our community from grade 2 to 5 each year, with more than 50 hands-on, engaging and fun activities. Reaching more than 85,000 participants in its history, the festival has inspired similar events in communities across Ontario.

The 2016 WWCGF ran from Friday, May 27 and Monday May 30 through to Thursday June 2 at the Waterloo Region Museum.