Thursday, August 18, 2016

Fall events address Truth and Reconciliation

A message from the Faculty of Arts and the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre.

On behalf of many collaborators dedicated to Truth and Reconciliation Response Projects, the Faculty of Arts and Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre are delighted to announce two major events that will take place this fall: The Mush Hole Project and Integrating Knowledges Summit. Programming is free and open for faculty, staff, students, and community participation. We encourage instructors to keep the events in mind as you create your course syllabi. Save the dates!

Mush Hole Project
September 16, 17, and 18, 2016
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford
(Bus transportation from the University of Waterloo will be available and free of charge)

The Mush Hole Project is an immersive, site specific art and performance installation that engages with the site of Canada's first residential school. It will become a space in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, researchers, and the public can meet and 1) acknowledge the residential school legacy, 2) challenge the concepts of "truth" and "reconciliation," and 3) practice interdisciplinary art and performative methods of decolonization.

This project responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) Calls to Action. It aims to preserve, query, and reveal the complex personal, political, and public narratives around Canada's residential school system, specifically the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School (at the Woodland Cultural Centre).

Integrating Knowledges Summit
October 14, 15, and 16, 2016
Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre and University of Waterloo

The objective of the Summit is to materialize the research and practices of "truth" and "reconciliation" with a focus on collaborative education, pedagogical histories, and methods of decolonization. A direct response to the TRC's Calls to Action, the Summit promises an intercultural calling-in of researchers, scholars, social justice advocates, elders, intergenerational survivors, artists, knowledge keepers, cultural and multidisciplinary practitioners and performers, educators, and students, among others to reflect on the consequences that emerged from the residential school legacy and the impact on educational paradigms.

Events include keynote speaker Dr. Cindy Blackstock, a performance workshop, Circle Discussions, a Six Nations and Waterloo Region Youth Workshop, TRC Reading Challenge, Mini Ode Kwewak N'gamowak (Good Hearted Women Singers), the Blue Sky Singers, and more.

Information about the events can be found on the Truth and Reconciliation Response Projects website with ongoing updates as programming details become available.

These projects are funded by SSHRC Connection Grant, Ontario Arts Council, Robert Harding Humanities and Social Sciences Award, Canadian Heritage, University of Waterloo, among many other generous organizations and individuals. View the growing list of contributors and collaborators.

For additional information and how to participate, please contact: Sorouja Moll at smoll@uwaterloo.ca or Andy Houston at houston@uwaterloo.ca.

Campus digital asset management service now available

A message from Information Systems & Technology

IST is pleased to announce the launch of Waterloo Photos, a browser based Digital Asset Management (DAM) system that has been configured to support the needs of our campus community with respect to storing, sorting, and sharing digital assets, specifically image files.

Users are organized within the system by organizational unit, or ‘org unit’. New users can request an organizational unit be created for their area, which would permit an approved number of admin and regular users access to store, organize, and easily share assets among org unit members, with other authenticated Waterloo Photos users, or with external campus partners.

Assets stored within the system are available to authenticated Waterloo Photos users only (depending on user/org unit permissions). General or public browsing and access to assets is not yet available. Requests for assistance locating assets designated for campus use can be submitted.

More information about this service is available on the IST website.

Reminder: there's still time to fill out UWSA's co-op survey

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) co-op survey is live until Friday, August 19.

The intent of the survey is to gather information to give the UWSA working group on co-op hiring a better understanding of how University employers hire and work with co-op students. 

There are a total of 14 questions on 6 pages and it is estimated that the survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Anyone who supervises Waterloo co-op students is invited to participate.

All responses are confidential. 

The UWSA Co-op Working Group plans to provide a report to the UWSA board this fall 2016. Pending approval of the board that report will be forwarded to the Staff Relations Committee for their consideration. A summary of the results will be posted on the UWSA web site.