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Take the #UWWasteWeek Quiz
Think you have some recycling smarts? Waterloo’s sustainability team has put together a fun quiz to celebrate Waste Reduction Week in Canada, which runs from October 17-21. See how well you know waste and recycling programs on campus, and discover your profile. Plus, you can be entered into a prize draw for WatCard top-ups and Sustainability Kits.
And if you need some brushing-up, visit the sustainability website to learn more about waste reduction programs and opportunities. Keep recycling!
Writing Centre celebrates 40 years on Thursday
by Clare Bermingham
2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the Writing Centre. For us, that means forty years of working with inspiring and dedicated students. It means forty years of helping students to articulate, build, and share their ideas.
Last month, the Writing Centre held nearly 500 individual meetings with students. It connected with another 700 or so students in various workshops and in-class facilitations. These numbers represent grad and undergrad students from across faculties, and they also represent a 20 per cent increase from last September. What the numbers don’t show is what students talked about when they came: ideas for an essay, designing an e-portfolio, thesis revisions, a research proposal, a conference presentation. Each meeting is a different student working on a different task. And it is exciting work.
Our 40th is a milestone anniversary in part because it comes at a moment when the University is investing in the teaching of communication. And the Writing Centre is proud to be part of this process.
When we look back to 1976, we see that the University has always valued communication. Only twenty years after the University of Waterloo was founded, the Writing Centre was born as the Writing Clinic. At the time, the University was growing rapidly, but the Clinic was affiliated with the Faculty of Arts. Along with a version of the English Language Proficiency exam, it ran a program of lectures and tutorials for students, which primarily focused on essay writing.
In 2016, things have changed. All Waterloo students are called on to be analytical and flexible communicators. Their writing tasks are complex, addressed to diverse audiences, and written in numerous modes for various mediums. Our students tweet, design infographics, write code, craft technical documents, graph data, create blogs and e-portfolios. And, yes, they research and write essays, but even this work is shifting as academia gets digital and engages the public in unprecedented ways.
As a result, today’s Writing Centre emphasizes writing and communication. It supports students in every faculty working on any communication task. Writing Centre staff and peer tutors coach writers through strategies to help them become more savvy and engaged communicators. They are expert readers who help students to see their work with new eyes. They act as guides to the conventions and expectations of disciplines and contexts.
This work is exciting because we see Waterloo students who are connected and engaged, and who are motivated by the knowledge they’re building and the world they’re contributing to.
Come and share in our excitement. On Thursday, October 20th, the Writing Centre will celebrate 40 years with an all-day fair, an afternoon reception, and the launch of our Speaker Series. All events are free, and we invite the University community to join us.
- Celebration Fair, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., STC Main Lobby
- Reception with refreshments, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., STC Main Lobby (remarks begin at 3:15)
- Speaker Series featuring Nora Young, host of CBC Radio's Spark, 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., PHY 145.
Talking privilege and activism with Corey Johnson
The Gender and Equity Scholarship Series kicks off this week with a talk by Applied Health Sciences Professor Corey Johnson entitled "Working my margins, leveraging my privilege: Sexual and Gender Identity Scholarly Activism."
In his address, Johnson will chronicle the evolution of his work examining power relations in the cultural contexts of leisure. From gay bars to media consumption to the use of geo-social networking applications, his scholarship and activism captures the importance of considering identity politics and intersectionality when working for social justice.
Johnson is a professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and teaches courses on inclusive recreation, social justice, gender and sexuality, qualitative research methods, and the philosophy of science.
The Gender and Equity Scholarship Series promotes gender and equity research taking place at the University, and provides networking opportunities for equity-minded faculty, staff and students on campus. It is presented jointly by the Special Advisor to the President on Women’s and Gender Issues and FAUW’s Status of Women and Equity Committee.
The event takes place today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in EIT 3142. Registration is closed
TD Walter Bean lecture today features Disney Imagineer
The unprecedented urban building boom in China is the focus of today’s TD Walter Bean Lecture in Environment.
Ben Schwegler, senior vice-president and chief scientist at Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development, will deliver a lecture today entitled “Creating Sustainable Cities from the Ground Up – Lessons from Disney Research.”
Schwegler, who is also a consulting professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, will present insights into new conceptual models and technologies required for sustainability as China seeks to build a city the size of Toronto, from the ground up, every year for the next 20 years.
Sponsored by TD, the hour-long lecture takes a view from the front lines of this amazing real-world challenge.
The lecture takes place today at 5:30 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. Tickets are sold out, but there may be overflow seating available.
Programming workshop for beginners; other notes
Applications for a three-day programming workshop Programming Workshop for Beginners are open, according to an announcement from the School of Computer Science.
This workshop will cover a 14-hour curriculum over three days from Friday, November 11 to Sunday, November 13.
It is organized in affiliation with Women in Computer Science, a standing committee of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.
This workshop covers an intense 14-hour curriculum designed to give beginners complete, basic programming skills to use in their studies or workplace. It is intended for everyone who wants to learn basics of programming. Over the course of the workshop, participants will learn the Python programming language through lectures and hands-on sessions, supported by a team of mentors. It will cover fundamental concepts in programming, basic tools for data analysis and data visualization.
No prior knowledge is expected. Everyone is welcome to apply for this workshop, though priority will be given to under-represented groups in the field of computing.
The deadline for applying is October 24. This is a free event that includes morning coffee and lunch. More information about the workshop and the application are available on the workshop website.
Here is today's Invisible Disabilities Week Myth vs. Fact:
Myth: AccessAbility Services can only be used by people with physical disabilities
Fact: AccessAbility services provides academic support for students with a wide range of visible and invisible disabilities, temporary or permanent. Visit the AccessAbility website to learn more about accessibility at Waterloo
Working with staff from Imprint, the Accessibility Matters at Renison Working Group has created five short video clips to dispel some of the myths surrounding invisible disabilities. They will be launching one of these each day from Oct. 17 to 21. Plan to watch each one! Then share the link with your colleagues, your family, and your friends.
Some disabilities may be invisible, but they are very real and very common. The first clip looks at the myths, realities, challenges, and experiences of living with an invisible disability: