Friday, December 9, 2016

Charmaine Dean named Vice-President, University Research

The University of Waterloo has announced the appointment of Charmaine B. Dean as vice-president, university research, beginning a five-year term on July 1, 2017. The appointment was approved by the Board of Governors following approval by and on the recommendation of Senate.

“Charmaine Dean brings to the University of Waterloo a distinguished academic career, deep relationships across faculties, industry and government, and an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur.  “I am delighted to welcome her to the University’s leadership team. I’m confident she will build on our tremendous achievements and impacts across multiple disciplines to advance Waterloo’s reputation as a leader in world-changing research.”  

Dean, an alumnus of Waterloo, is currently professor and dean of Science at Western University. Prior to her role at Western, she played a major role in establishing the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in her capacity as associate dean of that Faculty, where she was the founding chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.

“I am honoured to join the University of Waterloo, which is known world-wide for innovation and transformational research,” said Dean. “I look forward to advancing the University’s research strengths and to working with Faculty and students to realize aspirations and to continually set the bar high for leading edge research.”

She has further served the academic community as president of the Statistical Society of Canada, as president of the International Biometrics Society (Western North American Region), as president of the Biostatistics Section of the Statistical Society of Canada, and has given over 15 years of service in numerous capacities to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, as well as service to CIHR, and various international granting councils. She is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dean earned her BSc (Honours) in mathematics at the University of Saskatchewan (1980) and later her master’s degree (1984) and PhD (1988) in statistics at the University of Waterloo. She is the recipient of many awards including the CRM-SSC prize, the University of Waterloo Alumni Achievement Medal and a Trinidad and Tobago High Commission Award.

Dean succeeds George Dixon, who has served as Waterloo’s vice-president, university research since 2007. “George has served the University of Waterloo with distinction and will ensure a smooth transition to Charmaine Dean,” said Hamdullahpur.

Social Impact Fund winners tackle sustainability, engagement

Three St. Paul’s GreenHouse innovators received Social Impact Fund grants totaling $5,000 at the most recent GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase event, which highlights the progress of various social innovators every term.

Alumna Rachel Thompson, founder of Marlena Books, also spoke about making an impact through social entrepreneurship. Her social venture, which is producing specialized reading material for older adults with dementia, has been successful in winning support from long-term care homes and funding from several organizations.

The Social Impact Fund recipients, who pitched their ideas to a panel of reviewers, were:

Michael Wideman, School of Planning (Eggplantr): $2,500

Michael’s venture will make it easier to grow food gardens using a digital tool to generate and print permaculture planting layouts on biodegradable weed barriers. He will be using the funding to incorporate his business and build and test his prototype.

Bailey Jacobs, Environment, Resources and Sustainability (Green2Green): $1,500

Bailey is developing a platform to make it easy for home renovation contractors to access government incentives for environmental retrofits. She will be hiring UWaterloo students to design and build a wireframe for her application with this funding.

Pragya Dawadi, Math, Statistics (The Dialogue Xchange): $1,000

Pragya’s work fosters engaging dialogue on pertinent social issues, such as gender equity and mental health. She will use the funds to pilot Dialogue Xchange events in Guelph, Waterloo and Ottawa.

A conversation about the online learning landscape 

On December 7, the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) invited David Porter, eCampusOntario’s new CEO, and a number of on-campus partners to have a conversation about the vision for eCampusOntario and the learning landscape and how the University of Waterloo can both support and benefit from some of the initiatives on the horizon.

Some of our key discussions focused on rethinking teaching resources, rethinking the learning experience, and rethinking credentials.

The event coincided with the announcement of eCampus Ontario’s latest round of funding for collaborate and innovative new online projects. We are excited to announce that a joint proposal between University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier to create a fully online Graduate Diploma in Climate Risk Management was one of the projects selected for funding. The program is designed to meet the needs of early to mid-career professionals who have been tasked with climate change risk management and climate change adaptation.

This day also represented an opportunity for CEL to showcase some of our exciting new projects, (such as open courseware for high school students and teachers) and demonstrate the outcomes from previous rounds of funding such as:

• the TransED Project which helps health-care students provide high-quality care to transgender patients and
• three Chemistry for Engineers online learning modules which allow for differentiated learning based on both a student’s interests and ability levels.

Upcoming Campus Wellness closure; other notes

“Campus Wellness services (Counselling Services and Health Services) will be closed for three hours on Tuesday, December 13 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.," says a note from Health Services. "This closure includes Counselling Services on the second floor of Needles Hall and Health Services."

During this time, if you require assistance with a Mental Health emergency, please call extension 31976. If you require assistance with a medical emergency please go to your nearest hospital or Urgent Care Clinic.

All services will resume at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13.

And 'tis the season for holiday videos:

If you had to bring your most valued treasure,

To a time and place set, how would you measure?

It’s the theme for this year’s holiday greeting.

See if you can guess… and P.S., no cheating!

"In keeping with our holiday tradition, we hope you enjoy this year’s holiday video. It’s a bit of a riddle with a good dose of fun and a message that’s straight from the heart," says the message from Environment. "However you celebrate this festive time of year, we hope it’s full of good friends, family and all of the things that you hold dear."

On behalf of Dean Jean Andrey and everyone in the Faculty of Environment, Happy Holidays!