Friday, January 27, 2017


Ray Darling to be University of Guelph's registrar

Ray Darling in Convocation regalia.University Registrar Ray Darling will be returning to the University of Guelph, where he studied and started his career, to lead their Registrar’s Office, according to a memo circulated by Vice-President, Academic & Provost Ian Orchard to Executive Council yesterday.

"Ray joined the University of Waterloo in 2014 and has provided leadership on a number of initiatives including the fall break pilot, the Needles Hall student service transformation, classroom scheduling, strategic enrolment management, the implementation of gender neutral identification at the OUAC, and systems development," Provost Orchard writes. "He is particularly proud of his team in the RO and the work they do to support the University community."  

Darling will remain at Waterloo until February 24 before starting his new role on March 1, 2017.

An Acting University Registrar will be announced in the very near future.

"On behalf of the University of Waterloo administration, faculty, staff, and students, we wish Ray all the best in his new position," Orchard's memo concludes.

Waterloop team heads to SpaceX competition

Waterloop team members move the Goose 1 prototype on a crane.

Waterloop - a student design team building a commuter pod to one day take you from Toronto to Montreal in 30 minutes - will test their prototype at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition from January 27 to 29.

About 150 students from all six of Waterloo’s faculties have contributed to the Waterloop team.

Waterloop’s technical lead Yazan Obeidi and another team member transported the prototype, named Goose 1, to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California this week. The team will compete against 23 finalists from around the world including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Obeidi said this week’s competition is just “the start of a new era for Waterloop.” The team will continue to develop their prototype in preparation for the next SpaceX competition in Summer 2017.

“That’s the great thing about being on a student design team. It’s not just about solving equations,” said Obeidi. “You go out and lay down 300 feet of track and find out what happens when you are only slightly off center,” says Obeidi. “You have to tear it down and build it again.”

Nominations open for distinguished, exceptional teachers

Teaching Award posters for the AETS and DTA

Do you know an awesome professor or student teacher (grad TA, undergrad TA, lab instructor, etc)? Here’s your chance to nominate him or her for the Distinguished Teacher Award (DTA) and/or the Amit and Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student (AETS).

For more information, visit the Centre for Teaching Excellence in EV1 325 or call Verna Keller at extension 33857.

Remembering Andrew Telegdi​

Andrew Telegdi, University of Waterloo alumnus (BA Psychology '80) and longtime local politician, died on Monday, January 23.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Telegdi and his family fled the country during the 1956 Hungarian revolution, and settled in Canada as refugees.

Telegdi attended the University of Waterloo in pursuit of a psychology degree and got involved in student politics with the Federation of Students. In January 1973, Telegdi was elected as a student representative on the Campus Centre Board, a body that made decisions about programming and services in the Campus Centre (now the Student Life Centre).

Telegdi threw his hat into the ring to run for President of the Federation of Students, facing incumbent Shane Roberts, who embodied the "radical activist philosopher king" mode of student leader fashionable at the time. Telegdi's campaign focused on some of the more down-to-earth issues facing students at Waterloo - perennial parking problems, a student housing shortage, and the lack of a permanent undergraduate student pub in the Campus Centre. Telegdi beat Roberts by 400 votes.

Telegdi's win highlighted the split in student politics, that continues even today, between a focus on political activism and a focus on the lighter side of the student experience, including clubs, events, and services. This divide was the subject of lengthy Student Council meetings, with issues-based student leaders deriding a focus on social events and concerts as "sandbox politics" while others claimed that radical politics were losing their relevance on campus.

Andrew Telegdi in his office in 1974.“Federations in the last few years have been lopsided," Telegdi wrote in a statement in the Chevron in March 1973. "Either entertainment was emphasized (called sandbox) or education-politics was emphasized.  When one was emphasized the other was ignored. There is no reason for such a narrow-minded policy! The Federation can and should serve the interests of students in many different ways...” 

Telegdi's Feds presidency featured activities both in and out of the sandbox. He pushed Students' Council to issue a statement decrying the 1973 coup in Chile, while at the same time agitating for a student pub on campus.

He found himself the unlikely defender of pinball machines, of all things, after a moral panic and misapplication of a gambling law against slot machines threatened the closure of game rooms across Waterloo region by the end of December 1973. Telegdi publicly installed a pinball machine in the Campus Centre and dared the "morality squad" to bust him.

Andrew Telegdi and the Tent City outside the Campus Centre.Another highlight was the "Tent City" erected outside the Campus Centre to protest the shortage of student housing in Waterloo Region. There was a severe restriction in the supply of quality off-campus housing in that era, with many landlords accused of discriminating against student renters, or offering sub-standard accommodations. As many as 500 students were searching unsuccessfully for apartments in the summer of 1974. The "Housing '74" tent city project aimed to temporarily house students and draw attention to the issue, and draw attention it did, with local and national media coverage. 

After his second term as Feds president ended, Telegdi founded an organization called Youth in Conflict with the Law, an agency that helped youth and young adults who were out on bail. He was director of the organization from 1976 to 1993, and again from 2013 to 2017.

From 1985 to 1993 he held municipal office for the City and the Region of Waterloo.

In 1993, Telegdi, along with Waterloo History professor John English, became the first University of Waterloo alumni elected to federal office, representing the riding of Waterloo, which would later be renamed Kitchener-Waterloo. As MP, Telegdi visited campus regularly on government business and remained a familiar face at Waterloo. His time in government was marked by a keen interest in social justice issues including citizenship, immigration, and human rights.

He held the riding by comfortable margins through the 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections, before losing the seat to Peter Braid by 17 votes in 2008. In 2011 he contested his old seat but was again defeated by Braid.

Telegdi's most recent run for public office was in 2014, when he unsuccessfully ran for Waterloo regional councillor.

There has been no shortage of the supply of tributes to Telegdi from his former colleagues on Parliament Hill.

There will be a visitation today from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home. The funeral will be at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 28 at Knox Presbyterian Church in Waterloo.

Top photograph courtesy of University of Waterloo Library, Special Collections & Archives.

Waterloo welcomes the Year of the Rooster

Chinese paper lanterns.

Chinese New Year falls on January 28 this year, marking the beginning of the Year of the Rooster.

Also known as the Spring Festival, Chinese New Year is an important cultural celebration for many Waterloo students, faculty and alumni. Among new international students arriving at Waterloo in 2015-16, about 65 per cent of undergraduate and 40 per cent of graduate students come from countries and regions that traditionally celebrate the new year, including China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam. Waterloo’s roots in the region run deep — 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the University’s Hong Kong Alumni Association.

Link of the day

50 years ago: the Apollo 1 disaster

When and where

Research Talks featuring Professor Joanne Atlee, “Detecting and resolving software errors,” Friday, January 27, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., DC 1302. Please register – seating is limited.

Noon-Hour Concert: From Vienna With Love, Friday, January 27, 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University Chapel.

Waterloo Women: Ideas, Makers and Innovators, Saturday, January 28 and Sunday, January 29, 

Master of Taxation Open House, Saturday, January 28, 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 220 Yonge St, Unit 115, Toronto.

iGEM 2017 Open House, Saturday, January 28, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., M3 1006.

WaterTalks lecture series featuring Richard Luthy, Stanford University, California, "Urban Water Supply Re-invention for Dry Cities," Monday, January 30, QNC 1502.

Grammar Studio Series, "Connecting the dots: Structure and organization," Tuesday, January 31, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The Water Institute and Engineering present "Using Open-Access GIS to Address Issues in Spatial Hydrological Modelling," Tuesday, January 23, 1:00 p.m., QNC 0101.

Partnerships 4 Employment Job Fair, Wednesday, February 1, 10:00 a.m., Manulife Sports Park, Waterloo.

Noon Hour Concert: Russian Songs & Sonatas, Wednesday, February 1, 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel Chapel.

Hallman Lecture Series featuring Professor Diane Phillips, University of Canberra, “Fostering the Conversation: Creativity and Innovation at the Grassroots for the Promotion of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Waterloo,” Wednesday, February 1, 2:00 p.m., AHS 1686.

Velocity Start: Ain’t No Model Like A Business Model, Wednesday, February 1, 7:30 p.m., Velocity Start, SCH 2nd Floor.

World Wetlands Day, Thursday, February 2.

Grammar Studio Series, "Making it shine: Conciseness and revision strategies," Thursday, February 2, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

World Wetlands Day public lecture featuring Ania Grobicki, Deputy Secretary General, RAMSAR, “From the age of carbon to the age of water- the role of wetlands” Thursday, February 2, 7:00 p.m., DC 1351.

Knowledge Integration alumni panel, “Life after KI”, Friday, February 3, 2:30 p.m., EV3-1408.

Bechtel Lectures in Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies featuring Dr. Kenneth Nafziger, “Melting the Boundaries of Our Being: Explorations in Singing Together,” Friday, February 3, 7:00 p.m., Conrad Grebel Great Hall.

Bridges Lecture: Making Math VisibleFriday, February 3, 7:30 p.m., St. Jerome’s University. Registration link.

Do you have a solution to a global problem? World’s Challenge Challenge applications due Sunday, February 5, 11:59 p.m.

Velocity Fund $25K applications open, Monday, February 6.

Gender & Equity Scholarship Series featuring Jennifer Clapp, “Bigger is Not Always Better: Implications of Recent Agribusiness Mega-Mergers for Equity and the Environment,” Monday, February 6, 11:30 to 1:00 p.m., MC 5501. Lunch provided. Please register.

2017 Grimm Lecture: The Holocaust as History and Warning,” Monday, February 6, 7:00 p.m., Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages.

Order your Treat-a-Gram before Tuesday, February 7.

Velocity Start: Setup Your Business Like A Boss, Wednesday, February 8, 7:30 p.m. Velocity Start, SCH 2nd Floor.

A Conversation with MP Charlie Angus, presented by the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre. Thursday, February 9, 1:00 p.m., Theatre of the Arts.

Curtis Memorial Lecture, "Canadian Counter-Terrorism In the Age of Trump," Thursday, February 9, 5:00 p.m., PAS 2083.

Big Ideas Challenge Info Night, Thursday, February 9, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Alumni Hall.

Hagey Hub Grand Opening, Friday, February 10, 2:00 p.m., Hagey Hub.

WISE Public Lecture featuring Professor Srinivasan Keshav, "Solar + Storage + ioT +LED = $30 Trillion," Monday, February 13, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., DC 1302.

Moving Together: Toward a Theory of Crip Spacetime, Monday, February 13, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., Renison Room 2106. Please register.

Creating a Culture of Access for Mental Disability in University Space – A workshop for faculty and staff with disability studies professor Margaret Price, Tuesday, February 14, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., DC1301. Please register.

Velocity Start: Do People Want Your Sh*t?, Wednesday, February 15, 7:30 p.m., Velocity Start, SCH 2nd Floor.

Retirement celebration for Bob Harrison, Thursday, February 16, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Fed Hall. RVSP to edoede@uwaterloo.ca.

Weight Watchers at Waterloo sign-up deadline and meet-up, Tuesday, February 21, 12:00 p.m., EV2 1001.Contact mmfloyd@uwaterloo.ca for more information.

Velocity Fund $25K applications close, Saturday, February 25, 11:59 p.m. Apply.

Velocity Fund $5K pitch signups open, Monday, February 27. Signup.