Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Waterloo’s United Way campaign launches today

 A message from the United Way campaign

Black and gold has gone red today to celebrate the launch of the university’s 2017 United Way campaign.

Photos of red outfits and office spaces have started rolling in this morning and you can share how you’re taking part by snapping a photo for Twitter or Instagram with the #UWUnitedWay hashtag. You can also check out all of the photos from across campus. Cross-campus involvement is key to the campaign’s success and we look forward to counting on your support to help to meet our goal of $270,000.

Watch your inbox today for a special message from a few of our campus champions who share why they support the university’s campaign. Today’s email will also point you towards e-Pledge, the secure, online giving site that makes it easy for you to make a donation to the campaign via payroll, credit card, cash or cheque. We’ve also posted quick tips on our website that can walk you through making your donation.

The University of Waterloo community comes together at many points throughout the year, but there’s something special about the events that take place during the United Way campaign in October. Whether it’s cupcake decorating, chili cook offs, Halloween costume contests or head-shaving contests, we’re always impressed with your creativity. Make sure you check out campus-wide events as they’re posted throughout October, or connect with your area’s volunteer rep to find out what’s planned for your unit. Don’t have an area volunteer rep? It’s never too late to get involved – you can learn about the role and sign up on our website.

Alumni moving (back) into residence for pilot program

By Emily Huxley Osborne

The University is proud to unveil the “Get Ready for: Life After Graduation” pilot program that will provide more than 180 upper-year students with experience-based resources and skills to help them prepare for whatever life has in store after graduation.

The cornerstone of this program are the Alumni in Residence – Faryal Diwan (BES ’15) and Torrie Santucci (BES’14,  MCC’15). Living in newly-renovated Don suites on the North and South Courts of Waterloo’s UW Place, these alumni will draw from their own experiences and those of their alumni network to provide students with mentorship and access to skill-development workshops.

The “Get Ready for: Life After Graduation” pilot is a joint endeavour between the University’s department of Housing and Residences, Alumni Relations, and the Centre for Career Action. Running September to April, it will offer students the opportunity to attend workshops related to their post-graduation goals, whether they be related to their career, financial aspirations like owning a home, or how to prepare simple and healthy meals.

New handbook puts PIs on the case

A handbook developed by the Office of Research to help Principal Investigators understand the responsibilities and requirements of their role is available to all Waterloo researchers and staff.

The Principal Investigator’s handbook is a collection of resources designed to guide PIs on the compliance obligations related to their research project including:

• Clarifying intellectual property and commercialization rights
• Hiring a research team
• Declaring a potential conflict of interest
• Overseeing research agreements

Each aspect of the PI’s responsibilities is detailed with mandatory requirements and best practices.

Millennials find it costly to leave the nest, study says

High housing prices, debt, and job instability have led to an increasing number of millennials to live at home, according to a new report from the University of Waterloo.

The report, GenY at Home, was released last week and builds on recent census data findings that show 47.4 per cent of millennials, also known as GenY, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) live with their parents.

In addition to highlighting major reasons young people live at home, it also found that multiculturalism, relief from isolation and mutual support are eroding the stereotype that living with your parents is a bad thing.

“Most young adults living at home do so primarily for economic reasons, with 79.2 per cent of young adults living with parents to save money,” said Nancy Worth, the report’s author and geography professor at Waterloo. “In the face of precarious work and widespread economic insecurity, parental help offers a chance to save for a house or take on an unpaid internship, which gives people living at home an advantage over those who are living on their own.”

The report found that culture and family also play a significant role in young people staying or ‘boomeranging’ home and that many young people in the GTA come from cultural traditions where adult children living at home is nothing new.

For some, according to the report, co-residence is just about sharing physical space, while for others living with parents means actively being part of a close intergenerational family, sharing domestic work and spending time together.

“Whether you boomerang home for a few months after you finish school or between jobs, or you stay at home to save money or be with your family, living with parents into your late twenties or early thirties has become a new normal for young adults in the GTA,” said Worth who is a member of Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment.  “As we increasingly recognize the challenges of insecure work and high housing costs, living at home is more often seen as smart, strategic and lucky, as not everyone has this opportunity”.

According to the report, co-residence with parents can be part of a wider transfer of resources from one generation to the next and living at home can be an effective safety net, mitigating risk and setting some young adults ahead of their peers.