Friday, December 22, 2017

Campus prepares for its long winter’s nap

"Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year to all" from your friends in Plant Operations who gathered for an Ugly Christmas Sweater party yesterday.

Well, it's that most wonderful time of the year - the last working day before the University's winter break. In a few short hours, the University will close for its longest holiday of the year, with students, faculty and most staff taking a breather until 2018.

It's also payday, just in time for a flurry of last minute Christmas shopping.

On that note, most Retail Services locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today.

As for the Media.Doc locations, the South Campus Hall and Student Life Centre locations will also be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but the MC, DC, and Science Teaching Complex locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Check the Retail Services website for more details.

Food Services operations are winding down as well, and the majority will close up shop later today. Caffeine addicts will still have a few options today, including:

• Tim Hortons in the Davis Centre, open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.;
• Tim Hortons in South Campus Hall, open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.;
• Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre, open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Check the Locations and Hours website for a full breakdown of Food Services openings and closings. The University Club’s Christmas Luncheon Buffet is still running today until 2:00 p.m. And let’s pour out a little coffee on the curb for the PAS Lounge, which has permanently closed after many years of operation. Cheers!

As for the Library, the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. today as part of intersession hours. Library operations will be closed on Saturday, December 23 through Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, January 2, 2018. Check the Library website for a full list of locations and hours. 

REV, V1, MKV, and UWP Front Desks will close at 12:00 p.m. (noon) today and will reopen on January 1 at 12:00 p.m. The CLV Front Desk will close today at 5:00 p.m. and will reopen at 8:00 a.m. January 1.

The Residence IT Service Desk located in Village 1 will close at 1:00 p.m. today and will reopen January 3, 2018 at 12:30 p.m.

The Physical Activities Complex and the Columbia Icefield are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today

IST services including the service desk in EC2 (exam scanning and helpdesk services) will be open on Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Media Resources in MC1007 and Equipment Loans in MC1088 will be open for regular hours on Friday, December 22 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Central Stores will provide normal delivery/pickup services for all departments today. Afternoon delivery and pickup times may change slightly due to an extended lunch break.

Campus Wellness locations (including Health Services and Counselling Services) will be closed for the holiday break beginning tomorrow. Counselling Services closes at 4:30 p.m. today, and Health Services shutters at 5:00 p.m.

Students with medical needs over the holidays are encouraged to first call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866-797-0000 for medical advice. Students with medical emergencies should contact Campus Police at ext. 22222 or by calling 911. Check the Campus Wellness website for additional resources.

The School of Pharmacy and the Waterloo Stratford Campus are both open today. The Stratford Campus is open until 4:30 p.m.

The School of Architecture is open today, as is its Melville Café. Design At Riverside is open until 5:00 p.m. today.

Rick Zalagenas, Director of Maintenance and Utilities, reports that building conditions will be held at normal night and weekend setback temperatures starting tonight, and most ventilation will be turned off. "The university is closed," he stresses, "and anyone who elects to be here should not be expecting normal services and temperatures." Zalagenas invites everybody's help with conservation, ensuring all appliances, office equipment and unused fume hoods are turned off. "And please make very sure all windows are closed before you leave.”

The time has also come for laboratories to be shut down in an orderly fashion for the holiday break. The Safety Office has circulated its annual list of precautions to be taken to ensure a safe shutdown over the holiday period.

All laboratory operations are to be suspended by 5:00 p.m. today, and may resume on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

The last day for hazardous waste pickup and drop-off at the Environmental Safety Facility was Thursday, December 21. Any remaining hazardous material should be stored in properly sealed containers and in containment areas. Compressed gases and equipment gas supply lines should be shut off.

Electrical devices, such as hot plates, computers, fume hoods and environmental chambers (if they aren’t containing hazardous materials, that is) should be turned off and unplugged, which will prevent damage to equipment due to power surges, while at the same time reducing energy waste and pollution.

Anyone working in a lab during shutdown should have supervisor and departmental approval and adhere to the Working Alone Guidelines posted on the Safety Office website. The Safety Office is available to answer questions at extension 35755.

Your guide to a campus in hibernation

Beginning tomorrow, things will quiet down on campus as we close up shop for six business days, with two weekends thrown in free of charge.

All Retail Services operations will be closed over the holidays.

Athletics facilities are also closed during the break. Check the holiday hours page for more information.

Most Food Services locations will be closed through Monday, January 1, 2018, opening on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, with a few units waiting until Wednesday, January 3 to coincide with the start of lectures. Check the Food Services website for details about location hours.

The Libraries will be closed from Saturday, December 23 to Monday, January 1, 2018.

The ECEC children’s program closes today at 12:00 p.m. and will re-open on Monday, January 8, 2018 with regular hours. 

The School of Pharmacy and the Waterloo Stratford Campus will be following the main campus's shutdown schedule over the holidays.

The School of Architecture will be closed from Friday, December 22 at 4:30 p.m. to Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. The School will be shut down and inaccessible to anyone including students, faculty and staff for the shutdown's entire period. The fob system will be inactivated over this period. 

The Melville Café is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 24 and is closed December 25, reopening on December 27 and remaining open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. until December 31. It is closed January 1, 2018. It will reopen with its regular hours on January 2, 2018.  

Design at Riverside is closed from December 24 to 27, reopening on December 28 and remaining open to December 29 from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is open on December 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and December 31 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is closed January 1, 2018. It will reopen with its regular hours on Tuesday, January 2^, 2018.

Residences, with the exception of Columbia Lake Village-North, are all closed for the holiday break. There are short-term accommodation options available. The Waterloo Residences office will reopen on Tuesday, January 2 at 8:30 a.m.

The Graduate Apartments at St. Paul's will be open to tenants during the holidays and on-call staff will be available during the break. The Guest Rooms are also open during the shutdown period and guests may use the convenient self-check-in process (Rooms should have been booked by 10:00 am on Thursday). 

Snow removal on the main campus over the holiday period will be "limited", according to the plant operations department. "Grounds staff will respond to serious snow issues," is the official word, especially to clear priority areas such as the ring road.


A major exception to the weeklong campus closing is the Student Life Centre. Scott Pearson, Operations Manager of the SLC, writes that the building will be open throughout the holiday season, as always. The Turnkey Desk (519-888-4434) “will be staffed 24 hour a day with friendly Turnkeys to provide assistance to those who stay on campus,” says Pearson.  

Pearson would like to remind campus that the Campus Doors and the pathway to QNC will all be closed until the first week of January. The Ring Road, Turnkey and Brubaker doors are available.

Most of the SLC's businesses will shut down entirely throughout the break including Lifetouch Photography, Campus Tech, Tim Hortons, Brubakers, the Bombshelter, International News, Student Health Pharmacy, WatCard and SOS Physiotherapy.

CIBC will be open on both Saturday December 23 and 30 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will be closed on December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1. The branch will be open regular hours on December 23, 27, 28, 29, and 30. All regular business hours will resume on Tuesday, January 2.        

Campus Dentist will be open until Friday, December 22 and will resume regular hours on Tuesday, January 2. 

The Student Health Pharmacy closed on Thursday, December 21 and will resume regular hours on Tuesday January 2.

GO Transit and Greyhound will continue to service campus throughout the shutdown, although on some days the schedules will operate on holiday scheduling. Full ticketing and travel information is online or available at the Turnkey Desk. GO Transit is implementing a schedule change starting on Saturday December 30^th, so please check your schedule for the New Year!

Pearson also states “on New Year’s Eve all transportation on GO Transit is free system-wide after 7:00 p.m. No tickets are required.”

Grand River Transit will be operating on a special holiday schedule from December 25 to January 7. GRT is also free after 6:00 p.m. on December 31. Many main routes will have extended service with final trips between 12:45 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.

All parking lots will be open and free throughout the holidays, except for lot D under Needles Hall and the Early Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) lot at the Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology (PAS) building. Gates to the lots around campus are being opened one by one in the course of this afternoon, says Acting Parking Manager Ed Danhousen. From now until the morning of January 2, 2018, there's no need to put money into any pay-and-display machines.

Students who live in residence and are leaving their cars on campus over the break should register with Parking Services and will be told just where to put the car, for the sake of snow clearing operations. Enforcement of parking rules on fire routes and in handicapped spaces will continue, the university police say.

"If you notice an outage of the campus network or any major IST-maintained computing facility, you can leave a voice message with the IST Service Desk at 519-888-4357 or submit a request online," writes Peggy Day. "Voicemail and Request items will be checked daily."

During the holiday break, grounds staff will be on call to do winter maintenance of emergency routes on campus as requested by either Police Services or the Central Plant.

Director of Police Services Alan Binns would like to remind campus that all buildings will be locked during the holiday break. UW Police Services will start locking doors at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, December 22.

“Please ensure anyone needing entry to your buildings during this time have keys available to them for that purpose,” writes Director Binns. “Also, as done previously, many of you leave building access keys with UW Police to be signed out. This practice will continue. Keys may be signed out only to those people you have specifically authorized.” Persons signing out these keys will be required to deposit a WatCard or driver’s licence, to ensure their return.

Al also informs us that this is a vulnerable time for the campus and valuables should not be left unsecured.

What to expect when you return in 2018

As of Tuesday, January 2, the University will be up and running for a new year and a new term. The co-op work term commences Tuesday, January 2 and lectures and classes will begin on Wednesday, January 3.

Police Services will be reopening campus buildings at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.

Campus Wellness offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 8:30 a.m.

MKV, REV, UWP, Village 1, Minota Hagey, Claudette Millar Hall and Columbia Lake Village-South residents can begin moving in on Tuesday, January 2 after 8:00 a.m. Co-op students can move in on Monday, January 1, 2018 at 8:00 a.m.

Columbia Lake Village-North residents can pick up their keys at the CLV community front desk and begin moving in after 8:00 a.m. on Monday, January 1, 2018.

The Waterloo Residences office will reopen on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. Visit Housing's move-in dates and times page for additional information.

Winter 2018 Extended Hours for Retail Services begin on Tuesday, January 2. From Tuesday, January 2 to Thursday, January 4, the Book Store, Waterloo Store, and Write Stuff will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Retail Services' 2018 hours of operation are available on their website. 


The Dana Porter and Davis Centre Library locations will be open at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Check the Library website for a full list of locations and hours.

Most Food Services locations will be back in action on Tuesday, January 2, with a few more opening on Wednesday, January 3. Check their hours and locations site for specific information.

Feds Used Books in the Student Life Centre opens on Tuesday, January 2 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, with 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. hours on Friday, January 5, 2018. A special Saturday opening from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. is also on the schedule for January 6, 2018.

WaterlooWorks postings and interviews will resume at the start of the winter work term on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, according to Co-operative Education.

IT Service Desks return to regular operating hours on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 8:30 a.m.

Winter Orientation begins on Tuesday, January 2 and runs to Friday, January 5, 2018. Check the Orientation page for more information.

Finally, the Daily Bulletin will return on Tuesday, January 2. Any emergency announcements before that date will be made on the University's home page. See you in the New Year!

A thank-you to Daily Bulletin contributors

Throughout 2017, I have had the privilege of working with many talented people across campus and beyond who have written material for the Daily Bulletin and who have helped keep the campus community informed about life at the University of Waterloo. Here is this year's honour roll:

Sandra Ace, Dan Ackerman, Elorm Agbeyaka, Brian Caldwell, Bruce Campbell, Chris Carniello, Alexandra Carruthers, Arifeen Chowdhury, Dana Ciak, Heather Cray, Tobi Day-Hamilton, Charmaine Dean, Jude Doble, Eleanor Doe, Aurrey Drake, Alex Farley, Susan Fish, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Sarah Forbes, Jacqueline Gergal, Carrie Gilmour, Anne Grant, Feridun Hamdullahpur, Nancy Harper, Catherine Heinmiller, Darcy Higgins, Zoey Hu, Jonathon Jackson, Peggy Jarvie, Naz Kittani, Paul Koch, Cayleigh Lemieux, Sabrina Li, Cayley MacArthur, Kelly McManus, Reid McRob, Kenton Needham, Kathy Nguyen, Christine Nhan, Kaitlin O’Brien, Emily Huxley Osborne, Diana Parry, Andreea Perescu, Wendy Philpott, Michelle Pressé, J.P. Pretti, Natalie Quinlan, Chris Read, Alana Rigby, Alecz Sallows, Joanne Shoveller, Nikola Skobo, Kari Pasick Stewart, Peter Stirling, Lori Straus, Marilyn Thompson, Carol Truemner, Sophie Twardus, Lauren Ward, Annaka Willemsen, and Nina Yan.

Thank you all.

Well, that about does it for 2017. Rather than say "and to all a good night," I will leave the final greeting of the season to Waterloo Residences: