Monday, January 22, 2018

Visiting Scholar position for academic refugee

Thousands of academics are among the millions of refugees who in recent years have had to flee their home countries due to war or persecution. A collaboration between the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo and English Language Studies at Renison has resulted in the creation of a visiting scholar position to assist one such academic. (For this story, the visiting scholar asked to be identified as B.A. due to continuing safety concerns.)

In his home country, B.A.—who has a PhD in Computer-Assisted Language Learning—was the Academic Coordinator at two universities. In 2016, however, he and his family had to abruptly leave their country for their own safety, losing all of their savings and possessions in the process.

After arriving in Canada, B.A. applied for academic postings but was told he “lacked Canadian experience.” After a chance meeting with B.A. in June 2017, Mark Morton – a CTE staff member – wondered whether CTE might be able to create a visiting scholar opportunity for B.A. to help him acquire the “Canadian experience” that would make him a more competitive job candidate. Donna Ellis, CTE’s Director, supported this idea and suggested a collaboration with Renison’s English Language Studies, which the Director of that program, Julia Williams, enthusiastically accepted. The paperwork was approved by Associate Vice President, Academic Mario Coniglio by the end of August, with B.A. being affiliated in the Fall term with CTE and now, in the Winter term, with English Language Studies.

The visiting scholar position is unpaid, but it does provide B.A. with office space, access to a Waterloo’s library system so that he can continue his research, opportunities to take campus workshops, and a university affiliation to use as he submits articles for publication. B.A. has also commented on deeply appreciating the opportunity to forge connections with Waterloo academics working in his area.

CTE’s Mark Morton notes that “there is a tremendous need for visiting scholar positions for academics such as B.A.” Scholars at Risk, a global organization that places at-risk academics as visiting scholars with universities in safe locations, currently has more than 700 such individuals seeking placements, a number that has increased 400 percent over the previous five-year period. “Canadian universities,” says Morton, “have an opportunity to help these at-risk scholars, while at the same time benefiting from the great expertise that they bring with them – it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

Acclamations, elections for campus student leaders

The Federation of Students (Feds) election nominations closed January 17 with a full slate of acclaimed Executives, a number of acclaimed council seats, and races for Science Council, Senate-at-Large and the Science Senate seat.

All positions for the Feds 2018-2019 Executive team were acclaimed. The Feds exec team will consist of President Richard Wu, VP Education Matthew Gerrits, VP Student Life (formerly VP Internal) Savannah Richardson, and VP Operations and Finance Kurt-James MacMillan.

Campaigns for Science Council, Senate-at-Large and the Science Senate seat will begin on January 22 and lead up to the vote period, February 5 to 7. Undergraduate students are encouraged to vote at polling stations on campus, online at vote.feds.ca, or through Portal.

• Running for Science Council are Benjamin Easton, Christopher Kocko, Elizabeth OSullivan, Christos Siokis, Maria Tzoganakis, and Seneca Velling.
• Running for Senate-at-Large are Thomas Dedinsky, Connor Plante and Hannah Sesink.
• Running for the Science Senate seat are Benjamin Easton and Tyler Marques.

Undergraduates are encouraged to come out to meet the students who will be representing them for the 2018-2019 academic year as well as the candidates running for Senate-at-Large, Science Council and the Science Senate seat at Brunch & Ballots on February 5 in the Student Life Centre Great Hall.

To learn more about the candidates and incoming representatives, please visit feds.ca/elections. Candidate bios will be available online over the coming days. Acclaimed council and senate seats will be announced at the end of the elections period.

Some council seats remain open for Arts, Applied Health Sciences, Environment, Math, Renison, Cambridge and Kitchener, while the senate seat for Environment also remains open. By-elections will take place after elections are closed. If you or someone you know is interested in running for a council or senate position, please contact elections@feds.ca for more information.

Remembering Peter Silveston

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Professor Peter Silveston (left) and Professor Robert Hudgins work with a model aerator as part of their research that would result in improved sewage treatment methods in 1982.

Retired Chemical Engineering professor Peter Silveston died on January 7 in Charleston, South Carolina at the age of 86.

Born in New York City in 1931, Silveston graduated from Oakwood High School in Poughkeepsie N.Y in 1947 and received his Bachelors and Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. He studied for his PhD at the Technische Hochschule in Munich, Germany.

After working as a research engineer in 1957 and as a professor at the University of British Columbia beginning in 1961, Silveston joined the University in 1963 as an associate professor in the department of chemical engineering.

His research interests included the dynamics of chemical reactors, turbidity measurement, coal carbonization and water clarification.  

Silveston was involved in organizing local nuclear disarmament activity at the University in the early 1980s as part of an organization called Science for Peace.

In 1994, Silveston launched a business called Gargoyles and Windcocks, selling ceramic and copper rainwater downspouts and wrought-iron decorative features. The business was an early adopter of online retailing.

Silveston retired from the University in September 1997 as a full professor. In 2003 he was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus and continued to teach overseas, write books and volunteer.

In 2006 he was named a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada in recognition of his pioneering research in the periodic operation of chemical reactors and his reputation as one of Canada's leading researchers in chemical reaction engineering.

"Peter's loving devotion to his children, grandchildren, friends, University of Waterloo Chemical Engineering colleagues and students, Audubon Society, Sierra club, Quaker meeting, MIT Alumni, Oakwood and Manumit Alumni was well known and will continue to be a source of joy and inspiration to all who knew and loved him," says a statement from his family. "His smiling presence and wit was shared with many friends and family throughout the world and he will be dearly missed."

He is survived by his three children and their spouses Yvan, James and Barbara and six grandchildren.

A celebration of life memorial will take place on Saturday, January 27 at the Cinder Creek Pavilion on Kiawah Island from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Silveston's family plans on planting a tree in his memory at the University of Waterloo.

"Those wishing to include any stories or other messages may do so by sending your text to info@silveston.ch and we will compile and share them," says the family's note.