Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Report highlights Waterloo's Global Impact

"We are pleased to share the newly–released Global Impact Report, featuring a broad diversity of voices and stories and supporting Waterloo's central strategic goal — to be recognized as one of the world's top innovation universities," writes Vice-President, University Relations Sandra Banks in a mass email circulated to faculty and staff today.

The Global Impact Report is the second part of the current State of the University Report and the companion piece to The President's Report released in 2017.

"The report features five global challenges where Waterloo is having a significant impact," Banks writes. "Each challenge area is introduced with an editorial examination of the issue, followed by an array of initiatives being undertaken by various members of the University community to tackle the issue. This report highlights the immense talent and knowledge that intersect and connect at Waterloo to provide critical solutions to global challenges."

"To support the global impact discussion, we have also planned a comprehensive, sustained and integrated marketing & communications plan for 2018. Not only will the report itself be distributed extensively to various key stakeholder groups, we have also launched phase two of our "Beyond" marketing campaign, leveraging the global impact themes and content. Further, we are drawing on the Waterloo Innovation Summit brand, launching a new speaker series in select markets to showcase Waterloo's global impact. The first – Beyond Impact – took place in Toronto on Friday, March 23, in partnership with the Globe and Mail."

"Watch for more details on future events," Banks concludes.

Top honours for track stars at Athletics Banquet

A version of this article appears on the Athletics and Recreation website.

The Department of Athletics and Recreation celebrated the 2017-18 Warriors season last Thursday night at the 58^th annual Athletics Banquet.

"It was an incredible season for our Warriors including several outstanding individual and team performances," said Roly Webster, director of athletics and recreation. "It is always an enjoyable scene when you have 600 student-athletes together in the same room and celebrate all that they have accomplished academically and athletically. I am extremely proud of each and every student-athlete that competed for us this past season."

Top honours went to a pair of track and field athletes with Tegan Sauer and Jörg Ahne earning the Athletes of the Year Awards.

Sauer was awarded the Marsden Trophy as female athlete of the year after a standout season with the track team. Sauer captured bronze at the OUA Championship in the 60m, finishing in a time of 7.56s.

Two weeks later, Sauer competed at the U SPORTS Championship and dashed her way to a new personal best time of 7.48s to win the U SPORTS bronze.

Overall Sauer finished the season with five gold medals and one silver and was also a big part of Waterloo's 4x200m relay team that finished sixth in the province at the OUA Championship.

Ahne was presented the Totzke Trophy as male athlete of the year thanks to memorable season in long jump with the track team. Ahne first won OUA gold jumping to a distance of 7.42m and was named a first-team all-star. Two weeks later, Ahne leapt to a new varsity record distance of 7.43m at the U SPORTS Championship to easily grab the gold medal and repeat as the national champion.

Ahne also won two golds and one bronze throughout the season and was an integral part of the 4x200m relay team's seventh place finish at the U SPORTS Championship.

Ahne currently holds nine of the 10 best long jumps ever in the history of Warriors track and field.

Other hardware handed out included the annual Warrior Shield of Excellence award recognizing outstanding accomplishments by a graduating student-athlete in their sport, academics and community service.

Braden Cok and Jordan McConkey were two recipients of the award of five remarkable seasons with the Warriors men's volleyball team. Cok is a three-time OUA all-star while leading his team to four straight OUA final fours and three straight national championships.

McConkey is a four-time OUA all-star while also playing a pivotal role in Waterloo's appearances at OUA and U SPORTS championships. McConkey was also a part of Canada's National Senior B team last summer.

Other Shield winners including hockey players Mike Moffat and Stephanie Sluys and swimmer Jonathan Ramkissoon.

Moffat was an OUA all-star each of his four years competing with the Warriors, and won a FISU bronze medal with team Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games. He finished his career with 20 goals and 52 assists.

Sluys was the OUA Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the 2017 Marsden Trophy winner in 2017, and won silver with Canada at the 2017 Winter University Games. She is the all-time leader in shutouts with 15 and has a career goal against average of 1.73 and save percentage of .932.

Ramkissoon was the final recipient of the Shield of Excellence and has done nothing but break records in the pool for the Warriors. In his career, Ramkissoon has won 12 medals (2 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze) at OUA Championship meets and was awarded the 2018 OUA Graduating Award of Distinction.

Check the full story on the Athletics and Recreation site for more award winners.

How do you like them APPLS?

This is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared on the Culture and Language Studies website.

Applied Language Studies (APPLS) recently welcomed back APPLS alumni to share how APPLS courses impacted their careers and academic paths. Coordinator of the APPLS minor, Julia Williams, organizes this semi- annual event.

“This is a fun event for current APPLS students and for the returning alumni too. Current students are really interested in talking with the alumni and finding out how the APPLS courses influenced their study and work decisions post-graduation.”

This year, five alumni returned to talk with APPLS students.

Currently teaching introductory French courses, graduate student Taylor Valnion attributes APPLS to “opening my mind and perspectives to language and linguistics. Getting a hands on experience with lesson plans and assessment helped me to feel comfortable in a teaching environment.”

Tessa Smits enrolled in APPLS to prepare her for teacher’s college. In her Second Language Acquisition course she was paired with an international student. What started off as meetings for an assignment later blossomed into cross-cultural friendship. Years later, Smits still keeps in contact with her conversation partner, stating this experience allowed her to “become sensitive to culture and languages. It helped me see different backgrounds and how culture is tied to identity.”

Read the rest of the article on the Culture and Language Studies website.

Board of Governors meets today; other notes

The University of Waterloo's Board of Governors meets today at 1:30 p.m. in NH 3407. Among the agenda items at today's meeting:

• A motion to approve the creation of the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business as a new unit in the Faculty of Arts;
• A motion to approve the change in name of Retail Services to “Print and Retail Solutions,” which the University's Senate endorsed last month;
• A motion to approve the notion that Campus Wellness "be the department name which will encompass Counselling Services, Health Services, and Health Promotion," which Senate endorsed last month;
• A motion to approve increases to the Student Services Fee on the order of 4.3 percent for undergraduates and 4.5 percent for graduate students;
• Motions from the Finance & Investment Committee to approve revised Endowment Fund Investment Guidelines and revised IQC Fund Investment Guidelines, effective May 1, 2018; and
• A motion to approve the 2018/19 Operating Budget.

Governors will also hear an oral report on student mental health and a research presentation by Richard Hughson, Schlegel Research Chair in Vascular Aging and Brain Health in the Department of Kinesiology.

The April LGBTQ+ Making Spaces workshop takes place on April 12 at 9:00 a.m. Sponsored by the Equity Office, the Making Spaces program is a framework for creating affirming spaces on campus and fostering interpersonal relationships through education and training on aspects of social identity. Community members partake in training and a registration process to become Space Makers, ambassadors of equity. The program launched as a pilot in fall 2016. Check the Making Spaces website to sign up for the winter 2018 workshops.

Human Resources has reported that the following staff have retired, effective April 1, 2018 (no foolin'!):

• P. Kirk Patterson, who joined the University in February 2008, retired as Business Developer in CECA;
• Marianne Appleby, who started working at Waterloo in September 2005, retired as Administrative Assistant in Psychology;
• Charles Reinhart, who began working at the University in July 2007, retired as Building Serviceperson I, Plant Operations;
• Robert Yawney, whose career at Waterloo started in September 1998, retired as System Integration Specialist, IST;
• Ronald Coulter, who started at the University in March 2001, retired as Building Serviceperson II, Plant Operations; and
• Alfrieda Swainston, who joined Waterloo in April 1974, retired as Associate Director, Human Resources.

Congratulations all!