Wednesday, August 22, 2018

These are the issues: Research Excellence

This is part six of a 7-week series in the Daily Bulletin examining the Strategic Plan Bridge to 2020 issue papers. Have your say and join the Strategic Plan conversation by providing feedback!

"A number of indicators support the contention that Waterloo is highly regarded as a research institution," writes the Research Excellence issue paper advisory group. "Moving forward into 2020 and beyond, the University must sustain and surpass this reputation in an increasingly competitive global environment."

What will this take? Building on existing discipline-specific research excellence, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration through meaningful interactions and exchange of ideas across disciplinary boundaries, and seizing opportunities to lead in new and emerging research areas.

Key issues to ensure that Waterloo continues to seize research excellence include:

• Enhancing cross-Faculty and within-Faculty interdisciplinary research in a highly decentralized environment whilst maintaining and building anew discipline-specific research strengths;
• Addressing the interface between the physical sciences/engineering and medicine, absent a medical school;
• Increasing research funding in an era of extreme pressure on research dollars; and
• Recruiting and retaining excellent faculty.

The advisory group developed a number of thought-starting questions for further discussion, including:

• How important is it for Waterloo to engage more substantively in cross-Faculty interdisciplinary research? If doing so is important, how can Waterloo overcome the barriers to cross-Faculty research collaboration, and proactively foster and support it?
• Should Waterloo invest more heavily in targeted recruitment of senior research stars to enhance its reputation?

Read the full list of thought-starting questions.

Check out the full issue paper (PDF) on the Bridge to 2020 website.

Join the conversation and share your feedback on the Leveraging Resources issue paper.

Request for Proposals for the WatPD Program - Reminder

The Engineering Curriculum Committee (ECC) is requesting proposals for the development of a new course that focuses on tactics for workplace success. Development will take place Fall 2018 through Spring 2019.

This course will be the first core PD course that Engineering students take, and should develop an understanding that the workplace involves a lot more than just the application of technical knowledge. The course should emphasize the importance of soft/professional skills and help students to develop the habit of assessing and setting goals for their soft skills, just as they do for their technical skills. The course should be tactical rather than strategic, dealing with practical professional development topics that might be encountered in a first co-op term.

Some early course outcomes have been identified as:

• Students will be able to define professional development and compare the nature of technical skill development with that of soft professional skill development
• Students will be able to explain the importance of professional development in engineering 
• Students will develop the habit of pro-actively assessing their workplace and professional skills to determine the type of professional development that is most needed

Additional information can be found in the Request for Proposals on WatPD’s website. In advance of submitting a proposal, interested applicants are strongly encouraged to contact WatPD Associate Director, Program Improvement Erin Smith by sending an email to elsmith@uwaterloo.ca.

As a reminder, the deadline for these proposals has changed. Proposals must now be submitted to Erin Smith by August 31, 2018. 

United Way looking for the next Giving and Stewardship core committee member

A message from the University of Waterloo United Way Campaign

Do you have fundraising experience?

Are you looking for a way to get involved within the community?

Do you enjoy networking?

Would you like to develop new skills?

If you said ‘yes’ to any of those, we want to talk to you! The University’s United Way campaign is looking for staff or faculty members interested in volunteering in the role of Giving and Stewardship for the United Way core committee.

Purpose: To analyze pledge data and develop stewardship plan for university’s United Way campaign.

Time Commitment: The committee tends to meet throughout the year with more frequent meetings leading up to campaign month in October and less frequently the rest of the year. Time commitment can be flexible depending on your availability and stewardship strategies. The committee relies on a collaborative approach and no role works in isolation.

Select Duties:

• Thank individuals for gifting, solicit new donors, and encourage individuals to give.
• Cultivate stewardship relationships with campaign stakeholders such as organizational leaders and new staff/faculty.
• Develop communication materials alongside core committee members.

Qualifications of interest:

• Fundraising experience (can be paid or volunteer).
• Enthusiasm to be involved on campus and within the community beyond Ring Road.
• Previous experience analyzing data and developing plan to execute organizational strategies.
• Superior interpersonal communication skills with the ability to communicate professionally and build relationships.

If this sounds like the right fit for you or you would like to learn more, please email a statement of interest to united.way@uwaterloo.ca.

Wednesday's notes

The Centre for Ocular Research and Education (CORE) is currently seeking children ages 7-12 years old who wear glasses/contacts to participate in an exciting new daily disposable, contact lens research study at the University of Waterloo (with ethics clearance).

All study contacts and glasses will be provided. Receive up to $370 for up to 7 visits over 6-12 months. For more information visit the CORE website. Anyone with questions is invited to email corestudies@uwaterloo.ca or call 519-888-4742.

Plant Operations would like to remind the university community of the following operational shutdowns in the near future:

• Thursday August 23, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m: Earth Sciences & Chemistry 1, Elevator 6-1 will be out of service all day.
• Tuesday August 28 - Thursday August 30: Engineering 6, Chilled water will be unavailable during this time frame.
• Saturday August 25, 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m: William G. Davis Computer Research Centre, Electrical Power, Heating, Ventilation, and A/C will be unavailable during this time frame

There are no employers on campus next week. Visit the employer information calendar for more details.