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Waterloo will install Chancellor, give awards at Fall Convocation
More than 2,000 students will receive their degrees at Waterloo’s 117th convocation, and the University will install a new chancellor and award four honorary doctorates.
Waterloo will install Dominic Barton, global managing partner emeritus of McKinsey & Company, as its 11th chancellor on October 27 at 10:00 a.m. Barton stepped down as the firm’s global managing partner after nine years and completing the maximum of three terms. Barton is the chair of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth. He holds degrees in economics from the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Barton succeeds Tom Jenkins, chair of the board at OpenText Corporation. Jenkins’ three-year term ended in the spring. The University will name Jenkins chancellor emeritus.
Other highlights of Waterloo’s 117th convocation include:
Friday, October 26, 10:00 a.m. - Applied Health Sciences and Science
David A. Butler-Jones is senior medical officer for First Nations and Inuit Health at Health Canada. Dr. Butler-Jones was the first chief public health officer of Canada and head of the Public Health Agency of Canada. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards for his achievements in public health and commitment to health equity. He will receive an Honorary Doctor of Science and address convocation.
Lynn Judge will become an Honorary Member of the University. As the director of academic services in Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, formerly the Graduate Studies Office, she championed projects to improve the graduate student experience and services for graduate students.
Friday, October 26, 2:30 p.m. - Environment and Mathematics
Ingrid Daubechies is the James B. Duke professor of mathematics and electrical and computer engineering at Duke University. She was the first female full professor in mathematics at Princeton University. It was while she was a researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories that Daubechies published her discoveries regarding wavelet theory. Among her many honours, she received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics, a MacArthur Fellowship, and King Albert II of Belgium gave her the title of baroness. She will receive an Honorary Doctor of Mathematics and address convocation.
Alfrieda Swainston will become an Honorary Member of the University. Having worked at the University for 50 years, she was instrumental in the design and development of the staff salary structure and job evaluation system that enabled the University to achieve pay equity compliance 30 years ago and since then, managed the strict adherence to the framework to ensure equitable and affordable salary administration practices across the staff employee group.
Saturday, October 27, 2:30 p.m. - Engineering
Parker Mitchell, a Waterloo alumnus, is the founder and CEO of SHIFT. With George Roter, he co-founded Engineers Without Borders, one of Canada’s most influential non-governmental organizations dedicated to tackling global poverty. A recipient of Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross (Civil), Mitchell will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering and address convocation.
George Roter is a director at Mozilla. He launched Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in 2000 with Parker Mitchell. A Waterloo alumnus, Roter worked to develop and expand EWB into a vibrant and highly successful organization addressing poverty around the world. Roter has received Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross (Civil) and numerous other awards. He will receive an Honorary Doctor of Engineering and address convocation.
Leo Rothenburg will be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Formerly chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Waterloo, Rothenburg also served as acting dean of the Faculty as well as associate vice-president, international. He has made several innovative research achievements, and has a reputation for exceptional teaching and student supervision. His expertise in theoretical and computational methods are in use in the geomechanics of mining, petroleum, solid waste and transportation.
More information on Waterloo’s 117th convocation is available on the website.
Research centre launches workplace musculoskeletal prevention guide
Conference participants included the CRE-MSD team, Ministry of Labour representatives, Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer and the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour.
The Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) unveiled a new guide for the province of Ontario that will help prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace – the largest single contributor to lost time and costs.
CRE-MSD, which is based in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, developed the guide through funding provided by the Ontario Ministry of Labour and launched it at a conference this week to coincide with October’s Global Ergonomics Month.
“Primary prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, the focus of the new guideline, is on saving workers from injury in the first place, before they enter the compensation and medical systems,” said CRE-MSD Director and Kinesiology Professor Jack Callaghan. “Musculoskeletal disorders include injuries to the muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves that develop from exposure to hazards such as repetitive, forceful or awkward movements. These disorders are preventable and the hazards can be mitigated, yet musculoskeletal disorders continue to account for more than one-third of all lost-time workplace injuries in Ontario."
Amin Yazdani, a researcher in Kinesiology and co-lead for the guide’s development, added, “Poor workplace design and lack of evidence-informed best practices in the prevention of workplace injuries have resulted in a significant number of work disabilities among our working population and an enormous economic loss for Ontario employers. The new MSD prevention guideline and resources provide easy-to-use and scalable tool sets for organizations, regardless of size and sector, to effectively prevent workplace injuries and improve their productivity, performance, and product and service quality.”
Consult the new online MSD Prevention Guideline.
Go Red Day ends, but the United Way campaign is just beginning
From Applied Health Sciences’ Instagram account: #TealGoesRed as #UWaterlooAHS kicks off #UWUnitedWaycampaign with our infamous pancake breakfast! Serving ambitious stomachs and generous wallets for an awesome cause.
A message from the United Way campaign.
‘Go Red’ Day may be done, but our 2018 United Way campaign is just getting started!
Earlier this week, students, staff and faculty helped launch the campaign by dressing in red and decorating their offices. You can check out all of the photos from the day on Facebook. Thanks to the campus community for showing their support.
Our campus community makes an incredible effort for United Way ever year; however, in 2017 for the first time in the history of the Waterloo’s campaign, we fell short of our goal. We can’t be happy with the status quo. Let’s work together to meet or exceed the 2018 goal of $270,000 so that we can continue to make a difference in our community.
Wondering how you can get involved and give back?
Making a donation through e-Pledge is the easiest way to support United Way Waterloo Region Communities. Setting up an ongoing donation via payroll is an easy way to support the campaign and even $10/month makes a difference. You can also connect with your area’s United Way volunteer representative to learn what your unit is doing this month. Don’t have an area volunteer? It’s not too late to volunteer for the 2018 campaign.
Make sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, October 25 and join on-campus celebrity chefs serving soup in STC for Souper Thursday. Warm up with a bowl of soup in support of United Way (tickets available in MC 2010, minimum suggested donation: $5).
Thursday's notes
Registration for Keeping Well at Work Day closes Friday, October 5. Keeping Well at Work Day is a full day of wellness programs and activities for employees across campus and will take place on Wednesday, October 10. The morning portion of the day will be filled with keynote speakers and the afternoon portion will have workshops and wellness booths. Keynote speakers include CTV's Dr. Marla Shapiro and Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod of ParticipACTION and Body Break fame.
The Safety Office and Plant Operations will be conducting fire drills for several academic and academic support buildings on Tuesday, October 9. The drills will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude around 11:15 a.m. Buildings affected included:
- OPT;
- RAC1;
- EC4;
- E5/E7;
- E6;
- DWE;
- E2 and E3;
- EIT;
- C2;
- QNC;
- ERC; and
- BMH.
In the event of bad weather the drills will be postponed until Wednesday, October 10.
The Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (WCMR) is organizing an event that may be of interest to researchers across campus.
Ontario Genomics has just launched its Ontario regional Priorities Partnership Program (RP3) and will be coming to the University of Waterloo on Wednesday October 10 at 10:00 a.m. to give an information session in QNC 1506. For more information check out the WCMR's website.