Monday, October 15, 2018

Zero Waste Week begins

From October 15 to 19, check out the events happening around campus as part of Zero Waste Week.

The Sustainability Office and Plant Operations have organized several activities to raise the visibility of waste management and encourage proper sorting of waste and recycling on campus.

By participating, you’ll be entered to win some zero waste prize packs or WatCard top-ups. The activities include: 

1. Take the Zero Waste Challenge: Can you fit all your garbage for the next week into a single 500mL mason jar? Stop by the Sustainability Office (EV1-301), or visit one of our booths across campus to pick up your jar and take the challenge! Jars are first-come, first-served.
2. Visit the Sort-A-Thon: Stop by one of our booths across campus this week to see how many common items you can sort correctly in 30 seconds or less. You can also pick up your mason jar!
3. Take the online quiz: Think you have waste sorting smarts? Only 20 percent of respondents can get an 80 percent grade or higher on this quiz of common sorting mistakes on campus and at home.
4. Visit Waste Mountain: How much waste do we actually produce on campus? Visit the Davis Centre Quad to see how much waste is generated during one week!

For more information, visit the Zero Waste Week webpage and help us promote on social media using the hashtags #ZeroWasteUW and #WasteWeekUW if you can!

High Commissioner of India to speak on campus

Waterloo International will be hosting High Commissioner of India to Canada Vikas Swarup for a public lecture on Tuesday, October 23.

High Commissioner Swarup’s address is entitled “The New India” and will focus on the sweeping transformation currently underway in India, the dynamism of the Indian economy, and India’s position as the fastest-growing major economy in the world.

Swarup was born in Allahabad and graduated from the University of Allahabad. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. In his career spanning more than 30 years, he has served in diplomatic assignments in Ankara, Washington DC, Addis Ababa, London, Pretoria and Osaka-Kobe.

Swarup is also the author of three novels: Q&A, which was adapted as the multiple Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, Six Suspects, and The Accidental Apprentice. His books have been translated into more than forty languages.

The event takes place in EC5 1111 (the first-floor theatre) from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a reception to follow at 4:30. Please register online.

Years of Loyal Service reception to honour employee milestones

The annual Years of Loyal Service reception is scheduled for Tuesday, November 20.

As part of a pilot project to enhance the way that employees are recognized at the University, the Years of Loyal Service event will focus on those employees celebrating their 5, 10, 15 and 20 year milestones. This year, there are 325 faculty and staff members celebrating work anniversaries.

The event takes place in the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre room 0101. Hors d'oeuvres and a complimentary beverage will be served. Additional drink tickets will be available for purchase. Doors open at 4:00 p.m. and brief remarks by President Feridun Hamdullahpur and Director, HR Total Compensation Lee Hornberger will take place at 4:30 p.m.

Employees marking their 5, 10, 15 and 20-year milestones will be receiving an invitation to attend the event. The registration deadline is Tuesday, November 13.

Remembering Professor Emeritus Jay Thomson

James A. (Jay) Thomson, professor emeritus in Waterloo’s Department of Kinesiology, passed away October 9.

Thomson studied chemistry at McMaster as an undergraduate and master’s student, and completed his PhD at Waterloo in 1970. Following a post-doctoral stint at Iowa State University, he returned to Waterloo in 1972 as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology.

Thomson recollected during his induction in the University’s 25-Year club: "I was returning to a campus and people I knew well. The difference was being hired in kinesiology -- a new program with a name and identity problem ('what is it?') but huge potential and excitement." The kin department was scattered over half the campus then, and Thomson's first office was in the basement of Chemistry II. "I wasn't sure what I could contribute," he said, "but was certain that I would continue learning. What was a five-year trial in my mind, stretched a bit longer."

An expert in nutrition and the biochemistry of exercise, Thomson’s research focused on how metabolism and contractile events in skeletal muscle are affected by acid accumulation during intense work. He taught generations of kinesiology students the foundations of biochemistry, human nutrition, and adaptive physiology. Thomson embraced technology and was one of the first in the Faculty to teach both online and in the classroom. Says former chair and dean Bob Norman, “I greatly admired the high quality, meticulous development of the evidence-based nutrition course he developed for the department. A huge demand evolved for this course and thousands of students from all Faculties took it in class or by distance education.”

Thomson tirelessly served the University in a multitude of other ways -- including faculty representative on Senate, associate chair for undergraduate affairs, and more than 10 years as chair of the University Committee on Student Appeals (UCSA), the body that deals with discipline issues and grievances.

Outside of the classroom and boardroom, he could be found leaving Blue North at 11:40 a.m. for his almost daily run with a tight-knit group of equally competitive campus comrades, clocking an estimated 130,000 km over more than a third of a century.

Upon retirement in 2006, he was active on the UWaterloo Retiree Association Board and took up the baton as editor of the WATtimes retiree newsletter, keeping thousands of faculty and staff connected and informed. His dedication to students continued as he and wife Shirley, former executive assistant in the Faculty of Mathematics, provided ongoing support to, and promotion of, the Waterloo Retirees’ Scholarship.

“Jay was kind, generous, unassuming, a real team player whose honesty and intelligence were clearly evident and admired,” says colleague and friend Howie Green. “We have lost a very dear friend.”

Focus on Teaching Week begins and other notes

This week the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is offering a number of workshops as part of its Focus on Teaching Week. Workshop topics include course design, writing effective multiple-choice questions, creating effective written assignments, and more. Wednesday will also feature a day-long Experiential Learning Symposium. Additionally, the university’s new ePortfolio system – PebblePad – will be introduced. Details about Focus on Teaching Week are available on CTE’s events page.

The University's Senate has its October meeting today at 3:30 p.m. in NH 3407. Among the agenda items:

• Motions to approve a number of academic plan inactivations in Science and Aviation and Honours Physics;
• a motion to approve renaming the MA in Sociology and MA in Sociology (Co-op) to MA in Social and Legal Studies and MA in Social and Legal Studies (Co-op), effective Winter 2019;
• Senate will also make a decision on the future of the Fall Break after hearing a joint presentation by the Graduate & Research and Undergraduate Councils.

Senate will also hear a teaching presentation by Aldo Caputo, director of the Centre for Extended Learning.

Cosplaying for charity: in what is fast becoming an annual tradition, the Deans are dressing up at Senate to encourage Executive Council’s 100 percent participation in the University of Waterloo’s 2018 United Way campaign. Previous years have seen Deans dressed as characters from The Hundred Acre Wood and The Yellow Brick Road.

This year, the disguised deans will be taking a tour of campus armed with donation boxes as they visit the Outer Rim Territories on their way to Coruscant, with a pit stop at Tosche Station to pick up some power converters. Weather permitting, they will leave from the main floor at Needles Hall near AccessAbility around 2:45 p.m., heading out to the Ring Road towards the Student Life Centre before diverting between the Quantum-Nano Centre and MC, heading back towards the Arts quad and the Dana Porter Library before walking between Modern Languages and Environment back to Needles Hall. It will remain to be seen if the deans can make this run in less than 12 parsecs.

If you miss the Decanal March, you can still donate to the United Way campaign online via e-Pledge.

A test of the University’s emergency communication system is scheduled for Monday, October 22 between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Test activation and deactivation messages will be sent using the following channels:

• Tweets to @UWaterloo and @WatSAFEapp​;
• WatSAFE mobile app;
• The ‘UW Emerge’ on-screen pop-up for desktops and laptops;
• Skype for Business Instant Messages; and
• Portal alerts and push notifications.

Your feedback on how these channels operated, specifically the newly added Portal alerts and push notifications option, is appreciated (helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357).

In the event of a real emergency during this test, please contact Police Services at 519-888-4911, or ext. 22222.

Be sure to install the WatSAFE app on your device to receive this test message, and more importantly, to stay informed of campus emergency situations. Visit the WatSAFE website for more details.