Friday, December 7, 2018

Nobel Prize ceremony viewing party on Monday

You know the old saying: there ain't no party like a Nobel Prize party 'cause a Nobel Prize party features a University of Waterloo professor.

On Monday, December 10, join the University of Waterloo community in celebration as Professor Donna Strickland receives the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, which will be broadcast live around the world.

There's still time to register to attend the event, which has been moved from its original location in the Science Teaching Complex's main commons to the University's Board and Senate Chambers in nearby Needles Hall, room 3407. Refreshments will be served.

If you can't make it to the official viewing party in Needles Hall, be sure to follow along online. The ceremony is being streamed live on YouTube as well as the Nobel Prize website.

The event begins at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

Follow along on social media with the hashtags #UWaterlooProud and #NobelPrize.

A season of giving at Waterloo

by Anne Galang.

Giving back to our community is important to the University of Waterloo. With the holiday season underway, groups across campus are doing their part to spread festive cheer and spirit through a variety of charitable initiatives.

A group of six women from Renison's School of Social Work ran a drive to collect feminine hygiene products for women staying at the YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo Emergency Shelter. In addition to supporting a local cause, the drive was also part of an effort towards creating period positivity and gender equity on campus. The group collected more than 2,000 menstrual products as well as a monetary gift of over $100 for the shelter. Additionally, because of the group’s campaigning, Renison has set aside a budget for a trial of free menstrual products in all 13 female and gender-neutral bathrooms beginning January 2019.

On December 1, the Peace Society at Conrad Grebel University College held their annual Make a Difference Market. This yearly market event, organized entirely by students, brings together local fair-trade vendors, music, and food to support a charity while holiday shopping. Students raised over $2,000 for Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support to help refugee claimants in our community.

UWaterloo Parking Services is running their “Gifts for Tickets” program for the first two weeks of December. Any $25 tickets will be waived with a donation of an unwrapped gift $10 in value or higher that will be passed on to Tree of Angels, the Feds Food Bank, or the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society. If you don’t have a parking ticket, you are more than welcome to make a contribution to the program at Parking Services.

The University Club has started their holiday buffet season, and with it, their Giving Tree campaign. When you head to the club for a tasty meal, you can participate by bringing in toy and book donations for the Salvation Army. From now until December 19, the club will provide a $5 gift card for each donation. Last year the University Club collected just under 200 toys and books.

The University Christmas Project, run through Co-operative Education, is up and running again this year. The project involves departments and units across campus taking on families to sponsor for the holidays. Home Care Services has provided a list of over 300 children from low-income families in Waterloo Region, and for each child, the project co-ordinators are given a list of clothing that is needed and toys they would like. There are still more than 80 children without a sponsor this year. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child is invited to contact Shannon Taylor at smtaylor@uwaterloo.ca. Wrapped and labelled gifts can be dropped off at the Tatham Centre until December 14.

Athletics and Recreation's Stuff the Warrior Van toy drive is in high gear, donating toys to children from infants up to 16 years old. The Toy Drive runs until Friday, December 21, and will be making a stop at the President's Holiday Luncheon on December 14 outside Fed Hall at 12:00 p.m.

Collection times and locations include:

• Columbia Ice Field Equipment Desk – Monday to Sunday (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
• Physical Activity Complex Main Office – Monday to Friday (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
• UW Police Services - Monday to Friday (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)

The drive is a collaboration involving Community Relations and Events, UW Police Services, Parking Services, and the Knights of Columbus.

The Library is running its annual "share the warmth" campaign and is accepting toys as well as new or gently-used winter gear, including coats, mittens/gloves, hats and socks in the toy box located by the Circulation Desk in the Dana Porter Library. The Salvation Army and the House of Friendship will be picking up toys and other items. The final pickup will be on Monday, December 17. This year there is a shortage of coats and men's boots.

University Relations is holding their own departmental initiative to sponsor families in the Kitchener-Waterloo area that do not qualify for holiday toy drives. Team members sign up to purchase items from a list for each family, including things like toys, clothes, books, groceries and gift cards, and will be wrapping up with a wrapping party on December 12 before donating the gifts.

We know these are just some of the great ways members of our University are giving back. What are you doing to make a difference?

We’d love to hear about it! Share your efforts with #UWCommunity or at tweet us at @uwdailybulletin.

Waterloo leaders remember Montreal tragedy and speak out on violence against women

On December 6, 1989, a man armed with a rifle entered a classroom at École Polytechnique, an engineering school in Montreal. He separated the men and the women and told the group he was “fighting feminism” before shooting all nine women in the room. He went on targeting women throughout the school and killed a total of 14 women and injured 10 more and four men before shooting and killing himself.

It is still the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history. To commemorate this day, the country observes the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women every year on December 6.

Yesterday, members of the university community and elected leaders in the region gathered in Engineering 7 to reflect on the tragic event. The occasion is especially poignant to the University of Waterloo, as a post-secondary institution that houses the largest engineering school in Canada.

As MPP Belinda Karahalios noted in her remarks at the ceremony, “These women were primarily young engineers working towards careers in a field where women are still underrepresented. This choice somehow made them targets.”

Deputy Provost and Associate Vice-President, Integrated Planning and Budgeting Susan Tighe recalled that as a first-year engineering student at the time, the “shock and terror of that tragedy” stays fresh in her heart.

Yesterday’s ceremony served as a memorial to the 14 women killed, and also as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done to address violence against women today. Speakers addressed the inequality women still face, but also looked to the future with hope.

Vice-President, Academic & Provost Jim Rush read a statement on behalf of President Feridun Hamdullahpur. “Today we remember the victims and the survivors of the attack. But we must also fight against the intolerance and gender-based violence that drove this abhorrent act.” The statement also noted the university’s continued steps to bring long-term gender equity forward through our UN HeForShe campaign commitment and other campus initiatives.

Karahalios reminded the audience that in addition to the victims of the massacre, “we must also remember the missing and murdered Indigenous women and every other woman across Ontario whose life was lost to violence.” She expressed anger that today, “we are still fighting for women’s lives, basic freedoms, rights and safety.” She also expressed her respect for those in the community working every day to help counter violence, including police and other front-line workers.

A candlelight vigil followed the speakers. 14 female students each lit a candle, reading aloud the name of one of the 14 women killed.

Associate Vice-President, Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion Diana Parry closed the ceremony, noting that the University is committed not merely to remembering the women killed at École Polytechnique, but also to creating a more equitable, safe and supportive environment here at the university, in Canada and around the world.