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Executive actions in Doha and beyond
President Feridun Hamdullahpur speaks at the 2019 Staff Conference.
It’s Tuesday, April 30. Do you know what your president is up to?
President Hamdullahpur has been very active on and off campus over the past few weeks. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the President’s recent activities and a look ahead at what's on his calendar.
The largest citizenship ceremony in Waterloo Region’s history was hosted by the University of Waterloo on Friday, March 29 and President Hamdullahpur was proud to be able to meet each of the new Canadians and speak to them about what an important day it was for each of them, the University and Canada.
President Hamdullahpur took part in an active April Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday, April 2 with discussions ranging from Waterloo’s involvement in the federal Superclusters initiative to future enrolment targets.
The 12th Annual Staff Conference kicked off April 8 with the President welcoming a capacity crowd at the Humanities Theatre. The two-day conference is a major event for the University and its staff that is attended by more than 1,400 staff from across the campus community.
Later that day, the inaugural President’s Student Leadership Awards were presented by President Hamdullahpur to one undergraduate and one graduate student for their demonstrated leadership skills and service to the University and student community.
The President was in Edmonton from April 9-10 for the Universities Canada membership meeting. President Hamdullahpur also had the opportunity at the two-day meeting to lead a session with other university presidents where he presented the University of Waterloo’s leadership in the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and discussed the role Canadian universities have in helping our country achieve our SDG targets.
The President celebrated and thanked the nearly 100 University staff and faculty on Tuesday, April 16 at the annual 25-50 Year Dinner for their years of loyal service and dedication to Waterloo.
Wednesday, April 17 was a significant day for ApplyBoard, one of our local technology companies co-founded by Waterloo alum Martin Basiri, as the young company had a grand opening for its new global headquarters in Kitchener. President Hamdullahpur was on hand to help cut the ribbon on the new space that will be home to the 160-person (and counting) company.
The President traveled to Doha, Qatar for the 8th Global Conference on Global Warming where he was a keynote presenter, discussing “Renewable Energy, Climate Change and Society Triangle: Can Technology Answer All Questions?” on Monday, April 22.
On Thursday, April 25 the President had the pleasure of sitting down with Elizabeth Nyamayaro, Global Head for HeForShe, who was in Waterloo as a keynote speaker at the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada Conference that was hosted on campus. The President and Elizabeth discussed the HeForShe global initiative, equity and the need for more leadership positions for those who identify as women.
What’s next on the President’s schedule?
The President will be part of the celebrations in Toronto this evening at the opening of the new University of Waterloo Toronto Alumni Chapter. The new chapter will help connect our more than 60,000 alumni in the Greater Toronto Area.
The annual Retiree Reception will take place on May 1, where President Hamdullahpur will celebrate the dedication, passion and contributions of the University of Waterloo’s recent and previous retirees.
On May 4, the President will take part in a Canadian University Boards Association panel discussion with fellow university presidents from Queen’s University, the University of Winnipeg and Universities Canada. The expert panel will discuss the global and domestic challenges and opportunities for Canadian universities.
Get pulled in at tonight's black hole lecture
A capacity crowd will have their collective minds blown tonight as Professor Avery Broderick tells the story of how an international all-star team of astrophysicists joined together to peer millions of light-years across space to create a picture-perfect observation of a supermassive black hole located inside the massive elliptical galaxy M87.
Located in the constellation of Virgo, this gargantuan object has a mass of six-and-a-half-billion Suns and measures nearly half a light-year across.
"See the unseeable: A black hole discovery conversation with physicist Avery Broderick" takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and ticket holders must show proof of registration by providing a print or electronic ticket at the venue.
Joining Broderick on stage will be Brian McNamara, a professor, Department Chair and University Research Chair in Astrophysics at Waterloo and Bob Lemieux, Dean of the Faculty of Science.
The public event is sold out, but will be livestreamed.
Tuesday's notes
Are you thinking of hiring co-op students for the upcoming Fall work term? Waterloo is conducting a pilot using a predictive hiring platform called Plum.io that you can use to see which candidates have the greatest potential to succeed. If you would like hands-on instruction on how to use the Plum platform, you are welcome to attend one of two workshops:
- Thursday, May 2, 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., EC1 2117; or
- Thursday, May 9, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., TC 1112.
For more information please contact Sharon Kimberley via email at sharonk@uwaterloo.ca.
As part of the Water Institute's ongoing seminar series, Richard Marinos, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, will present "Ecosystem Recovery from Acid Rain: Biogeochemical Consequences in the Soil-Stream Continuum" on Thursday, May 2 at 2:30 p.m. in QNC 1501.
Richard Marinos is a biogeochemist who works to bridge the divide between terrestrial and aquatic sciences. He performed his dissertation research, studying how forests recover from acid rain, at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, the same forests where the negative effects of acid rain were first discovered. He completed his dissertation in 2018 at Duke University (North Carolina, USA) under Emily Bernhardt. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Water Institute member Nandita Basu's lab at the University of Waterloo, where he examines landscape-level controls on nutrient export in agricultural ecosystems.