Monday, May 13, 2019

David DeVidi named Associate Vice-President, Academic

"I am delighted to announce that Professor David DeVidi has been appointed Associate Vice-President Academic for a five year term commencing July 1, 2019," wrote Vice-President, Academic & Provost Jim Rush in a memo circulated to Executive Council and all academic chairs and directors last Wednesday.

"This portfolio is vitally important to the UW community, but is also a link to the external community through quality assurance, credit transfer, on-line learning and transfer programs," the provost writes.

Professor DeVidi completed his BA at Carleton, and both his MA and PhD at Western. He first arrived in the Department of Philosophy in 1994 as a postdoctoral fellow, and subsequently joined on as a faculty member in 1996. A scholar of philosophy, Professor DeVidi’s research focuses on logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of disability. Earning his appointment as full professor in 2007, he has led or been involved with numerous departmental, Faculty, and University-level initiatives, and his service to the community has included a variety of roles: as department chair (2012-18), associate chair of graduate studies (2003-09), three terms as a member of Senate, two terms as a member of the Board of Governors, and a term as president of the faculty association. He is a winner of the University’s Award of Excellence for Graduate Supervision and the Equity and Inclusivity Award.

"I am most grateful to David for agreeing to take on this role, and ask that you join me in congratulating him," the provost concludes. "I would also like to thank the members of the nominating committee, Jeff Casello, Donna Ellis, Matt Gerrits, Becky Grant, Catherine Newell Kelly, Marlee Spafford, Paul Stolee and Mike Grivicic, for a job well done."

DeVidi will succeed Professor Mario Coniglio, who has served in the role since 2013. 

Teaching and research award winners honoured today

The President's Reception for Excellence in Teaching and Research takes place this afternoon in Engineering 7.

The reception honours faculty and graduate students who have received an internal or external award for teaching excellence or an external research award, from the Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching By A Student to the Ven Te Chow Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, to name just two.

This year, the reception will celebrate recipients of 22 teaching awards and 108 research awards and honours. Several distinguished individuals have won multiple awards during the year.

Vice-President, Academic & Provost Jim Rush and President and Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur will be delivering remarks at the event and celebrating the honourees.

The reception runs from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Registration open for Waterloo Innovation Summit

Behind every breakthrough is a curious mind chasing answers and pushing limits. Join your peers on October 1 as global thought leaders and change agents take a deep-dive into the HealthTech boom at the Waterloo Innovation Summit, which is returning to the University of Waterloo campus for 2019.

"Global and individual health care continues to be deeply disrupted by technology," says the WIS website. "Quantum sensors improving cancer treatment, health informatics prioritizing patient care and computational models predicting better surgical outcomes are all examples of how HealthTech is transforming individual health and the delivery of medical care."

Speakers at the event include:

• Nora Young, host of CBC Radio One's Spark;
• Armen Bakirtzian, CEO and co-founder of Intellijoint Surgical; and
• Moazam Khan, CEO and co-founder of Curiato Inc.

Follow along on social media with #UWaterlooBeyond.

Early registration is now open.

Doing the Internet's dirty work and other deeds

Sarah Roberts, Assistant Professor in UCLA's Department of Information Studies will deliver the first talk of the term in the CrySP Speaker Series today. Professor Roberts' talk is entitled "Doing the Internet's Dirty Work: Commercial Content Moderators as Social Media's Gatekeepers"

"Faced with mounting pressures and repeated, very public crises, social media firms have taken a new tack since 2017: to respond to criticism of all kinds and from numerous quarters (regulators, civil society advocates, journalists, academics and others) by acknowledging their long-obfuscated human gatekeeping workforce of commercial content moderators," says the talk's abstract. "Yet the phenomenon of content moderation in social media firms has been shrouded in mystery when acknowledged at all. In this talk, Sarah T. Roberts will discuss the fruits of her decade-long study the commercial content moderation industry, and its concomitant people, practices and politics."

The lecture will take place at 2:30 p.m. today in DC 1304.

It's Spring Welcome Week this week, with the Federation of Students organizing a number of events from Monday to Friday that will help students start off the term on the right foot. This morning is the Warrior Breakfast, which started at 8:00 a.m. in the Student Life Centre Great Hall and will continue while the supply of waffles lasts. Later today will be the Warrior Art Party, an arts and crafts event, which runs from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the SLC Great Hall.

Check out the full Welcome Week schedule on the Feds website.