Friday, May 17, 2019

Canada Day campus celebration going out with a bang

On July 1, 2019, Canada Day fireworks will light up the sky over Columbia Lake for the last time.

After 35 years of inviting the Waterloo community onto the field at Columbia Lake for an afternoon and evening of Canada Day celebrations and fireworks display, the University is winding down its involvement in the annual event.

The format for Canada Day 2019 has changed to a fireworks-only event, with the fireworks show beginning at 10:00 p.m., weather permitting. Unlike in previous years, there will be no musical performances, food vendors or other activities at the event.

For 34 years, beginning in 1984, the Federation of Students and the University of Waterloo, created a community carnival atmosphere on Columbia Lake Field, which grew in size and scope year after year, featuring cultural showcases, science experiments, costumed performers and children’s entertainers, a bouncy-castle midway and activity zone, food vendors (giving way to a fleet of food trucks in later years), beer tent, and musical performances. In 2013, the University took on a larger role in organizing and hosting the event with the Federation of Students’ continued support. Recent headlining musical guests included Spirit of the West, Steven Page, Kim Mitchell, and Sloan. The event would regularly draw a crowd of 60,000 attendees to Columbia Lake.

The University is working with the City of Waterloo as they seek to develop alternative Canada Day celebrations for 2020 and beyond, engaging with local leaders in how the community might wish to celebrate the event in the future.

On Monday, July 1, Columbia Street will be closed beginning at 6:00 p.m., with free parking available in all University of Waterloo lots beginning at 8:00 p.m. The use of public transit or cycling is encouraged.

In the case of inclement weather, please follow the University on its social media accounts or visit www.uwaterloo.ca/canada-day.

Committee on Student Mental Health update

The Committee on Student Mental Health (CoSMH) has provided the latest in an ongoing series of updates for May 2019:

• The Committee on Student Mental Health (CoSMH) voted to confirm the completion of recommendation 15, which calls for mechanisms to encourage faculty to address wellness and mental health as part of curriculum development. The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) provides resources and workshops to support integration of mental health, resilience and support resources into curriculum and course development. Deans, chairs and directors will be asked to share messaging on CTE’s many offerings in faculty council, department and school meetings, and with sessional instructors.
• Progress on recommendation 22 continues – a full-time resource for mental health training is in place, and the Do You Need Help poster has been distributed and is available upon request from Campus Wellness. Other portions of this recommendation will be undertaken by the Mental Health Literacy Training Steering Committee, or by the Orientation Steering Committee. The Academic Working Group has provided CoSMH with recommendations in response to 5 and 7, and the committee will review their findings at our next meeting.
• The incoming Federation of Students president, Michael Beauchemin, is joining CoSMH as a voting member for the 2019/2020 year, replacing outgoing president Richard Wu. 
• A working group to address the verification of illness process has been formed, and will be focusing on recommendations 2 and 3 specifically. Membership includes representation from Campus Wellness, AccessAbility, the Registrar’s Office, Centre for Extended Learning, associate deans, Feds, and more. The group meets once monthly, and will report back to CoSMH on a regular basis.  
• Chair John Hirdes continues to participate in a Canadian Standards Association and Mental Health Commission of Canada effort to develop the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety of Post-Secondary Students. He will lead the group that will identify data requirements, indicators, and benchmarks for the standard. The draft standard will be available from August to November 2019 for public feedback, with the final standard released in mid-2020 for early adopters to begin implementation.

Stay updated on the progress on recommendations and more through the CoSMH website.

What's open and closed this long weekend

The unofficial start to the summer and gardening seasons is upon us as our community prepares to celebrate the Victoria Day long weekend. 

Victoria Day honours Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, and is a statutory holiday. 2019 marks the bicentennial of Queen Victoria's birth.

Most University operations will be closed on the holiday Monday. For example:

No lectures will be held on Monday.

The Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield will be closed on Sunday, May 19 and Monday, May 20.

Print + Retail Solutions locations will be closed from Saturday, May 18 to Monday, May 20, reopening Tuesday, May 21. Check the Print + Retail Solutions website for more details.

Food Services locations that will be closed on the holiday Monday include:

• Browser's Café; Brubakers; CEIT Café; East End Café; Liquid Assets Café; South Side Marketplace; Starbucks AHS and STC; Tim Hortons Modern Languages; Tim Hortons - SCH; Tim Hortons - SLC; Tim Hortons Express DC; the University Club; and Williams Fresh Café.

Food Services locations open over the long weekend include:

• The Market at CMH (open 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Monday).

Other locations, like Mudie's, ML Diner; REVelation and Tim Hortons - UWP and the Tim Hortons location in the Davis Centre, are closed until Fall 2019.

The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries will be open for regular hours on Saturday and Sunday and from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 20.

In case of emergency, UW Police will be available at 519-888-4911 (ext. 22222 on campus). The Turnkey Desk in the Davis Centre will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday but closed Monday, while the Turnkey Desk in the Student Life Centre will be open as always, and the maintenance emergencies folks will be around as well at ext. 33793.

PhD candidacy celebration and other notes

On Tuesday, May 14 Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) hosted the first PhD Candidacy Workshop and Celebration in the Board and Senate room.

The event included an inspiring keynote, a workshop and networking reception with hors d’oeuvres to celebrate this huge milestone.

Thank you to the campus partners who helped to make this celebration a huge success: the Centre for Career Action, the Centre for Teaching Excellence, the Equity Office, the Library, the Student Success Office and the Writing and Communication Centre!

Spring Welcome Week concludes today with the second Clubs and Societies Day in the Student Life Centre's lower atrium from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and a campus-wide scavenger hunt from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (hey, remember when scavenger hunts were banned on campus?)

On Thursday, May 23, the Honourable Mike Lake, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Wetaskiwin will deliver a special guest lecture at the University focused on the unique social barriers experienced by those with autism and how we can work to reduce them within our communities.

Inspired by his son Jaden who was diagnosed with autism at a young age, MP Lake has travelled around the world to speak with world leaders and influencers about barriers for those with autism.

The event takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, May 23 in Room 1689 of the Applied Health Sciences building. Register online.