Friday, July 26, 2019

Faculty of Environment celebrates 50 years

by Peter Stirling.

In July 1969, the “Division of Environmental Studies” was created at the University of Waterloo, and over the past five decades, the faculty has transformed from its humble but aspirational origins to becoming Canada’s largest Faculty of Environment. It has been home to nearly 16,000 alumni who now live in more than 80 countries around the globe, including geographers, ecologists, knowledge integrators, and planners, as well as experts in green business, geomatics, tourism, economic development, sustainability, environmental governance and policymaking  – all connected by a shared sense of purpose and values.

Environment has been celebrating their 50^th anniversary this year with multiple events.

Faculty and graduate students on a field trip to former chair of Geography Ralph Kruger’s farmhouse to see a newly-installed horizontal loop ground source heat pump in September 1991. At left is Professor Paul Parker, second from left is graduate student Lynne Elliott, centre front is graduate student Reinhold Posmyk, and Professor Jean Andrey (second from right) along with other colleagues.

A staff appreciation dinner was held earlier in the year, and the Faculty launched its 50^th Anniversary book at the event, edited by retired professor Robert Shipley.

Dean of Environment Jean Andrey has been hosting pop-up birthday parties at student-run events throughout Environment’s schools and departments. The first pop-up party to kick off a series of events celebrating our Faculty's 50^th anniversary was hosted by the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, whose director Bruce Frayne baked 200 cupcakes for the event! Environment’s Planning Students Association were the next to host a pop-up event in the planning studio. And the annual ENVigorate festival pop-up party featured a photobooth at the Mapping Analysis and Design lab.

Environment’s biggest alumni event took place in June for Alumni Weekend, with more than 200 Faculty of Environment alumni, friends, faculty, staff and retirees gathering to reconnect, celebrate the faculty's 50^th anniversary and show their support. The festivities began with a celebration dinner on Friday evening, attended by alumni from as early as 1968, to as recently as 2018, some traveling from as far as the UK and Trinidad. A full day of hands-on activities followed the next day, with programming focused on Environment’s strategic direction toward experiential learning and education, impactful research and true global citizenship.

To commemorate the faculty’s 50^th anniversary, Dean Jean launched the Global Citizen Internships initiative, a fund that enables environment students to apply their knowledge at local and global not-for-profit organizations.

As Dean Jean clarifies, we are not just celebrating our past, we are looking forward to the next 50 years.

“The world needs us more than ever. As we celebrate our first 50 years, let’s not be bound by our past. As others have said, ‘What got us here, won’t take us there’. So let’s continue to be bold in our vision, open in our approach, and willing to change ourselves and our world”.

Engineering students win first place in IDeA competition

Five Waterloo students have won first place in the national student Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) competition held by Universities Canada. The 2019 winners were announced on Wednesday, July 24^th.  Mechanical engineering students Jared Uramowski, Kristian VandeKemp, Evan McColl, Matthew Levy and Jon Cameron designed the Enhanced Mobility Wheelchair, which took first place in the Architectural/industrial design barriers category.

The IDeA competition challenges university students to develop innovative, practical and cost-effective solutions to address accessibility issues affecting persons with disabilities.  In collaboration with industry, government and community partners, students take an inclusive design approach to create concepts, tools, programs and initiatives that help overcome physical, technological, systemic and attitudinal barriers.

The Waterloo student team wanted to tackle the challenges wheelchair users face when deciding which device to use to get around. While regular wheelchairs are easy to manoeuvre, hand-cycle wheelchairs offer better speed and efficiency. The Enhanced Mobility Wheelchair incorporates the best of both worlds by adding a unique drive mechanism to an ordinary wheelchair, making it both fast and maneuverable.

“The winners of the 2019 IDeA competition have shown what amazing progress can be made when we work collaboratively and creatively to tackle complex social issues,” said Paul Davidson, president, Universities Canada in a news release. “These students are helping foster inclusive university campuses where all students, faculty and staff are supported to achieve their full potential, ultimately resulting in a more innovative, prosperous and inclusive Canada.”

The Waterloo winners will receive $5000 and an all-expenses paid trip to Ottawa to present their project at the FWD50 Conference on November 7^th.