Wednesday, August 14, 2019

After 7 years, a formal retirement of the CECA acronym

A message from Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE). 

In February 2017, the portfolio of Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) was created, consisting of Co-operative Education, Centre for Career Action, CEE Services, WatPD, WatCACE, and Communications and Marketing. For the past two years, CEE has had a very soft launch across campus.

At the end of August, we will formally and officially retire the CECA acronym (Co-operative Education and Career Action) which included two of the units that are now part of CEE. Most of the changes will be happening internally within these units and we don’t anticipate significant impact to stakeholders beyond the portfolio.

So, please join us in saying “happy retirement” to CECA. We look forward to continued leadership in co-operative education, experiential education and work-integrated learning, and to supporting the future of work and learning as the more collaborative and powerful CEE portfolio. If you have any questions (or if you find a rogue “CECA” out in the wild), please reach out to Kari Pasick Stewart.

Waterloo amazes on The Amazing Race Canada

This is an excerpt of an article originally published in Waterloo Stories.

You might have noticed something familiar while flipping through the channels earlier this week.

For the first time ever, the University of Waterloo appeared as a Pit Stop on this season of CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada.

In traditional Waterloo fashion, innovative projects and head-scratching challenges designed by students were showcased on Canada’s most-watched summer series.

As part of The Race, competitors Trish and Amy participated in a Speed Bump challenge, in which they got the chance to experience one of Waterloo’s student-designed autonomous vehicles first-hand. With the push of a button, the self-driving WATonomous Chevrolet Bolt EV took competitors on a hands-free ride around campus.

“Everybody knows The Amazing Race Canada, so there was a lot of genuine interest from the WATononmous student competition team members to be part of this fun event,” says Ross McKenzie, managing director of the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research (WatCAR). “It’s one thing to program a car to drive in an s-pattern around five pylons, but the team wanted to create an experience that would give a couple of contestants from The Amazing Race Canada a glimpse into the future of mobility.”

On-the-ground technical support was provided by fourth-year computer science student and WATonomous Team Captain Rowan Dempster. Having recently returned from his co-op at Facebook in California, the 22-year-old helped design and program the path of the autonomous vehicle. As a precautionary measure, he also remained inside the car, witnessing Trish and Amy’s reactions as it sprang to life.

“The initial acceleration [of the autonomous vehicle] can feel a bit weird and non-human, so [Trish and Amy] said the classic ‘oh!’ when it started moving,” chuckles Dempster. “But being involved in The Amazing Race Canada was a great way for us to share our team’s vision and mission—it was a really good experience.”

Waterloo’s episode of The Amazing Race Canada aired last night and the episode is available on CTV.ca and the CTV app. New episodes air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV. This was the first time the series featured Kitchener-Waterloo and the University of Waterloo.

Read the full article.

Library term loan date change and other notes

"The Library term loan date has changed from September 15, 2019 to January 15, 2020," says a note from Laurie Strome in the Library. "The date change went into effect today. Borrowers can begin renewing their books for the Spring term after today. Renewal reminder notices will be sent to our patrons on Friday, August 16^th.

"Starting December 2019, our renewal notices may look a bit different, so keep an eye out for them. Learn more about the changes coming to our library system."

The Centre for Career Action's slate of workshops will resume in September, according to a notice from the CCA. To register for future workshops, students can visit WaterlooWorks. In the meantime, the Centre for Career Action has the following drop-in hours for the remainder of August:

• Undergraduate students (résumé, cover letter and interviews):  Monday to Thursday, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., Tatham Centre;
• Graduate students (résumé, cover letter and interviews): Monday and Wednesday, Master's: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., PhD/Postdocs: 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.; and
• Further-Ed topics: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (drop-ins are bookable online through WaterlooWorks at 11:00 a.m. same day for Skype, phone or in-person)