Friday, September 13, 2019

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• All's fair at the Campus Fair Trade celebration
• Remembering Professor Donald Ranney
• United Way Campaign annual report launches today
• Volunteer Fair connects students with community agencies
• Student team makes its million-dollar play for Hult Prize

All's fair at the Campus Fair Trade celebration

A message from Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.

You’re invited to join a celebration of Waterloo’s Fair Trade Campus Designation. Earlier in 2019, the University successfully met the requirements for the campus designation by providing Fairtrade Certified coffee, tea, and chocolate across staff and student-run food services.

These efforts enable sustainable livelihoods for coffee, tea, and cocoa farmers around the world, support community development, and protect the environment.

To celebrate this milestone, the University community is encouraged to join an engaging panel discussion on Thursday, September 19^th, from 11:30-12:45 in AL124.

Vice President Academic and Provost Jim Rush will provide welcoming remarks, followed by a panel conversation and audience question-and-answer about the global fair trade movement and campus action to support. Panel members include:

• Helen Reimer, Director of Business Development, Fairtrade Canada
• Cam Burke, Head Roaster & Purchasing Manager, Baden Coffee Company
• Maggie Chang, Undergraduate Student & Project Development Lead, Sustainable Campus Initiative, University of Waterloo
• Kristen Fromm, Director of Purchasing, Ten Thousand Villages

Food Services will be providing complementary coffee and tea (all Fairtrade certified, of course!). During and after the event, there will also be a vendor showcase taking place to sample fair trade products.

Please register if you wish to attend.

For more information about the designation and where you can find Fairtrade certified options at Waterloo, visit the designation announcement.

Remembering Professor Donald Ranney

This article was originally published on the Department of Kinesiology's website.

Donald A. Ranney, professor emeritus in Waterloo Department of Kinesiology, passed away on September 9 at the age of 87.

Ranney studied anthropology and linguistics and graduated in medicine from University of Toronto in 1958. He studied surgery in Great Britain, becoming a Captain in the Special Air Service, and went to India performing reconstructive surgery on victims of leprosy.

In 1976, Ranney joined the University of Waterloo’s Department of Kinesiology as a professor of anatomy, later cross appointed with the School of Optometry. He was charged with establishing a school of anatomy – a guarded privilege reserved for the province’s medical schools. In preparation for the proposal, he met with all but one of the anatomy teachers in the province.

On January 17, 1978, the University of Waterloo School of Anatomy was established by Order in Council of the Government of Ontario to enable students of human movement to gain an in-depth knowledge of the structure of the human body. "I believe that the School of Anatomy, which makes possible this approach to learning, has helped to make our graduates better scientists,” explained Ranney in his recollections on the School.

As the head of the School of Anatomy, Ranney taught anatomy and sports medicine for two decades, publishing more than a hundred scientific papers on topics that varied from anatomy, biomechanics, muscle physiology, and surgery of the hand, to work-related injuries, and neuroanatomy of chronic pain. At the same time, he ran a part-time clinic for athletes and those injured at work or in motor vehicle accidents.

Known as a person of many interests and talents, he obtained a diploma in television production at The Banff Centre, researched the biomechanics of dance, was a military and sport skydiver, and was team physician for many local and national sports teams, including the Canadian men’s softball team that won the Pan-American Gold Medal in 1983.

After retiring in 1996, he returned as adjunct faculty to teach introductory anatomy, while operating a business performing orthopedic medical evaluations for lawyers and insurance companies on clients involved in motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-fall and work injuries.

A plaque in his honour graces the School, noting that Ranney’s "tireless efforts (...) made possible the dissection of human material for the purpose of learning anatomy at this university. Through his exemplary administration, (...) Professor Ranney ensured that the cadavers would always be treated with respect and gratitude. His rigorous and creative teaching, illustrated from his experiences as a practicing physician and his innovative research and writing, have demonstrated the importance of anatomical knowledge in the promotion of health."

United Way Campaign annual report launches today

University of Waterloo President Feridun Hamdullahpur and Vice-President, Academic & Provost Jim Rush serve soup to students for the United Way.

A message from the University of Waterloo United Way campaign.

As we start to gear up for the 2019 United Way campaign on campus, we’d like to share our appreciation for the hard work, support and enthusiasm from our campus community – committee members, volunteers, and donors – during our 2018 campaign. Whether you attended an event, executed a fundraising activity within your department, or made a donation, every little bit helps. Your support helped to raise over $297,000 for the 2018 campaign. Read the full report online.

Our Impact:

• Over 450 individual donors gave to United Way (employees, retirees and students).
• 94 new donors supported the campaign – that’s just over 20 percent of our 454 total donors!
• Our Ambassadors executed 81 events, contributing over $30,000 to our campaign.

Event highlights:

• University of Waterloo Deans paraded to Senate in Star Wars costumes.
• The second annual Souper Thursday had a souper turnout – members of our campus community enjoyed over 300 bowls of soup served by celebrity chefs.
• The President’s Office launched a line of artisanal soaps in support of the campaign…and sold out within hours!
• Student performers performed on campus for Go Red day, raising awareness and enthusiasm.

Impact of your investment:

In 2018, our campaign efforts contributed 4.7 percent of the United Way Waterloo Region Communities’ total campaign results. These donations are helping to:

• Fund programs to help those in need of counselling and mental health services
• Support programs helping youth enhance their social and educational skills
• Fund programs connecting local immigrants to their community
• Support programs that help those living in poverty in our community

As we look ahead to our 2019 campaign, we don’t want to forget our “every little bit counts” sentiment. By coming together as a campus community, we can conquer this year’s challenge. We’d love to have your support in reaching our 2019 goal of $250,000. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for our campaign kickoff on October 1, and watch your inbox and mailbox for more details!

If you’d like to make a contribution or learn about volunteering as part of the University of Waterloo’s United Way campaign, contact the United Way office at united.way@uwaterloo.ca.

Volunteer Fair connects students with community agencies

The Centre for Career Action, EDGE, and WUSA will be hosting the Fall 2019 Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, September 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. This event offers students an opportunity to meet local organizations that are recruiting volunteers.

Representatives from 30 local organizations will be present to speak with current students about their organization’s mission and volunteering needs.

Volunteering is a great way to develop skills and gain experiences that can be showcased on a résumé and discussed in an interview. For those looking to give back to the community, it is a fulfilling way to contribute to local causes. It also provides an excellent opportunity for networking.

For more information, please contact Sam Kang, Career Advisor (sam.kang@uwaterloo.ca).  

Student team makes its million-dollar play for Hult Prize

by Carol Truemner. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Faculty of Engineering website.

It was the fairy-tale ending that came true.

After securing a top place finish at this year’s Hult Prize Startup Accelerator located in an English castle, a Waterloo team will compete this week at the United Nations in New York City for $1 million.

Recent mechatronics engineering grads Mitchell Catoen, Devon Copeland, David Ferris and Rareș Topor-Gosman will go head-to-head against five other teams, whittled down from more than 100,000, during the last leg of the 2019 Hult Prize Challenge.  This round marks the fourth and final stage of pitches in the competition recognized as the largest student social entrepreneurship competition in the world.

On September 14, the team will pitch its company, Phonic, to an elite team of judges, including President of Earth Day Network Kathleen Rogers, Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta H. Fore, and actress-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Alba. The $1 million cheque presentation will be made by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Each year, Clinton comes up with the Hult Prize challenge, which is currently focused on youth unemployment.

Phonic’s business concept is entirely different from the one team members originally developed while participating in their fourth-year social entrepreneurship course offered through the Conrad School of Business and Entrepreneurship and at the Hult Prize Startup Accelerator.

When the team arrived in England in mid-July, members were still focused on their original startup called Better Bail for America (BB4A), designed to help prevent youth unemployment in the United States by enabling young, employed, first-time offenders facing minor charges to access crowdfunded, interest-free bail.

After presenting BB4A on two consecutive “Pitch Fridays” to judges and the other 37 teams, the four team members concluded that while their idea had merit, they lacked the necessary legal background and faced a lot of political adversity to make it work.

“We felt it was important for us to acknowledge those challenges and to think realistically about if we were the right team to solve the problem,” says Copeland. “We ended up deciding to pivot to our new business.”

Check the full story on the Faculty of Engineering's website.