Monday, September 16, 2019

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• HeForShe Get Free Tour visits campus today
• Celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week with postdoc profiles
• Conrad Grebel marks Peace Week
• Students answer the web's Waterloo questions; other notes

HeForShe Get Free Tour visits campus today

The University of Waterloo is the first stop on the Canadian University Get Free, Tour hosted by the UN Women HeForShe initiative. 

The HeForShe Get Free Tour aims to mobilize Canadian students for gender equality by holding local events at campuses across the country that feature United Nations representatives, celebrity ambassadors, and executives from the tour sponsor, DeBeers.

The event is free and open to all members of the University community. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a campus rally to welcome the HeForShe tour bus and special guests. The Get Free Tour will proceed with a high impact President’s lecture starting at 10:30 a.m. that is aimed at discussing the male imperative in gender equity. Panelists will contribute future-oriented, local and global social justice perspectives related to youth engagement, sexual violence and pay equity. Participants include President Feridun Hamdullahpur, Associate Vice-President, Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion Diana Parry, Senior Advisor to Under Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women Elizabeth Nyamayaro, and HeForShe advocate and award-winning actor Edgar Ramirez.

Celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week with postdoc profiles

In honor of National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which runs from September 16 to 20, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) will be profiling just a few of the 400 talented postdoctoral fellows at University of Waterloo. Additionally, we’ll share a “postdoc fact of the day” each day this week in the Daily Bulletin.

To kick off the weeklong celebration, let’s meet Marie Charbonneau. Marie is a postdoc in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering. She currently works as part of Waterloo RoboHub and started as a postdoc in June 2019.  

Having spent much of the past six years studying and travelling throughout Europe, Marie came to Waterloo three months ago to begin her postdoc. After completing her PhD in humanoid robotics in Italy, Marie says she isn’t quite sure where “home” is, but hopes that Waterloo can become that place for her.

Originally from Montreal, Marie chose Waterloo because she wanted to keep working on humanoid robotics and, upon finishing her PhD, became aware that the University of Waterloo had just obtained the Talos humanoid robot. She then visited a friend in Waterloo who showed her around, and she realized that Waterloo was a “really nice university, in a really nice city” which made her excited to come here.

Read the rest of Marie's profile on the GSPA website.

Postdoc fact of the day: National Postdoc Appreciation Week

National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) has been around for a decade, launched in 2009 by the National Postdoctoral Association. The goal was initially to celebrate postdoc contributions to U.S. research and discovery, but the idea quickly spread to other areas of the world. Today over 115 institutions in the US, Canada, Germany, the U.K., Asia and Oceania celebrate NPAW. The University of Waterloo has been participating in this event since 2016, and has one of the largest postdoc appreciation events in Canada.

Conrad Grebel marks Peace Week

Every year, on September 21, the world celebrates the International Day of Peace. Established by the United Nations in 1981, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to peace above all differences and to build a culture of peace. Inspired by this initiative, the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement at Conrad Grebel University College invites students, staff, and faculty at the University of Waterloo to attend peace events from September 16 to 22.

This is now the third year that the Center for Peace Advancement has hosted a community calendar to encourage organizations and individuals in Waterloo region to work for peace in ways they find most meaningful. This year people on campus and beyond have stepped up to organize 14 events that explore and contribute to peace from diverse perspectives. Activities include a genealogy exhibit, the HeForShe Campus Rally and President’s Lecture, the Indigenous Speakers Series with Jesse Thistle, a panel on career paths in peacebuilding, a lunch and learn on humanitarian shelters, a book launch, two separate fundraising walks, Renison’s One Sky Festival, and tours of Mennonite Central Committee.

On the afternoon of Saturday, September 21, Grebel will celebrate the fifth Anniversary of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement. Current and past participants and partners of the Centre will be showcasing their efforts, and a sampling of international foods will be served. This will be a time to remember the impacts from the past five years, reconnect with individuals and organizations that have collectively shaped the Centre for Peace Advancement’s work, and re-imagine what it means to advance peace in Waterloo region and beyond.

Get details about the Peace Week events. 

Students answer the web's Waterloo questions; other notes

"For the 2019-2020 recruitment year, Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment is taking a ride on the infotainment train when it comes to meeting prospective students where they are in their university journey," says a note from MUR. "Working with a number of co-op students over the last 8 months, our team put together a video inspired by Wired’s Autocomplete Interview series to answer the web’s most commonly searched questions about the University of Waterloo.

Watch video on YouTube

"Current students, Christian Leonard (Science) and Diya Chowdhury (AHS), worked with our team to answer these questions in a way that was not only informative for prospects, but also entertaining to prospects. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it."

This is a reminder that nominations for the third annual President’s Community Impact Awards are open. There is still time to recognize individuals or teams who embody the University's spirit of innovation and contribute to making Waterloo Region strong and prosperous by filling out a nomination form.

Terms of reference and nomination guidelines can be found on the Office of the President's website. The guidelines for collecting supporting documentation are also available.

Nominations close on Monday, September 23.