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Pearl Sullivan to step down in December
"I am writing to announce that Pearl Sullivan, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, will step down from her role on December 31, 2019 to focus her energy on major initiatives for the University and the Faculty," says a memo from Vice-President, Academic & Provost Jim Rush in a memo circulated to Faculty of Engineering faculty and staff yesterday and to the wider University community this morning.
"Professor Sullivan has served as dean since July 2012. She came to Waterloo in 2004 as a professor of mechanical engineering and served as chair of the mechanical and mechatronics engineering department from 2006 until January 2012. She was the first woman appointed Dean of Engineering at Waterloo, and just the fourth woman in Canada to head an engineering faculty."
"Pearl has been a dynamic force for Waterloo Engineering and for the entire University. Under her leadership, the Faculty of Engineering has reimagined engineering education and research with revolutionary spaces and transformative programs that will ensure Waterloo remains a leader in engineering well into the future."
"We are all extremely grateful for the energy she brings to the role and we will miss her enthusiasm, passion and knowledge at the senior leadership table. Personally, I wish to express that it has been my distinct pleasure to work with Pearl in numerous ways over several years. Please join me in thanking Professor Sullivan for the years of service she has provided at Waterloo and in wishing her the absolute best in the next stages of her Waterloo career."
"After consulting with the President and with the Engineering senior leadership team, I am pleased to announce that I have appointed Professor J. Richard (Rick) Culham as interim dean of engineering for the period of January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 or until such time as we appoint a new dean through the search process already underway," the Provost's memo continues. "Rick is an extremely well-respected member of the engineering faculty for his knowledge, style and collaborative approaches to working. He is well positioned to continue the important work of the faculty having previously served as acting dean and is currently associate dean, administration."
"Rick – a University of Waterloo alumnus – is a founding member of the Microelectronics Heat Transfer Laboratory, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a member of the American Society for Engineering Education and a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. In recognition of outstanding teaching and commitment to the enrichment of Waterloo Engineering education, the Faculty awarded Rick a Teaching Excellence Award in 2009. In 2010 the University appointed him as a University Research Chair in recognition of exceptional achievement and pre-eminence in the field of heat transfer."
"Please join me in thanking Rick for agreeing to take on this important role and in wishing him every success," the provost concludes.
Coming soon: Campus Wayfinding
The Campus Wayfinding Project (CWP) officially entered a new phase with fabrication work commencing. The first signs will be installed this Fall with full implementation being staged over a three-year period. The initial focus in 2019 and 2020 will concentrate on pedestrian, parking and student residence signage.
Each year, the program will expand, adding further components until a planned final completion in 2022. For more information on the project please visit uwaterloo.ca/wayfinding.
Waterloo opens its doors for Doors Open 2019
Doors Open Waterloo Region takes place on Saturday, September 21. This annual event invites community members to tour noteworthy buildings, interesting places and heritage sites in Waterloo Region, many of which are not regularly open to the public. As always, admission is free to the 43 locations across the region that have put out the welcome mat this year.
The theme of this year’s event is Water, and at 16 theme sites across the region, you can explore the ways that water is at the centre of our lives.
Featured Waterloo sites include:
evolv1 at 420 Wes Graham Way in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park. The innovative carbon-zero building is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Evolve1 generates more energy than it uses, and guided tours will highlight its features and technologies, including thousands of solar panels, a solar wall, a water cistern, high tech HVAC systems, a three-storey living wall, a geothermal well, 28 electric vehicle charging stations, and daylight harvesting.Check out the guide for the schedule of WaterTalks and guided tours. Faculty of Environment Professor Blair Feltmate, who heads up the Intact Centre on Climate Change Adaptation, will be giving a talk entitled “Weather Gone Wild: what can we do to limit home and community-level flood risk” at 10:30 a.m. in evolv1. Professor Feltmate repeats his talk at 11:30 a.m.
The University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy at the Downtown Kitchener Health Science Campus. The building optimizes natural light and uses organic materials such as wood, copper, and stone to create a welcoming environment for students, staff, and the community. Visitors will tour a variety of labs and classrooms, and learn about the expanding role of pharmacists in the Canadian health care system.
Check out the Doors Open Waterloo Region website for more information about the various sites available for tours.
Keeping Well at Work Day coming up in October
A message from the Healthy Workplace Committee.
The Healthy Workplace Committee is pleased to announce the 3rd annual Keeping Well @ Work Day on Wednesday, October 16.
The daylong event will include two keynote speakers in the morning and an afternoon of workshops, activities, and wellness booths to provide information and support.
Keynote speakers include:
- Valerie Pringle, one of Canada's most accomplished and popular television hosts, opens up about why she is an advocate for mental health, discussing her daughter’s experiences upon starting university. Valerie speaks with honesty, concern and humour about going public about mental illness and the difference it has made in her life, and shares four key pieces of advice for those suffering in mental illness or supporting loved ones as they go through it.
- Bruce Sellery, Business journalist and author of Moolala, is on a mission to help people get a handle on their money so they can live the life they want. He speaks, writes, consults and uses every media format to engage audiences in a smart, fun, high energy way.
The afternoon workshops include topics on Managing Time and Energy, Healthy Sleep, Equity 101, Building Resiliency, Menopause, and much more. Be sure to check out the wellness booths from Homewood Health, Heart & Stroke, Diabetes, Blood Pressure Monitoring and more. As well, several activities will be offered, including Yogalates, Hatha Yoga, and both indoor and outdoor wellness walks. We hope you will take part in this important event on self-care.
Registration for the event opens on September 25. For more information, please visit the Healthy Workplace Committee website.
National Postdoc Appreciation Week concludes; other notes
As National Postdoc Appreciation Week concludes: last, but certainty not least, we’d like to introduce you to our last postdoc feature of the week. Meet Xiaolin Bai. Xiaolin is a postdoc in the Department of Applied Mathematics in the Faculty of Mathematics. He currently works with Professor Kevin Lamb and is entering his second year as a postdoc at Waterloo. Xiaolin first came to the University of Waterloo in the middle of winter as a visiting student in 2015. After completing his PhD, he knew he wanted to come back to the same department and keep working with Professor Lamb. On his first day on campus alone, he talks about feeling lost. “I ended up finding a sign that said: ‘You see things and you say why, but I dream of things that never were, and say why not’. I think this sign influenced my studies in Canada… doing research in opposition of something and investigating why it happened.”
Postdoc fun fact of the day: postdocs can be found in a range of disciplines
Although the Faculty of Engineering has the largest number of postdocs (over 40 percent of all postdocs), University of Waterloo has postdocs in all six faculties; postdocs can be found in units ranging from Kinesiology to History, to Pharmacy and Combinatorics and Optimization.
In other news, CTAPT Teaching Effectiveness Survey Results are now available: "In Spring 2019, the Complementary Teaching Assessment Project Team (CTAPT) asked for feedback on a proposed literature- and evidence-based definition of teaching effectiveness. Overall, the feedback from campus was very positive. CTAPT has carefully considered the findings from the survey and the suggestions made," says a note from the CTAPT team. "We are pleased to announce that the results from the survey and the revised definition based on the consultations are now available here: CTAPT Teaching Effectiveness Survey Results. Thank you again for your participation and feedback. Further updates will be posted on the CTAPT webpage."