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Submission guidelines
Service Animal Verification Guidelines now available
Guidelines for Service Animal Verification were recently published on the Secretariat website. In accordance with Policy 58 – Accessibility, they ensure a standard process is in place for service animals so that all University of Waterloo members are treated fairly, equitably and consistently.
The guidelines provide step-by step instructions on how the University seeks to verify persons with disabilities accompanied by a service animal, along with the roles and responsibilities of university representatives, including instructors, managers, and supervisors. These guidelines apply to all individuals interacting with the University and adhere to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Once the forms have been completed to initiate the verification process, individuals with service animals should work with either AccessAbility Services (students) or Occupational Health (employees) to ensure any supports or accommodations needed during their time on campus are put into place, including the provision of a University Service Animal Verification (SAV) card.
Required forms for service animal verification, along with a set of FAQs about service animals on campus are available on the Human Resources website.
Disruption the order of the day at Velocity pitch competition
This article was originally posted on the Velocity blog.
Disruption has become a cliche term for startups. But for the four winning early-stage startups at the 25th Velocity Fund Pitch Competition, it was the disruptive aspects of their business that ultimately set them apart.
The Competition was hosted in Toronto for the first time at the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library with the aim of strengthening the ties between the Toronto-Waterloo corridor and exposing early-stage startups to a greater pool of capital and talent. In front of a panel of investor judges and over 250 attendees, ten finalists took the stage to pitch and compete for one of four $50k investments. The event was also live streamed on Facebook.
Over the past 24 cycles, the competition formerly known as Velocity Fund Finals, has produced 91 $25k grant winners and four $50k investment winners. Collectively, these companies are now worth over $1 billion. Now we can add four more to the list:
- Maple Precision: offering online, 3D mapping platform for city builders–where they can source and present geographic data in minutes.
- SquidBio: creating a device that allows for rapid prototyping of synthetic biology.
- Stacktronic: developing a scalable, flexible, and truly modular battery platform for electric vehicles.
- Watfly: making flying cars. (This startup was also a finalist at the 24th Velocity Fund Pitch Competition and a winner of the last Velocity Fund Finals $5K.)
Each of the top four startups receives a $50K investment, as well as in-kind intellectual property legal services and one provisional patent application, courtesy of PCK IP. All startup finalists gained exceptional exposure to the over 60 investors in attendance, who came looking for the latest in cutting-edge technology and innovation.
“The Velocity Fund Pitch Competition exists to refine, showcase, and fund emerging early-stage startups. After 25 competitions, we continue to showcase the best from across Canada, proving our dedication to highlighting today’s most forward-thinking innovators,” said Director of Startups Jay Shah. “We’re thrilled to support and fund the four winning startups and their founders, and we look forward to the next Pitch Competition.”
Other trends showcased at the Competition included game-changing idle reduction, advanced analytics, and satellite imagery technologies designed to enact change in industries such as transportation, urban planning, and agriculture.
Read the rest of the article on the Velocity blog.
A harvest of autumnal notes
The Fall Int’l Spouses Potluck Dinner is set to take place on Saturday, September 28 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Knox Presbyterian Church in UpTown Waterloo. All international students, postdocs, and visiting scholars and their spouses/partners and children are welcome. RSVP to Nancy Zorgdrager.
For more information, check out the Int’l Spouses website.
The Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies will be hosting a free screening of the award-winning Venezuelan movie La Soledad on September 30 at 6:30 p.m. in the Kitchener Public Library's main branch. There will be a post-screening Q&A with guest speaker Shiva Mohan, PhD candidate from Wilfrid Laurier University and Associate Professor Mario Boido of Spanish and Latin American Studies, who is a specialist in visual culture.
The October LGBTQ+ Making Spaces workshop takes place on Tuesday, October 8 at 12:30 p.m. in NH 3308. Sponsored by the Equity Office, the Making Spaces program is a framework for creating affirming spaces on campus and fostering interpersonal relationships through education and training on aspects of social identity. Community members partake in training and a registration process to become Space Makers, ambassadors of equity. The program launched as a pilot in fall 2016.
Check the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion events page to sign up for the winter 2019 workshops.
Three rooms are still available for the University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) shopping weekend in Erie, PA taking place from November 8 to 10. Contact a UWSA host if interested.