Monday, October 28, 2019

Supporting international students past Orientation

International students participating in September’s seminar - Adapting to the Canadian Classroom. Photo taken by Farzaneh Irani. 

By Hayley Bernice McDonald and Chantal Vallis. This is the first article in The International Student Connection staff edition, a monthly series to help our University community better support the international students at Waterloo. It is written by staff at the Student Success Office.

With Orientation complete and the school term in full swing, supports and services for new international undergraduate and graduate students continue to roll out. One such program is the Breakfast Seminars where international students can gather in a leisurely, friendly setting to build community and engage with campus supports and services while learning more about them. At each seminar, international students have a chance to meet new people, share experiences, and learn about topics that are relevant to where they are in the term.

During September’s seminar, 60+ students learned tips for studying in a Canadian classroom. Facilitated by the Student Success Office (SSO) Peer Success Coaches, the seminar was an opportunity to reinforce key messages that were first introduced during International Orientation, and it was also an opportunity to build community. In October’s seminar, 40+ students were provided tips and strategies for maintaining their Self Care and Physical Activity by Donna Rheams, Manager, Recreation and Wellness. Students commented: “It’s a chance to meet people outside of class.” and “It shows that we can find support anytime.”

The program, originally an idea of Linda Zhang who launched it with the support of the Internationalization Fund, is now hosted by the SSO. In 2019-2020, the seminars will be delivered in collaboration with many campus partners, including Athletics and Recreation, Campus Wellness, Centre for Career Action, Waterloo Residences, and the SSO’s Peer Success Coaches.

We’d like to thank our campus partners for their enthusiasm about this project and their continued efforts to make international students feel welcome and supported - from pre-arrival to orientation and beyond. If your department would like to get involved, we’d welcome the chance to collaborate and to share research, data, and student feedback that helps inform our work.

Playing the long game: Warriors score first win in football playoffs since 1999

This article was originally published on the Athletics website.

You can forgive Waterloo Warriors head coach Chris Bertoia if he was checking for horses on the sidelines. 

After all, an errant hoof made all the headlines in the last playoff matchup between the Warriors and Ottawa Gee-Gees, overshadowing a 44-37 Ottawa victory in the 1997 Churchill Bowl national semifinal. Bertoia was a third-year offensive lineman on that '97 team; he had a field-level view of the most bizarre illegal participation penalty in Canadian football history. 

So, when the head coach watched linebacker Kurtis Gray undercut a route, pick off the ball, and race down the sideline on his way to extending Waterloo's lead, Bertoia might have been extra-sensitive to the whereabouts of Gee-Gee, the cartoonish, galloping spirit-leader of the Garnet and Grey.

But it was a clear field ahead for Waterloo's Gray, whose 75-yard pick-6 sealed the game midway through the fourth quarter. And it was clear sailing for the Warriors, all the way to the OUA semifinal, with their first post-season victory in twenty years.

The Warriors saved their most complete effort of the season for their most important game, as they dispatched the Gee-Gees 44-21 in their OUA quarter-final matchup at Gee-Gees field on Saturday afternoon. The victory was Waterloo's first in the playoffs since their 1999 Yates Cup title, when Bertoia was still on the Waterloo offensive line.

The closest thing to a horse on the field this time was Waterloo quarterback Tre Ford. The reigning OUA MVP had the kind of dual-threat statline that would drop jaws and bulge eyes, if it weren't for the fact that it's commonplace by now: Ford completed 16 of 24 passes for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns, while rushing 16 times for 114 yards and two more scores on the ground. Nearly 350 total yards and four touchdowns, just another ho-hum day at the ball field for the most electric player in the country.

All-Canadian receiver Tyler Ternowski caught 6 balls for 109 yards on the day, while the Warriors also got touchdown receptions from Brandon Metz and Rushon Dagelman. Running back Dion Pellerin added 72 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, as the Waterloo option and play-action attacks constantly froze the Gee-Gees in their tracks all day.

Read the rest of the article on the Athletics website.

Photograph by Greg Mason.

Voting begins for Presidential Nominating Committee and other notes

Polls have opened in the faculty and staff elections for positions on the Presidential Nominating Committee.

The seats that are up for election include two regular faculty members, elected from and by the faculty-at-large at the University, and one staff member elected from and by the regular ongoing staff of the University.

Candidate statements can be found on the Secretariat's website:

• Candidate statements: regular faculty members to the Presidential Nominating Committee
• Candidate statements: regular staff members to the Presidential Nominating Committee

Regular University of Waterloo faculty and staff will vote by electronic ballot, which opened today at 8:30 a.m. and will close on Monday, 4 November at 8:30 a.m. Regular CUPE staff will vote by paper ballot, which must be received by 1:00 p.m. on Friday 8 November. Regular faculty and staff should check their inboxes for a direct link to the electronic ballot. Paper ballots will be sent by direct mail to all CUPE staff with return envelopes.

For more information on the election, contact Emily Schroeder at extension 32749.

The system switch from CallPilot to OfficeLynx took place over the weekend as previously scheduled. IST would like to remind voicemail users that all voicemail content has been migrated except for the individual user's voicemail inbox PIN. Users should have received an email with their temporary PIN and web application password, and should now sign in to their voicemail inbox using their temporary PIN and set a new personal PIN. There is also a new web interface for the voicemail system, and users can sign in to the web interface using their temporary application password (different from their PIN), and set a new application password.

If you did not receive the email with your temporary PIN and passwords, please submit a Request Tracker (RT) ticket to rt-ist-csteladmin@rt.uwaterloo.ca. Please view the appropriate knowledge base article for information on logging in to the voicemail service and for steps on resetting your password.

Anyone with questions or concerns is invited to contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or ext. 44357.

Human Resources would like to remind employees that today is the last day to participate in the Benefits Survey.

If you have completed the survey, thank you for your participation. If not, we hope you will complete the anonymous survey before the end of day.

Your voice and opinions matter and your feedback will allow the Pension & Benefits Committee to consider opportunities for improvement. While we are not able to increase our spending on benefits, we want to ensure that we are using our current budget most effectively to provide the best value to you.

This is a reminder that beginning today the Centre for Teaching Excellence East Campus 3 south entrance will be closed daily from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. If you need to access the CTE office during that time, please use the main East Campus 3 north entrance and contact CTE staff through the telephone and directory by the 2^nd floor hall door.

Don’t forget that the MEET + MOVE challenge runs until October 31. Every time you take a meeting on the road you’re eligible to enter the contest.