Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Meet your match - your matching gift donors, that is

A message from the Office of Advancement.

December 3 is Giving Tuesday, and the Office of Advancement is asking you to join this international day of giving by making a gift to Waterloo.   

Your gift could be doubled* thanks to a very special group of Waterloo champions. Visit our Giving Tuesday website to meet them all and to find out more.    

Last year, an incredible $226,000 was raised by more than 500 donors to support initiatives across our campuses. Please join us on December 3 to help make this year’s Giving Tuesday our most successful yet!

Please note: gifts will only be matched on December 3 during the hours specified for each champion, and only until the champion’s personal matching cap is reached. Only one-time gifts made online are eligible to be matched.  

New strategic plan will guide Engineering for the next five years

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Faculty of Engineering news site.

Waterloo Engineering’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025 was launched in early November to ensure the Faculty is recognized as the epicentre of innovation and entrepreneurship for Canada and the world.

The Faculty’s third formal strategic plan is intended to direct Waterloo Engineering activities for the next five years.

The document is based on the Faculty’s vision with the goal of inspiring leaders to define new frontiers in education, entrepreneurship and research to better serve society and create a better future for generations to come.

Strategic Plan 2020-2025 is the result of a two-year process. Led by the Engineering Planning Committee, it involved comprehensive self-studies by the Faculty’s departments, schools and administrative units as well as wide consultation with faculty members, staff and students.

The plan was produced by synthesizing the goals submitted from each department, school and administrative unit. In the coming months, the units will continue to develop their individual strategic and implementation plans, including performance targets and outcomes for the next five years.

The results of this work will be presented in Winter 2020 as the Academic Plan 2020-2025. The reports will be posted online and available only to Waterloo Engineering students, staff and faculty through an authorized login.

Read the rest of the article on the Engineering website.

Survey Research Centre releases update on Millennial trends

by Beth McLay, University of Waterloo Survey Research Centre.

It may not come as a surprise that millennials (those born between 1984 and 2000) are increasingly shunning organized religion; “for sale” signs have been popping up on places of worship for years. But what impact does their shifting religious or non-religious beliefs have on their social behaviour?

Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, contacted the Survey Research Centre (SRC) at the University of Waterloo to develop and administer the Millennial Trends Survey. The survey was conducted in March 2019 among 2,514 young adults aged 18 – 35 across Canada and the United States (U.S.). Some of Dr. Wilkins-Laflamme’s key findings are:

The millennial generation has the lowest rates of religious affiliation in both Canada and the U.S.; almost half of Canadian survey respondents, and just over a third of U.S. survey respondents, indicate that they have no religious affiliation.

“What, if any, is your religion?” (Image 1)

While fewer Canadian millennials have a religious affiliation compared to their U.S, counterparts, Canadian millennials are more likely to report participation in self-defined spiritual activities such as meditation and mindfulness, yoga and outdoor nature activities.

“…List up to three group or private activities…, if any, you took part in during the past 12 months that are personal spiritual experiences for you…” (Open-ended) 

Despite seemingly prevalent news reporting of religious discrimination, the majority of survey respondents in both countries state that they have not recently experienced any discrimination for their religious, spiritual or non-religious beliefs or views.

“In the past 12 months, how often have you personally experienced discrimination due to your religious, spiritual or non-religious beliefs or views?” (Image 3)

Millennial social networks tend to be more diverse than those of older generations. For example, less than half of respondents with a spouse, partner or significant other share this person’s religion or ethno-racial background.

“Think about your current spouse, partner or significant other, if you have one. Which of the following describes that person?” 

The majority of millennials are accepting of public expressions of religion when it comes to government employees wearing religious symbols or clothing.

“Government employees should be allowed to wear religious symbols or clothing while they are working, such as a Christian cross, a turban (Sikh head covering), a kippah (Jewish head cap), or a hijab (Islamic headscarf)” 

This research sheds light on how religious beliefs and attitudes of the millennial generation differ from older generations and how these differences may impact societal change. For more survey results, visit https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/15102. Professor Wilkins-Laflamme’s book, “None of the Above, Nonreligious Identity in the U.S. and Canada”, co-authored with Professor Joel Thiessen, is slated for publication in early 2020.

The Survey Research Centre offers survey research services ranging from survey design or methodology consultations for research grant applications to a complete package of study and survey design, data collection and top-line analysis. It provides telephone survey services, online survey hosting, survey programming and mail survey services. A free one-hour consultation is available to University of Waterloo faculty, staff and students.