Wednesday, June 3, 2020

2020 Ontario Universities Fair cancelled - alternative initiatives are in development

A message from the Registrar's Office.

Ontario’s universities have jointly decided to cancel the 2020 Ontario Universities’ Fair (OUF). Given the current limits to in-person gatherings and the uncertainty over what the fall will look like, it was agreed that the safest course of action for everyone involved was to cancel this year’s event.

The OUF is a cornerstone of our Ontario undergraduate recruitment activities, where about 120,000 individuals visit the Metro Toronto Convention Centre during a three-day education expo at the end of September. In a typical year, the University of Waterloo has nearly 600 staff, faculty, and student representatives participating in the event. It’s a great example of all of the faculties and academic support units working together to support our enrollment targets. 

In the wake of this cancellation, undergraduate recruitment staff are working both with Waterloo stakeholders and in collaboration with Ontario’s other universities. Our plan is to develop and deliver alternative initiatives that will fulfill both Waterloo’s enrollment management needs as well as the needs of our prospective students.

More information will be shared in the coming months as plans are solidified. If you have questions about Waterloo’s participation in the OUF, please contact Laura Gordon at lgordon@uwaterloo.ca. 

Professor receives international justice award

This article originally appeared on the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change's website.

Marie-Claire Cordonier-Segger is a professor at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) in the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo. Cordonier-Segger has received the International Justice Award, which honours the legacy of His Excellency Judge CG Weeramantry, Vice-President of the International Court of Justice and recipient of the UNESCO Prize for Peace and Education. 

“It is a great honour to share this international award with his Honour Judge Szabo and Advocate Gunasekera, says Professor Cordonier-Segger. "We are very deeply committed to the mentorship and inspiration that, as Weeramantry International Justice Award laureates, we can give back to the global community which His Excellency Justice CG Weeramantry gave us.” 

The award was presented by the Weeramantry family on May 15, 2020, during the online global symposium on Human Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Law which engaged over 1,404 registrants from over 101 countries, and was hosted by McGill University Faculty of Law Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP), the University of Montreal Faculty of Law, the Balsillie School of International Affairs Fulbright Chair in Global Governance, the University of Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (CEENRG), the Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), and other partners.

Cordonier-Segger is recognized for her achievements in fields of sustainable development and international law. She was awarded the 2020 International Justice Award for her outstanding legal scholarship and teaching, and for her leadership of international foundations, councils and networks including the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), the Climate Law and Governance Initiative with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Biodiversity Law and Governance Initiative with the Convention on Biological Diversity and UN-Environment and as a senior advisor of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change.

“Her leadership on sustainability and climate change law and governance is a gift to Canada and the world," said Professor Jean Andrey, dean of the Faculty of Environment.

Experts will navigate the risks and opportunities of "rebooting with research" from COVID-19

Over the past three weeks, the University of Waterloo’s GEDI (Gateway for Enterprises to Discover Innovation) has hosted researchers and industry experts to discuss the risks and opportunities of rebooting from COVID-19, and now the series is pivoting to ask Waterloo’s research Centres, Institutes, and research-focused industry partners to share their research, insights and strategies when it comes to Rebooting from COVID-19 and building a better future.

Panels 4 to 6 focus on the role of research in tackling real world problems: from solving viral detection and mitigating the spread of COVID-19, to building the virtual future and managing digital workforces. 

World-leading Researchers from the Water Institute, Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change, Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, and Games Institute are teaming up with industry experts from companies such as PolyGone Technologies, Blue Lion Labs, DarwinAI, Nicoya Lifesciences, and Scotiabank, to discuss how their research contributes to real-world innovations.

Over the first three panels, we have heard from the experts that there are going to be challenges ahead for Canadians as we navigate a very slow and drawn-out recovery. But, there is hope for the future, and that hope is founded in research.

Join the experts online for free, weekly talks, over the next three weeks, as they discuss how research in sustainability, biotechnology, and the virtual future will help navigate the challenges in Rebooting from the COVID-19 lockdown.

Registration is required. A Webex video link will be provided before the talk. Information about The Post-COVID-19 Reboot series, including registration links, can be found on GEDI’s event page.

Registration is now open for the Rebooting with Research series:

• Rebooting with Research: Tackling Real-World Problems (panel session 4 of 6) on June 11
• Rebooting with Research: Viral detection and mitigation (panel session 5 of 6) on June 18
• Rebooting with Research: Our virtual future (panel session 6 of 6) on June 25

Advising conference moves online

A message from the Professional Development Working Group.

Like teaching and the majority of other areas supporting students since the Covid-19 shutdowns, academic advising had to shift quickly, back in March, to a remote only endeavour.

Though the planned 2020 Advisor Conference set to take place on campus in April had to be cancelled, the Professional Development Working Group of the Academic Advising Community of Practice wanted to continue to ensure that Waterloo advisors are provided valuable, timely learning and sharing opportunities to enhance the support they provide our students. They reached out to the previously planned conference presenters to move the conference online. With a timely theme of “Updating Your (Online) Advisor Toolbox”, the PowerPoints, videos and resources offer ideas, best practices, and new information that can help advance and enhance advising practice, particularly in this new remote learning and advising climate.

Presentations and other content is now available on the conference page of the Advisor Resources Website (CAS authentication required). Those with advising roles can take some time this summer to explore the content when it is most convenient for them.

Today from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. a live Keynote presentation by Sue Fraser, employee career advisor and career specialist, will take place on Managing Compassion Fatigue: Staying Well While Helping Others in this new World. The Keynote will be added to the conference web page. Those who are not registered but would still like to attend the live event, can register online.

The Professional Development Working Group would like to send a big thank you to the conference presenters who worked with them to ensure their valued information, expertise, and resources could be shared with advisors remotely.

WatITis Conference seeks presenters; other notes

The 18^th annual WatITis conference will be held on Tuesday December 8th, 2020. Conference organizers are encouraging and invite all Waterloo staff members to participate as a speaker, panel participant or poster presenter. 

Interested in being a presenter? Submit a proposal to watitis2020@sharepoint.nexus.uwaterloo.ca by Wednesday, June 24:

• 500 word limit
• Indicate your desired session length (20 minutes or 45 minutes)
• Indicate the technical level
  • 100 - low technical level
  • 200 - medium technical level
  • 300 - high technical level

Anyone with questions and concerns is invited to contact Dana Mohapl (d2mohapl@uwaterloo.ca) or Shah Chandon (shah.chandon@uwaterloo.ca). To learn more about WatITis, please visit the WatIT is website.

The Waterloo Centre for German Studies has four upcoming events that they would like to share with the University community:

• Google Translate – A Tool for Cheating or a Tool for Learning? (with Daniela Roth), Wednesday, June 17, 2:00 p.m. "Based on current research, this webinar will discuss the benefits of integrating online translation devices in second language courses and offer examples on how they can develop the above-mentioned skills."
• Simple and Effective Online Teaching – Grad Student Edition (with James Skidmore), Thursday, June 18, 1:00 p.m. "We’re all online teachers now. And this scares us a bit, because online teaching has a reputation for being technology-heavy and difficult to master. This webinar will help us dial back some of that anxiety. It will introduce some simple strategies, such as discussion forums, course organization, and curation, that can be used to create effective online courses using the tools already available at any Canadian university."
• WCGS Reading Group Eugen Ruge’s In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts, Monday, June 22, 7:00 p.m. (RSVP by June 18).
• Public Writing – Turning an Academic Paper into a Blogpost (with Elise Vist and James Skidmore) Thursday, June 25, 1:00 p.m. "Graduate students do a lot of academic writing within their disciplines, be it journal articles, conference presentations, or seminar papers. But what if you’d like to communicate your findings to an audience beyond your peers or professors? The webinar itself will include time for you to work on revising an academic paper for a more public purpose, so come with a seminar essay, conference paper, or other piece of academic writing you'd like to work on."

Three University of Waterloo professors are engaged in a brand-new webcast series to "intervene into routine and everyday anti-black racism in Canada and the USA. The Aptly Outspoken Collective with special guest panelist, Professor Christopher Taylor will host "Racial Grief and the Need for Black Body Acknowledgements" on Sunday, June 7 at 6:00 p.m. The panel will be moderated by University of Waterloo Professor Vershawn Ashanti Young. Register to join the discussion online.

Activities will be resuming in the Student Life Centre, according to an update from Scott Pearson, the SLC's director:

• Campus Dentist is reopening on Thursday June 4 - patients can call 519-888-4607, email at waterloo@campusdentist.com or visit the website;
• SOS Physiotherapy is reopening on Wednesday June 10 for massage therapy and on Monday June 15 for physiotherapy. Patients can call 519-884-0767, email at sos-physio-campus@rogers.com or visit the www.campusphysio.com website.

The Student Life Centre remains open on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. with only the Ring Road entrance reamining open.

Women in Computer Science is hosting a virtual event entitled "Unconscious Bias: How to Recognize and Interrupt It," with Kathleen Nalty, an expert in strategies for creating cultures of inclusion to retain and advance diverse talent. The event will be held on Tuesday, June 23 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Everyone in the Waterloo community is welcome and encouraged to attend it. The event is free but registration is required.