Monday, August 24, 2020

Student town halls to take place this week

President Feridun Hamdullahpur will be hosting special virtual town hall events for undergraduate and graduate students on Tuesday and Wednesday.

These events, scheduled for August 25 and 26, are intended for students only. 

Undergraduate Student Town Hall

• Tuesday, August 25 at 1:30 p.m. 

Graduate Student Town Hall

• Wednesday, August 26 at 1:30 p.m.

There has been a tremendous amount of change at Waterloo in a short period of time and these unique Town Halls are an opportunity to take a step back and look at all the strides we’ve made since early March and join an open conversation about our University heading into the new academic year.

As with past Town Hall events, this iteration will include an update from President Hamdullahpur and also an interactive Q&A about the issues that matter to students. Questions can be sent in via registration or asked in the interactive chat online.

Students can check their emails for invitations to register for the events, and livestream links will be sent to attendees beforehand.

Central Stores provides update on business operations

Central Stores has provided a business plan update as its prepares for the Fall term.

Effective Monday, August 24, its operational hours are Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The following services will resume normal operations:

• Receiving;
• Shipping;
• Mail Delivery/Pickup; 
• Letter Shop;
• Regular Outgoing Mail Processing;
• Freight Delivery;
• Moving;
• Gas Cylinder Processing;
• Used Product Handling; 
• Office Paper Recycling/Shredding; and
• Digital Imaging services.

"Scheduled on-campus mail delivery and pick up times may be altered to accommodate continued COVID-19 protocols," says the note from Central Stores.

In addition, Central Stores now sells affordable disposable (non-medical) masks. "These masks were sourced through direction and authorization of the Safety Office," says the note from Central Stores. "Masks are sold in boxes of 100 and can be found in our Central Stores Catalogue."

New ventures ahead for Tobi Day-Hamilton

Tobi Day-Hamilton’s earliest memories of the University of Waterloo are visiting the Red Room as a child with her mother who worked in IST. Technology has changed a lot since then, but a curiosity in science, technology, engineering, art and math is just as alive in children today.

After nearly 15 years, Tobi is leaving the University at the end of August to focus on sparking that curiosity in children in Waterloo Region and beyond. She is the co-founder of LAUNCH Waterloo, a social enterprise that is reimagining STEAM outreach for children and building a five-story STEAM centre in Uptown Waterloo.

“It’s really about sparking curiosity in kids to become curious and critical thinkers,” she says.

The non-profit startup is an endeavour she and her co-founders have been working on part-time for several years after visiting Science World in Vancouver and realizing that Waterloo Region is the perfect home for a similar venture. Building partnerships and attracting investors has been an important part of developing LAUNCH and it’s something Tobi has brought to her various roles on campus.

After graduating from Waterloo with an Arts degree, Tobi spent 12 years with a local marketing and communications firm before returning to her home faculty in alumni, marketing, and advancement roles. She led the development of the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business working closely with various levels of government and industry to bring the satellite campus to life. Later, at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), she and her team attracted $120 million in funding to support one of Waterloo’s world-leading research institutes. One of her proudest accomplishments was the creation of QUANTUM: The Exhibition. Tobi’s IQC team designed the travelling exhibit to educate Canadians about quantum technologies as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. QUANTUM travelled across Canada, throughout Europe and ended its run in Singapore in 2019. Tobi joined the Office of Research as the Director of Strategic Initiatives in 2018 where she worked with the leadership team on a number of initiatives including the Research Strategic Plan.

With a lifetime of experiences and knowledge from Waterloo, Tobi is excited to help inspire young people to be curious and ask critical questions about the world around them. She’ll miss her colleagues from across campus, but looks forward to working with children and youth in underserved and at-risk communities to bring opportunities in STEAM to everyone.

“LAUNCH will give kids the chance to explore their own curiosity and spark a passion to solve the problems of the future,” she says.

Public lecture tomorrow and other notes

Join the University of Waterloo, in partnership with the Kitchener Public Library, for an online community lecture on Tuesday. "Will our kids be alright?" focuses on how the disruptions of 2020 affect children and their development. Waterloo researchers will unpack the short and long-term social and developmental consequences and how we can avoid exacerbating the effects of the global pandemic.

Speakers at the event include:

• Janice Aurini, professor, Department of Sociology;
• Dillon Browne, professor, Department of Psychology;
• Sheila Ager, dean of Arts (moderator).

To register and learn more about the event, visit the Community Relations and Events website. The event takes place Tuesday, August 25 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Plant Operations has announced that there will be an electrical power shutdown in the Village 1 Central Complex from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon today.