Thursday, September 17, 2020

President provides anti-racism update

The University has launched a website to help the campus community stay up to date on the commitments Waterloo has made to address systemic racism.

“Preparations for the new academic term and the changes from the ongoing public health crisis have been front of mind for all of us in recent weeks.” wrote President Feridun Hamdullahpur in a memo circulated to employees this morning. “Even with these pressures, our work to address systemic, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and other forms of racism is still very much top of mind and is ongoing.”

“Today, we have launched a webpage to help you stay up-to-date on the commitments we’ve made to address systemic racism as well as the evolution and progress of our work.” Hamdullahpur writes.

“In June, I announced the development of the President’s Anti-Racism Taskforce (PART). Since then, I have been genuinely moved by the many stories and experiences shared by our BIPOC faculty, students and staff. Many have graciously donated their time and insights to help not only inform our action, but to help guide our next steps. We have taken this feedback to heart and have started to summarize some key themes of what we’ve heard on the site.” 

“We will update the site regularly as we learn and validate new insights from our ongoing conversations with our campus communities,” Hamdullahpur writes. “We will continue to take concrete and tangible actions that are guided, informed, and shaped by a collaborative of individuals from our communities. An important part of our effort is to facilitate this ongoing collaboration.”

“Once you have had a chance to browse the site, if you’d like to lend your voice, share your experience or provide an opinion on our actions moving forward, I welcome feedback from all members of our community.”

“I consider change and progress trademarks of our identity here at Waterloo,” the president writes. “The voices I have heard so far reinforce my resolve to push for change, to see barriers removed and for us to create a more supportive environment where everyone belongs.”

United Way Campaign: How to "Go Red" this year and read our 2019 Annual Report

A message from the University of Waterloo United Way campaign.

Campaign during a pandemic

Orientation has ended, classes have started, and there’s a slight nip in the air. Some things are the same as every year, but the campus certainly feels different. University life during a pandemic throws a lot of tradition into question. This is true for our annual United Way campaign. During the month of October, campus “goes red” to celebrate community, give thanks, and donate to our local United Way Waterloo Region Communities.

But what does “go red” look like during a pandemic? Like any tradition, the spirit remains the same. We want to see great events and creativity while we continue to strengthen our community. To that end, the United Way Campaign Committee has come up with some virtual ways you can get involved on October 1.

• Decorate your home office in red, or decorate your pet, kid, or even your significant other and post it using #UWUnitedWay, or send it to our committee on October 1^st through united.way@uwaterloo.ca for prizes. No donation or purchase is required to win. We might even feature you in our next Daily Bulletin update. Pro tips: Do some pre-Christmas decorating with your red decorations, or use all of those red clothes, jewlery, scarves, hats, and costumes sitting at the back of your closet.
• Connect with your campaign ambassador to find out what exciting events might be in store for your area.
• Check out our Go Red page on our website for news, events, and ways we’re all going red this year. And continue to check out the Daily Bulletin for any new promotions and ways to support our campaign throughout October.
• And finally – don’t forget to donate. Our community needs your support now more than ever. Let’s make this year, despite a pandemic, our best year – one we can be proud of.

We’re looking forward to seeing how you GO RED for the United Way campaign.

The best and brightest moments of the 2019 campaign

As we gear up for the 2020 United Way campaign, we’d like to share our appreciation for the hard work, support, and enthusiasm from our campus community – committee members, volunteers, and donors – during our 2019 campaign. Whether you attended an event, executed a fundraising activity within your department, or made a donation, every little bit helps. Your support helped to raise over $262,000 for the 2018 campaign. Read the full report online.

Our Impact:

• Over 450 individual donors gave to United Way (employees, retirees and students).
• 78 new donors supported the campaign – that’s just over 17 per cent of our 459 total donors.
• Our Ambassadors executed 60 events, contributing over $29,000 to our campaign.

Event highlights:

• University of Waterloo Deans paraded to Senate in Sesame Street costumes.
• The third annual Souper Thursday had a souper turnout – members of our campus community enjoyed over 300 bowls of soup served by celebrity chefs.
• Incredible participation of our volunteers – including the Library, Engineering, AHS, and more.

Impact of your investment:

In 2019, our campaign efforts contributed 4 per cent of the United Way Waterloo Region Communities’ total campaign results. These donations are helping to:

• Fund programs to help those in need of counselling and mental health services
• Support programs helping youth enhance their social and educational skills
• Fund programs connecting local immigrants to their community
• Support programs that help those living in poverty in our community

As we look ahead to our 2020 campaign, we don’t want to forget our “every little bit counts” sentiment. By coming together as a campus community, we can help those who need it most.

An update on the Staff Performance Appraisal System Review

On the recommendation of the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation (PACSC) and to fulfill the commitment within the Staff compensation recommendation – 2018-2020, the University has engaged Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, to conduct a review of the Staff performance appraisal system. The objective of the review is to assess the effectiveness of our existing program while identifying opportunities for improvement. 

A Core project team consisting of representatives from within Human Resources and Organizational & Human Development have been engaged to provide Mercer with support. A key part of this process is to obtain firsthand insights from key stakeholders – including Staff and managers of Staff – to ensure experiences across all levels are understood. Over the next two weeks, HR will be releasing a communication in order to provide an opportunity to participate in the process. Opportunities to provide feedback to Mercer directly and confidentially, will be through focus group participation or the completion of a questionnaire. 

Stakeholder insights, along with Mercer’s expertise in the area of performance management, will inform a current state recommendation report that Mercer will present to the PACSC. The target completion date for this report is prior to the end of 2020. This review will have no impact on the upcoming 2020 performance appraisal period. 

Should you wish to learn more about this project, please contact Lee Hornberger, director, total compensation, or Raghda Sabry, HR project manager. 

Remember: the mandatory two-factor authentication deadline is approaching

Information Systems & Technology (IST) has sent a reminder to campus about the upcoming two-factor authentication (2FA) requirement for access to campus systems effective November 3, 2020.

As announced in a memo shared on June 10, effective November 3, two-factor authentication (2FA) will be required to access a number of campus systems, including Office 365, Workday, Quest, LEARN, Concur, Unit4, and other systems supporting single sign-on authentication. This means that after November 3, your username and password alone will be insufficient to access campus systems. Only accounts protected by the University's 2FA service, Duo Security, will be permitted access.

Visit the 2FA website to learn more about Duo 2FA and to enrol your device(s) in the Duo Mobile App. "This process takes only a few minutes and you are encouraged to enrol early to familiarize yourself with this service," says the IST memo. "Employees who would prefer to use a token authenticator should complete the 2FA Token Request form by September 30 to ensure the token is delivered before the November 3 implementation date. Tokens can be requested past this date; however, receipt of the token may be delayed, which will delay your access to 2FA supported websites/applications."

IST notes that you can reduce the number of authentication prompts you receive from an application each month by selecting Remember me for 30 days when you receive a prompt.

There are a number of 2FA resources available for students and employees. You can:

• Visit the University’s 2FA website
• Review 2FA support articles available in the IST Knowledge Base
• Contact your area 2FA Change Champion with questions/for support
• Contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca, or submit a ticket to Request Tracker (RT)

Thursday's notes

It's UWSA election time, according to a note from the staff association, who poses the following questions to staff members: "Do you have an interest in governance? Love to learn new things? Enjoy working with colleagues from across campus? Have a passion for social justice and equity? Feel driven to help make UW a better place for staff?"

If you answered yes to any of these questions, consider stepping up to serve as a UWSA Board Director or as President-Elect. "Serving on the UWSA Board offers opportunities for personal and professional growth, and becoming involved with the UWSA is a great way to support our campus community in a meaningful way," says the note from UWSA. Information sessions will be held over lunch September 18 and September 24 via MS Teams.

The Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI) is hosting a webinar featuring Professor Raja Sengupta from McGill University entitled “It's Complex: Future of Modelling and Simulation in a Changing Geospatial Data Environment."

"The increasing availability of large, dynamic Geospatial datasets (where information is captured from a multitude of satellite-borne and spatially distributed terrestrial sensors) creates tremendous opportunities and challenges for understanding complex systems and feedbacks," says Professor Sengupta. "I will focus on how complex system analysis methods and simulations (e.g., Agent Based Models (ABM), Spatial Social Networks (SSN), and spatially distributed Sensor Networks) can evolve concurrently in an attempt to better capture the inherent complexity of human-environment interactions that occur within a spatial framework."

The webinar will be held on Tuesday, September 22, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.