Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Inaugural virtual fair draws thousands of future Warriors

A message from Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment (MUR).

The first-ever Waterloo Virtual Fair, hosted by Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment was held on Saturday, October 3.

Presented as a Waterloo-specific alternative to the Ontario Universities’ Fair, which was cancelled this year, the event included a welcome from the president, virtual booths for all areas of campus that support recruitment; dozens of presentations; and the opportunity to chat directly with hundreds of our amazing students, faculty, and staff. Over 7,800 individuals registered for the event and 4,600 individuals attended the live event.

If there’s a high school student in your life who’d like to know more about one of our 100+ programs, please encourage them to register for a Waterloo Wednesday webinar or the Waterloo Virtual Open House, taking place on November 7.

Showcase will feature board games with designs on racial equity

This article was originally published on Waterloo Stories.

On Wednesday, October 21, the Research, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Council, the Games Institute and the Council for Responsible Innovation and Technology (CRIT) are launching the University of Waterloo’s first Racial Equity Board Game Showcase, under the guidance of University of Waterloo’s Office of Research and with consultation from the Equity Office.

“Games can be a powerful and popular tool for critically challenging ideas, affording intentional, rhetorical choices that provoke, teach, recuperate and connect people and ideas in interactive ways unique to that medium,” Jason Lajoie says, CRIT Research Associate. “This showcase offers an opportunity for students, staff, faculty and researchers from every background to design contributions to anti-racism work”.           

Existing games like Freedom, the Underground Railroad (2012) and Rise Up: The Game of People and Power (2017) are board game examples that help audiences understand complex issues related to race, racism and anti-racism in society. 

“Through this Anti-racism Board Game Showcase event, the [REDI] Council hopes to foster research into designing games for social justice,” says Anita Layton, chair of the REDI Council. “Lighthearted scenarios in games featuring ghosts, monsters, vampires and animals can attract almost everyone to engage with serious social issues such as racial equity. The collaborative aspect of board games is particularly valuable because families and friends sit together, talk, argue and have fun. This process can encourage more serious discussions about racial equity and inclusion.”

The event, which starts from Fall Term 2020 through Spring Term 2021, will provide a platform for existing and would-be board game designers to distribute their work showcasing anti-racism themes. 

The showcase kicks-off with a panel event October 21, with games and race studies researchers like Kishonna Gray, Lai-Tze Fan and Aynur Kadir. The panel will raise awareness for the showcase and allow interested participants to learn about the possibilities, expectations and issues surrounding the design of anti-racist board games. 

“Submissions for the showcase will open this upcoming winter and will be evaluated based on criteria set by a group of game studies and anti-racism scholars,” notes Neil Randall, executive director of the Games Institute. “REDI, the Games Institute, and CRIT have also compiled a non-comprehensive list of resources for anyone interested in doing self-guided research on how games can promote equity, diversity and inclusivity, to be introduced at the panel. This showcase supports UWaterloo’s ongoing work to address systemic racism in all its forms on campus, and to ensure this work is led by members of BIPOC communities.” 

Q and A with the experts: trusting public figures during COVID-19

The University of Waterloo has a number of experts available for comment on various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated more clearly than ever that there is a large and growing divide between people who trust public figures, and people who don’t.

Waterloo English professors Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher and Brad Mehlenbacher, experts in rhetorical studies, offer us insights into how leaders can more effectively communicate complex scientific and technical information and help people trust them and the information they are providing.

What makes a public figure trustworthy?

A. Mehlenbacher: Trust is a massively complex subject, but it provides a way into the problem and some variables to assess. First, considerable evidence suggests that the public trusts scientists, although we know someone’s field can influence how much they are trusted (climate scientists, for example, are less trusted). Other public figures, such as government representatives, may be less trusted. When scientists take on a role as an advisor to a governmental official or office, the public may have a different level of trust for that person than in their capacity as a research scientist.

Trust is contextual.

Why do some people believe scientific evidence about COVID and others don't?

B. Mehlenbacher: Canadians, according to recent surveys, trust doctors and scientists (PEW Research Center has some interesting data on how much they trust them). However, disbelief in science may not be about the science itself. For example, issues around COVID-19 have become increasingly politicized. There are likely actors spreading misinformation and fueling partisan divisions on this issue for various reasons. We might be better off reframing the question to ask where people are getting dubious information from and what we can do about that. 

In other cases, someone might legitimately not trust doctors because of their experiences (racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and gender bias are all examples). The question, then, is really where the basis for disbelief or, perhaps, distrust lies. The scientific evidence might not persuade someone because that person doesn’t actually have strong feelings about the evidence itself. Rather, it might be someone does not trust the institution or person representing the institution.

Is there anything public figures can do to encourage people to believe the scientific evidence they consume?

A. Mehlenbacher: What we can see is that figures who have successfully balanced their role as scientist and public health official have a lot of what we rhetoricians might call credibility, but we mean something technical by that. When we talk about credibility, we’re talking about the ability to craft a credible persona, and that includes demonstrating to your audience that you have good will toward them, that you have the kind of virtues they believe are important (in scientists we might say they’re honest, for instance), and that you have the kind of practical wisdom to understand the complexities of a particular situation and to respond to the particulars of that situation. That last feature of a credible speaker is important. Consider the criticisms that might be levied against a public health official who hasn’t considered how families will be impacted, how our collective mental health is suffering, how economies will be damaged, and so on. 

Credible public health officials—Dr. Bonnie Henry is one example—have shown repeatedly that they understand these complexities, can articulate them, and consider them when making decisions such as shutting down.

Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher is an associate professor specializing in rhetorical theory and science communication at the University of Waterloo and is the Principal Investigator of the Demos Lab (Democratization through Education in Medicine, technolOgy, and Science Lab). Brad Mehlenbacher is an associate professor whose research focuses on instruction and learning with technology continues to be informed by the multidisciplinary relationship between rhetorical theory, the learning sciences, communication design, educational technologies, and human-computer interaction.

Wednesday's notes

First, a correction to yesterday's Reading Week hours for Food Services locations. In addition to The Market at UWP, the following Food Services operations are indeed operating this week: 

• Starbucks STC: Open 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Tim Hortons SLC: Open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Catering Eats and UC Eats (through the app) 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Here's what is happening at the Centre for Career Action (CCA) this week:

• Wednesday, October 21:
  • Co-op 101 for 2A Planners, 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. 
  • Résumé Tips: Thinking Like an Employer, 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

See CCA’s offering of virtual programming online. Students can register on WaterlooWorks.  

CCA virtual drop-in advising hours for October: 

• Résumé, cover letter, and interview drop-ins for UG and Masters students are offered:
  • 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday to Friday as well as 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday to Thursday.
• Career Consult and work search drop-ins for UG and Masters students are offered,
  • 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Monday to Friday
• Further Education drop-ins are offered 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST Monday to Friday; and
• PhD and Postdoc drop-ins are offered 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. EST, Monday to Friday.

Students can book all virtual drop-ins through WaterlooWorks. Online registration begins at 8:00 a.m. daily.

The next meeting of the University's Senate will be held on Monday, October 19 via Microsoft Teams videoconference. Guests are welcome to join the open session of the meeting similar to a normal "in-person" Senate meeting. If you would like to attend the meeting as a guest observer, please contact Emily Schroeder to request to join the meeting. All requests must be received by Friday, October 16 at 12:00 noon. The agenda is posted on the Senate website. More information is available on the Secretariat's website.