Monday, October 19, 2020

President's Virtual Town Hall set for October 29

President Feridun Hamdullahpur will host a Virtual President's Town Hall on Thursday, October 29 at 1:30 p.m. through an interactive livestream.

"Every Fall, I have the privilege of welcoming our community together at the annual President’s Town Hall to provide an update on the state of the University and give a brief glimpse at the future," writes the president in a blog post announcing the event. "As we all continue to grapple with uncertainty and change, coming together has never been more important."

"More than 1,200 of you attended our Town Hall in May making it the largest Town Hall we’ve ever hosted. I hope that we can all come together again and be part of the conversation on the current state and future of our institution."

To ensure that Waterloo continues its dedication to transparency during challenging times, the interactive town hall session will be open to the University of Waterloo community and beyond.

Just like regular President’s Town Hall meetings, President Hamdullahpur will deliver a presentation and then open the floor for a robust Q&A session. Vice-President, University Relations Sandra Banks will moderate the digital discussion.

Questions can be submitted in advance during registration, and the online meeting platform will also provide attendees with the opportunity to ask their questions during the interactive livestream.

The online event will take place on Thursday, October 29 at 1:30 p.m. Register for the President's Town Hall meeting.

"I hope we can take this Town Hall to celebrate some of those successes while discussing how we can move forward as a stronger, more connected community," the president concludes.

Zero Waste Week begins

A message from the Sustainability Office.

From October 19 to 23, join the Sustainability Office for Zero Waste Week 2020 by participating in some fun virtual activities and challenges, including:

1. Zero Waste Challenge (Monday, October 19 to Friday, October 23): Register for the challenge and collect your waste in a mason jar/container for one week to see how much you fill it up. Tell us how you did at the end of the week for a chance to win some awesome prizes.
2. Tackling Food Waste Workshop (Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., online): Join the Sustainability Office, Food Services and Maison Verte for a workshop on simple steps to reduce food waste, including extending the life of produce, growing from scraps and more. All attendees will be entered to win a microgreen starter kit (~$50 value).
3. Waste Warrior Quiz (Monday, October 19 to Friday, October 30): Are you a Waste Warrior or a Recycling Rookie? Test your knowledge about sorting waste on campus and access resources for sorting at home. All respondents will be entered to win prizes.

All of the above have prizes available for participating. For more information, visit the Zero Waste Week webpage and help us promote on social media using the hashtags #WasteWeekUW and #JoinTheShiftUW if you can.

Nominations now open for the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision

Professor David Hammond, previous winner of the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision.

A message from Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA).

Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), in collaboration with the Graduate Student Association (GSA), established this award to recognize exemplary faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in graduate student supervision, through being a mentor, advisor, role model, humanist and a strategist who exemplifies a high level of energy and ingenuity.

Nominations are initiated by a current or former graduate student who is/was directly supervised by the faculty member. Recipients of this prestigious award receive $1,000 (taxable) and are recognized at convocation. 

A list of previous graduate supervision winners can be found online.

The nomination deadline is November 12.

Senate meets today, Open Access Week and other notes

The University's Senate meets today, virtually, at 3:30 p.m. Among the agenda items:

• A motion to approve changes to the regulations re: accounting and financial management (“AFM”) co-op work term reflections, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve the Graduate Diploma (GDip) in Computational Data Analytics for the Social Sciences and Humanities, effective 1 January 2021;
• A motion to approve the creation of a diploma in Creative Writing in the Department of English Language and Literature, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion approve the creation of a diploma in Italian language at St. Jerome's University, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Honours Theatre and Performance plan and the Theatre and Performance Minor, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Honours Fine Arts Studio Practice plan, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Three Year General Fine Arts plan, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Fine Arts Studio Minor, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Digital Art Specialization in Fine Arts, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the four-year general political science and honours political science plans, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the Jewish Studies Minor in the Department of Religious Studies, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the three-year general Spanish, four-year general Spanish and honours Spanish plans in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve changes to the diploma in Latin American Studies, effective 1 September 2021;
• A motion to approve the inactivation of the intensive studio specialization in Fine Arts, effective 1 September 2021; and
• A motion to approve the inactivation of the honours geochemistry plans (regular and co-op) offered jointly by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Chemistry, effective 1 September 2021.

Senate will also vote to officially approve the list of graduands for the fall convocation ceremonies later this week. As part of the President's regular report, updates will be provided on student mental health and the University's Climate Action Plan. In addition, PhD candidate Heather George will deliver a research presentation.

October 19 to 25 is Open Access Week. Two conferences with “open access” content are running this week. This year both are virtual and have waived their registration fees; it is a good opportunity to sample them.

• The Creative Commons Summit has an Open Education and Open Scholarship stream. The program lists sessions in UDT.
• Access 2020 has scheduled several relevant talks. The program lists sessions in PDT.

For further information about open access or to become involved in raising awareness, see Open Scholarship at Waterloo.

The Presidential Nominating Committee has issued another update to the University community on the status of the search for Waterloo's next president. "Since the last update to the community, the search for Waterloo’s next president is proceeding as planned," writes Cindy Forbes, chair of the Board of Governors and committee chair. "The committee has completed its first round of interviews of a number of outstanding individuals. It will continue its work over the coming weeks to lead to a recommendation this fall to the Senate and the Board of Governors for the University’s seventh president. Following these approvals, a public announcement and celebration will follow."

Check out the Presidential Nominating Committee website for more information on the search.

Sign of the times: On Friday, October 16, the iconic University sign was moved to its new location near the Arts Quad. Thanks to photos taken by Joe Henhoeffer of Co-operative and Experiential Education (left) and Chris Read, associate provost, students (right), you can see the installation from all angles. If you have the occasion to be on campus, drop by and check it out.