Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Students, employees to lead campus-wide anti-racism efforts

Last Friday, President Hamdullahpur announced the full membership of the President’s Anti-Racism Taskforce (PART). Comprised of mainly Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) from the University community, the taskforce will present recommendations for widespread and tangible change at Waterloo with respect to anti-racism and diversity.

“When I announced my intention to form the President’s Anti-Racism Taskforce, I knew that addressing racism on campus needed us to amplify the voices of BIPOC individuals and for those individuals to be the guiding hands of this work,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor. “It was critical for us to take time to hear and understand their experiences in the context of this University, and ensure their concerns were reflected in all of the actions we would endeavor to take in addressing systemic racism.”

The taskforce is comprised of individuals who will connect and structure recommendations from five PART working groups into an overarching framework for addressing anti-racism and for building inclusivity at the University.

The working groups are structured based on the input from BIPOC members of the University community. The working groups will make recommendations on a range of topics including Health and Mental Health; Professional & Academic Development & Mentorship; Race, Culture & Ethnicity Awareness; Educational Environment & the Development of Learners; and Safety. These recommendations will be brought forward to the taskforce for consideration.

Four implementation teams were also established to begin immediate action in the areas of Campus Representation; BIPOC Related Programming; Race, Culture & Ethnicity Awareness; and Race-Based Data Strategies.

“Since late August, I have been working with the community of campus members who expressed interest in the University’s anti-racism work, mainly BIPOC individuals, who would be a forum for discussion related to our efforts on anti-racism,” said Charmaine Dean, PART Executive Designate. “Their opinions, enthusiasm, expertise and experience have paved the road thus far. BIPOC leaders have stepped forward from this group to help shape a blueprint for what a supportive and inclusive UWaterloo community would look like. I have been truly privileged to be involved in this work, because I have seen so many of those individuals step forward to help navigate this change.”

Members of the taskforce, working groups, and implementation teams who are taking on this extra effort will be supported.

“Over October, the community also provided input to develop and shape the key responsibilities of the working groups, and then in November identified in which of these working groups members would  participate. All members of the community forum will be consulted as the work moves forward.  Hence the work to date has provided an excellent starting point for the deliberations of the working groups,” said Dean. “Our goal is to weave inclusivity into the fabric and culture of all campus operations, communities, pedagogy and lifestyles. We will also ensure BIPOC voices are at the centre of the anti-racism work.”

Those University community members who have been meeting to establish PART since September in the community forum have been dubbed the “Community Collaborative.”

“I am one voice of many in our BIPOC community, and grateful for the opportunity to make meaningful change at Waterloo", said Nigel Henriques, Taskforce and Community Collaborative member. “While it is early days in the process, a series of important steps were necessary to get us started. First, the university had to acknowledge that there are problems and that the institution was behind its peers in taking steps to address systemic racism. Secondly, it was important to listen to concerns, experiences, and feedback from our BIPOC community of students, faculty, and staff. That feedback has helped to identify priorities, organize our efforts, and create a path forward that is clear, actionable, and guided from a grassroots level. Finally, it required mobilizing experienced and expert BIPOC voices to form teams that would focus on the various thematic topics. The institution must be committed to supporting these teams by providing the appropriate resources to produce tangible recommendations that will lead to meaningful changes to address systemic racism and create a more inclusive UWaterloo community.”

The taskforce and working group members echo the commitment of the university to be transparent and open with its ongoing efforts, and to continue to collect feedback as milestones are met. The anti-racism website will continue to be a hub for information sharing, resources, and updates on this work in the coming months.

Council of Ontario Universities releases survey results of Indigenous faculty

This is an excerpt of a news item posted on the Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion website.

The Council of Ontario Universities distributed a survey to all full-time self-identified Indigenous faculty throughout Ontario universities during the winter term 2019 and the results and calls to action are now available.

Motivated by the spirit and findings of the TRC report in 2015, in addition to the 20^th anniversary of the release of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ report the following year, the sector initiated the Indigenous Faculty Survey. The survey focused on the challenges and barriers faced by Indigenous faculty with a specific focus on third-generation Indigenous scholars hired after 2015, the year the TRC report was released. As the report details, for the third and current generation of Indigenous faculty, Indigenous methodologies and theories are becoming a foundational part of the academic landscape, and yet challenges remain.

A brief overview of major findings and themes are below, along with the Calls to Action, while the full report can be downloaded (PDF), or accessed through the Council of Ontario Universities website.

Check out the results and the recommendations on the HREI website.

Concept Grad Fund winners share cutting-edge research

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Concept blog.

Beyond Pandemic Challenges, Hackathons, and our staple Pitch Competition, we also love to engage with UWaterloo Grad Students. Recognizing their deep specialized knowledge and commitment to their research, we created a fund exclusively for Grad Students and Postdocs. Thanks to the incredible generosity of Sam Pasupalak, Math Alumnus and co-founder of Maluuba (acquired by Microsoft in 2017) we are able to provide funding for promising Grad Students and Postdocs to help support cutting edge research being done at UWaterloo.  

This competition awards $35,000 to three graduate students or postdocs doing innovative research with high potential. First place receives $20,000, second place $10,000 and third place $5,000. The funding is intended to help advance the promising research, explore commercialization options, and/or help create a startup company.

We received incredibly impressive applications from Masters and PhD candidates, as well as postdoctoral fellows across all six faculties. From our applicant pool, the top ten were invited for an in-person interview to further discuss their research and its potential applications. All of the teams showed great promise, which made the final decision-making process quite difficult. Although all of the interviewees were impressive, ultimately three teams stood out above the rest.  

Joining our prestigious list of Grad Fund winners this Fall we have:  

1^st Place: Jeremy Hartman – mtion Interactive 

PhD Candidate in Computer Science, Faculty of Math 

Jeremy, also a Concept $5K winner, is researching the asymmetries currently present in videogame live streaming and how the spectator experience can be enhanced through the application of novel immersive technologies such as VR headsets. His startup, mtion Interactive, uses such technology to power a live streaming platform that lets the spectator be inside the game as it happens, giving them new ways to experience and engage with the live streaming content. 

The funding from this win will allow the purchase of new equipment used for testing, as well as help cover cloud infrastructure costs. Additionally, Jeremy and the mtion Interactive team will be growing as they plan to use some of the funding to hire interns/co-ops to help build their startup.  

Read the rest of the article on the Concept blog.

A holiday message from President Hamdullahpur

"There is no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. Despite the challenges, our community has continued to push forward, adapting to changes and finding new ways to teach, learn and research," President Feridun Hamdullahpur wrote in a message to campus circulated yesteday. "It has been hard, but as we take time this holiday season to pause and reflect on what we have overcome, I remain hopeful. Hopeful in the power of our students, faculty, staff and our vast community of alumni and partners to look out for one another and build back better. It is within this spirit of hope and goodwill that I send you season’s greetings on behalf of the entire University of Waterloo community."

"Thank you for being part of the University of Waterloo community," Hamdullahpur writes. "I would like to wish you, your family, friends and colleagues a safe and happy holiday season and a joyful New Year."