Friday, October 1, 2021

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• Today, Waterloo Goes Red for United Way
• New #ElderWisdom benches available on campus
• Teaching and Learning Spaces Committee provides update
• Keeping Well At Work launches Daily Inspirations initiative
• October's first harvest of notable notes

Today, Waterloo Goes Red for United Way

A message from the United Way Campaign.

It’s back. The United Way Campaign has started today – and campus has physically and virtually turned red. All with some new signage, offices being decorated, and our iconic Waterloo sign - in its traditional red wrapping - at its new home outside of Dana Porter! At home, many of our volunteers have added some red to their desk spaces, and even some cute pets! Want some recognition for your (or your team’s) go red day efforts? Email a photo of your space (on campus or virtual) to united.way@uwaterloo.ca.

We had our kick-off event on Tuesday September 28 with great success. With inspirational talks from our Campaign team to the charities we support through our donations, it was a great event attended by over 50 campus staff and faculty. Vivek Goel, our new president, connected the work the United Way does to our community health. “To truly ensure everyone in our community has an opportunity to achieve the best possible health outcomes, we need to support organizations like the United Way that fund community agencies that help address these broad determinants of health.”

Nancy Bird from the United Way Waterloo Region Communities also had some inspirational words connecting your donations to our community. “We achieve local solutions to local problems.” This puts the health and well-being of our society into our own hands. We encourage everyone to watch the event – it’s less than 30 minutes and will increase your empathy and understanding to the work the United Way does.

Watch video on YouTube

This year, the United Way Committee has organized a few amazing events to help bring the spirit of community and philanthropy to our (virtual) campus, and to help us stay red throughout the month of October:

Houseplants 101: Join Bryan Dobson of Gold Leaf Botanicals for a lunch and learn on plant care and get answers to your questions about all things houseplants on October 13.

Yoga Session: Relax your body and align your mind through a yoga session with Keeping Well at Work on October 19.

Live Cooking Show: We’ve brought back our wildly popular cooking show, this time making polenta! Get ready to get your hands dirty (and bellies full) on October 28.

Tickets to each campus-wide event are complimentary, and each will build our community and teach us something new. In lieu of an admission fee, we are encouraging attendees to make a donation to the UW United Way Campaign through e-Pledge. Your donation will fund United Way partner agencies and their work to reduce social isolation, support mental health and ensure that everyone can meet their basic needs.

As always, we encourage everyone to participate in any department-run events organized by our incredible ambassadors. Past events have included bingo challenges, recipe books, and pet calendars. It’s a great way to connect with your teams and provide much needed donations to a great charity.

New #ElderWisdom benches available on campus

Left to right: Jamie Schlegel, President & CEO, RBJ Schlegel Holdings, Ron Schlegel, Founder & Chair, RBJ Schlegel Holdings, Lili Liu, Dean, Faculty of Health, and Vivek Goel, President, University of Waterloo.

A message from the Faculty of Health.

The Faculty of Health unveiled two #ElderWisdom benches this week, with the idea that anyone at the University can borrow one for teaching and learning outside the classroom. 

The green #ElderWisdom benches program began in 2015 as a campaign to fight ageism and bring awareness of the wisdom that older adults can share. The bench invites community members to sit with an older adult or Elder and share conversation or insights.

The benches were donated by Schlegel Villages, the long-term care and retirement villages founded by the Ron Schlegel, who was an academic member of what is now the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences for almost 20 years, and the architect behind Waterloo’s health studies and gerontology programs.

The benches, which can be moved to any location for programming, will be housed in the BMH courtyard in the warm months and indoors during the winter. To book one, please complete the #ElderWisdom Bench booking form. There is no fee.

Teaching and Learning Spaces Committee provides update

A message from the Teaching and Learning Spaces (TLS) Committee.

The University of Waterloo’s approach to teaching and learning has been shifting to focus more on students and how they learn. Traditional lecture halls, with rows of chairs and tables facing the front of the room, limit student engagement with peers and with the instructor, and can make it difficult to integrate educational technologies. The Teaching and Learning Spaces (TLS) Committee has received a multi-year financial commitment from the Provost with the objective of upgrading and updating Waterloo’s classrooms and other learning spaces.

The TLS Committee has been planning and coordinating classroom updates designed to facilitate student learning, including accommodations to enable a balance between remote and in-person learning this fall.

To facilitate this fall’s concurrent remote and face-to-face instruction, IST’s Instructional Technologies and Media Services (ITMS) has been busy adapting 19 Registrar classrooms with technology, outfitting them to enable streaming and/or recording (adding to the four prepared for fall 2020). This technology provides students with access to classroom presentations (e.g., instructor video, lecture content, and whiteboards from on or off campus, for the fall and beyond.  ITMS also worked with faculties to design solutions for almost 30 more classrooms.

Continuing to add to a mix of room designs to accommodate diverse instructional practices, PAS-1229 is scheduled for renovation this academic year, with changes supporting collaborative learning and flexible use of space, including:

• Movable tables and chairs that can be reconfigured into pods or rows,
• Multiple whiteboards around the room, and
• A centrally located instructor console.

Additional rooms in PHYS and MC have been identified for renovation in the following academic year. Watch for more details about these plans as they evolve.

Maintenance projects continue to keep our learning spaces inviting. Over the last year, several rooms across campus received updates such as carpet removal/installation, paint, new sound panels, movable tables and chairs, whiteboards, and more electrical outlets for charging technologies like laptops and other handheld devices. Look for these updates in PHYS 313, DWE 2527, MC 4021 and 4041, DC 1350, PAS 1241, AHS 1689, and multiple classrooms in RCH and HH. This fall’s projects will focus on EV2 2002, DC 1351, and DWE 3516.

Find more information and updates, visit the newly-launched Teaching and Learning Spaces website.

Keeping Well At Work launches Daily Inspirations initiative

A message from Organizational and Human Development (OHD).

The Keeping Well at Work Conference is still 13 days away, but every day in October the Organizational & Human Development team will share KW@W-themed Daily Inspiration for UWaterloo employees to add a healthy habit, take a wellness break or get connected to perks from the health and wellness supports available to staff and faculty.

We want to be inspired by you. Capture your attempts and successes and share them with us through email: ohd@uwaterloo.ca or Twitter @OHDuwaterloo. Share three of these and something you’ve learned for a chance to win one of three Keeping Well at Work prize packs.

Today's Daily Inspiration

Be part of something bigger than yourself 

Today is United Way's Go Red Day. Show your care for others and community spirit by wearing (red) and sharing today. There are prizes to be won.

October's first harvest of notable notes

Indigenous Initiatives Coordinator Robin Stadelbauer was one of the members of the University community attending the Remember Me, Remember Us Community Walk hosted by the Healing of the Seven Generations on September 30, the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Pictured with Robin are Chief of Police of the Waterloo Regional Police Service Bryan Larkin and Regional Chair of the Waterloo Region Karen Redman. Photo provided by Alfie Scozzaro.

"It’s that time of year again," writes Melissa Holst of the Secretariat. "On October 1^st, we will kick off the annual University of Waterloo campaign in support of the United Way and the Office of the Secretariat will once again be holding a silent auction, with proceeds going to the United Way." For more information, and to see all of the wonderful items that we have this year, please visit the Silent Auction page.

Instructors who are looking for targeted support for developing online components for blended learning courses, transitioning remote to fully online courses, revising current online courses, and more please visit Agile Development | Centre for Extended Learning | University of Waterloo (uwaterloo.ca).