Thursday, October 7, 2021

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• PART and Thrive invite you to talk about mental health at the intersections
• Graduate online application system is now live
• Philippe Van Cappellen Named 2021 American Geophysical Union Fellow
• Remembering Marsha Blok
• Your Daily Inspirations continue and other notes

PART and Thrive invite you to talk about mental health at the intersections

As the University of Waterloo gears up to celebrate Thrive Month, October 18 to November 12, the President’s Anti-racism Taskforce (PART), in collaboration with Thrive, have organized a virtual panel discussion called “Let’s Talk About Mental Healthat the Intersections,” on Thursday, October 21 from 1:00 pm, to 2:30 pm. 

Panelists, Iqra Mohammad, student member of PART’s Health and Mental Health working group, Dinuka Gunaratne, manager, Career Education Strategy and Communications, Dr. Yewande Olamide, medical psychotherapist, and Farshid Sadatsharifi, PhD, director, Samaak Inc. will focus on intersectionality (the convergence of two or more identities within a person) and its effects on health and wellbeing. 

Hosted by Professor Bessma Momani, the virtual panel discussion will highlight how identities intersect and manifest themselves in the form of inequities and the effects these intersecting identities and inequities can have on health, mental health, and wellbeing. 

Participants can also expect to learn about practices of self-care, strategies to heal trauma and engage in discussions on what more needs to be done to support individuals with intersecting identities and promote equity. 

“Mental health can be a taboo topic among racialized groups,” said Anita Taylor, PhD, associate director, research strategic initiatives, and member of the PART planning team. “Even more rare are conversations about the intersections of age, race, religion, gender identity, and sexual identity, among other identities, and how these identities affect mental health,” she explained.

“Providing objective safe spaces for discussions about mental issues plays a role in maintaining good mental health for everyone, not just for individuals living at the intersections. Let’s Talk Mental Health at the Intersections provides an opportunity for the campus community to engage in meaningful discussions that highlight how inequality can be addressed to ensure people are able to enjoy good mental health,” Taylor added.  

“Mental health is a shared responsibility, said Grace Wong, Student Mental Health project coordinator, Thrive Core Committee co-chair, and member of PART’s Health and Mental Health working group. “Through Thrive, we aim to promote access to mental health services and share skills and resources that every member of Waterloo can use for themselves and to support others. With an increased focus on mental wellness through a holistic lens, we hope to enhance mental health literacy, build healthy habits and self-care skills, and foster an empathetic and inclusive community."

World Mental Health Day is on October 10 and the World Health Organization (WHO) is encouraging institutions to engage in activities that will raise awareness about mental health issues and mobilize efforts to support mental health, throughout the month of October and beyond.

If you would like to participate in Let’s Talk Mental Healthat the Intersections, please register.

Graduate online application system is now live

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

Experts from Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), Information System and Technology (IST), and points of contact from all faculties, have been hard at work to create a new graduate online application system, which successfully launched yesterday, Wednesday October 6. Graduate student applicants will now apply through the University of Waterloo graduate online application system (powered by the CRM Slate), instead of the previous application interface, which relied on the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC).

The graduate online application system supports Waterloo’s strategic direction for graduate recruitment and allows for greater integration and control of the recruitment, application and admissions processes for future master’s and doctoral applicants. The online application launch is phase one of a multi-phase Graduate Recruitment and Admissions Transformation Project (GRATP), with ongoing improvements and new functionality forthcoming. The project team will continue to work on systems to support the marketing, communications, recruitment, and application processes, as well as to continue to provide superior services to all stakeholders. GSPA and IST are very grateful for the important and productive partnerships with faculty- and program-level colleagues; thank you for your collective support.

Philippe Van Cappellen Named 2021 American Geophysical Union Fellow

This article was originally published on the Water Institute's website.

Philippe Van Cappellen, professor, Faculty of Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology, has been elected as an American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Fellow.

Since 1962, the AGU Union Fellows Committee has selected less than 0.1 per cent of members as new Fellows. The AGU, a non-profit organization that supports 130,000 scientists and enthusiasts worldwide in earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary sciences, annually recognizes a select number of individuals as part of its Honors and Recognition program. Philippe joins 59 colleagues in the 2021 Class of Fellows.

Philippe was selected as an AGU Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to earth and hydrologic sciences. His work embodies AGU’s vision of a thriving, sustainable, and equitable future powered by discovery, innovation, and action. Equally important is that Philippe has conducted his research and teaching with integrity and respect while valuing collaboration, diversity, and outreach.

“It is a distinct honor to be named American Geophysical Union Fellow,” said Van Cappellen. “It only deepens my resolve as a scientist to foster closer public engagement with the grand environmental challenges of our time.” 

Philippe is an exceptionally creative and productive international scholar who has pioneered cross-disciplinary breakthroughs in reactive transport modeling and insights about biogeochemical processes in environmental systems. He is a gifted mentor and teacher and a dedicated citizen of the research community.

His impact is demonstrated not only by his extensive publication record (H-index 79, >260 publications, total citations >20,000), but also by the translation of his advances to guide natural resource management and environmental remediation; his contributions to community leadership; and his significant efforts to train and develop the next generation of diverse, interdisciplinary environmental scientists.

“Philippe is a pioneer and exceptional leader in the field of ecohydrology. This prestigious AGU Union Fellow award is a well-deserved honor,” said Water Institute executive director Roy Brouwer, professor in the Department of Economics and University of Waterloo Research Chair in Water Resources Economics.

Philippe served for eight years as co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Hydrology and led the International Society for Environmental Biogeochemistry from 2018 to 2020. He has (co-)organized large international meetings, including the 2009 Goldschmidt Conference and the 1^st International Conference on Water Security in 2018. He is active on many scientific advisory boards, in Canada, US, EU, China and for UNESCO. Philippe chaired the selection committee for the 2020 Science Innovation Award of the European Association of Geochemistry. In recent years, he has been actively promoting open data in the environmental sciences and enabling citizen scientists and indigenous communities to collect and manage water quality data. 

Philippe holds a PhD in Geochemistry from Yale University, and a BSc & MSc Geology & Mineralogy, from Free University of Brussels, Belgium.

AGU will formally recognize this year’s recipients during #AGU21 Fall Meeting, 13-17 December 2021 in New Orleans, LA and online everywhere. This celebration is a chance for AGU’s community to recognize the outstanding work of our colleagues and be inspired by their accomplishments and stories. 

Remembering Marsha Blok

Maatje (Marsha) Blok passed away suddenly but peacefully on September 29, 2021 at the Guelph General Hospital at the age of 92. 

Marsha came to Canada with her parents and 4 of her siblings in 1948 from the Netherlands. After marrying and having her 2 children, Marsha decided to become a librarian. She went to high school, obtained a BA at the University of Waterloo and a MLS from the University of Western Ontario. She took a position at the University of Waterloo where she was a dedicated and highly professional academic librarian until she retired in 1994 after twenty-five years of service. Marsha was a valued member of the Reference and Collections Development Department in the Dana Porter Library where she had been appointed as the Liaison Librarian for the Germanic and Slavic Studies Department.  Her linguistic talents were fully employed in her work that involved not only assisting undergraduate and graduate students in that department with their studies but also in developing an extensive collection of books and journals for the Porter Library collection which were relevant to the professors’ specialized areas of teaching and research. Marsha was a great enthusiast of the University of Waterloo and was proud to be a member of its staff.

Upon hearing about her recent death one of the professors that Marsha worked with, David John, now a Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the department, wrote this about Marsha, referring to when he arrived at UWaterloo at the age of 28 with a PhD dissertation still to finish: “She more than took me under her pedagogic wing, she tutored me like a mother hen in methods of research and sources of information in not only our Waterloo Porter Library but also in the process of reaching other libraries as well. This was particularly useful given the rarity of the material, both primary and secondary, with which I had chosen to work. Marsha’s personality was outgoing, she was one to be remembered for her dedication and generosity to me, and no doubt many others. I am saddened to hear of her passing and grateful for the legacy she has left behind.”

"Marsha was never afraid of a challenge and inspired many with her originality, positivity and tenacity," writes daughter Vivian Blok. "She was a keen traveller and was curious about how history shapes different cultures. At home, she loved to sit in the sunshine and enjoy her garden. She will be long remembered."

She is survived by her son and daughter Frank and Vivian Blok, grandsons Jaril Blok and his partner Beth Samuels, Rowan and Linden Forster, and great-grandsons Aiden, Rylan and Liam.

Your Daily Inspirations continue and other notes

Today's Daily Inspiration

Racism always impacts the well-being of communities and individuals

Be part of the change:

• Sign up for Catalyst, UWaterloo's newsletter to learn more about the many staff, faculty and students who are engaged in anti-racism work each day on campus and how you can get involved
• Join Anthony McLean's keynote next Wednesday, October 13 on The Intersection of Mental Health and Anti-Racism

See all Daily Inspirations on the Keeping Well at Work conference site. Questions and contest entries can be sent to ohd@uwaterloo.ca or tweet @OHDuwaterloo.

"Looking at the weather forecast of cold nights and cloudy afternoons you probably wonder when UWaterloo will turn up the heat on campus," says a note from Stepanka Elias, executive director, facilities in Plant Operations. "The good news is that all of our heating systems are now ready for winter operation. Typically, the change from cooling to heating happens only once each season because, unlike our houses where you can turn the heat on/off, the large district energy system cannot easily pivot from heating to cooling and back."

"Central Plant engineers are monitoring the average temperatures in our buildings and the long-range weather forecast," Elias writes. "The plan for cooling to heating switchover to take place shortly after Thanksgiving. In the days and weeks ahead, please dress in layers and be patient; winter is on its way and the warm days will not last."

 If you have any concerns about the operation of your building and the HVAC system, please email pltops.maintenance@uwaterloo.ca (non-urgent issues) or call the Plant Operations 24-Hour Emergency Service Line at ext. 33793 (emergencies only).

The fall 2021 final examination schedule is now available on the Registrar's Office website. The fall final examination period takes place between December 9 and 23, 2021, and includes Sunday, December 12.

Need inspiration? Come join the WCC Virtual Writing Café and write together with other grads, postdocs, and faculty members. Write together and meet others. Sessions occur every Tuesdays and Fridays at 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon and Wednesdays from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.