Monday, January 31, 2022

President, provost provide update on in-person experiences on campus

"We recently let you know about our intention to gradually transition to full in-person experiences with most in-person instruction starting on Monday, February 7," wrote President and Vice-Chancellor Vivek Goel and Vice-President, Academic & Provost James Rush in a memo circulated to the campus community this morning. "Starting today, some services for students are reopening in line with Ontario’s new roadmap to safely reopen. Changes to Ontario’s regulations mean across many sectors, people are returning to work and activities today and gradually through February to mid-March." 
 
"We have endeavoured from the very beginning of the pandemic to make clear our goal is to return to more in-person experiences as soon as the public health conditions allow," the memo continues. "We believe that time is finally here. From letters, emails, meetings, phone calls, social media and our recent employee survey, however, it is clear many among our community have concerns over this transition." 
 
"We recognize that this time brings a new set of challenges. The worries we hear from students, faculty and staff are understandable. In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to do our best to address these concerns. Today, we are providing an update on the COVID-19 information site addressing some of the most pressing concerns that have been shared with us."

The information update, which can be found on the COVID-19 website, covers the latest on masks, rapid tests, the University's ventilation strategy, and more. 

Homewood Health, employee assistance plan provider, suffers data privacy breach

"The University of Waterloo has been informed of a data breach incident at the institution’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provider Homewood Health," says a memo from Marilyn Thompson, Associate Provost, Human Resources that was circulated to employees this morning. "The personal information of some employees and/or their family members who accessed this service from September 2016 to July 2021 may have been disclosed to unauthorized third parties during this incident. The University is not aware of the identities of the individuals who may have been affected by this breach since Homewood Health only reports anonymous statistics with the University."

"Homewood Health has published a statement on this incident and provided direction for those who may have been affected," the memo continues. "We encourage staff or family members who have personally accessed the service between September 2016 and July 23, 2021 to contact Homewood Health by calling their confidential inquiry line at 1-833-787-2862 or by submitting an inquiry using their online form to see if you were potentially affected."

Please contact hrhelp@uwaterloo.ca if you have any questions.

12,000 students to complete the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey in February

A message from Campus Wellness.

Starting February 7, University of Waterloo will be participating in the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS). The CCWS is an assessment tool to collect data to inform policies and practices that support student health and wellbeing.

Survey topics include mental health, food security, physical activity, substance use, sexual health behaviours and more. Campus Wellness will use the data to determine student healthcare needs, develop relevant health programming and resources, and design wellness strategies at Waterloo.  

A random sample of 12,000 University of Waterloo students (including both undergraduate and graduate students) will receive an email inviting them to participate in the survey. The confidential online survey will be open for four weeks (Feb 7-Mar 4, 2022). Students that complete the survey will be eligible for a $5 WatCard deposit.

Please direct questions about the CCWS student survey to Sandra Gibson, Manager, Health Education and Promotion.  

An update on the Quest to Oracle Cloud project

A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST).

As previously announced in the May 14, 2021 issue of the Daily Bulletin, Quest, the University’s student information system, will move from its current on-premises environment to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) environment. Much has been accomplished since this last update, and the project team is pleased to announce that the project is on track to meet the February 2022 go-live target.

The team will begin the work of migrating the on-premises Quest environment to the OCI environment on Friday, February 25 at 4:00 p.m. This work is expected to be completed by 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 28. Quest will be offline and inaccessible for the duration of this maintenance window. No client-facing impact is expected as the changes will occur behind the scenes.

Once Quest has been moved to the Oracle Cloud environment, hosting of Quest data will move from the University's on-premises datacentres to Oracle Cloud's secure Canadian datacentres, hosted in Toronto and Montreal.

For more information about this project, please visit the Quest moving to Oracle Cloud project page. Questions about this work can be directed to the project manager, Connie van Oostveen.

Remembering Professor Emeritus Bill Taylor

A message from the Faculty of Science.

Past and present members of the Faculty of Science community are saddened by the news that William David Taylor passed away on January 24, 2022. Bill had a long and distinguished career of service inside and outside the University of Waterloo. He will be remembered with great affection by the many professionals that he trained as students, and by the many colleagues who had the pleasure to work with him in research and administration.

Bill joined the Department of Biology as a professor in 1981 after graduate studies at University of Toronto and postdoctoral research at the National Water Research Institute. He quickly became a key member of the aquatic biology group and proceeded to conduct research that brought him international renown. Bill sustained a long and fruitful line of enquiry into the crucially important phosphorus cycle in lakes and rivers and also made landmark contributions to our understanding of water quality problems and food web dynamics.  He contributed importantly to improving our inadequate knowledge of African lakes, at the cost of many weary air miles and at least two internal parasite infections. The quality and importance of his work was reflected in the award of an NSERC Tier I Research Chair, the Frank Rigler Award for major achievement from the Canadian Society for Limnology, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Great Lakes Research, and the Chandler-Misener Award for best paper in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, among other distinctions.

A sharp mind and encyclopedic knowledge of his discipline were combined in Bill with a generosity of spirit and a wonderful sense of humour. This made him a great supervisor of graduate students and other early stage professionals.  Many graduates of his lab proceeded to do influential work of their own as professors and research scientists, including in Africa, the Middle East and China. Bill’s willingness to help with research and education projects in challenging locales (Ethiopia, Malawi, Iraq) was characteristic of his generous but also adventurous nature.

Bill gave unselfish service in university administration, notably as Chair of Biology (1996–2001), Associate Dean of Science for Graduate studies (2002–2004), and Associate Dean of Science for Research (2005–2008) before retiring in 2013. He then came out of retirement in 2014 to become Chair for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences until 2016. He also served generously outside the University, with years of volunteer service to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the International Joint Commission and the International Association for Great Lakes Research. He was active in research and graduate education until his final months, long after retirement, helping to advise graduate students and to guide research at government agencies, including both federal and provincial environment ministries. Even while chairing the Department of Biology and holding a Canada Research Chair, Bill found time to lead field courses to Canada’s East Coast — despite that (strangely) no teaching credits were given for field course instruction in the department.  He just thought it was important.

All who knew him appreciated how Bill combined such intellectual firepower with so much kindness and humour, making him such a grand companion in work and recreation.  His enjoyment of the natural environment was evidenced in his love of fly fishing, bird watching, and trail walking- often with friends, dogs, children and grandchildren tagging along. 

Bill leaves a lovely family of wife Carol, children David, Christine and Kenny, together with in-laws and grandchildren as explained in the obituary the family prepared for him. He will be greatly missed but has left a wonderful legacy.

Teaching award nominations due February 4 and other notes

Do you know of an excellent teacher? If so, the Centre for Teaching Excellece (CTE) wants you to nominate them for a Teaching Award. Submit your nomination form by February 4, 2022. There are two campus-wide teaching awards at the University of Waterloo:  

The Distinguished Teacher Award: Awarded to exemplary instructors at the University of Waterloo. This is not limited to faculty members — it's open to all those who teach students at the University of Waterloo. The main criterion of the Distinguished Teacher Award is a record of excellent teaching over an extended period at Waterloo, usually at least five years.   

The Amit & Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student: Open to all students who have a formal teaching role at the University of Waterloo. Up to four awards can be given to registered students (e.g., teaching assistant, laboratory demonstrator, sessional lecturer). The Selection Committee considers intellectual vigor and communication skills in the interpretation and presentation of subject matter, and concern for and sensitivity to the academic needs of students.  

Visit the  Centre for Teaching Excellence website for more information.

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) is inviting staff members to kick off Super Bowl weekend with an online culinary class to make some game day favourites.

"Join UWSA for a fun, interactive culinary class where staff members Mari-Beth Davis and Donna Shin share how to make delicious mouth-watering, slow roasted ribs and sweet BBQ sauce alongside some delicious sides," says a note from UWSA. "Join on your own or bring your family together to cook along with us or tune in to learn techniques so you can impress with pub food recipes to wow at your Super Bowl festivities on the weekend."

For the Love of Game Day takes place on Thursday, February 10 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. online via MS Teams. Registration is required. To register, complete a registration form by February 8. You will be invited to an Outlook meeting with a link to the Teams event. The event will include a recipe e-booklet and a shopping list for supplies. Attendees will be entered in a draw for prizes sponsored by Johnson Insurance.

Recipe e-booklet, supplies, shopping list and instructions will be provided, and attendees will have the chance to make the following:

• Slow Roasted Pork Ribs and Sweet BBQ Sauce
• Buffalo Chicken Dip with Chips & Veggie Sticks
• Fresh Guacamole and Salsa

"The 1.5 hr cooking class is complimentary and sponsored by Johnson Insurance," says the UWSA. "Tune in to the online virtual culinary class for a chance to win some prizes."