Thursday, May 26, 2022

Celebrating Waterloo grads from 2020 and 2021 

The Waterloo community will celebrate convocation in person for the first time since October 2019. We’re excited not only to celebrate this year’s graduands but also to welcome back alumni from the graduating classes of 2020 and 2021. Due to a high level of interest, we’ll be hosting two additional ceremonies to celebrate our alumni — the six convocation celebrations are on June 11 and 12.  

Registration in advance is required. Alumni and guests must register by May 29 at 11:59 p.m. (EST). Ceremonies will also be livestreamed and available to watch on the convocation website.

Help our graduands celebrate their achievements

As we return to an in-person convocation, there is an increased need for volunteers. If you are interested in participating in the student procession, assisting students before crossing the stage or making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, view the volunteer roles and sign-up. 

If you are a faculty member interested in participating in convocation, please visit the faculty procession page to register.

Visit the convocation website for more details or email convocation@uwaterloo.ca for any questions.

Waterloo to host hyperloop competition

Twelve hyperloop design teams from Canada, India, UK, and the USA will compete in the first annual Canadian Hyperloop Competition from Friday, May 27 to Sunday, May 29. The competition will take place at the E5/E7 buildings where university teams will present their Hyperloop project vehicles, including a race at a test track at the Region of Waterloo Airport property.  

Admission and parking for the event are free. Registration is not required.

Once a Warrior, always a Warrior

A message from the Office of Advancement.

It was 1974 and the Waterloo Warriors men’s hockey team had just clinched the CIAU championship. Assistant Captain Cam Crosby (BSc ’74), a veteran of the Toronto Marlboros and Kitchener Rangers, helped lead the team to the win.

Victory was sweet. But Cam says that it’s the relationships he built with his teammates that he treasures most from those days. “Some of my best friends today are from that group of players and their families.”

Those friendships ultimately inspired a gift — the largest in Waterloo Athletics & Recreation history — that will enable future Warriors to benefit from their varsity hockey experience, long after the final buzzer sounds.

Read more on the Impact Stories site.

New Anabaptist and Mennonite historian will connect the past with the present

This article was originally published on the Conrad Grebel University College website.

Conrad Grebel University College has appointed Dr. David Y. Neufeld as Assistant Professor of History, beginning July 1, 2022, succeeding Professor Marlene Epp who retires this summer.

“We are excited that David Neufeld will be joining the tradition of excellent teaching and scholarship in History and Anabaptist-Mennonite Studies at Grebel and the University of Waterloo,” said Troy Osborne, Grebel’s Dean. “David brings an impressive breadth of knowledge of the history and thought of Anabaptists from across the globe over the last five hundred years.”

As a scholar of early modern Europe, Neufeld studies the interaction of Swiss Anabaptists with their Reformed neighbors and officials in Zurich from 1550-1650. His work challenges scholarly and popular assumptions about the degree to which Swiss Anabaptists were separated from their neighbors and society. Neufeld has already published public-facing scholarship on the history of French Mennonites and demonstrated his skill at connecting early modern topics with current conversations among Mennonite scholars and in the wider discourse. His training in early modern Anabaptism and breadth of knowledge in Mennonite studies will build on Grebel’s reputation in these fields, and he will enlarge the network of pre-modern and early modern scholars at the University of Waterloo, which includes Kate Kennedy Steiner and Troy Osborne at Grebel. 

“This hiring reflects Grebel's ongoing commitment to understand and interpret the past,” said President Marcus Shantz, “both for the Mennonite community and for society at large." 

Neufeld has been a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Grebel since 2019, following his doctoral studies at the University of Arizona’s Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies. Previously, Neufeld attained a Master’s degree in history at the University of Arizona and a BA in History at the University of Waterloo, where he also minored in Peace and Conflict Studies at Grebel. He is currently revising his book manuscript for publication, Separating Tares from Wheat: Making an Anabaptist Minority in Early Modern Switzerland.

“I am a historian focused on the long-term development of both early modern Swiss Anabaptism and Mennonite historical memory,” said Neufeld. “I approach the study of early modern Anabaptism by examining dissenters’ lived experience and by investigating how the interactions of Anabaptists with social majorities have been captured in the historical record.”

With five years of teaching experience in a broad variety of courses, Neufeld was recognized for teaching excellence and thoughtful interactions by both students and colleagues. While prioritizing hands-on engagement with a student-centred pedagogy, he will teach many of Grebel’s existing History courses and develop new courses in Latin American and World History.

“History courses deepen student understanding of why our communities and world take their current shape, while reminding us that other ways of living together are possible,” added Neufeld. “Whether by guiding collective analysis of source material or fostering research curiosities, I look forward to accompanying students as they build their own capacities for historical thinking.”

Beyond teaching and scholarship, Neufeld will join Grebel’s Institute of Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies, where he has been serving as Associate Director. He serves on numerous boards and will bring new energy for community education activities and network building. With a strong interest in archival studies, and as a past J. Winfield Fretz Visiting Research Scholar in Mennonite Studies at Grebel, Neufeld will be able to continue thinking creatively around the use of archival material in teaching and research.

“It’s a rare privilege to work alongside people who share a conviction that active and honest grappling with the past enriches our common life, work, and faith,” said Neufeld. “I’m thrilled by the chance to contribute to Grebel’s long-standing strength in Anabaptist-Mennonite studies, and intend that my work speaks to the concerns of the communities invested in this global tradition.”

 “As a sophisticated scholar and innovative and student-centered instructor,” Osborne said, “David will make an immediate contribution to our academic programs and the Institute of Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies. We look forward to welcoming him back to our community.”

You at Waterloo Day coming up this weekend

A message from Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment.

Our final open house of the 2021/2022 recruitment cycle, You @ Waterloo Day, will be held on Saturday, May 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This is our first large in-person undergraduate recruitment event since 2019 and we are expecting approximately 6,000 visitors to our main and satellite campuses. 

You @ Waterloo Day will allow admitted students to tour campus, faculties, university colleges, and residences, learn more about Waterloo’s programs and services, and to connect with professors, staff, students, and each other.

Note: While this event is only for students with an offer of admission for September 2022, we are planning an open house in the fall for anyone interested in applying for 2023 or beyond.

Read more about this exclusive event for admitted Waterloo students.

Talking about sexual consent and expectations can improve relationships and wellbeing

Teaching the benefits of affirmative sexual consent while also validating anxieties people might experience about consent communication is an important step for improving sexual health and wellbeing, according to a new study. 

Although schools teach about sexual consent, most individuals continue to practice passive consent through nonresistance, as opposed to a direct and a voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. 

The new study aimed to understand people’s various perceptions of sexual consent communication in order to improve approaches to sexual education.

“Our recommendations will hopefully lead to consent being viewed as a means to greater sexual wellbeing in addition to its crucial function of ensuring psychological and physical safety for all parties in a sexual interaction,” said Jessica Edwards, a researcher in clinical psychology at the University of Waterloo.

Edwards and Uzma Rehman, a professor of clinical psychology at Waterloo, surveyed 231 participants aged 18 to 64 representing different ethnicities and sexual orientations.

Participants suggested that they see consent communication as positively or negatively impacting four areas: communication quality, relational and emotional experiences, sexual quality, and safety and coercion. The responses highlight some of the complexities people experience while trying to discuss consent. 

“Participants noted that consent communication can lead to misunderstandings between partners, interpersonal awkwardness, and increase the risk for negative emotional reactions, such as rejection,” Rehman said. “They also viewed it as enhancing the relationship, creating a context of safety and respect, and being instrumental in clarifying sexual expectations.”

The study also examined the barriers that prevent people from talking about sexual expectations. It found that identifying and confronting barriers such as experiencing shame and guilt during such conversations is critical to effective education about sexual wellbeing education.

The paper, Perceived barriers and rewards to sexual consent communication: A qualitative analysis, authoredby Edwards, Rehman, and E. Sandra Byers (University of New Brunswick), was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.