Monday, August 15, 2022

Orange shirts available through W Store

A message from Print + Retail Solutions.

In preparation for this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, W Store is pleased to provide Orange Shirts to the Waterloo community that feature the unique design from Alanah Astehtsi Otsistohkwa (Morningstar) Jewell of Morningstar Designs.

Orange Shirts are available to be purchased through wstore.ca. This design is available on t-shirt, long-sleeve tee and youth options. Departments wishing to bulk order these shirts are encouraged to place their orders early, as demand for these shirts is high and global supply is short. By using a department charge account, departments can save the taxes and W Store offers free shipping anywhere on campus.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these orange shirts (50%) will be directed to support the University’s Indigenous Student Success Fund, established to provide financial assistance to those Indigenous students who are most at risk of abandoning their education due to financial hardship.

Funds received will be used to support students with:

• Tuition and fees not covered by third-party funding, scholarships, financial aid, grants or other sources of funding.
• Educational enrichment opportunities where other funding cannot be found, examples include but are not limited to such things as conference fees, professional testing fees, student professional association fees.
• Tools and other school supplies or additional technology needs, where costs are over and above third-party funding allowances and additional funding cannot be found.
• Emergency housing-related expenses, including rental payment.
• Emergency transportation costs, including travelling home for family emergencies and travelling home or to a ceremony for cultural and/or mental health reasons.
• Emergency family and childcare costs for Indigenous students with families.
• Healthcare and/or medical expenses above what is covered through NHIB, OHIP or UHIP, as well as any supplementary healthcare offered by the Graduate and Undergraduate Student Associations' Waterloo Student Health Plan (www.studentcare.ca).
• Other unanticipated expenses.

To learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or to access other resources, please consult the Office of Indigenous Relations website. The links included below are shared by the Office of Indigenous Relations to help educate Canadians about our history and the significance of this day:

• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation - https://nctr.ca
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action booklet - https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
• Orange Shirt Day - https://www.orangeshirtday.org/
• An Overview of the Indian Residential School System - a booklet produced by the Union of Ontario Indians based on research compiled by Karen Restoule - https://www.anishinabek.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/An-Overview-of-the-IRS-System-Booklet.pdf
• A short video by Historica Canada titled Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline - https://youtu.be/VFgNI1lfe0A
•  A podcast episode by The Conference Board of Canada Bright Future series titled Episode 25 The Hon. Murray Sinclair on why we need truth for reconciliation - https://www.conferenceboard.ca/insights/podcasts/bright-future

Building resilience for a future of climate change

By Jon Parsons. This article was originally published on Waterloo News.

Climate change is such a huge issue that it can be difficult to even know where to start.

It involves sophisticated science and mountains of data, as well as social, political and economic implications that intersect with various academic disciplines.

But for Daniel Henstra, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the co-lead of Waterloo’s Climate Risk Research Group, climate change is an immediate and practical matter.

Henstra is set to give a keynote address at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, an annual gathering of municipal leaders and administrators.

Part of his research focuses on what he says are the front lines of climate change: the municipal and regional governments that are facing tough decisions today about how to prepare for worsening climate change tomorrow.

“Climate change is happening and it’s not going to stop,” says Henstra. “I’m working on what we can do to adapt to that reality and build resilience.”

Global and local

With so much focus on international bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is easy to forget it is municipalities that are on the ground and incorporating a future of climate change into their policies.

“It can be a real challenge for municipalities,” Henstra continues. “They must, by necessity, prioritize certain things over others. So much of the focus is on impacts they are seeing now, like for storm water sewers systems, roads and bridges. That is all important. But there are so many other programs that municipalities run that they should also examine through this lens of climate resilience.”

Part of Henstra’s message is that municipalities need to prioritize what he calls “adaptation investments,” and to think strategically even about things like the engineering and landscaping of recreational facilities.

He gives the example of a soccer pitch, which could be constructed with surrounding berms so that one day if needed, it could act as a holding pond for excess rainfall or drainage from the surrounding neighbourhood.

In this sense, Henstra sees building climate resilience as not just a matter of infrastructure like sewers and retaining walls, but also of social and cultural venues and of public services more generally. It is an approach that assumes climate change adaptation needs to be foregrounded in most policy decisions going forward.

“One area where municipalities have strengths is that they control some of the most important levers for making communities more resilient,” he says. “They control planning and development, where development is going to happen, the density of development. And that’s going to be crucial for making sure we are ready for a warmer and wetter world.”

University of Waterloo and municipal partnerships

Henstra also sees universities as a ready partner for municipalities as they plan and implement climate change resilience strategies. Such partnerships are already happening in both formal and informal ways and are set to become even more important.

“It could be with things like the rich data for modelling or the sophisticated scientific reports,” he says. “Municipalities may need someone who can collect and interpret the data. Our Waterloo researchers with expertise in climate data analysis can step in.”

Researchers working on policy and on a variety of interdisciplinary approaches to climate change will also be in demand, potentially working with municipalities to guide decision-making.

Henstra sees the university’s role as especially useful to small and medium-sized municipalities, which unlike huge municipalities like Toronto may not have their own dedicated staff or teams with a climate adaptation file.

“We expect to see, as well, that smaller municipalities may get together in regional associations to look at building resilience, and here the university can be a big help.”

He points out that the University of Waterloo already has the Waterloo Climate Institute, which hosts world-class experts and a wealth of resources that municipalities can access and use in their planning.

“The more we have people in the municipalities talking about climate change regularly in their work, it keeps it on the agenda and becomes a reflexive consideration alongside things like equity and economic development,” Henstra continues.

“Climate change needs to be another lens that is layered on everything municipalities do, and the University of Waterloo is prepared to support municipalities with building capacity and resilience.”

Henstra’s talk, “Adapting to Climate Change: Local Government Tools to Build Climate Resilience,” will be delivered during the AMO conference in Ottawa, August 14 to 17.

Students take top prize in international Google contest

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Engineering news site.

A team of first-year Waterloo Engineering students topped more than 800 other entries from around the world in a Google competition to develop solutions to help end poverty, ensure prosperity and protect the planet.

Aditi Sandhu, Het Patel, Jinal Rajawat and Mehak Dhaliwal, classmates in the systems design engineering program, won $3,000 each – plus mentorship opportunities and other prizes – as one of three winning teams in the Google Developers 2022 Solution Challenge.

Their entry, Blossom, is an integrated solution that helps young girls get access to accurate and reliable menstrual education and resources.

Open to members of Google Developer Student Clubs, the competition challenged four-member teams to tackle one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals using Google technology.

Blossom clinched the win after several rounds of competition during a recent livestreamed demo day. The other two winning teams were from Vietnam and Germany.

W Store Essentials Mathematics and Computer closing temporarily

A message from Print + Retail Solutions.

Beginning on August 15, 2022, the W Store Essentials | Mathematics and Computer location will be temporarily closed and will reopen on September 6, 2022.

W Store located in South Campus Hall will remain open during this time. For a full list of locations and updated hours, please visit W Store’s Locations + Hours page. You can also shop online 24/7 at wstore.ca with options for delivery or free order pickup anywhere on campus.

CEL launches TA training for facilitating online courses

A message from the Centre for Extended Learning.

The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) is hosting an online certificate course entitled Getting Ready to Facilitate Online Courses: TA Training – Fall 2022, which will run from September 12 to October 7, 2022. 

"This 4-week, online certificate course is suitable for any current or future teaching assistant (TA) wishing to build skills and knowledge of best practices in facilitating fully online courses," says the course description. "While this course has been specifically designed for a TA or preceptor, the insight into online course facilitation and skills developed will build proficiency at all levels up to the instructor role. You will discover how to successfully contribute to the facilitation of an online course, foster student engagement, support student outcomes, and build a sense of community using various forms of interaction. Participants will also learn how to use LEARN LMS tools to create presence and connection, assess student learning and work effectively in their TA/Preceptor role." 

Register on GoSignMeUp. Course registration closes on Sunday, September 11.