Wednesday, October 12, 2022

New exhibit from Special Collections & Archives kicks off Library Week

A message from the Library.

Drop by Dana Porter Library on Monday, October 17, between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to help us celebrate the launch of a new exhibit from Special Collections & Archives titled “Democracy in the Classroom Provides No Social Change: Activism at Waterloo”. The drop-in event kicks off a week of celebration for Library Week, a cross-Canada initiative which seeks to raise awareness of the important role libraries play in the lives of Canadians.

Opening doors to co-op

By Beth Bohnert, Office of Advancement.

While most Waterloo students find co-op positions each year, the job search can be more challenging for those in their first work term. After her daughter struggled to find her first co-op job, Lenora Fleming decided to help other students in the same position.

To ensure students can take advantage of co-op’s career-boosting advantages, Lenora and other Waterloo donors are providing support through awards that open doors to co-op experiences that might not otherwise be possible. They are also supporting WE Accelerate, a program that provides skills training and work experience to students who don’t find a job in their first work term.

See how donors are helping students succeed in co-op.

Homelessness initiative responds to housing issues in the region

This article contained a factual inaccuracy about the leaders of the project which has been corrected in the text.

A tiny home model outside Cambridge City Hall.

An exciting partnership between the University and the Region of Waterloo is responding to the emergent issues of homelessness and lack of housing affordability in the Region.

These issues are escalating across North America. Mid-sized communities (including the Region of Waterloo, London, and Hamilton) are experiencing new pressures related to the needs of individuals and families. The urgency of these issues has been underscored by the pandemic.

The Homelessness Initiative is a response from the University and the Region, which looks to ignite and invest in two new community-based research initiatives. Each partner is contributing $25,000.

Research will address one or more of the following thematic areas within Waterloo Region:

1. Perceptions of currently unhoused population
2. Alternative options for currently unhoused individuals
3. Prevention of youth homelessness

A call for proposals was issued on March 24, 2022. Proposals were evaluated against the adjudication criteria by an adjudication committee with representatives from both the University and the Region. The research project is jointly led by Waterloo Architecture Associate Professor Adrian Blackwell, Associate Professor Martine August, and Professor John McMinn. The team was awarded $25,000 for their project entitled “Transitional tiny house prototype.”

“There are a limited number of existing examples of Tiny Homes used as transitional housing to combat homelessness in Canada,” explains McMinn in the research application. “This multi-stage research project is working to build on best practices to develop a transitional tiny home community designed for the environmental, social and policy environment in the Region of Waterloo.”

The team has already completed two phases of the project:

1. a survey of relevant tiny home community case studies in order to learn how to implement these cases in the Region of Waterloo, and
2. the design and construction of a tiny home prototype

The team is now embarking on a third phase of research in collaboration with the City of Cambridge. They will then with local transitional housing organizations including the Bridges and A Better Tent City (ABTC) to develop governance and implementation strategies, and with transitional housing residents to gather feedback on the first completed prototype.

The fourth phase of the team’s research, for which the Homelessness Initiative Project will fund, will allow the team to take the knowledge produced in Phases 1-3 to create a second, more refined tiny house prototype that can in turn be tested and evaluated.

Starting in August 2022, research projects funded by the Homelessness Initiative will run for one year, culminating in a report which includes policy recommendations for the Region of Waterloo, as well as a 2023 Knowledge Mobilization event with stakeholders.

The Homelessness Initiative’s second award will be announced in late November.

New t-shirt campaign spotlights consent

A message from the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO). 

As part of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (Nov. 25-Dec. 10), the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) at Waterloo is partnering with the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASC), Conestoga College, and Wilfrid Laurier University to address sexual violence on campus through a new campaign: #ConsentMatters.  

#ConsentMatters invites students, staff and faculty to take a stand against sexual and gender-based violence, and to show solidarity by purchasing and wearing a consent matters t-shirt during 16 Days; a global initiative supported by the UN. $4 from each t-shirt sale goes directly to SASC. 

Order your t-shirt by October 24th to ensure that you don’t miss out on the opportunity for yourself and your team to show your support. During 16 Days wear your tee, post a selfie or group photo, tag #ConsentMatters and #16DaysUW and share your consent messaging with the campus community.  

Get your shirt now, and you can wear it again for Consent Week, which takes place the last week of January, for Sexual Violence Awareness Month in May, and for Take Back the Night, a march of solidarity that occurs annually in September.  

Gender-based violence often feels very solitary and isolating. Wearing your shirt and sharing messages online encourages discussion and learning about the role we all play in creating safer campuses and communities.  

Learn more about 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.   

OHD's Keeping Well at Work Conference for employees starts tomorrow

Do you wish you could set better boundaries? Needing to quiet your mind with some yoga and meditation? Trying to figure out how to fit exercise into your workday routine in a sustainable way? Wondering was true stress resilience could look like for you?

It sounds like you need to be at the 6^th annual Keeping Well at Work Conference tomorrow. The good news is, registration is still open for both the in-person and virtual elements on Thursday, October 13.

“Choosing to prioritize our health while at work often becomes a secondary or even tertiary focus,” says Melanie Will, Director, Organizational and Human Development (OHD). “More than ever, we see the need for wellness-building practices throughout the workday as critical. And that’s what Keeping Well at Work is all about.”

Waterloo employees are driven, hard-working and service-oriented – which also results in very full calendars and task lists making focussing on well-being a challenge. Keeping Well at Work programming is set up to engage however works best for you – if you’re looking for in-person connection or just have time to tune in online to a workshop or two – to ensure minimal impact on productivity and maximum potential for employee participation. Participation that will lead to inspiration, revitalization and healthier choices around well-being at work.

Don’t miss the October 13 line-up, kicking off at 9:15am with President Vivek Goel followed by keynote, Melissa Leong, personal finance expert and bestselling author at 10:30 a.m.

Every day in October, KW@W is sharing a quick Daily Inspiration challenge or activity across a spectrum of wellness themes and highlighting the many resources and supports available to Waterloo employees.

Today highlights Warrior Wellness Wednesdays: Sometimes we just need to shake it off! Take a 10-minute Brain Break with our friends at UWaterloo Athletics - dance, meditate or stretch!

Register for next week's Hagey lecture with Antoni Cimolino

This is a reminder to register for the upcoming 2022 Hagey Lecture taking place in person in the Theatre of the Arts at 8:00 p.m. on October 19. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, who will talk about the purpose—and necessity—of theatre:

Why do children play act? Why, since the earliest democracy, have we gathered together to witness stories told? Is theatre primarily for entertainment? Or, as Hamlet claims, is the “purpose of playing” to “show virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure”?

After a lifetime taking part in the madness, mayhem, and hard work of creating theatre, I confess that why we do it and why humans gather to witness it remains a mystery to me. But I will say that it is a joyful mystery. And I suspect that our lives would be much poorer without role playing, make believe, and the willing suspension of disbelief.

Perhaps in this often harsh and surprising world, indulging in the madness that is theatre might just be necessary to our society, our personal growth, and ultimately to our sanity. And, besides – it can be really fun.

Tickets are free and open to the public. Please visit the Hagey Lectures website for more information, or register on Eventbrite. 

The Hagey Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Faculty Association and the University of Waterloo. The purpose of the Hagey Lectures is to bring to the University of Waterloo and to the Kitchener-Waterloo community outstanding individuals, who have distinguished themselves internationally in some area of scholarly or creative endeavour, to deliver a series of lectures, and to spend time on campus participating in informal exchanges with faculty and students.

During this year’s visit, the Theatre and Performance Program will host Artistic Leadership in Turbulent Times – A Talk with Antoni Cimolino, at 10:00 a.m. on October 20. All students, staff and intrigued members of the public are invited to attend. Please register for the Theatre and Performance event separately on Eventbrite. There will also be a colloquium for students in undergraduate and graduate English Language & Literature programs on the afternoon of October 20.  

Wednesday's notes

Interested in an Academic Career? Attend the FREE Academic Career Conference on October 13 and 14 to learn more about academic work search including document and interview preparation, tips on managing your academic career, and insights from faculty members on the academic hiring process. 

"Quest will be down and unavailable for scheduled maintenance for brief periods of time in the upcoming month," says a note from IST. The dates and times are as following:

• Saturday, October 15 from 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 
• Sunday, October 16 from 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
• Saturday, October 22 from 2:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
• Sunday, October 23 from 6:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.