Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Waterloo's Top Stories for 2022, Part Two: Spring Term

This past year brought new challenges but also new opportunities to celebrate. As we close out 2022, we can look back and feel proud of the contributions of our Waterloo community, from on-campus initiatives and events to world-leading education and research. 

From a return to in-person celebrations to health and technology breakthroughs, let's look back on some of the year’s highlights. This list of trending stories is just a small sample of the real-world impact our students, alumni, researchers and staff are making.

Spring term

Disrupted by war

This spring, Waterloo began to welcome Ukrainian students to continue their studies through the Ukrainian Academic Internship program. The internship was provided at no cost to the students and funded by numerous on-campus sponsors and external corporate supporters.

Finding our galactic centre

Three years ago, history was made when the first image of a black hole inspired wonder and awe around the world. This spring, a second image from Professor Avery Broderick and the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration was released that shows the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

Celebrating our 2022 grads and alumni from 2020 and 2021

June marked the return to in-person convocation ceremonies after a two-and-a-half-year disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our community came together to celebrate this significant milestone in the lives of our graduating students and welcome back more than 3,500 alumni from the classes of 2020 and 2021.

Device developed by Waterloo grads now being used to remove clots in brains of stroke victims

Earlier in the year, Vena Medical, which grew out of a Capstone Design project by Michael Phillips and Phillip Cooper, earned Health Canada approval for its hardware called the Vena Balloon Distal Access Catheter. This summer, the device was used by surgeons at hospitals in London and Ottawa to remove blood clots and restore blood flow as quickly as possible for five patients.

This is part two of a three-part series. Part One, Winter 2022, was published yesterday, and Part Three will be published tomorrow.

New Green Shield Canada cards will be issued after printing error

A message from Human Resources.

As we approach the end of the year, the official change in our benefit plan provider from Canada Life to Green Shield Canada (GSC) on January 1, 2023 is fast approaching. As part of our communication and change management plan to support our employees with this transition, welcome kits from GSC have been mailed to your home address on file with the University.  

Unfortunately, due to an error in production, your GSC member ID card does not have the out-of-country/travel contact information that should have been printed on the back of the ID Card. A replacement card will be reissued and mailed to you immediately. When you receive your updated card, please discard the previous one.  We apologize for any inconvenience this production error may have caused and thank you for your understanding.

In the interim, here is the GSC Travel assistance information, should you require it:

The toll-free out-of-country/travel contact information for GSC is 1-800-936-6226 (also, collect with operator assistance at 519-742-3556). GSC Travel Assistance is available 24/7/365 (including holidays). When contacting GSC Travel Assistance, quote your ID number on your GSC card.

In your welcome kit, you will find information about GSC, your new plan member ID, and a welcome letter. Please take a moment to register for the new online GSC Everywhere website and app (app available from the Apple App Store and Google Play). Within this online portal, you can provide GSC with your banking information to support direct deposit for future claims reimbursement. If you register before January 1, 2023, you may not have full access to the site and app until the effective date your plan begins.

To assist with this benefit provider change, there are several key reminders and suggested time-sensitive actions we recommend you (and any eligible dependants) take to ensure a smooth transition and coordination of your extended health and dental (if eligible) benefits.

Key dates, information, and recommended action items 

Your coverage with Canada Life concludes at the end of the day on December 31, 2022. A two-month grace period, from January 1, 2023, to February 28, 2023, will occur to allow for claims incurred in 2022 to be submitted to Canada Life for processing.

Claims incurred before/on December 31, 2022, can be submitted online to Canada Life using GroupNet only until the end of the day on December 31, 2022. The GroupNet website will no longer be available to members after that date.

Any outstanding claims not submitted though GroupNet by the December 31, 2022, cut-off date must then be submitted through the mail. Fill out and print a PDF claim form available from HR website. Mailed in claims received by Canada Life after February 28, 2023 will not be processed.

As GroupNet will no longer be available after December 31, it is highly recommended to obtain copies of any dental pre-determinations or approvals with Canada Life from GroupNet before January 1, 2023, to support your claims experience with GSC.

Further, your claims history will not be transferred to GSC Everywhere. If you would like to create a claim summary before January 1, you can do so by doing the following actions: log in to GroupNet and select Benefits, then Claim History, and select Create claim summary. Choose the information you want your summary of processed claims to include and specify a time range to download your claims history for your personal records.

Please remember to advise all service providers (this includes your pharmacy, dentist, physiotherapy, chiropractor, etc.,) on/after January 1, 2023, that your benefits provider has changed. You and your eligible dependants will need to provide your new ID number to each provider. Your GSC number is your UWaterloo employee ID number preceded by WTL (WTL + employee ID). GSC does not use policy numbers.

All new claims on and after January 1, 2023, will be submitted to GSC going forward.

If you have not received your welcome package by the end of the week, please contact customer.service@greenshield.ca or contact the GSC Customer Service Centre at
1-888-711-1119. (Mon to Fri 8:30 am - 8:30 pm EST. Closed: December 26-27, 2022 and January 2, 2023).

If you have any questions about this benefit provider change, please take a moment to review the answers to these common questions. Be sure to visit the project website for updates on this project.

If you need further assistance, please contact gsci2023@uwaterloo.ca or call 519-888-4567 ext. 45935.  

Note: The University will be closed for the winter break commencing Dec 26, 2022 and reopening on January 3, 2023.

Indigenous students rock their mocs

By Sam Toman. This article is adapted from a feature first published in Waterloo News.

As far as campus traditions go, Soup and Bannock Days at the University of Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC) is a must-attend. Most Thursdays, volunteers make and serve soup to attendees while WISC staff dish out deep-fried balls of savoury bread — a traditional Indigenous treat. All are welcome to join.  

“If I had a magic wand, I would love for an unlimited supply of bannock to magically appear,” says Arts undergraduate student Chole Brideau. “I’m not sure whether that comes in the form of a machine dispenser or a full-time fry bread connoisseur, but it would be the perfect any time-of-day snack.” She adds that she wants to talk to someone in Engineering about the possibility of a bannock startup.

Brideau is joking … maybe. It’s hard to tell because she’s been trading sarcastic barbs all afternoon with her friend Adele Trunecek. Today they’re here at WISC both for the crispy bannock and as part of Rock your Mocs, a moccasin-making workshop led by local Indigenous artist and entrepreneur Pandora Beausoleil.

Rock Your Mocs is a social media campaign encouraging Indigenous people to hand-make moccasins and spread their personalized Indigenous fashion on social media.

It’s the kind of programming and community-building Indigenous students find at WISC which welcomes Indigenous students from all backgrounds, regardless of status, reserve or urban background, or level of cultural knowledge.

Hosting this Thursday’s Soup and Bannock Days are members of the local #LandBack camp, many of whom are alumni of WISC, so the attendance is quite good.

“I grew up in a small town so opportunities to reconnect with my culture were limited,” says Brideau, who is from the Mi’kmaq community of New Brunswick. “My high school had a student Indigenous alliance club, but I never felt like my attendance mattered in any way, so I felt really estranged from my roots. When I got to Waterloo joined WISC everything changed for me. The space and people really make me feel at home.”

Trunecek agrees. “I feel like it’s a place that I can be myself without feeling any apprehensions about being judged for my sense of humor, the amount that I talk or any other aspects of my personality.”

This home away from home feeling is precisely what WISC is all about and continues to strive to be.

“I was a very shy kid who came to the city from a rez,” says Emma Rain Smith, an Aniishnaabe artist from Bkejwanong (Walpole Island) First Nation who made the transition from a student guest at WISC to its programming coordinator. She credits WISC with “making me the leader I am today. I want to encourage our youth to their full potential.”

Smith, along with WISC Director Savanah Seaton, are responsible for all things WISC, including today’s lunch and well-attended workshop.

“Being able to wear something that I made, without it falling apart, would definitely boost my confidence in the world of creating and crafting items of clothing,” says Trunecek.

Waterloo President and Vice-Chancellor Vivek Goel also attended for the workshop. Having made Indigenization a key priority during his tenure, he’s visiting WISC to work on a pair of moccasins and learn more about the Centre.

Smudging, beadwork, leatherwork and traditional crafts are all forms of art that are a part of the cultural revitalization happening at WISC.

“I liked the dream catcher workshop that was held closer to the beginning of this term,” Trunecek says. “Despite my dreamcatcher not turning out too great.”

“My secret to power writing an epic essay is definitely a good smudge,” Brideau adds.

The pair of students have an easy rapport and WISC is clearly a place where their friendship is being forged in a positive way. “My friendship with Adèle is filled with laughs and questionable remarks,” Brideau says.

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo News

Open Scholarship Committee calls for Open Education Week contributions

A message from the Open Scholarship Committee.

The Open Scholarship Committee (OSC) is calling for contributions to Open Education Week, which will take place from March 6 to 10, 2023. Open education is one of the three main components of open scholarship, alongside open access and open data. Open education comprises digital resources, tools, and practices encouraging open sharing within the educational community around the world, with the goal of improving access to and effectiveness of education and advancing equity and accessibility.  

The OSC is looking for contributions, either in the form of activities or resources, grouped around the three prongs of open education: resources (e.g. OER), tools (e.g. H5P, Pressbooks, XR), or practices (e.g. equity, inclusion, decolonization, accessibility, copyright) related to opening education. For the purposes of Open Education Week, “open” refers both to materials that have been published with an open license (e.g. Creative Commons, Ontario Commons) or which have been made publicly available in other ways.  

Open Education Week activities will be fully online and could include, but are not limited to, presentations (live or pre-recorded, with attendance to answer follow-up questions encouraged), workshops, panels, or demonstrations. Resources could include, but are not limited to, PDFs, slide decks, websites, books, or AV materials (e.g. videos, podcasts). Keeping with the spirit of open, activities will be freely available to interested parties outside of the University of Waterloo community. In addition, presentations or demonstrations may be recorded and presenters/authors are encouraged to make their materials available to the public under an open license, although neither of these is required. 

Submissions are due by January 27, 2023. Applicants will be informed of the committee’s decisions at the beginning of February. Please contact kblair@uwaterloo.ca for further information.