Wednesday, May 31, 2023

A focus on equity

By Dr. Christine Zaza, Disability Inclusion Team. This article is presented as part of a series highlighting National AccessAbility Week in Canada.

Whether she’s conducting research on planning for equitable transportation or facilitating workshops at the Centre for Teaching Excellence, Emma McDougall is passionate about equity.

A doctoral candidate in the School of Planning and a graduate educational developer with the Centre for Teaching Excellence, McDougall has first-hand experience with learning disabilities.

When she was in grade 11, McDougall’s diagnosis of a learning disability came as a surprise because she had always been successful by any typical standards in school. When she started university, the barriers to learning became more evident.

“If you had looked at my grades in first-year university you would not see someone who was progressing to a PhD,” McDougall says. “I didn’t perform particularly well in many of my classes. The lecture style was just not conducive to my learning.”

Removing the unnecessary struggles

For McDougall, taking notes in class was not only distracting, but it was also disengaging as she could not keep up with the lecture while taking notes. Despite these difficulties, she persisted with notetaking because some of her professors encouraged her to “challenge her disability.” In third- and fourth-year seminar courses she found her passion for academia and excelled in that classroom format.

McDougall is now proficient using various strategies and tools that enable her to overcome many of the barriers in the university learning environment. However, many social barriers persist. McDougall is all too familiar with the stigma around disabilities, including well-intentioned but misguided advice, microaggressions related to academic accommodations and outright negative pronouncements about learning disabilities.

In her first year of undergraduate studies, one of her professors was comfortable announcing to the entire lecture hall that he did not believe in learning disabilities.

Call to Action: Want to share your lived experience with disability on campus? Join the Accessibility Advisory Panel.

Regarding academic accommodations, McDougall emphasizes that accommodations are about equity.

“We need to actively shift our understanding of accommodations away from this notion that it’s affording individuals with disabilities something ’more’ than everyone else,” McDougall says. “Accommodation tools are designed to create equity in the classroom. They have never given students with disabilities unjust advantages.”

She goes on to explain that academic accommodations do not make learning easier, but rather they provide an equal opportunity to succeed.

Accessibility tip: Provide multiple accessible formats of instructional materials so that learners can choose what works for them. For example, when selecting videos, choose ones that include closed captions and a transcript.

As a graduate educational developer, McDougall advocates for universal design for learning (UDL) principles. She points to the value of simple actions that instructors can take, like setting a welcoming tone at the beginning of the term and talking openly about accessibility.

“I think the joy of universal design for learning is that we can start to think about different ways we can make our classrooms more accessible overall.”

Waterloo wins industry leadership awards for advancing education

This announcement was originally published on the Office of Advancement website. 

The University of Waterloo has won three awards from the CCAE Prix d’Excellence.  

The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) is a membership association serving educational institutions and professionals who work in advancement services, alumni relations, development, marketing and communications, external relations and related areas. The association’s annual awards recognize creative ideas that successfully engage communities to advance higher education.  

 This year, Waterloo received the following accolades:  

• Gold for Best Report to Donors – Report on Giving 2021-2022 (Central Advancement)  

• Silver for Best Alumni Initiative – Women in Pharmacy Leadership Program (School of Pharmacy Advancement)  

• Silver for Best Indigenous Relations Initiative – A Commitment to Reconciliation: University of Waterloo’s Indigenous Commitment Ceremony (Community Relations and Events)  

 These awards demonstrate our collective leadership as strategic partners and community builders, and they’re wonderful reminders of the talent across our University. Congratulations to everyone who was recognized for their work! 

IST celebrates career of Barb Yantha

Information Systems & Technology (IST) is celebrating the career of Barb Yantha, who will be retiring on July 31.

"Barb has been a staff member at the University of Waterloo for over 34 years," writes colleague Theepiga Sritharan, Manager, Service Desks. "She started her journey at St. Jerome’s University in their Registrar’s Office. After moving to the main campus, she had a number of roles until she left to raise her children."

"She returned to campus in 1988 and worked in various roles including the Staff Association and the Arts Computing Office (ACO). She then joined IST in 2015 as a Computing Consultant with the Service Desk. In her current role, Barb is the main support contact for the Crowdmark and Qualtrics applications. She manages IST's Knowledge Base content and has been a consistent advocate for relevant articles and updates. As a result of her contributions, the Knowledge Base has grown to be an essential support tool used across the campus. She has also worked closely with the CRS Team under Client Services and has helped as a co-facilitator of the IT Professional Development (ITPD) program and as a co-chair for the Professional Development Advisory Group (PDAG)."

"Barb is a valuable member within the Service Desk team, in IST, and across campus. Over her years of service, she has been active community member on campus. As an active member for the WatITis Committee and a co-facilitator for the Responding to Disclosure Workshops, Barb has built strong relationships and always has a positive attitude and abundance of energy. Barb will be dearly missed."

"On behalf of everyone in IST, I would like to thank Barb for her dedication to the University of Waterloo, her clients, and colleagues," Srirathan's message concludes. "We wish her all the best in retirement!"

Safeguarding Research Town Hall coming up and other notes

Members of the University community have been invited to a town hall discussion on the important matter of safeguarding research. 

"Universities play a unique and important role in this conversation. Our work involves the advancement and sharing of knowledge globally for broad impact," write Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor and Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International, who will be co-hosting the town hall event on June 12. "There have been tremendous geopolitical shifts in the last few years. How do we move forward to pursue safe and productive international research relationships in the current geopolitical context?"

"Join us to learn more about the actions that Waterloo has undertaken to support researchers in navigating the various risk assessment requirements that are required by agencies in evaluating research proposals, to receive an update on how these assessments are to be expanded to other programs, and to discuss what further supports will be useful to researchers at our institution. This townhall also provides an opportunity for commentary on impacts on the research environment from these new federal and provincial directions."

The event will be held on June 12 in East Campus 5's Enterprise Theatre and via MS Teams. There will be refreshments from 3:00 p.m to 3:30 p.m. followed by opening remarks by President Goel and Vice-President Dean from 3:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. The Q&A portion of the event will run from 3:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

You can register for the town hall event on the Office of Research's website.

Students set to graduate at the spring Convocation ceremonies will be receiving an email tomorrow about important registration deadlines. Friday, June 2 is the last day for graduands to register to attend their ceremony in person and reserve their two guest tickets. Students who do not require any guest tickets must complete the register without guests form to confirm their attendance and receive your diploma at the ceremony. All guests must be registered by June 2 at 11:59 p.m. to attend the in-person ceremonies. If additional guest tickets become available, students will be notified on Monday, June 5.

Registration is open for the 31^st annual Matthews Golf Classic. The long-running golf tournament celebrates the life and career of Burt Matthews, the University of Waterloo's second president.

“The mission of the Burt Matthews Golf Classic is to foster connection within the UWaterloo community," says a note from tournament organizers. "This social event gives individuals across campus an opportunity to meet and socialize with other individuals from various departments; people they may never have the opportunity to meet. In other words, skill means nothing. Only the ability to have fun, enjoy the afternoon (rain or shine) and drive a golf cart with a teammate that you may have just met. Well, you have to hit the ball too."

The event will be held at Grand Valley Golf & Country Club on Monday June 19 at 1:00 p.m. Attendees will play 18 holes of golf with a shared power cart. A boxed lunch will be provided, and dinner is optional. There will be an opportunity to win a prize.

Registration is now open. You can sign up and request to play with another player or as a foursome.

Employers hosting Virtual Employer Information Sessions (VEIS) this week and next week include Grant Thornton LLP, Definity, Dow Chemical Canada, and Cruise. Make sure to register through WaterlooWorks and check the calendar for any updates.