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Honouring the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on campus
The University of Waterloo is holding a ceremony to recommit to reconciliation in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Members of the public are invited to join the Waterloo campus community for the event.
Today, Waterloo will honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. "Widespread public commemoration and acknowledgement of the tragic and painful history, continued impact, and intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school legacy is a vital component of the reconciliation process," says a statement from the University. "The University of Waterloo and the Office of Indigenous Relations at Waterloo continue to amplify that truth while building towards reconciliation."
The event began earlier this morning with a sunrise ceremony on the BMH Green at 7:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. today, the commitment polishing ceremony will begin, including a cedar circle and pipe ceremony. Remarks will begin at 11:00 a.m.
In September of 2022, the University of Waterloo committed to reconciliation, indigenization and decolonization across the entirety of the institution. "We are committed to building long-term relationships with Indigenous Peoples and communities, rooted in respect and reciprocity," says a statement from the University. "As an institution of higher learning, the University of Waterloo has a unique and important role to play in working toward Truth and Reconciliation."
The day will also include a feast, a circle dance and a walk around Ring Road beginning at 11:30 a.m. The event will conclude at 1:30 p.m.
Additionally, the School of Optometry & Vision Science has installed a medicine wheel in the Waterloo Eye Institute patient waiting area, which will be officially unveiled at 1:30 p.m. today. All are welcome to attend the unveiling ceremony.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation takes place annually on September 30 and recognizes the legacy of residential schools, the missing children, the families left behind and the survivors of these institutions.
Photo by Dan Ackerman.
Campus emergency communication system to be tested on October 3
A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST).
Information Systems & Technology (IST) will be testing the University’s campus-wide emergency communication system on Tuesday, October 3, at 11:15 a.m.
What is the impact?
Emergency communication channels being tested include:
- Tweets to @UWaterloo and @WatSAFEapp;
- WatSAFE mobile app;
- The ‘WatSAFE Desktop Notification’ on-screen pop-up for desktops and laptops; and
- Portal alerts and push notifications.
Messaging
The message displayed will read “TEST of the UW Emergency Notification System. During an actual emergency or threat, you would receive instructions. No action is required.” More information regarding the emergency would be available at alert.uwaterloo.ca.
Approximately 15 minutes after the test activation message is sent, a deactivation message will display, “The test of the UW Emergency Notification System is complete.”
In the event of a real emergency during this test, please contact Police Services at 519-888-4911, or ext. 22222.
Be sure to install the WatSAFE app on your device and WatSAFE Desktop Notification tool on your desktop/laptop to receive this test message, and more importantly, to stay informed of campus emergency situations. Visit the WatSAFE website for more details.
Questions or concerns? Please contact the IST Service Desk via the IST Help Portal.
Remembering Distinguished Professor Emeritus Delbert Russell
A message from the Department of French Studies.
It is with great sadness that the Department of French Studies announces that Distinguished Professor Emeritus Delbert Russell passed away on September 24. Colleagues, friends, and former students will remember him as a mentor, a talented administrator, and an important contributor to the field of digital humanities.
Delbert Russell completed his Ph.D. in French Literature at the University of Toronto in 1973. After five years at Nipissing University, he joined the Department of French Studies at the University of Waterloo in 1978, achieving the rank of Full Professor in 1990. In addition to Chairing the department from 1990-95 and serving as the Resident Director of the Waterloo at the Université de Nantes program on four separate occasions, Delbert also served as the Faculty of Arts Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Research, from 1996-99.
In 1983, Delbert published the first book-length study in English on the Québécois writer Anne Hébert. But his most important research contributions were in Medieval Studies. Delbert published a number of critical editions of early Anglo-Normand texts including La Vie seint Edmund le Rei (Oxford, 2014) and Verse Saints’ Lives Written in the French of England (ACMRS Press, 2012). His most recent work was a multi-year project with co-editors Jocelyn Wogan-Browne and Thelma Fenster resulting in the publication of Vernacular Literary Theory from the French of England: Texts and Translations, c.1120–c.1450 with Cambridge University Press in 2018. This edition of literary extracts was deemed a “landmark achievement in the ongoing reassessment of the place of French in medieval English culture.” In 1986, his work on critical editions led him to be the Co-Director of the University of Waterloo Centre for the New Oxford English Dictionary, the initiative to digitize the OED, and Delbert became an early champion of the digital humanities, holding a number of important SSHRC grants to advance work in this new field.
He is perhaps best known as a founding member, along with Jean-Philippe Beaulieu (University of Montreal) and Hannah Fournier (Distinguished Professor Emerita, Waterloo), of the MARGOT project which, in 1989, built a textual database of Latin and early French texts, using software developed for the OED project. Using these tools, and with the help of graduate students, the group published several electronic editions of medieval texts and early modern works by women writers, creating the MARGOT website in the early 1990s. Under his leadership, MARGOT expanded to include several archival projects and databases that are used by scholars and students to this day.
Dr. Russell's funeral will be held Saturday, September 30, at 3:00 p.m. at Parkminster United Church in Waterloo, followed by a private reception for family and close friends at Erb & Good Family Funeral Home at 5:30 p.m.
Startups 101: Intro to startups and the entrepreneurial journey
A message from Velocity.
Want to know what an entrepreneurship journey looks like? Need to find funding and unsure of where to start? Startup 101 will kickstart your business knowledge with our simple hour long (sometimes more) themed sessions.
Session 1: Monday, October 2, Intro to startups and the entrepreneurial journey
Hosted by Alroy Almeida, Velocity’s director of deeptech. Alroy co-founded Voltera a rapid prototyping platforms for printed electronics — from traditional circuit boards to the flexible, stretchable, conformable, and biocompatible electronics of tomorrow. or Monday for a quick event that has popped up here at Velocity?
Student reflects on ongoing Indigenous learnings; Black and Gold Fest; and other notes
School of Pharmacy student Celine Huab (Rx2022) has filmed a video showcasing her experience during her Waterloo Pharmacy co-op work term in Moose Factory and Moosonee Ontario. Check out the full story on the School of Pharmacy website.
Palak Chauhan, computing consultant in Information Systems & Technology (IST) will be publishing weekly blog posts on IST's What’s new in Atlassian page to bring campus up to speed on Atlassian, the collaborative software tool company whose products include Jira and Confluence.
Black & Gold Fest moves into high gear this weekend with the Warriors Welcome Tent and Facility Tours on Saturday, September 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. "Fuel up for the day with complimentary refreshments and join a facility tour to see what’s new in the Field House, CIF and the newly opened SLC/PAC Expansion," says a note from Advancement. But why not start your Black and Gold Day with a bit of yoga? Yoga in the Field House takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in, you guessed, it, the Field House.
Attendees can also cheer on the Warriors in style at the Alumni VIP Tent Saturday oin on Warrior Field's east berm as the men's football team battles the Guelph Gryphons. "With a buffet lunch, paid bar, giveaways and more, the VIP tent is the best place to catch all the action!"
Oh yes, the football game. The Warriors take on the Gryphons at 1:00 p.m. on Warrior Field for Alumni Black and Gold Day, Employee Day, and the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Tickets are free for Waterloo students. Employees can email Warriorstickets@uwaterloo.ca for free ticket code sponsored by Homewood Suites St. Jacobs. Purchase tickets.
Also Saturday, the Student Art Innovation Lab (S.A.I.L.) will be presenting Echoes of the Land, an in-process artistic work in a project that engages Indigenous and non-Indigenous artist/creators from educational institutions and communities across Canada in a print exchange that looks at the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action. The exhibit will be parked from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Parking Lot W beside Warrior Field.
Flags on the University of Waterloo campuses will be lowered on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1. In keeping with the University's flag-lowering guidelines, flags are lowered on Saturday in recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and will remain lowered on Sunday, October 1 in recognition of the funeral of student leader Stephanie Ye-Mowe.