Monday, March 18, 2024

You're invited to The Co-op Student of the Year and Problem Lab Awards ceremony

A message from Co-operative and Experiential Education.

Each year, Co-operative and Experiential Education recognizes 12 exceptional students for making impactful contributions to their employers during co-op work terms. Join us virtually as we celebrate the Co-op Students of the Year and honourable mentions for each faculty. Velocity will also present the Co-op Problem Lab award recipients at the ceremony.

Register for the ceremony on March 20, 10:30 – 11:45 a.m.  Learn first-hand about the astounding and impressive students here at Waterloo.

Silversides Theatre Artist Series presents lessons from Palestinian theatre

The Department of Communications Arts has announced that Professor Samer Al-Saber will be a featured speaker for the 2024 Silversides Theatre Artist Series on Monday, March 18. This talk, entitled Devising Freedom: Lessons from Palestinian Theatre, is co-sponsored by the Study of Palestine Research Support Fund, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Studies in Islamic and Arab Cultures.

Professor Samer Al-Saber is an artist/scholar and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at Stanford University. As artist/scholar, his fieldwork intersects with theatre practice as a director and writer. His work appeared in Theatre Research International, Alt.Theatre, Performance Paradigm, Critical Survey, Theatre Survey, Jadaliyya, Counterpunch, This Week In Palestine, and various edited volumes, such as Palgrave’s Performing For Survival, Edinburgh Press’ Being Palestinian, and the Freedom Theatre’s recently published Performing Cultural Resistance in Palestine. He is the co-editor of the anthology Stories Under Occupation and Other Plays from Palestine (Seagull Press/University of Chicago Press) and Arab, Politics, Performance (Routledge - forthcoming). He edited a collection of plays entitled Youth Plays from Gaza (Bloomsbury Press). Before joining Stanford, he taught at various institutions including Davidson College and Florida State University on a wide range of topics, including Conflict and Theatre, Arab Theatre and Culture, Palestinian Theatre, Staging Islam and American Politics, and Orientalism and the Victorians. At Stanford, he teaches courses concerned with identity, race, and ethnicity at the intersection of Islam and the Arts. His international research is focused on the cultural dimensions of the Arab World, the Middle East, and Islamicate regions. He has taught widely on topics of Western and non-Western theatre as well as American, Middle Eastern, and Global performance.

The event takes place from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts, followed by a reception. 

Register online as space is limited.

Nutrition Month profile: Christine Mills

During the month of March, Registered Dietitians (RD) across the country come together to celebrate the diverse field of nutrition and to help Canadians build knowledge and understanding of the connections between food, nutrition, and health.

What better time of year to highlight the unique and varied RD roles that are present right here on the UW campus. Join us in celebrating the important ways that our RDs are contributing to the health and wellness of our students, staff, and community at large. We are continuing our series highlighting some of the talented RDs from across our campus with our third profile: Chris Mills, Provost’s Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellow in the Nutrition and Aging Lab of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences. 

Name: Christine Mills, RD, PhD

Position at UWaterloo: Provost’s Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar

Describe your role on campus: I’m a postdoctoral scholar in the Nutrition and Aging lab led by Dr. Heather Keller. I conduct research on nutrition and older adults living in the community. My research examines whether it is feasible to screen older adults for nutrition risk using tablets, whether older adults who are at high nutrition risk are willing to see a registered dietitian for nutrition care, and what older adults wants and needs are around nutrition resources and nutrition education. I’m also involved in other studies, one of which is examining whether a nutrition risk screening tool is valid for use in community-dwelling older adults with memory problems, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia, and whether it is valid in older adults living in retirement homes. I’m also exploring the professional development needs of interprofessional health care providers regarding nutrition and exercise for older adults. My other research interests include interprofessional primary care, food insecurity, and malnutrition prevention. My doctoral dissertation used data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to examine factors associated with nutrition risk in community-dwelling Canadians at midlife and beyond. I’ll be presenting the results of the that research during Nutrition Month as part of the CLSA webinar series: https://www.clsa-elcv.ca/webinars. I previously worked in interprofessional primary care, primarily in Community Health Centres, and in public health.

If you could tell people one thing about nutrition, what would it be? There is no one perfect diet that works for everyone – nutrition is very individual and there are many different ways to enjoy a healthy diet.

What do you like to do in your spare time? I’m a crochet pattern designer and I also enjoy running, cycling, and strength training.

Last chance for staff to register for Board Foundations workshop

By Kathy Becker.

Waterloo staff - this workshop is for you.

UWaterloo employs many skilled and multi-passionate staff who have so much to offer the Waterloo community! But many of us have never served on a non-profit board, and wouldn't know where to start. UW Staff Board Foundations is a workshop for Waterloo staff to build the skills and confidence needed to volunteer as a non-profit Board Director. And because it’s funded by the UW Staff Excellence Fund, it’s being offered at no cost to UW staff. We’ve already held 4 virtual sessions - there's just 1 left, happening Thursday, March 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Participant feedback

Here are some comments from past staff participants:

• “Some of those skills will most certainly be applied to my role on campus. And when I do join a not-for-profit, I will be more confident in my board role and better represent UW.”

• “This opportunity definitely provided me with the confidence to apply to new board opportunities on the horizon.”

• “I now have a much better idea of what it is like to be a board member.”

• “It helped clarify some misconceptions I had that were preventing me from pursuing a role on a board.”

Registration now open

Waterloo staff can register now for this FINAL session via Portal: Session 005 Registration Link.

If you have questions or comments about this workshop, reach out to Kathy Becker or Sara Perkins. And if you have another idea for a staff development opportunity, consider submitting your own proposal to the Staff Excellence Fund.

Monday's notes

First, the Waterloo Warriors Women's hockey team gave everything they had on Saturday at the 2024 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship, but their quest for a national medal was brought to an end by two teams from Quebec - the first-place Concordia Stingers in the semifinals, and the Université de Montréal Carabins in the bronze medal game. "This year marked a significant milestone in history, as the Women’s Hockey team stepped onto the stage of the U Sports Championship for the very first time," says a tweet from the Waterloo Warriors X account. "Congratulations for a season filled with unforgettable moments." Congratulations indeed, Warriors! Here's to next season.

Second, a bit of alumni news: Jasmine Mangalaseril, one of Canada's first food bloggers, will be replacing Andrew Coppolino at CBC-KW, reporting on food-related issues. Mangalaseril got her art history degree at Waterloo.

Here's this week's Nutrition Month tip:

Using flyer apps is a great way to streamline your grocery store stops and save money! With these, you can browse sales at various stores and “pricematch” sale items at your local store, all in one trip (hint: make sure you do your shop at a store that honours pricematching before you attempt!). You can also use these to make putting your grocery list together quick and simple. Think coupon clipping, but for the new era!