Tuesday, April 2, 2024

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• Waterloo publishes latest Academic Calendars with a new look
• What changes when robots are everywhere? Find out at the Global Engagement showcase
• Future Cities launch; Lake Shift applications, and other notes

Waterloo publishes latest Academic Calendars with a new look

A message from the Registrar's Office and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.

The Office of the Registrar and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs have published the newest academic calendars today:

• The 2024-2025 Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar; and
• The Spring 2024 Graduate Studies Academic Calendar.

Aside from the new URL, campus users will notice that the academic calendars look a bit different than in past years. The new look and feel is a result of a multi-year software project to enhance and streamline the management of curriculum and the publication of the academic calendars. Once curriculum is approved through the governance process, it will automatically be populated in the corresponding academic calendar.

Some of the new features available:

• A robust search engine that will display results from all sections of the applicable academic calendar.
• Links between course records (e.g., cross-listed courses, course requisites).
• An Addenda section that automatically maintains a list of changes made after publication.

What else is new in these publications?

• New content structure, focusing on the content/topic instead of content owner.
• New centralized/harmonized content to reduce content duplication.
• Removal of content that is not seen as contractual and academic units need to have flexibility in using/updating (e.g., course scheduling-related information; basic advising information).
• Presentation of requisites (prerequisites, corequisites, antirequisites) and some program/plan requirements in a series of rules, built on logic.

In addition, archived academic calendars are still available, directly from the new website.

For undergraduate studies inquiries, email the Office of the Registrar. For graduate studies inquiries, contact Trevor Clews, Academic Officer, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA).

What changes when robots are everywhere? Find out at the Global Engagement showcase

The Global Engagement Seminar welcomes all members of the University of Waterloo community as well as friends and colleagues beyond campus to join us on the evening of Wednesday, April 3 for the 2024 Desmarais Family Summit. 

The Summit is an annual interactive exhibition where students from the Global Engagement Seminar—an interdisciplinary course offered in the Winter term—showcase their research projects exploring this year’s theme: Me and my Robot: What Changes When Robots are Everywhere. 

About the 2024 Global Engagement Seminar

Students in Engineering, Arts, Heath, and Mathematics collaborated in interdisciplinary groups to look at not only the opportunities robots create, but also the challenges they pose, and considered how humanity can thrive with robots in our daily lives. In this collaborative environment, students were encouraged to embrace innovative problem-solving and take creative risks. Led by co-instructors Dr. Shana MacDonald (Communication Arts) and Dr. Brandon DeHart (Manager of the RoboHub, Faculty of Engineering) the class also benefited from the insights, experience, and guidance of six leading experts and practitioners in the field, the seminar’s Jarislowsky Fellows. 

The Fellows worked collaboratively with the coordinator and teaching faculty/researchers to facilitate the students in considering the interfaces between humans and robots — and what their presence in our everyday environments will mean for ourselves as individuals and for society more broadly. Each Jarislowsky Fellow shared their expertise and community-based experiences as advocates, activists, and practitioners in a series of lectures over the term, which were open to the public to attend and engage with the learning.  

Our Summit will begin at United College’s Ceremonial Firegrounds at 6:30 p.m. for a Fire Ceremony where all are welcome to attend. We will then gather in Alumni Hall (United College) for a panel discussion at 7:00 p.m. with Jarislowsky Fellows Ryan Garipy, Heather Woods, AJung Moon, Evan Ackerman, and Kristen Thomasen, followed by six interactive student projects from 8:00 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Please register to join the Global Engagement Desmarais Family Summit on Wednesday April 3, 2023. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Brooke Barnes. We hope to see you there!

Future Cities launch; Lake Shift applications, and other notes

"Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 3), the University of Waterloo will celebrate the official launch of the Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN," says a note from University Relations and Advancement. "You are invited to join UWaterloo President and Vice-chancellor Vivek Goel as he sits down with Frank Cairo, co-founder and CEO of CAIVAN, for an armchair chat to open critical dialogue on the future of cities in Canada and around the world."

The event takes place Wednesday, April 3 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Federation Hall. Please note this is an in-person event only and will not be live-streamed. A recording will be available after the event. If you have any questions, please email advancementevents@uwaterloo.ca.

"The Lake Shift is back!" trumpets Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. "Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs is thrilled to announce that we will be sending two doctoral students to experience the fun and writing development opportunities offered through Lake Shift. Running from July 7 to 12, the Lake Shift is a thesis writing retreat for doctoral students from Ontario universities, hosted by the School of Graduate Studies at Queen's University." GSPA has a full story about the Lake Shift available on its website if you're interested in learning more about the opportunity.

Applications are due May 13.

The bird is the word: "The Library can be a dangerous place when a pair of geese decide to nest right nearby," writes Professor James Skidmore of Germanic and Slavic Studies who snapped this pic of Dana Porter's new neighbours. Watch your step out there, folks.