Thursday, October 24, 2024

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• Amplify podcast's season 3 is now streaming
• Planned giving webinar will help you navigate new tax rules
• School of Optometry seeks participants for lazy eye study
• Remembering Professor Emeritus John Medley
• Teaching and Learning Month: the final week at a glance
• Celebrating October's retirees and other notes

Amplify podcast's season 3 is now streaming

A message from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism.

The EDI-R Office is excited to announce the launch of Season 3 of The Amplify Podcast, a dedicated platform for students navigating academia while holding marginalized identities. In this latest season, The Amplify Podcast continues to create space for open discussions, centering on the unique challenges students face, with a strong focus on mental health and islamophobia.  

Throughout Season 3, listeners can expect powerful conversations highlighting personal journeys, mental health struggles, and the systemic barriers and cultural stigmas that impact students. With mental health as a key theme, The Amplify Podcast provides a resource for students to discover support, build solidarity, and hear their stories represented in a space designed for them. 

The Amplify Podcast is more than just a platform—it's a movement towards amplifying student voices. Whether you are a student, faculty member, or ally, this season promises to offer insight, inspiration, and critical conversations about creating a more inclusive campus community.  

Catch Season 3 of  The Amplify Podcast  now with episodes released on Mondays!

Planned giving webinar will help you navigate new tax rules

A message from the Office of Advancement.

The Planned Giving team invites all Waterloo faculty, staff and retirees to a special presentation: "Navigating the New Tax Rules: Insights from University of Waterloo alumni and faculty experts."

The Zoom webinar takes place on November 26 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.and features a panel discussion on capital gains tax, cross-border taxation, and bare trusts, followed by a Q&A where you can get more advice on how the new tax rules could impact you.

Our panelists:

• Julia Klann (MACC ’05) – leads the US Corporate Tax group at Grant Thornton (Canada), and is an expert in U.S. and cross-border taxation.
• Keith Masterman (BA ’84) – a lawyer (estate planning and litigation) and law professor at Wilfrid Laurier University.
• Heather Wright (MACC ’98) – partner at Ernst & Young, specializing in tax structuring, estate planning and compliance services.
• Deborah Kraft (MTAX ’05) – our moderator for the webinar, and a faculty member in the School of Accounting and Finance.

Register for the webinar. We hope to see you there, but if you can’t attend, all registrants will be emailed a link to the recording after the event.

School of Optometry seeks participants for lazy eye study

A message from the School of Optometry & Vision Science.

School of Optometry & Vision Science researchers are seeking participants for the SPECTAR study. They are looking for adults between 18 and 39 years old with a history of Amblyopia ("lazy eye") in one eye due to a difference in refractive errors between eyes or strabismus (i.e., squint eye). The study spans over 6 months and includes 8 study visits. Each visit lasts about 2 to 2.5 hours, and visits 2, 5, and 8 involve EEG measurements, which will take around 3 hours. To be eligible for this study, participants should not be undergoing any amblyopia treatment/therapy and should not have skin conditions affecting the scalp. Additionally, participants should not have allergic reactions to the conductive gel used for EEG. Eligible participants will receive $20 per hour for attending study visits and $300 worth of frames and lenses. For more information, please contact Amritha Stalin at astalin@uwaterloo.ca.

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee.

Remembering Professor Emeritus John Medley

A message from the Faculty of Engineering.

Dr. John Medley, an influential researcher and educator in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, passed away on October 16.

Medley joined the department in 1981 and contributed 35 years of service before retirement, educating generations of students and mentoring many young academics. He was also a proud Waterloo Engineering alumni and, as a student and teacher, played an important role in the rapid growth of the Faculty.

As a researcher Medley made a number of important advances in the field of biomechanics. His work focused on medical applications that could help patient recover from musculoskeletal injuries and diseases, including spinal implants, shoulder and elbow implants, orthopaedic implant failure, and cell traction forces.

This work led to patents on important medical technologies, and his passion for patient care extended to his role as an advocate for plaintiffs in orthopaedic cases.

Teaching and Learning Month: the final week at a glance

A message from the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic and Teaching Innovation Incubator.

Join us as we wrap up the final week of Teaching & Learning month at the University of Waterloo.

Next week’s programming showcases new initiatives focused on integrating work-integrated learning, generative AI, empathy, accessibility, and inclusivity into teaching and learning at Waterloo. 

Kicking off next week’s programming is the Centre for Work-Integrated Learning and their session on Bringing Work-Integrated Learning into the Classroom. In this session, faculty members will be shown how work-integrated learning can be used in the classroom to create meaningful learning experiences with a specific focus on a new graduate-level course: WIL 611.

On Tuesday, Organizational and Human Development and the Disability Inclusion Office will offer sessions on topics of accessibility and disability inclusion. On Tuesday morning, Organizational and Human Development will host a session on Emotional Intelligence at Work, emphasizing the importance of empathy in leadership. Later, the Disability Inclusion Office will hold an Instructor Feedback Session on the Disability Affinity Program, inviting instructors to provide their input on the development of a future space for mentorship, peer support, and knowledge sharing for instructors with disabilities.

On Wednesday, the Library in collaboration with the office of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs will host a session for graduate supervisors on navigating graduate students’ use of generative artificial intelligence for research and writing. Facilitators will share insights from student experience along with recommendations and resources for framing a collaborative conversation with your graduate students.

Teaching and Learning month will end off on Thursday with a return to the topic of Work Integrated Learning. The Work Learn Institute (WxL) will provide an introductory workshop on who they are and how they’ve advanced WIL at the University of Waterloo.

Please visit the Teaching and Learning month webpage for more information on these sessions. Please be sure to register!

Celebrating October's retirees and other notes

Human Resources has announced the following staff and faculty have retired, effective October 1, 2024:

• Monica Barra, who joined the University in July 1995, retired as regular faculty in the Chemistry department;
• Michael Dixon, who started at Waterloo in July 1997, retired as regular faculty in the Psychology department;
• Phillip Beesley, whose career at Waterloo began in September 1999, retired as regular faculty in the School of Architecture;
• David Wagner, who joined the University in September 1989, retired as regular faculty in Combinatorics & Optimization; and
• Debbie Helm, who started at Waterloo in April 2012, retired as a Custodian in Plant Operations.

Congratulations all on your well-deserved retirements!

Parking Lot B will be closed today. Parking Lot B permit holders can park in the nearby Q Lot during this time, using either of the two entrances to Q Lot, one from Columbia Street, and one from Phillip Street.

The Computer Museum will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, October 26, which will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in DC 1301. There will be a variety of retro games set up on the museum's functioning vintage systems for visitors to interact with, alongside other artifacts from the museum's collection.

A feature of the open house will be a History of Computing for Tweens, where attendees can learn about the history of counting, computer devices, and how an abacus works, along with a tasty treat. The presentation will be given by Scott Campbell in DC 1304 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

In addition, members of the KW Computer Heritage Group will be on-hand to show off what they do and will participate as a guest on the CoCo Nation YouTube channel.

The Computer Museum's open house will coincide with two other events happening on campus that day (three, if you count Convocation): the Kids' Science Open House in the Science Teaching Complex from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Gem and Mineral Show in EIT from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., presented by Science Outreach.

"The Fusion Conference 2024 is quickly approaching!" says a note from Fusion conference organizers. "We are a science, business, and technology-focussed event with networking sessions, masterclasses, keynote speakers, and a case competition where you can win up to $5,000!"

The Fusion Conference will take place on November 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Federation Hall. The event is free for all attendees, and conference registration includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Registration is now open and will close by November 2 at 11:59 p.m. Click to register.