Thursday, May 15, 2025

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• UWaterloo Giving Day is here and it's going to be BIG!
• Remembering Bob Truman, Waterloo's Numbers Guy

• Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day

• MFA thesis exhibition and other notes

UWaterloo Giving Day is here and it's going to be BIG!

A message from the Office of Advancement.

Today is the day! Our first-ever UWaterloo Giving Day is happening right now! You can join in the celebration by giving to the area that’s most meaningful to you. All eligible gifts up to $1,000 will be matched dollar for dollar. Matching funds are limited, so the sooner you give, the better!

Check out the Giving Day website where you can make your gift, and find our leaderboards and maps showing which funds are getting the most support and where in the world gifts are coming from. If you’re looking for other ways to get involved, spread the word on your social channels, share your story with us and tell your friends and family about Giving Day!

Remembering Bob Truman, Waterloo's Numbers Guy

Retired Director of Institutional Analysis and Planning (IAP) Bob Truman passed away on Wednesday, May 7 at the age of 76. Over a nearly 40-year career at Waterloo, Bob left an indelible mark on the University’s first six decades.

Before enrolling as a mathematics undergraduate at the University, Bob Truman spent the summer of 1967 working for Waterloo computing pioneers Wes Graham and Don Cowan on campus. As a co-op student, he joined the newly created Operations Analysis unit, the brainchild of J. Sayer Minas, a professor of philosophy whose background was in operations research. Operations Analysis was the forerunner to today’s Institutional Analysis and Planning (IAP) unit.

As a student in the 1960s he played saxophone in the UW dance band, which was booked to play high-school and university graduation proms around the province and once at a band competition at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University). “The competition was being televised and the TV crew refused to broadcast bands that were not part of the musician’s union,” Truman recalled. “So, all of us joined the union that day – my only union membership!”

Bob graduated from Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics and in 1973 joined the University as a staff member in the Operations Analysis unit on a full-time basis. In 1979, he became Assistant Director of Operations Analysis and in 1984 he replaced Barry Foord as Director of Operations Analysis, which was renamed Institutional Analysis and Planning in 1994. Bob served as Director of OA and IAP from 1984 until his retirement in 2010.

Bob was noted for his phenomenal capacity for dealing with numbers in his head, which proved a useful skill at a growing University that was hungry for data to inform its strategic planning and decision-making. He was often the ‘go-to’ for statistical and financial insight at University senate and board meetings, delivering updates on financial matters and answering questions from the floor on behalf of the provost in an easygoing style that belied his command of the figures.

“There are two kinds of numbers,” Truman was fond of saying. “The kind you look up, and the kind you make up.” An advocate for transparency and open access when it came to key performance indicators and other important data, Bob would encourage his colleagues at Senate and Board to “fill your boots” with information. He was a key source of institutional memory for senior leaders looking for background and context on University operations.

Truman served on task forces and committees for a variety of organizations including the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (MTCU), the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), the Council on University Planning and Analysis (CUPA), the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC), and the Group of 13 Data Exchange. He chaired and led several initiatives that informed governments at all levels on tuition and fees, financial aid, grant funding, accountability, performance indicators, and beyond.

He and his team developed database systems, new methodologies and models, enrolment forecasting systems, survey mechanisms, and fee protocols for the University. In the early 90s, he worked with Maclean’s Magazine on their annual survey of Canadian universities, helping to ensure Waterloo made out well in the rankings. He played a key role in advising University leaders on the business plan for the Stratford satellite campus proposal in 2006.

“I joined IAP in 2005, so I worked with Bob for five years before his retirement from UW,’ writes Jennifer Kieffer, Associate Provost, Integrated Planning and Budgeting. “Bob was initially a bit overwhelming to a junior employee with his vast knowledge of the complex workings of all aspect of University operations, from government funding and policy to university rankings, student surveys, the University budget, government reporting, and enrolment forecasting, but I quickly learned that Bob was an excellent mentor. He loved nothing more than when someone came to his office with a question about something seemingly simple, which expanded to a conversation that moved from one topic to another, to yet another, that linked together university history, government policy and direction, the broader postsecondary sector, personal anecdotes about life, and so much more.”

Truman retired from the University in June 2010 and was succeeded as Director of Institutional Analysis and Planning by Mary Jane Jennings.

He was an honorary fellow at Renison University College and United College (formerly St. Paul’s).

In June 2011, Bob was named Honorary Member of the University in recognition of his pervasive influence and contributions to the University’s senior management and his notable activities at the provincial and national levels.

Active in retirement, Bob did part-time consulting work for Western University, working with former Waterloo Vice-President, Academic & Provost Amit Chakma who served as Western’s President from 2009 to 2019, and later worked with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to build up their data infrastructure and analytical capacity.

He is survived by his wife Carol, his two daughters Karen and Kim and their families.

Bob’s Celebration of Life is scheduled for Thursday, May 15, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home in Waterloo, with the sharing of memories at 3:00 p.m.

Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day

By Kevin Paxman.

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and that seems like a good time to remind everyone that making things accessible is simply a good idea that everyone can benefit from. Remember that not all disabilities are permanent disabilities - they can be temporary (for example, an arm injury) or situational (for example, being in a noisy environment) as well.

Working with content (such as the WCMS)

Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is to use the right elements for the right content. For example, use header tags, not bolding, to identify headers. Don’t use header tags to “make content big” – consider other alternatives for purely visual information. Use tables for tabular data, not to control the layout of the page. Use table headers as table headers, not as a way to add a grey background.

Providing enough information to your site visitors

Links should never just say “click here” (or any similar nondescriptive phrase). When writing alt text, make sure you are considering the context of the image – describe the things that are important to know, and leave other details out. If an image is truly only there to provide visual stimuli, and has no inherent meaning, mark it as decorative instead.

Checking your content for accessibility issues as you go

It’s easier to be accessible from the start than it is to remediate inaccessible content. In the WCMS there is an accessibility checker in the visual editor, as well as on the “actual” content page. Browser add-ons can provide additional checking, as can services like SiteImprove. Remember that human testing can find things that automated tools can’t, and that the official definitions have some limitations – for example, some colours can be difficult to read on top of other colours, even if they officially meet colour contrast ratio requirements.

Prioritizing accessibility

While today is awareness day, let's make accessibility a priority every day, ensuring our spaces are inclusive and welcoming for everyone.

MFA Thesis exhibition and other notes

The Department of Fine Arts will be exhibiting the works of two Master of Fine Arts students, Paige Smith and Azadeh Pirazimian, from May 15 to May 31 at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG).

Paige Smith - I Saw You in the Archive

I Saw You in the Archive is a multidisciplinary exhibition that reveals the history of eugenic practices in Kitchener-Waterloo in the mid 20^th century, and questions how the framing of history impacts our personal understandings of each other’s identities. Mixing visuals associated with institutional archives and rubber factories, the artworks examine the former Kaufman Rubber Company and its owner A. R. Kaufman’s attempts to contain certain types of people, particularly those deemed ‘feeble-minded’. The exhibition embodies my experience parsing through this complicated history as a queer and neurodiverse woman—digging through a cacophony of propaganda pamphlets, shoe sale reports, instruction manuals for birth control use, blueprints of the factory, and photography of the workers. Through video documentation, I reintroduce remnants from the archive to the contemporary condominium that was formerly the rubber factory, connecting past rhetoric to today’s circumstances. The complicated layers of eugenics, birth control access, disability rights, and feminism seep into each other and spill into the gallery. Through use of performance and site-specific interventions, I challenge the internal shame many who have been othered experience and resist systems of containment that aim to erase our identities.

Paige Smith is an interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates felt experiences of being othered through moving-image, installation, performance, and print material. Smith holds a BFA in Film and PBD in Contemporary Art from Simon Fraser University. Her artwork has exhibited internationally in France, the United States, and Canada, including recently with the Vancouver International Film Festival. Her research-creation has been supported by the Social Science and Humanity Research Council of Canada and the British Columbia Art Council. Her work can be found in the permanent collection of Video Out Distribution. 

Azadeh Pirazimian - The Story of Tiles and Ropes In-Between
داستان سفال‌ها و طناب‌ها

The Story of Tiles and Ropes In-Between / داستان سفال‌ها و طناب‌ها moves through the fragile space of migration, where memory, material, and motion intertwine. It is about swinging: swinging between two roofs, swinging between two landscapes. It is about the fragility of a roof, the fragility of a memory. Suspended between Northern Iran and Canada, the work reflects gestures to find belonging—the stitching, the carrying, the quiet resistance of the body as it navigates cultural displacement. Caught between two systems—an oppressive regime and a colonial legacy—the female body is constantly policed, rendered visible and invisible, resilient and vulnerable. The work traces this tension as a lived condition. Terracotta clay and braided jute, materials rooted in the architecture and agriculture of Gilan, a northern province of Iran, anchor the installation in tactile memory. Jute, once wrapped around saplings or woven into sacks, carries the textures of land, labour, and time. Walking, stitching, dragging: these repeated gestures mirror the rhythms of adaptation, building presence through movement. The body becomes a bridge across geographies, bearing fragile weight, mending distance, and echoing with sonic traces of resilience. Through fragmented form and sound, the exhibition invites viewers into a shifting emotional geography, where home is not fixed, but carried and reassembled. Each step, knot, and stitch becomes part of an ongoing narrative of displacement, repair, and becoming.

Azadeh Pirazimian is an Iranian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist whose practice delves into themes of migration, displacement, and embodied memory. At the core of her work is the body—both a site of resistance and vulnerability—as it navigates oppressive systems. Pirazimian has a Bachelor of Painting and a Master of Art from Iran, and works across installation, performance, and material-based practices to examine the fragility of belonging and the resilience of the female body. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and has taught in both academic and community contexts in Iran and Canada.

The opening reception for the MFA Thesis exhibition takes place tonight at the UWAG from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism is hosting Community Corner: Asian Heritage Month on Thursday, May 29 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in EDI-R's office on the 2nd floor of East Campus 5.

"Join us for a special edition of Community Corner as we celebrate Asian Heritage Month," says the announcement from EDI-R. "This event is a chance to come together, share stories, and honour the diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of Asian communities. At the University of Waterloo, we are proud to have a vibrant and diverse Asian community that brings a wealth of traditions, languages, and experiences to our campus. Whether you are of Asian descent or simply interested in learning more, all are welcome to celebrate and connect with one another."

Light refreshments and snacks will be available. Register today!

The University of Waterloo Campus Community Survey is now open and runs until Friday, May 30. All students are invited to take the survey, which has been sent to their @uwaterloo email address. Students who submit their responses will be entered into a draw to win 1 of 16 prize baskets, which contain a $100 store gift card, a YETI cup, a stuffed goose, hat, sticker, and a "mystery item." If you know a Waterloo student, encourage them to take the survey before May 30.

The Writing and Communication Centre (WCC) is hosting Design and Deliver Grad Studio part 3: Defending and Answering Questions on Thursday, May 22 at 1:00 p.m. "In this workshop, we’ll discuss the purpose of Q&As and defences, teach you how to prepare for questions from your audience and share strategies to ask and answer questions clearly," says a note from the WCC. "This workshop works best if you’re preparing for a presentation with a significant Q&A portion (like a defence)." Register for the session on Portal.

Break out your putters: the 33^rd Annual Matthews Golf Classic is scheduled for June 16. The tournament is named in honour of former Waterloo President Burt Matthews and is open to all University employees, retirees, and their guests.

“This Texas Scramble-style tournament welcomes everyone — pros, newbies, and those who just like to drive the cart,” says a note from organizers.

Check-in and lunch runs from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with a shotgun start at 1:00 p.m. sharp. A banquet dinner and prizes follow the final hole.

The tournament takes place at the Foxwood Golf Club in Baden. $165 gets you the full day (lunch, golf, dinner and prizes), with golf, dinner and prizes running $145, golf and lunch $105, and golf-only $85.

Register today!