Friday, June 6, 2025

Friday, June 6, 2025

Editor:
Brandon Sweet
University Communications
bulletin@uwaterloo.ca

Call for review and feedback on updates to Policy 42

The sun sets behind Dana Porter in springtime.

A message from the Office of the Associate Provost, Students.

The safety of our campus community is a priority at the University of Waterloo. As part of the University’s commitment to foster a healthy learning, working, and living environment, members of the Policy 42 Drafting Committee have drafted an update to the University’s policy on sexual violence alleged against students (Policy 42).

Key proposed changes incorporate the formal inclusion of gender-based violence under the policy’s scope, a refined approach for addressing incidents occurring off-campus and unrelated to University activities, and a change in decision-making authority from Associate Deans to the Associate Provost, Students.

"The comprehensive process has been guided by input from experienced community members, with thoughtful care and consideration for students and their needs," says Chris Read, Associate Provost, Students.

Over the coming weeks, members of the Policy Drafting Committee will further engage our community to solicit input on the draft changes to the policy. You can review and provide feedback by visiting the Policy 42 web page.

Please send all comments, concerns and questions to apstudents@uwaterloo.ca by July 11, 2025.

UniForum Activity Collection begins in June

Canada Geese grazing near the Tatham Centre. Photo by Joe Petrik.

By Megan McGarry.

The next phase of our benchmarking efforts with UniForum is the Activity Collection, which will launch in early June and continue until mid-July. 

This data collection involves asking managers, supervisors, or team leaders within each administrative unit how and where support services are delivered across academic support units and faculties. Similar to the SES, only employees who match UniForum’s criteria are required to participate 

Our initial commitment with UniForum is for a two-year period. The information gathered through this data collection will help inform our understanding of what makes Waterloo unique and what to consider moving forward.  

Ongoing updates on work with UniForum will be posted on the Waterloo Budget Plan website.  

Celebrating retirees from 2025’s first quarter

An older man and woman laugh as they interact with their smartphone and laptop.

Human Resources has reported that the following faculty and staff members have retired between January and April 2025:

December 2024

  • James Jacewicz, who started at the University in March 2003, retired as Custodian I in Plant Operations;

January 2025

  • Maria Liston, who started working at the University in July 1997, retired as a regular faculty member in Anthropology;
  • David Wang, who began his career at Waterloo in January 1985, retired as a regular faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering;
  • Dara Gilbert, who joined the University in August 2017, retired as a regular faculty member in Chemistry;
  • Regina Vera Quinn, who began working at Waterloo in January 2016, retired as a regular faculty member in Spanish and Latin American Studies;
  • William Anderson, who joined the University in January 2017, retired as a research faculty member in Civil and Environmental Engineering;
  • Nancy Orvis-Korn, who started at Waterloo in August 2001, retired as Undergraduate Coordinator in Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment;
  • Mary Robertson, whose career at the University began in June 1988, retired as Purchasing and Inventory Control Coordinator in the Schol of Optometry and Vision Science’s Optometry Clinic;
  • Colin Jones, who started working at Waterloo in February 2018, retired as Examinations Specialist in the Centre for Extended Learning;
  • Mary Lyn Payerl, who joined the University in January 2007, retired as Associate Director, Administration in the Institute for Quantum Computing;
  • George Labahn, who started at Waterloo in July 1988, retired as a regular faculty member in the Cheriton School of Computer Science;
  • Robert Mann, who joined the University in September 1987, retired as a regular faculty member in Physics and Astronomy;
  • Zoran Miskovic, who started working at Waterloo in July 2001, retired as regular faculty in Applied Mathematics;
  • Margaret Adaran, whose career at the University began in October 1998, retired as Co-op Advisor in Co-operative and Experiential Education;
  • Zsuzsanna Balint, who began working at Waterloo in August 2014, retired as Food Services Assistant in Food Services;
  • Ruth Huard, whose career at the University began in January 1985, retired as Administrative Manager and Assistant to the Associate Vice-President, Academic in the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic;
  • Colin Ellard, who started working at Waterloo in July 1991, retired as a regular faculty member in Psychology;
  • Giovanni Cascante retired as a regular faculty member in Civil and Environmental Engineering;
  • Jatin Nathwani, who joined the University in September 2007, retired as a regular faculty member in Management Science and Engineering;
  • Tarek Hegazi, who started at Waterloo in January 1997, retired as a regular faculty member in Civil and Environmental Engineering;
  • Wayne Oldford, who joined the University in September 1986, retired as a regular faculty member in Statistics and Actuarial Science;
  • Connie Deighan, whose career at the University of Waterloo goes all the way back to October 1974, retired as Library Assistant, Derived Cataloguing in the Library;
  • Matthew Erickson, who started at Waterloo in August 1988, retired as Director, Conflict Management and Human Rights in the Office of the Associate Provost, Campus Support and Accessibility;
  • Cecilia Imunu, who joined the University in April 2004, retired as Custodian I in Plant Operations; and
  • Fiona Dhanapala, who started working at Waterloo in October 2014, retired as Counsellor in Campus Wellness – Counselling Services.

February 2025

  • Karen Macedo, who started working at Waterloo in July 1989, retired as Contract Support Coordinator Plant Operations – Finance and Budgets;
  • Janice Cooke, who began working at the University in May 2007, retired as Senior Manager, Student Services in the Centre for Extended Learning;
  • Ron Lopers, who joined the University in February 2011, retired as Electrician in Plant Operations; and
  • Kimberley Gingerich, whose career at the University of Waterloo began in July 1983, retired as Executive Officer, Academic in the Office of the Vice-President, Academic and Provost.

March 2025

  • Nancy Mattes, who joined the University in December 2006, retired as Associate Director, Advancement in the Faculty of Arts;
  • Jean Zadilsky, who started working at Waterloo in September 1980, retired as Intellectual Property Administrator in the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo);
  • Shane May, who joined the University in May 2018, retired as Custodian I in Plant Operations; and
  • Simon Courtenay, who began working at Waterloo in November 2013, retired as a regular faculty member in Biology and the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS) while on leave from the University.

April 2025

  • Jane Johnson, who joined the University in July 2007, retired as Research Assistant in the School of Optometry and Vision Science’s CORE administration.

Congratulations all on your much-deserved retirement!

Reunion and other notable notes

Two alumni facing away, showing off a vintage UWaterloo jacket.

Reunion weekend is upon us, and hundreds of alumni and friends will be back to campus today and tomorrow to reconnect and reminisce as they celebrate milestone anniversaries and check out how campus has changed since their graduation. Highlights include an encore screening of the popular documentary, Rock this Town, in the Theatre of Arts in Modern Languages tonight, the choose-your-own-adventure style REdiscover UWaterloo event, and the Forever Black and Gold Luncheon at Federation Hall on Saturday. Check back in the Daily Bulletin next week for a recap of the festivities!

Carol Orsborn

Conrad Grebel University College is hosting the annual Spirituality & Aging Seminar today from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Embracing Aging as Culminationfeatures spirituality and aging expert Dr. Carol Orsborn offering reflections on her own life and the wisdom of elders from a wide spectrum of eras and traditions.

Link of the day

The system is (not) down: 25 years of Homestar Runner

When and where

The Campus Wellness Student Medical Clinic offers healthcare visits with Physicians and Nurse Practitioners to current undergraduate and graduate students. Services include: vaccinations, immunity testing, naturopathic services and more. Counselling Services offers appointments with counsellors in person as well as via phone and video. Students can book appointments for these services by calling Campus Wellness at 519-888-4096.

The privately-run Student Health Pharmacy (located in the lower level of the Student Life Centre) is now offering new COVID booster shots and flu shots. Covid booster shorts are available by appointment only – please call ext. 33784 or 519-746-4500. The Student Health Pharmacy’s summer hours are Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Naloxone kits are still available – pick them up in the pharmacy at no charge.

Reunion 2025, Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7.

Embracing Aging as Culmination - Annual Spirituality & Aging Seminar, Friday, June 6, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel University College.

University Senate meeting, Monday, June 9, 3:30 p.m., NH 3407 and online via Zoom.

Convocation, Tuesday, June 10 to Saturday, June 14, Physical Activities Complex.

IBPOC Student Writing Cafés, Tuesday, June 10, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., SCH 228F.

Rock Your Thesis 3: Revise and Submit, Wednesday, June 11, 1:00 p.m. Register on Portal.

Celebrating Pride: A Community Corner for 2SLGBTQIA+ Students, Staff, and Faculty, Wednesday, June 11, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Office of EDI-R, EC5 2nd floor.

North Campus community garden clean up, Thursday, June 12, 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, Columbia Lake greenhouses.

UW Matthews Golf Classic - faculty and staff golf tournament, Monday, June 16.

Table Talk Series: Collecting and Understanding Queer, Trans and Non-Binary Data, Monday, June 16, 12 noon, - Office of EDI-R, EC5 2nd floor or online.

Menopause Café, Tuesday, June 17, 12 noon to 1:00 p.m., DC Fishbowl. No registration required.

NEW - Master of Taxation Virtual Information Session, Wednesday, June 18, 10:00 a.m.

An afternoon with Kai Potts, Wednesday, June 18, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., SLC Black and Gold Room.

National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, Thursday, June 19, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., BMH Green.

Buckthorn pull, Thursday, June 19, 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, meet between Village 1 South 3 building and the forest.

Juggling Institutional Priorities: Strategies for Instructors - Online (CTE7700), Thursday, June 19, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., online.

PhD oral defences

Applied Mathematics. Melissa Stadt, "Mathematical modeling of whole-body electrolyte homeostasis." Supervisor, Dr. Anita Layton. Thesis available from MGO - mgo@uwaterloo.ca. Oral defence Wednesday, June 11, 10:00 a.m., MC 6460.

School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability. Dan Kraus, Bending the curve of biodiversity loss: Identifying barriers and opportunities to accelerate endangered species recovery in Canada”.Supervisor, Dr. Stephen Murphy. Available upon request from the Faculty of Environment, Administrator, Graduate Studies. Oral defence Friday, June 13, 1:00 p.m.

Computer Science. Yiwei Lu, "Trustworthy Machine Learning with Data in the Wild." Supervisors, Dr. Yaoliang Lu, Dr. Sun Sun. Thesis available from MGO - mgo@uwaterloo.ca. Oral defence Friday, June 13, 1:00 p.m., DC 3317.

Systems Design Engineering. Yaoxin Li, "Multi-level Temporal Understanding in Video Analysis: From Action Recognition to Quality Assessment." Supervisor, Dr. Alex Wong. Thesis available via SharePoint - email eng.phd@uwaterloo.ca to request a viewing link. Oral defence Monday, June 16, 9:00 a.m., remote.

Systems Design Engineering. Hilda Hadan, "Studying Immersive Deception: A Framework of Deceptive Design in Virtual Reality." Supervisors, Dr. Leah Zhang-Kennedy, Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business, Dr. Oliver Schneider, Management Sciences. Thesis available via SharePoint - email eng.phd@uwaterloo.ca to request a viewing link. Oral defence Monday, June 16, 9:00 a.m., EC1 1237.

Upcoming service interruptions

Stay up to date on service interruptions, campus construction, and other operational changes on the Plant Operations website. Upcoming service interruptions include:

  • Village 1 localized steam shutdown, Monday, June 2 to Friday, June 13, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., steam to the various portions of the building will be isolated at the beginning of each day, impacting equipment serviced downstream, including AHUs, space heating will still be available at wall radiators.

  • Villages Road sidewalk repair, Friday, June 6 to June 18, the sidewalk along Villages Road (around V1 West section) will be closed for construction, pedestrians are advised to find alternate routes around the construction zone, the road to the V1 loading dock will remain open with minor bottlenecks where construction equipment is active, vehicles on the construction side of the road will be expected to yield to oncoming traffic. A contractor flag person will be on-site to coordinate traffic where required.

  • Energy Research Centre, Math 3, Burt Matthews Hall fire alarm testing, Friday, June 6, 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

  • Minota Hagey, Mackenzie King Village, Ron Eydt Village fire alarm testing, Friday, June 6, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

  • ESC, Biology 1 and Biology 2 domestic cold water maintenance, Monday, June 9, 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., there will be no domestic cold water to these buildings during this time.

  • Engineering 2 and 3, Davis Centre, Math & Computer fire alarm testing, Monday, June 9, 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

  • Aberfoyle - Biorem fire alarm testing, Monday, June 9, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

  • Fire Research Facility fire alarm testing, Monday, June 9, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

  • Physical Activities Complex, Student Life Centre, RAC 1 and 2, Federation Hall fire alarm testing, Tuesday, June 17, 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

  • Ring Road between the Commissary (COM) building and the General Services Complex (GSC) building road closure, Tuesday, June 17, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., one lane will be closed, vehicle traffic may be backed up within this section of Ring Road throughout this time.