Wednesday, September 24, 2025

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• Proposal to reorganize the Faculty of Arts passes at Senate
• HR Foundations for Managers is now open to all managers

• Making hackathons fun again and breaking a Guinness World Record

• Pivot-RP training session coming up in October
• Wednesday's notes

Proposal to reorganize the Faculty of Arts passes at Senate

Photograph by Joe Petrik.

On Monday, September 22, the University of Waterloo's Senate approved a motion to reorganize the Faculty of Arts from its current 17 academic units to a total of six schools.

"The proposed structure combines 13 existing departments into two new schools, renames two existing departments as schools, and continues the two existing schools," says a memo from Dean of Arts Alexie Tcheuyap and Interim Vice-President, Academic and Provost Thomas Duever circulated to the campus community yesterday. "The proposal will be presented to the University’s Board of Governors for final approval on October 28, 2025. If the proposal is approved, following a transition period (fall 2025 to spring 2026) for establishing school administrative and governance roles and processes, the new schools will formally launch July 1, 2026."

Earlier this month, Arts staff and faculty voted in favour of the proposal at a special meeting of the Arts Faculty Council. "The approval from Arts Faculty Council and Senate comes after long-term strategic planning and a two-year development process, including extensive consultation by a working group comprised of Arts faculty and staff and University leadership," says the memo.

The six new, renamed and existing schools are:

• School of Critical and Creative Humanities (a provisional name), composed of the current departments of Communication Arts, English Language & Literature, Fine Arts, French Studies, Germanic & Slavic Studies, Spanish & Latin American Studies;
• School of Social, Political and Historical Research (a provisional name), composed of the current departments of Anthropology, Classical Studies, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology & Legal Studies;
• School of Economics (formerly the Economics department);
• School of Psychology (formerly the Psychology department);
• School of Accounting and Finance (no change); and
• Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business (no change).

"The new structure will better support teaching, research and capacity building to seize new and emerging opportunities in the future," the memo continues. "With improved administration and operations, Arts will be well positioned for increased collaboration, flexibility and resilience as it continues to deliver world-class academic programs and research that drive economic and social prosperity."

"Within the new structure, all current scholarly disciplines and programs will remain, and students will continue in their current academic plans," Dean Tcheuyap and Provost Duever's memo continues. "In the near future, it is anticipated that interdisciplinary collaborations within and between the schools will facilitate new and responsive Arts programming, research and partnership opportunities."

"With the University’s three-year budget plan, it is particularly important to create structures that will position Arts for resilience and renewal now and in the future. While approval from the Board of Governors is pending, Senate’s endorsement represents a significant milestone in achieving this strategic goal."  

HR Foundations for Managers is now open to all managers

A message from Human Resources.

HR Foundations for Managers is a series of learning modules intended to build awareness and a more in-depth understanding of how to navigate Human Resources-related processes, procedures, and policies at the University of Waterloo.

The three-part interactive learning and development experience is led by a number of Human Resources teams, including Organizational and Human Development, Talent Acquisition, and HR Partners. The modules include: 

• Part I: Leading across the employee lifecycle – October 8
• Part II: Leading team performance and development – October 22
• Part III: Managing leaves, absences, and accommodations – October 29

If you are a new manager or if it's time for a refresh, please join us for this 3-part series on Wednesdays in October (October 8, 22, and 29). Learn more and register today!

Making hackathons fun again and breaking a Guinness World Record

This is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared on Waterloo News.

Canada’s largest student-led hackathon returned to the University of Waterloo for its annual weekend of intense innovation. More than 1000 student hackers from around the world gathered at the Faculty of Engineering to experience 36 hours of fast builds and fun games. 

In keeping with the Hack the North motto, Dream Big and Build, this year’s student organizing team added exciting new elements to pull people together and encourage more play. These included the inaugural Waterloo Tech Week, Goose Games and an attempt to break a Guinness World Record which succeeded! 

Now in its 12th year, Hack the North is a marquee event in the hackathon world, thanks largely to the student organizers who put a lot of effort into delivering a memorable experience each year. As opportunities for builders to build increase though, this year’s team knew they had to do something special to ensure Hack the North stays at the forefront of student-led innovation. 

“We felt that hackathons just aren’t fun anymore,” Jasmine Jiang, Hack the North co-director and Waterloo Arts student, said. “They’re too focused on winning the biggest prize or networking with as many sponsors as possible — so we set out to rebalance things toward joy, community and creative risk.” 

What was new this year 

Hack the North is free to attend but it’s not open to the public — it’s officially capped at 1000 participants, with a bit of wiggle room, and the application process is strict. To give more people access to the tech community, the organizers used the days leading up to the hackathon to host the first-ever Waterloo Tech Week. The city buzzed with energy as industry-led panels, meetups and workshops welcomed everyone from high-school students to startup founders.   

The hackathon itself kicked off with a communal activity to break the Guinness World Record for the most people in a single venue building interlocking plastic brick sculptures simultaneously.

Pitched as a shared “we did this together” moment to kick off the event’s build sprint, people dove into the activity with gusto and broke the record with much cheering. 

Headlining the event was keynote speaker Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, the software creation platform that makes app-building easy, a much-used tool among hackers.  

This year also saw the introduction of Goose Games — challenges and puzzles that popped up throughout the event, essentially gamifying the entire experience and getting attendees to interact and play in ways they hadn’t expected.

These missions popped up where you least expected them— on a whiteboard near a workshop, tucked into a QR code by a staircase — nudging teams to meet new people and try a tool they hadn’t planned to use.  

Getting people to connect was further encouraged by the introduction of an ambient lounge to give people a relaxed space in which to meet and talk. The organizers also reintroduced the project showcase so that attendees could see what’s being built and share ideas with other builders.  

Paying it forward 

Waterloo Engineering dean Dr. Mary Wells joined Hack the North co-founders Kartik Talwar, Kevin Lau and Liam Horne to welcome recipients of the Pearl Sullivan Hack the North Scholarship. A growing community of over 20 students have received the scholarship since it was established in 2022.

Read the full story on Waterloo News.

Pivot-RP training session coming up in October

A message from the Office of Research.

The Office of Research will be hosting a virtual Pivot-RP training session on Wednesday, October 1 at 11:00 a.m. via MS Teams. This training session will go over how researchers can use Pivot-RP to find and track funding opportunities specific to their research needs. This session will be recorded and made available on UWaterloo’s Pivot-RP support page, except for the live Q&A session.

To attend, please fill out the registration form.

If you can’t attend, please feel free to browse through the resources on our support page and stay tuned for notices of future training sessions.

Wednesday's notes

The Partners for Education (P4E) Job Fair is taking place today from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at RIM Park. The P4E Job Fair is the largest job fair of its kind in Canada and is a partnership between the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph, and Conestoga College. Admission is open to students and alumni of those institutions. 

The Cardinal Consort of Viols include Sheila Smyth (treble viola da gama), Linda Deshman (tenor viol), Sara Blake (alto & bass viols) and Valerie Sylvester (bass viol).

Conrad Grebel University College's Noon Hour Concert Series continues today at noon with Exiled featuring the Cardinal Consort of Viols, who will perform "exquisite music from the 16th and 17th centuries," accompanied by Canadian soprano Meredith Hall.

The concert runs from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Conrad Grebel University College Chapel. Admission is free.

W3+ (Waterloo Womxn and Nonbinary Wednesdays) will be hosting a Coffee and UW Art Gallery (UWAG) visit today from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. "Meet us for a bite at the Engineering C&D (E7 first floor), then head over to UWAG to check out exhibits by Brenda Mabel Reid and Andrew McPhail," says a note from W3+ organizers. "Bring your own lunch, but coffee/tea is on us for the first 10 people that show up! If you prefer to meet us at the gallery, join us there at 12:15. No registration is required."

Employers hosting Employer Information Sessions this week and next week include Astera Labs, QuadReal, Teragonia, Imperial, GHD, Amazon Robotics, IG Wealth Management, Patreon, Neuralink, Index Exchange and Portage. Make sure to register through WaterlooWorks and check the calendar for any updates.