Tuesday, December 9, 2025

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• Save the date: Global Futures Launch 2026

• Giving students the space to tinker and build workplace-ready skills

• Spot the goose, win the swag!

• Update to Greenshield+ claims process coming in January

Save the date: Global Futures Launch 2026

A message from the Global Futures Office. 

The campus community is invited to save the date for the Global Futures Launch 2026.

This virtual event will launch the Global Futures 2026 Innovation Update and explore the innovative ideas and initiatives happening across our institution that are driving change locally and globally.

Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Location: Online via Microsoft Teams

Register now

• Hear directly from President and Vice-Chancellor Vivek Goel on the progress we’ve made on our Waterloo at 100 strategic vision and where we’re headed.
• Discover how Global Futures-funded initiatives are tackling big challenges, from sustainability and climate leadership to student-driven innovation.
• Celebrate the launch of the University's 2026 Global Futures: Innovation Update report.

More details and the full program will be shared in the coming weeks.

All members of the campus community are invited to attend. This is your opportunity to find out how you can champion the Global Futures in your own work.

Giving students the space to tinker and build workplace-ready skills

Silas Ifeanyi, engineering educational developer, IDEAs Clinic; Dr. Mary Wells, dean of Waterloo Engineering; Dr. Chris Rennick engineering education developer, IDEAs Clinic; Dr. Simarjeet Saini, director, IDEAs Clinic. Photo credit: University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering.

By Charlotte Danby. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on Waterloo News.

The University of Waterloo’s Pearl Sullivan Engineering IDEAs Clinic has built an impressive reputation over the past 10 years as the leading provider of student-focused, hands-on learning experiences aligned with industrial and societal needs.  

Launched in 2015, this unique facility in the Faculty of Engineering has hosted more than 60,000 students from across campus and challenged them to work in teams and apply their classroom theory to solve real-world problems.

Named for former Waterloo Engineering dean, the late Dr. Pearl Sullivan, the idea for the IDEAs Clinic was born in 2011 when first-year students from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering were tasked with taking apart single-cylinder engines. The workshop was a hit. When Sullivan, who was chair of the department at the time, became dean in 2012, integrating practical engineering experiences into the curriculum evolved into a Faculty-funded and interdisciplinary initiative spearheaded by Dr. Sanjeev Bedi, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor.  

“From the start, it was about giving students the chance to make and test things, to connect theory with practice, to be innovative and have fun tinkering,” Bedi, the IDEAs Clinic’s founding director, says. “We wanted to show how chemistry connects to materials, how circuits tie into programming, how challenges are solved through teamwork. Real engineering problems are not solo fixes and don’t fit neatly into textbook course descriptions.”

Growing pains and growing up

In those early days, the workshops took place in makerspaces and labs borrowed from the University’s Sedra Student Design Centre (SSDC) and the Douglas Wright Engineering (DWE) building, among others. There were a lot of big learning curves, including one particularly memorable coffeemaker dissection workshop in DWE with first-year chemical engineering students. They all plugged in and turned on their coffeemakers at the same time, knocking the power out and plunging most of the building into darkness.

By 2015, the initiative’s enthusiasm and impact had attracted industry interest from Ansys, Quanser, D2L, Xinyi Glass, Skyjack and Rockwell. These foundational partners, combined with Faculty’s financial backing and the establishment of a NSERC Chair in Design Engineering — awarded to Bedi, provided the funding and structure to formally launch the IDEAs Clinic. When the *Engineering 7 (E7) building opened in 2018, the clinic got its own purpose-built space with the scale and flexibility to create a true maker environment.

Dr. Chris Rennick, the engineering educational developer at the IDEAs Clinic and one of its longest-serving team members, highlights the facility’s physical and technical properties.

Read the full story on the Faculty of Engineering website.

Spot the goose, win the swag!

A message from the Office of Advancement.

As we wrap up another year together, thank you for everything you do to make the University of Waterloo feel like home for our students, faculty, staff, retirees — and geese!

As campus settles into its winter calm, something unexpected has happened…one of our infamous campus geese has gone missing! Naturally, we turn to the experts — you —to find it, because you know this place better than anyone.

• Take a gander at the five photos on our contest page;
• Find the goose in each one; and
• Send your answers to annualgiving@uwaterloo.ca by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 17.

Everyone who correctly identifies the five locations will be entered into a random draw for a W Store swag bag (valued at $100) — plus bragging rights! The winner will be announced on Thursday, December 18.

During this holiday season and all through the year, thank you for keeping the Waterloo spirit strong.  

Update to GreenShield+ claims submission process coming in January

A message from Human Resources

Commencing in early 2026, GreenShield will introduce an important update to the claims process designed to enhance efficiency and security: a receipt or supporting documents, such as the invoice, will need to be uploaded for each claim submitted through GreenShield+.

Why this matters

This updated process is part of GreenShield’s digital transformation, aimed at:

• Faster processing times with fewer follow-ups
• Clearer claim tracking for members
• A more streamlined auditing process

This change applies to all claims submitted to GreenShield+, regardless of service date. It’s effective early 2026, with no receipt uploads required for 2025 claims unless specifically requested. Also, receipts can be uploaded as a file or photo directly in the GreenShield+ app, with prompts provided during submission.

Notifications will begin on December 8 via the GreenShield+ website and app and call centre system. For questions or further discussion, please contact GreenShield directly or explore theGreenShield+ Help Centre for additional support.