Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Register for administrative staff Pivot-RP training on Wednesday

A message from the Office of Research.

Training for Pivot-RP, a new searchable database of research funding opportunities, is taking place during the winter term. The first virtual workshop for administrative staff is scheduled for Wednesday, February 16, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. This workshop will describe what Pivot-RP is then move into a live demo, covering features such as curated lists and searches, newsletters, internal funding opportunities, and reporting.

The presentation will be followed by a Q & A. For more information and to register for this workshop, visit the Pivot-RP training webpage. 

If you are not available for the webinar, helpful training videos can be found on the Pivot-RP YouTube channel.

Virtual International Women's Day event on March 8

A message from Community Relations and Events.

Tuesday, March 8 marks International Women’s Day, a global observance that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year, the University of Waterloo is recognizing the day through a virtual International Women’s Day event, where discussions will highlight how our post-pandemic economic recovery must embrace everyone’s skills, perspectives, and creativity.

Join us from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 8 as we discuss how to better engage women and racialized communities, examine the values that help us flourish, and investigate how work and health systems can respond to meet our quickly changing environments.

We are pleased to feature a keynote address from Emily Mills, founder of How She Hustles, one of Canada’s leading influencer brands for diverse women leaders and entrepreneurs. Emily has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, garnering recognition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Former US First Lady Michelle Obama.

Hear from President Vivek Goel and other campus leaders, along with a panel highlighting Waterloo researchers, including:

• Nada Basir, assistant professor at the Conrad School of Business and Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Engineering, whose research examines how gender inequalities emerge, their impact, and the role of entrepreneurs in bringing about social change.
• Carla Fehr, associate professor in UWaterloo’s Gender and Social Justice program within the Faculty of Arts, who explores the values, practices and structures that constitute workplace culture.
• Ellen MacEachen, associate professor with the School of Public Health Sciences in the Faculty of Health, who examines how the design and performance of work and health systems can be improved and adapted to our fast changing economic, social and technological environments.

Be uplifted and challenged as we come together to cultivate a spirit of radical optimism about our future. We look forward to hosting you at this special event.

FASS celebrates 60 years of theatre

By Megan Lambe.

Waterloo’s amateur theatre company FASS (Faculty, Alumni, Staff and Students) has been entertaining the University with variety and musical comedy since 1962. This year will mark its 60^th anniversary: and to celebrate, the company will be holding a virtual show Friday, February 18 and Saturday, February 19at 8:00 p.m. “While we’d love to be together in-person, performing online allows us to engage with the audience in new ways,” said Onie Tam, Engineering Graduate Coordinator and Head of Production Committee. The show will feature a mixture of live acting and pre-recorded videos.

At least once per year, a group of creative people come together and within about a month, they put together a theatre production. FASS is a great community at its roots, which has enabled students to act alongside alumni, University employees, and even some professors as equals. People make long lasting friendships that cross faculties and even extend into industry, and in many cases lifelong partnerships. 

Over the last two years, COVID-19 has disrupted many of the University’s most vibrant communities. However, a move to virtual events has offered FASS members new ways to foster inclusion, accessibility, and connection. “We have a rule that everyone who auditions for our shows gets a part, regardless of skill level or any other factor,” says R. Brent Clements, FASS President, Board of Directors. “There are also plenty of other ways to participate: the scripts are a collaboration of many writers, our tech crew and our band are all as much of the cast as the actors, and even our production team are all part of the same group of enthusiastic members.”

This year’s in person production was originally canceled due to the Omicron wave. “The writers were asked (on Christmas week!) to do a complete rewrite so we could put on an online show,” said Nick Boyko, FASS Director. Once the cast was assembled early January, the hard work began to create the online event FASS-O-VISION, airing this Friday night. “The show is very funny, it’s got some great references and parodies of the TV of the past 30 years, and I think that everyone who watches and performs in it will have a great time!”

Find out more and get the link for Friday or Saturday’s event.

Secretariat announces Senate vacancies, calls for nominations

The Secretariat has issued a call for nominations for upcoming faculty and graduate student vacancies on the University’s Senate.

Nominations are requested for the following seats on Senate:

Faculty Representatives – Nomination form (pdf)

• Faculty members to be elected by/from the members of faculty of each Faculty of the University (Seven in total: one in each of Arts, Engineering, Environment, Mathematics, and Science, and two in Health.), terms 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2025.

Faculty-at-Large Representatives – Nomination form (pdf)

• Eight faculty members to be elected by/from the members of faculty of the University,
  terms 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2025.

At least five nominators who are members of faculty with regular faculty appointments (see Policy 76 – Faculty Appointments) from the constituency from which the member is to be elected are required for each nomination. To be eligible to accept the nomination, the candidate must hold a regular faculty appointment. A brief candidate statement (100 words maximum) must be submitted with each nomination form to appear with the ballot.

Interested parties can send completed nomination forms by email to Diana Goncalves at d3goncalves@uwaterloo.ca by close of the nomination period: 12 noon, Monday 7 March 2022. If required, elections will be held beginning Wednesday 9 March 2022, closing Wednesday 16 March 2022.

Additionally, two graduate students of the University are to be elected by/from the full- and part-time graduate students of the University, for a term running from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2024.

Please use the Graduate Student Representative Nomination Form (pdf) for nominations. At least five graduate student nominators are required. To be eligible to accept the nomination, the candidate must be a full or part-time graduate student*. A brief candidate statement (100 words maximum) must be submitted with the nomination form to appear with the ballot.

Submit completed nomination forms by email to Diana Goncalves at d3goncalves@uwaterloo.ca by the close of the nomination period: 12 noon, Monday 7 March 2022. If required, elections will be held beginning Wednesday 9 March 2022, closing Wednesday 16 March 2022.

Please refer to Senate Bylaw 3 for more information about nominations and elections. Any questions can be directed to Diana Goncalves.

Lantern Festival closes out Lunar New Year celebrations

by Suping Zhao.

This year Lantern Festival will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 15. Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao Jie, Yuanxiao Festival (元宵节) is usually celebrated in China and other Asian countries on the 15th day of the first lunar month, two weeks after the Lunar New Year. While the Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring, the Lantern Festival marks the final day of these celebrations. After the Lantern Festival, all New Year decorations are taken down. Some schools/universities reopen after the Lantern Festival.

In China, the Lantern Festival can be traced back more than 2,000 years. The festival is a celebration of family reunion and features many ancient spiritual traditions. The lanterns symbolize people letting go of the past year and welcoming the new year with good fortune.

How to celebrate the Lantern Festival                                                                                 

Lighting and Watching Lanterns

The most popular ways to celebrate Lantern Festival include: watching lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, eating tangyuan, and watching lion/dragon dances. Lanterns are the most notable part of the festival. Houses, streets, shopping malls, parks and almost everywhere are decorated with colorful lanterns during the lantern festival. The (traditional) lanterns are most often red or golden to invoke good fortune and good luck. The most common lanterns are oval/round and decorated with red or golden tassels. They also come in many different shapes, including cubes, cuboids and cylinders.

Dragon Dances and Lion Dances

Dragon and lion dances, two of the most traditional folk dances in China, are common and popular. Chinese people (traditionally) regard the lion as a symbol of bravery and strength and believe that its appearance can drive away evil and protect people and their livestock. Some Chinese people worship the dragon and regard it as a symbol of good luck. 

Lantern Festival Food – Tangyuan (also Yuanxiao)

An important custom of the Lantern Festival is to consume Tangyuan, a traditional dish of round glutinous rice balls with sweet fillings that are boiled and served to indicate “reunion”. The pronunciation of “Tangyuan” itself is similar to the Chinese pronunciation of “reunion”.

Registration open for TEDxUW and other notable notes

Registration is now open for Waterloo's annual TEDx conference, which will take place on Saturday, February 19.

"If you’re looking to gain incredible insights and knowledge from experts in various fields, you don’t want to miss this event," says a note from the organizers. "From optimizing your odds to finding the good in life, TEDxUW 2022 is jam-packed with inspiring, captivating talks — all under the theme “2020 Vision.”"

The event is virtual and free. To tune in, save the date for February 19th and register now using this link: https://bit.ly/tedxuw-registration. 

"We can’t wait to see you at the event," organizers say. "Until then, be sure to follow our Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for more exciting updates."

The next Noon Hour Concert takes place tomorrow. Double Double Bass will shine a spotlight on those stalwart stand-up double bassists who are often relegated to the back of the ensemble. The concert will focus on the rich timbre of the low end. KW Symphony bassists Ian Whitman and Talia Hatcher will be supported by Guelph key and law expert Elliott Braganza on piano will present music from a variety of eras, bass music and transcriptions, familiar and obscure. The audience will even discover how a group of French composers in the 19th century created their own "fake news."

This video will be released as a Grebel Youtube Premiere on Wednesday, February 16, at 12:30 p.m.

The Registrar's Office has announced that the Winter 2022 final examination schedule is now available online. The final examination period will run from April 8 to April 26, 2022, with no exams scheduled between April 15 and 17.

Currently, for online courses, only a limited number of online courses have in-person exams. Students can find the list on the Centre for Extended Learning website. For on-campus courses, exams may occur in-person, and would be written in classrooms as opposed to the Physical Activities Complex (PAC), adhering to physical distaincing guidelines as set out by the public health department.