Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Doug Peers re-appointed as Dean of Arts

"It is my pleasure to announce the reappointment of Professor Douglas Peers as dean of the Faculty of Arts for a second term of three years, commencing on July 1, 2016," says a memo from Feridun Hamdullahpur circulated to the Arts community last week. "This reappointment was recommended by the nominating committee established under Policy 45 and has been approved by Senate and the Board of Governors."

"Professor Peers came to Waterloo from York University in 2011. He is a highly regarded scholar and educator, and experienced administrator and leader. During his first term as dean, he established himself as a valued member of the senior administrative team. As such, his reappointment enjoys support, both within and outside of the Faculty of Arts."

"I am delighted that Doug is willing to continue as dean and look forward to working with him for a second term. I know that he can count on the support of the university community as the Faculty of Arts continues to strive towards even greater national and international prominence," the president's memo concludes.

Waterloo scientists discover treatment for lazy eye in adults

A new treatment for adults with lazy eye, a condition previously thought to be treatable only in childhood, is one step closer as a result of research from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Sun Yat-sen University in China. 

Waterloo vision scientist Ben Thompson with collaborators from China have shown that low voltage electric currents can temporarily improve sight in adult patients with lazy eye, or amblyopia.

“Until fairly recently, the prevailing view was that if adults couldn’t develop amblyopia, they couldn’t be treated for it,” said Professor Thompson. “This was the same for anyone with brain-based vision problems – they’re often told there’s nothing that can be done about their vision loss.”

In a proof-of-concept series of experiments, Thompson and his colleagues exposed patients to twenty minutes of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the surface of the head, directly over the primary visual cortex.

They found the treatment temporarily increased the response of that part of the brain to visual information from the lazy eye. tDCS also improved patients’ ability to see low contrast patterns.

Their results were published this month in Scientific Reports, a highly cited Nature publication.

“It’s a long held view that adults can’t be treated for lazy eye because their brains no longer have the capacity to change,” said Thompson. “We demonstrate here that adults do have the capacity, especially when it comes to vision.”

Methods such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have recently been shown to increase adult neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to rewire and reorganise itself.

Lazy eye is a loss of vision that originates in the brain. It affects up to three per cent of Canadians and is caused by the presence of unequal images in the two eyes during childhood, typically due to an eye turn or one eye being long sighted. 

Reminder: senate nominations open

There's still time to submit a nomination form for any of the upcoming vacancies on the University's Senate.

Faculty Members

• One faculty representative to be elected by/from the members of faculty of each Faculty of the University, terms 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019 (six total);
• Eight faculty-at-large representatives to be elected by/from the members of faculty of the University, terms 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019;
• One faculty representative to be elected by/from the members of faculty of St. Jerome's University, term 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019; and
• One faculty representative to be elected by/from the members of faculty of Conrad Grebel University College, term 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019.

Graduate Students 

• One graduate student of the University to be elected by/from the full- and part-time graduate students of the University, term 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2017.
• Two graduate students of the University to be elected by/from the full- and part-time graduate students of the University, terms 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2018.

Faculty Undergraduate Students

• One undergraduate student elected by/from the full-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts, term 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2018.

Completed nomination forms, which require at least five nominators,should be submitted to the Secretariat & Office of General Counsel, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., on Monday, February 29. Elections will follow if necessary. Candidates should include a brief statement of no more than 100 words to appear with the online ballot.

Any questions relating to any of the nominations listed above may be directed to Emily Schroeder at extension 32749.

Timepoints and other tonal tidbits

Conrad Grebel's Noon Hour Concert Series continues tomorrow with Timepoints: The Toronto Percussion Ensemble. Founded while its members were still students, the Toronto Percussion Ensemble has been amazing and delighting audiences with its unique combination of collective virtuosity and relaxed stage manner. A Toronto Percussion Ensemble concert brings together music of the distant past with music of the here and now, global music with local traditions, and the familiar with the wonderfully exotic. John Brownell, David Campion, Mark Duggan, and Beverley Johnston are appearing for the fifth time at a Grebel Noon Hour concert.

The event takes place on Wednesday, February 24 at 12:30 p.m. in the Conrad Grebel Chapel.

As far as events taking place today, the Waterloo Centre for German Studies is hosting author Marc Degens on campus. Degens, who currently resides in Toronto, has been a fixture in the German pop literature scene for many years, and will be reading from his latest work God's Busted Knee (German original: Das kaputte Knie Gottes) and a selection of his other works in both English and German. The author event takes place at 4:00 p.m. in EV3 3406.

A Waterloo professor whose TED talk has more than 4.7 million views will speak next week on the top 10 commercial problems around the world.

Larry Smith's presentation is hosted by Velocity Start, a new space on campus for all students to discover entrepreneurship through workshops, coaching and exposure to new technologies. Velocity offers these events free of charge to students and members of the public. 

Larry Smith is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Economics and the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre at the University of Waterloo.

The event takes place on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Velocity Start space in South Campus Hall. Seating is limited, so registration is requested. Refreshments will be provided.