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New Residence Building set to open in Fall 2017
A message from Housing and Residences.
As Waterloo Residences prepares to open our newest residence facility this fall, which will be home to 539 first-year and upper-year students, we want to share with you the progress made over the past year. Check out our 360 Tour and time-lapse video to see how far we have come!
Did you know that recent studies from Academica Group shows that students living in residence have higher retention rates and graduation rates? Purposefully designed with community in mind, the New Residence Building is a place where students can live, learn, gain independence, and develop their identity. From the large study areas (five lounges and one meeting room per floor), to ensuring students interact with each other on the way to their rooms- this residence provides a unique social environment where students can feel at home.
The New Residence Building is a traditional-style residence, providing state of the art amenities that were developed based on student feedback and consultation. With 16 bathrooms per floor, plenty of study space, a fitness room, multi-faith room, a variety of culinary options such as a sushi bar, teriyaki stations and a Booster Juice, the new facility will be a welcomed addition to the UW Place community.
A celebration will mark the official opening in October.
Join us on Instagram and Facebook to get the latest updates, including photos and videos of the New Residence Building.
Registration open for Excellence Canada focus groups
In May, the University conducted an Excellence Canada survey of our employee population to assess how well the University is performing in five general areas: leadership, planning, service to students, people engagement, and process management. Over 1,600 employees responded to this survey – approximately 36 percent of the total population of faculty, staff, and CUPE employees (permanent full time and over one year contract). By employee group, we heard from approximately 15 percent of faculty, 34 percent of staff, and 25 percent of CUPE employees.
During the month of June, the University will be holding 10-15 focus groups with employees to confirm the survey data, explore topics not covered in depth in the survey, and gain additional information on areas of strength and concern noted in the survey data. Registration is now open for focus groups and employees can register for a focus group on UWaterloo’s Excellence Canada website.
Focus groups will address five broad themes aligned with Excellence Canada’s Excellence, Innovation and Wellness (EIW) Standard:
- Leadership. Includes consideration of culture, values, overall direction, governance and the University's legal, ethical, financial and societal obligations.
- Planning. Addresses strategic planning and goal-setting across the University, including how plans are monitored, evaluated, reported on, etc.
- Service to students. Examines the University's service to students, including how well we engage students. This includes consideration of listening, acting, and reporting on student feedback.
- People engagement. Covers how people are treated, encouraged, supported and enabled to contribute to the University's overall success. It includes wellness of employees and their families, including both physical and psychological health and safety.
- Process management. Focuses on the management of processes and projects across the University.
The Excellence Canada Advisory Committee will use employee feedback gathered from both the focus groups and survey to understand the University’s strengths and areas of opportunity and to inform how we move forward to integrate the EIW Standard at Waterloo.
For more information, contact any member of the University’s Excellence Canada Advisory Committee.
Remembering Alicja Muszynski; other notes
Human Resources has reported that retired Sociology and Legal Studies professor Alicja Muszynski died on May 22.
Professor Muszynski joined the University in July 1991 after a career at the University of Regina.
Her areas of research focus included Canadian political economy, primary resources, gender and feminist theory, the sociology of the family, rural sociology, social change, and Marxian Theory.
From May to August 1992, she served as Associate Chair of the department.
Professor Muszynski was awarded the Regional History Society Certificate of Merit in 1997.
She was an active hiker who once completed the entire length of the Bruce Trail, a community volunteer and multi-media artist.
She retired as Associate Professor in Sociology and Legal Studies in May 2015.
The University's Board of Governors has its meeting at 1:30 p.m. today in NH 3407. Among the agenda items:
- A motion to increase the Federation of Students fee from from $56.62 to $57.76;
- A motion to increase the Orientation fee from $105.60 to $107.01 effective September 2017;
- A motion to approve increases to the Federation of Students and Graduate Student Association Administered Fees, which covers dental and health plans, the Student Refugee Program fee, and the Universal Bus Pass, and the Grad House fee;
- A motion delegating the Board's authority to approve the university’s audited financial statements for the last fiscal year; and
- A motion to approve the filing of the actuarial valuation report as at 1 January 2017 with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Also on the agenda is the President's report, reports of the Board's various committees, the report of the Dean of Science, and undergraduate and graduate enrolment updates.