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Canada Day 2017: A Year of Pride and Celebration
On Saturday, July 1, Columbia Lake Fields hosted a record-breaking crowd of over 65,000 as we celebrated a milestone year with our community. As the nation celebrated its 150th anniversary of confederation, the University of Waterloo continued to celebrate our 60th anniversary, alongside our Federation of Students celebrating its 50th year. In its 33rd year of the event, we thanked the community for its partnership and mutual support, as they joined in our pride to be Canadian.
After the rain clouds parted, attendees took part in an afternoon and evening to remember filled with interactive family fun, an international array of food, and live entertainment. Special in 2017 were the Canada Day salute, featuring a flyover of two World War II jets, and a new Canada 150 Cultural stage in partnership with the City of Waterloo. Families enjoyed children’s performers Bobs & Lolo and as the crowds grew, Dwanye Gretzky and Canadian rock icon Tom Cochrane with Red Rider performed on the OpenText stage. The evening was capped off by the most spectacular fireworks display to date that lit up Columbia Lake and could be seen from miles around. Over 2.7 million people from across Canada followed the celebration online, with #UWCanadaDay trending in the top 10 on twitter throughout the event
Check out highlights from the celebration, and watch for our recap video in the days ahead.
Teaching and Learning Spaces Committee launches second survey
Creating outstanding learning spaces comes under the academic programming theme of the University’s strategic plan. Last year, the Teaching and Learning Spaces Committee sought feedback on your most and least favourite classrooms. We learned from the survey that students find that classrooms with cramped seating create strong challenges to an effective learning environment. With this feedback, and an assessment of various classrooms, plans are afoot to renovate and decompress Physics 145 and 150 in the Winter term 2018. Further renovations are being contemplated for other similarly cramped classrooms.
The Teaching and Learning Spaces Committee now wants to hear more of your thoughts about our classrooms by exploring how well they meet instructor needs, based on current and preferred approaches to teaching. “We encourage all instructors to provide feedback – we want our classrooms to be productive spaces for everyone, and with your help we can achieve that goal” the committee says. If you have any questions about the survey or the work of the committee, please contact Beth Jewkes, Associate Provost (Resources), by sending an email to emjewkes@uwaterloo.ca.
The TLSC committee will be sending an email to instructors in the next few days with a link to the survey. The survey will close July 21, 2017.
Green thumbs up to green bins in Waterloo
A message from the Survey Research Centre, University of Waterloo
In March 2017, the Region of Waterloo made changes to waste collection impacting the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge, and the surrounding townships. The Region has moved from collecting up to 10 bags of garbage every week to a maximum of 4 bags of garbage every two weeks. Green bin and blue box collection is now available for all single family homes on a weekly basis, which is a recent addition for the surrounding townships.
So, what has been the reaction of Waterloo Region residents to the waste collection changes? The Survey Research Centre at the University of Waterloo wanted to find out. The Survey Research Centre conducts an annual Waterloo Region Area survey where interested university researchers and community organizations can collect survey research data for a fraction of the cost of an independent telephone and web study (i.e., $3,290 for 4-5 questions versus a similar sized telephone study ($18,000) or web study ($7,000)). As part of the 2017 survey, questions about the waste collection changes were asked.
According to the Region of Waterloo website, there are many reasons why this change was made. The Region reported that over half of residential garbage (by weight) consists of organic, compostable material that could be redirected to green bins, while another 14 percent of garbage consists of recyclable material that could be redirected to blue boxes. With the approximately $2.4 million annual cost savings provided by cutting garbage collection in half and the rapidly shrinking capacity of the region’s lone landfill, it seems to be an easy decision.
What might not be so easy is changing the habits of the region’s residents. The Region is counting on residents to comply with the changes and reduce garbage by diverting applicable material from going to the landfill to green bins and blue boxes instead.
Almost all residents polled (95 percent) reported they were aware of the changes to waste collection just prior to implementation. While 76 percent of respondents indicated they were somewhat or strongly in favour of the changes, only 45 percent of respondents reported using a green bin on a weekly basis in the past year.
It will be interesting to see how use of green bins changes within the next year, now that everyone within the Region is able to use this service.
Waterloo Region Area Survey conducted among a random sample of 404 adult residents from February 13, 2017 to March 9, 2017
Initial data from the Region, as reported in The Record on April 22nd, indicate that during the first month of the new waste collection rules, green bin material collected grew 50 percent over the same period last year. Illegal dumping of garbage also increased. With garbage collection now only every two weeks, it will be interesting to see if the level of support for green bin use continues to grow during 2017. If not, we may be in for a very smelly summer in Waterloo region.
The Survey Research Centre offers survey research services ranging from a simple consultation to a complete package of study and survey design, data collection and top-line analysis – all at a cost recovery price. It provides telephone call centre services, online survey hosting, survey programming and mail survey services. A free one-hour consultation is available to all University of Waterloo faculty, staff and students.
World's first legal innovation lab partners with Waterloo
By: Naz Kittani
Although he graduated over 40 years ago, former board of governor member and proud alumnus Bill Watson (BA ’76) continues to carry the innovative Waterloo spirit. Earlier this year, Watson contacted Waterloo’s Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) about an idea his law firm, Baker Mckenzie, was working on. Watson wanted to create Whitespace Legal Collab – a hub that uses multidisciplinary collaboration to address complex business issues.
CECA’s Executive Director, Ross Johnston, took the opportunity to introduce Watson to Entrepreneurship Professor Larry Smith. Smith runs a Problem Lab out of the Velocity Garage that specializes in multidisciplinary problem-solving. Smith hosted a meeting with the Baker McKenzie team along with a tour of the Velocity Garage. Baker McKenzie was so impressed with Smith and the CECA team that they posted a job for two Waterloo co-op students.
The Whitespace Legal Collab works to provide face-to-face contact between Baker McKenzie attorneys and leaders in business, government, academia, and not-for-profits to address complex global challenges. Those issues often pull in experts from the business, law and technology sectors to identify a problem and then do a deep dive to solve it. As the first lab of its kind, this new addition to Baker McKenzie places the company at the forefront of innovation, making Waterloo the perfect partner.
“Waterloo co-op students are known for their innovative approach to problems,” says Johnston. “A major reason for that is the multidisciplinary team projects they’re exposed to in the lab and classroom during academic terms. This prepares them for real-world situations in the workforce and is part of the reason they’re in such high demand from employers around the world across a wide variety of industries.”
The Collab officially launched on June 6 with Waterloo’s Problem Lab listed as an official partner. CECA was invited to the official launch party to ring the closing bell at the TSX as part of the pre-launch festivities.
To find out more about The Whitespace Legal Collab, watch Baker McKenzie’s launch video, which also features a few words from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Wednesday's notes
The Federation of Students, the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre, the Aboriginal Students Association and the University of Waterloo came together June 30 to unveil a plaque on the wall of the Student Life Centre that acknowledges the traditional territory on which the building stands. The ceremony featured traditional songs as well as words from Feds, ASA, and President Feridun Hamdullahpur.
The Cheriton School of Computer Science has announced that Ihab Ilyas, professor and the Thomson Reuters–funded Research Chair in Data Cleaning from Theory to Practice has been elected vice-chair of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Management of Data (ACM SIGMOD). The four-year position begins July 1, 2017.
SIGMOD is ACM’s premier professional society responsible for innovative dissemination of knowledge on data management, including data description, storage, querying, analysis, security and privacy. As vice-chair, Ilyas will play a pivotal role in co-leading SIGMOD and managing its activities.
Check out the School of Computer Science's news site for the full story.
The Registrar's Office has informed students that they may select their Fall 2017 courses during the course selection period, which runs from July 4 to July 10, 2017.
Students are invited to prepare in advance, contact their academic advisor if they have questions, and view the course selection process website for step-by-step instructions.
Students select their courses through their Quest accounts. Students should note that course selection is not available on Quest Mobile. Students must use the full Quest site.
Depending on their program, plan, or major, a student may find their core or required courses may already be placed into their course list.
Fall 2017 course schedules will become available on July 19, and students will be able to review their schedules and adjust them during the drop/add period, which begins on July 20. Courses can still be added or swapped until September 20, with students having the ability to drop courses with refund until September 27.
The University's Balinese Gamelan Ensemble will be participating in the Kultrun Festival in Kitchener's Victoria Park on Saturday, July 8 at 2:00 p.m. Students will play by ear on various gamelan instruments, including gongs, metallophones, drums, and flutes. A free workshop will follow the concert.