Friday, February 9, 2018

Campus Wayfinding Project launches

The University of Waterloo is launching a Campus Wayfinding Project (CWP), an initiative that aims to transform the way students, faculty, staff and visitors navigate the Waterloo campus.

The project’s goal is to enhance pedestrian wayfinding on campus as well as fully consider how guests arrive and navigate via vehicle, public transit and bicycle. The project’s key objectives are to improve the campus navigation experience, create a sense of arrival and place, especially at campus gateways and develop a consistent, coordinated and scalable wayfinding system.

To help with the project the University has partnered with Entro Communications, a firm with global experience in wayfinding design. Their client list includes the ROM, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA; London’s Canary Wharf and Toronto PATH; and in the University sector the University of Calgary, Ryerson, OCAD as well as Waterloo's own Pharmacy building.

Waterloo’s wayfinding system will consist of the following: Static, fixed wayfinding signage and related solutions; temporary/moveable signage; and digital fixed wayfinding signage. As well, high level recommendations around digital mobile wayfinding applications will be developed.

Community consultation is a key part of the wayfinding initiative. “We look forward to hearing your advice and feedback,” says a note from the CWP team. “Please visit the website for details on upcoming workshops or take part in the online survey.”

Read more about the CWP.  

$1.5M for new domestic grad student scholarships

By Megan Hood. A version of this article first appeared on Waterloo Stories.

The University of Waterloo has recently announced additional financial incentives totalling $1.5 million to encourage the continued development of Canadian graduate research. The funds are available for both PhD and research Master’s students.

“The University of Waterloo continues to be a leader in graduate studies, attracting the best students in Canada. To facilitate success, the University recognizes the need for financial support to students,” said Jeff Casello, associate vice-president of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. “On behalf of the University, I am thrilled to provide these additional incentives to bring the brightest minds to the University of Waterloo.”

This is a new initiative intended to support and promote transformative research in Canada. Waterloo is home to a wide array of exceptional graduate research, from examining the use of climate-economic models, to creating and implementing artificial intelligence, to imaging solutions for monitoring the health and well-being of our aging population. The University of Waterloo is eager to advance the well-being of Canada and Canadians by incenting new domestic researchers to join our dynamic community of scholars.

The full details on funding and eligibility can be found on Discover Graduate Studies.

Waterloo continues to be committed to the development of all of our students, domestic and international. There are a breadth of scholarships for international students, including the International Master’s and Doctoral Student Awards.

Quest system upgrade runs from February 16 to 22

A message from Information Systems & Technology.

The Quest system will be unavailable to clients starting Friday, February 16 at 4:30 p.m. until Thursday, February 22 at 8:00 a.m. Following this work, Quest will be upgraded to the most recent, supported release and clients will notice a new service login page. Additional details are available on the IST website.

Friday's fables and foibles

Students have had their say at the ballot box, and the results are in. The Federation of Students election period closed on Wednesday, February 7 following races for Science Councillor, Science Senator, and Senate-at-Large positions. All positions for Feds 2018-2019 Executive team were acclaimed, as were a number of other Students’ Council and Senate seats.

"It takes a lot of hard work and courage to run for a position in student government, and we would like to take this moment to congratulate all candidates for their efforts," says a note from the Feds. "You should all take pride in putting yourself out there for the betterment of your school and your peers."

Check out the full list of election and acclamation results on the Feds' website. Several council seats remain open for Arts, Applied Health Sciences, Environment, Math, Renison, Cambridge and Kitchener, while the Senate seat for Environment also remains open. By-elections will take place after elections are closed. 

UW Fitness is offering several specialized once weekly programs for staff and faculty. February classes include:

• Power in Pairs: Partner Resistance Training;
• Level II Core Training;
• Cardio Kickstart;
• HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training; 
• And more to come!!!

These once weekly programs run during the lunch hour on specific days of the week for four to eight consecutive weeks. Thanks to funding from UW Staff Association's Staff Excellence Fund, Waterloo staff receive a 50 percent discount on these and other fitness sessions! Find out more.

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) has extended the deadline for project proposal submissions to the Staff Excellence Fund (SEF).

The SEF is administered by the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation. The University has given staff the opportunity to provide input regarding funding of projects in the areas of:

• Healthy Workplace Initiatives
• Engagement and Leadership Development

"Successful project proposals will receive an allocation from the fund to pay for the project expenses," says a note from the UWSA. "By providing a proposal for a project and volunteering to help bring it to life, you will have an opportunity to make real change at UW."

Projects should be directed at improving the work environment for staff and may involve single events or continuing activities of no more than two years' duration. Projects should also not create a taxable benefit for staff.

More information and an application form is available on the UWSA website. Please submit your applications to staffasc@uwaterloo.ca as an attachment in .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .odt format.

The deadline for the submission of SEF proposals for the current round has been extended to Friday, February 23.

Please contact staffasc@uwaterloo.ca if you require further information about the SEF or the application process.