Wednesday, June 20, 2018


Campus to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day tomorrow

The two young boys are in traditional regalia attending the annual St. Paul’s pow wow.

Two young boys in traditional regalia attending the annual St. Paul’s pow wow.

A message from the Shatitsirótha’ Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC).

Shatitsirótha’ Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC) will be hosting the first ever on-campus event to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21st. The event is co-sponsored by the four affiliated and federated institutions, all six UWaterloo faculties, and the office of Human Rights, Equity, and Inclusion. National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day for all people in Canada to recognize and celebrate the uniquely diverse cultures and outstanding contributions of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

Celebrations will take place “across the creek” at St. Paul’s new ceremonial fire ground area. Shatitsirótha′, pronounced sa-di-gee-row-da, means to “reignite the flame” and this is exactly what we will be doing. The permanent ceremonial fire ground space has been in the process of development for over two years and is finally ready for its inauguration. June 21st will mark the official re-ignition of the sacred fire.

“National Indigenous Peoples Day is a celebration when we, as Indigenous peoples, have an opportunity to showcase what we want to share with the rest of Canadians," says Lori Campbell, director of WISC. "WISC is very excited to invite the broader UWaterloo community to come out and join in the cultural festivities and visit our ceremonial fire ground.”

Come and learn about the sacred fire, enjoy a free barbecue at noon, and enjoy our line-up of entertainment, featuring a presentation by an Inuk alumnus, Métis jigging lessons, a Haudenosaunee dance demonstration, and a community hand drum circle. A handful of vendors and information booths will be present and children’s activities have been planned.

This free public event takes place from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday 21 June 2018. Follow the signs, look for the balloons, and join us at the big tent!

Stepping forward, making progress for Waterloo's future

Participants in a breakout session at the Bridge to 2020 event.

This is the latest post on President Feridun Hamdullahpur's blog.

Our community took a significant step forward this past Monday at the Bridge to 2020: A Look Back, A Look Ahead strategic plan event. After a morning of discussion and sharing at the event, it is clear to me that we have an engaged and passionate community ready to add their experiences and their voice to guide our institution forward.

The event was the kick-off of our consultation phase of the planning process. It was also an opportunity for us to share the progress of our strategic plan evidence gathering phase and also collect feedback from our University community on seven issue papers that were developed on the following topics:

  • Empowering People 
  • Graduate Studies
  • Internationalization
  • Learning Environment
  • Leveraging Resources
  • Research Excellence
  • Undergraduate Learning

Advisory groups made up of representatives from the Faculties, academic support units and student representatives each developed an issue paper on their corresponding topic. You can now read each issue paper and discover the challenges and opportunities our institution faces as we move forward into the future.

The most exciting part of sharing these issue papers at the Bridge to 2020 event was our opportunity to talk and discover what matters to you, our University community. It was the first and definitely not the last opportunity for you to have your say as to what the University of Waterloo should dedicate our time and resources to in our next strategic plan. This event was only the beginning.

Where We Go From Here

From here we will head directly into the Consultation phase of the planning process. This phase will take place over the next several months and will involve a series of in-person, online and digital processes to gather input from Waterloo’s community stakeholders. This includes faculty, staff, students, alumni and our broader community.

These consultations will leverage the information gathered from the Summative Report of our previous Strategic Plan as well as the seven issue papers. It is important to remember that we are not limited to the themes of these issue papers.

A great deal of care and dedication were put into these valuable documents, they are excellent jumping off points that can help guide our discussions but we must also remember that we are not limited by them.

This plan can be whatever the University of Waterloo community thinks it needs to be to take our institution forward into the next decade and grow as one of the most innovative universities in the world.

It will also be an active plan. It will not sit on a shelf and be a symbolic checkmark. We will not only make implementation of the plan a priority, but also regular progress updates and ongoing re-evaluation of our tactics to reach our plan targets once it is in place.

Stay Engaged

As our Consultation phase progresses, I urge you to stay engaged and informed. We have created a central Bridge to 2020 website that is a hub of information that will let you stay up-to-date on the entire strategic planning process including hosting all seven issue papers that were highlighted at the event this week.

You can provide feedback on each issue paper through the website and read about all of the upcoming consultation activities that you may be able to take part in. The planning starts here with all of us and expands to include the Board of Governors, Senate, senior administration, and many other parts of our diverse community. This plan will be ours and that’s because of you and your involvement.

Join me in driving the University of Waterloo forward into a new and exciting future.

Waterloo partners with Sorbonne for bio-hackathon

The logos of the sponsoring organzations of the French-Canadian BIOMEDInnov Summer School

The University of Waterloo has joined with two French universities to support a biomedical engineering summer school program in Paris, France.

The French-Canadian BIOMEDInnov Summer School is taking place from June 18 to 22 and has been organized by Sorbonne University, the University of technology of Compiègne, and the University of Waterloo.

The summer school program is engaging students who are designing innovative new technologies for health and medicine. The program focuses on needs-driven design to develop clinically relevant biomedical technologies. Travelling to France to attend the summer school are 22 students (from all participating universities) and 6 researchers from the University of Waterloo who were involved in the international exchange.

The program is supported by a 130,000 EUR FormInnov grant to the researchers at the Sorbonne University (UPMC), UTC, and Centre d’études littéraires et scientifiques appliquées (CELSA) and the University of Waterloo. 
 
The five day program consists of research presentations, workshops, lectures and seminars by professionals, French and Canadian biomedical start-up companies, and industry sponsor Medtronic.

Waterloo's participation in the summer school program is sponsored by the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology through an International Research Partnership grant. Mitacs has awarded some students from Waterloo Globalink research awards that will accommodate their travel for their research experience in France, including the summer school.

Stakeholders including clinicians and patients are invited to share their experience, define their needs and issues, and will engage with students as they work together on an innovation project in a hackathon format.  Workshops will cover engineering design and design thinking, agile methods, prototyping, technology acceptance, standards, regulations, economics, entrepreneurship, and legal and ethical aspects of biomedical devices.

The event will conclude with a bio-hackathon competition that puts into practice the knowledge and skills learned through the week.

Update on FORE decommissioning process

The Financial Online Reporting Environment (known as “FORE”) was the end user reporting tool associated with the University’s legacy Oracle financial system. The University has been live with Unit4, the new financial system, since May 1, 2017 and all reporting beginning with the 2018 fiscal year (with balances from April 2017 for comparison) is available directly within Unit4.

As reported in the April 6 memo from Dennis Huber, Vice-President, Administration & Finance and Bruce Campbell, Chief Information Officer, FORE will be decommissioned as of June 30. Users will no longer be able to log into the reporting tool to access historical financial data as of that date.

Finance and IST have been working to make historical data accessible to certain user groups using the MSBI reporting tool. HR’s Detailed Salary and Scholarship Reporting has been delivered using MSBI since Unit4 went live on May 1, 2017. Like the detailed salary reporting, access security for the historical data will be modelled after the Unit4 reporting access down to the org unit level (i.e. anyone with org unit level reporting or above in Unit4 will have access to the comparable historical data in MSBI).

Further updates will be shared as information becomes available. Questions regarding the transition can be directed to rt-fin-general@rt.uwaterloo.ca.

Wednesday's notes

The next IST Portfolio and Project Management Community of Practice session will take place on Wednesday, June 27 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in EC5 1111. The session is entitled "Procurement and Project Management" and will be facilitated by Leah Gibson of Procurement and Contract Services.

No registration or previous portfolio or project management training is required to attend the session. Join the "PPM CoP" mailing list to receive updates and event details. Membership is open to all staff, faculty, and students on campus who have an interest in this area. To join the mailing list please send an email (with no content in the email body) to Ppm-cop-request@lists.uwaterloo.ca with the word 'subscribe' in the subject line. Your request will be approved by the list administrators.

Please note: there will not be a session in July or August. PPM CoP sessions resume in September.

Anyone with questions is invited to contact Pam Fluttert  at fluttert@uwaterloo.ca or Connie van Oostveen at connie.vanoostveen@uwaterloo.ca. For more details about this month’s session visit the June session website.

Employers on campus next week hosting employer information sessions include Radix Trading. Visit the Employer Information Calendar for more details.

Link of the day

World Refugee Day

When and where 

Bike Month, Friday, June 1 to Saturday, June 30, across campus.

Bike Lunch, Wednesday, June 20, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Peter Russell Rock Garden.

Business Etiquette and Professionalism, Wednesday, June 20, 1:30 p.m., TC 1208.

Velocity Start: How To Find Your Customers Online, “Conduct online market research,” Wednesday, June 20, 7:30 p.m., Velocity Start, SCH 2nd Floor.

LGBTQ+ Making Spaces workshop, Wednesday, June 20, 9:00 a.m., STC 2002.

WICI Conference on Modelling Complex Urban Environments, Thursday, June 21 to Friday, June 22, St. Jerome's atrium.

Inaugural Wes Graham Research Symposium & Computer Science Awards, A celebration of Wes Graham’s legacy through the establishment of fellowships, Thursday, June 21, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., DC 1302.

Improve Your Interview Skills (graduate students and postdocs only), Thursday, June 21, 10:00 a.m., TC 2218.

Design and deliver II: Creating assertion-evidence presentations, Thursday, June 21, 1:00 p.m., online webinar.

Artemis: Proactive defences against large-scale automated cyber intrusions, featuring Matei Ripeanu, University of British Columbia, Friday, June 22, 1:30 p.m., DC 1304.

Faculty Reading Circle: Indigeneity and the University, Friday, June 22, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Grad House boardroom.

Toronto Pride Parade, Sunday, June 24, 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Compensation information session, Monday, June 25, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., EC5 1111.

Literature reviews for grads (Part B): Writing it, Monday, June 25, 1:00 p.m., online webinar.

Coping Skills Seminar - Cultivating Resiliency, Monday, June 25, 4:00 p.m., HS 2302.

David Sprott Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Pauline Barrieu, London School of Economics and Political Science, "Assessing Financial Model Risk," Monday, June 25, 4:00 p.m., STC 0060.

NEW - Résumé Tips: Thinking Like an Employer, Monday, June 25, 4:30 p.m., TC 1208.

WISE Public Lecture: Health Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Policy, Tuesday, June 26, 10:30 a.m., DC 1304.

Velocity Brainstorming @Math, Tuesday, June 26, 12:00 p.m., DC 1301 fishbowl. Note: this event has sold out.

Coping Skills Seminar - Strengthening Motivation, Tuesday, June 26, 4:00 p.m., HS 2302.

NEW - EDGE — Skill Identification and Articulation, Tuesday, June 26, 6:00 p.m., TC 2218.

IST Portfolio and Project Management Community of Practice session, “Procurement and Project Management,” Wednesday, June 27, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., networking from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., EC5 1111.

Grand Challenges Canada: Bold ideas with big impact® information session, Wednesday, June 27, 10:00 a.m., QNC 1501.

Compensation information session, Wednesday, June 27, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., EC5 1111.

Experiential Learning Using Riipen – Information Session, Wednesday, June 27, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., EV1 221. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP jsnichol@uwaterloo.ca

PhD Seminar, Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, “Partners for Sustainability: Organizations Engaged in Partnerships for Local Sustainability,” Wednesday, June 27, 1:00 p.m., EV3-4222.

Retirement Celebration for Daniel Parent, Wednesday, June 27, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., DC 1301 fishbowl.

Velocity Start: Pitch to Win, “Perfecting your pitch,” Wednesday, June 27, 7:30 p.m., Velocity Start, SCH 2nd Floor.

NEW - Interviews: Preparing for Questions, Thursday, June 28, 10:30 a.m., TC 1208.

Learning the Basics of LinkedIn (for employees only), Thursday, June 28, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., TC2218.

Super-happy censorship-resistant fun pages, featuring PhD candidate Cecylia Bocovich, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, Thursday, June 28, 2:30 p.m., DC 3317.

Canada Day celebration, Sunday, July 1, Columbia Lake fields.

Canada Day holiday, Monday, July 2, most University buildings and offices closed.

Coping Skills Seminar - Cultivating Resiliency, Monday, July 2, 4:00 p.m., HS 2302.

Alleviating Anxiety Seminar, Wednesday, July 4, 1:00 p.m., HS 2302.

Velocity Fund $5K Qualifiers – Night 1, “3-minute pitches in front of a panel of judges,” Wednesday, July 4, 7:00 p.m., Location TBD.

Clarity in scientific writing, Thursday, July 5, 1:00 p.m., online webinar.

Velocity Fund $5K Qualifiers – Night 2, “3-minute pitches in front of a panel of judges,” Thursday, July 5, 7:00 p.m., Location TBD.

Engineering 101 Day, Saturday, July 7.

Applied Health Sciences 101 Day, Saturday, July 7.

CrySP Speaker Series on Privacy, “Where theory meets practice for privacy enhancing technologies” featuring Chelsea Komlo, HashiCorp, Monday, July 9, 2:30 p.m., DC 1304.

Coping Skills Seminar - Cultivating Resiliency, Monday, July 9, 4:00 p.m., HS 2302.

Ethics and value-based program featuring The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, “Transformative Leadership Program”, Monday, July 9, 9:00 a.m. to Tuesday, July 10, 5:00 p.m., room 1-43, Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Coping Skills Seminar - Strengthening Motivation, Tuesday, July 10, 4:00 p.m., HS 2302.

Science 101 Day, Wednesday, July 11.

Getting published for grad students, Thursday, July 12, 1:00 p.m., online webinar.

Positions available

On this week's list from the human resources department, viewable on the UWaterloo Talent Acquisition System (iCIMS):

  • Job ID# 2018-2560 - Business and Operations Manager – Centre for Advancement of Trenchless Technologies, USG 9
  • Job ID# 2018-2943 - Development Officer, Annual Giving - Advancement-Annual Giving, USG 9 – 11
  • Job ID# 2018-2954 - Manager, Government Relations - Government Relations, USG 10
  • Job ID# 2018-2972 - Manager, Internal and Leadership Communications - VP University Relations-Communications, USG 10
  • Job ID# 2018-2974- Manager, Web Strategy - Marketing & Strategic Communications, USG 11
  • Job ID# 2018-2969 - Shift Manager, Custodial - Plant Operations, USG 9

Internal secondment opportunities:

  • Job ID# 2018-2758 - Autonomous Vehicles Program Manager - Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering, USG 11
  • Job ID# 2018-2818 - Instructional Learning Object Specialist – Library, USG 8
  • Job ID# 2018-2925 - International Employment Specialist - Co-op Education & Career Action, USG 7
  • Job ID# 2018-2924 - Learner Support Representative - Centre for Extended Learning, USG 5
  • Job ID# 2018-2975 - Online Technologies Consultant - Centre for Extended Learning, USG 8 – 10
  • Job ID# 2018-2962 - Project Co-ordinator - Creative Services, USG 7
  • Job ID# 2018-2873 – Psychometrist - Counselling, USG 10 – 11
  • Job ID# 2018-2947 - Residence Life Co-ordinator, Graduate Students and Families, Housing & Res Student Development, USG 7
  • Job ID# 2018-2926 - Tutorial Co-ordinator - Dean of AHS Office, USG 8