Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Bringing student services to The Centre

by Christie Ledgley.

You may have noticed the construction on the first floor of Needles Hall that has been ongoing since June. It’s coming to an end as the Student Service Centre (The Centre) officially opened its doors yesterday. But, excuse the mess as the contractors and architects are still working on the finishing touches. Permanent signage, permanent queuing screens, and some furniture installation will continue into January.

The Centre was formally created in November 2017 to address student frustrations when it comes to navigating services across campus. The Centre is a go-to place for a number of student administrative needs. Students can order documents, add/drop courses, drop off forms, change their personal information, receive financial advice, get answers to a wide range of miscellaneous questions, and so much more.

The Centre combines the front-line services of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) and the Registrar’s Office (RO), including Student Awards & Financial Aid (SAFA); the Student Success Office (SSO) will join in 2019. Some services of other units, such as Student Financial Services, have also been incorporated. As well, WatPD/EDGE and Service Canada will provide services starting January 2019, with the goal of other units joining in the future.

Recent improvements to the student experience in The Centre include: a free self-serve proof of enrolment letter in Quest, extended hours, the ability to pay fines and add cash to WatCards, on-the-spot transcripts for both undergraduate and graduate students, and an expanded e-commerce platform, making it easier than ever to order documents.

The RO has officially closed its doors to students on the second floor of Needles Hall, and all undergraduate students should be directed to The Centre. Graduate students should visit The Centre if they have general inquiries, need an official transcript, proof of enrolment letter, a duplicate or replacement diploma, or if they are in need of Commissioner of Oaths service. For other needs, graduate students should visit GSPA.

Mark your calendars and join us for the official Grand Opening Ceremony on January 30 at 2:30 p.m. The first 200 students to visit that day will receive a water bottle. Questions? Visit our website anytime or email askthecentre@uwaterloo.ca.

Have your say about Research Talks

A message from Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International.

Three years ago the Office of Research initiated Research Talks, an on-campus research speaker series to provide faculty, staff, and students with an opportunity to learn more about the outstanding research at Waterloo.

Research Talks was expanded to the format of a panel discussion last year, and there has been tremendous interest in the sessions. These panels showcase several researchers, from varying disciplines, who bring different perspectives to a particular problem or area of research, as well as broaden the discussion beyond academia to industry, NGOs, foundations, and government. For example, at a recent Research Talks about the future of autonomous vehicles and responsible innovation, speakers included a lawyer from a leading technology law firm as well as a roboticist/engineering manager for autonomous vehicles from General Motors Canada.

Individuals attending the talks have commented that they would like to see sessions in specific areas. Since Research Talks is about developing discussion and furthering learning for the entire community, I am offering an opportunity to the campus community as a whole to bring forward topics you would like to have discussed at Research Talks, and whether there are specific perspectives, especially from outside of academics, that you would appreciate hearing about.

Please share your suggestions, interests, and recommendations for future Research Talks.

Remembering Morven Gentleman

Former faculty member William Morven Gentleman died on December 13, 2018.

Morven Gentleman joined the University in July 1969 as an assistant professor in the Applied Analysis and Computer Science department and later the Statistics department. He was later promoted to Associate Professor.

His fields of interest included numerical analysis, programming languages, statistics and computer networks.

In 1974, Professor Gentleman was part of a faculty-student team from the computer science department that developed a special version of the APL programming language, which the University exchanged with Honeywell in return for $250,000 worth of auxiliary equipment for the University's Honeywell 6050 computer. This specialized APL language gave the Honeywell 6000 series a capability for statistical work that previously had not existed.

He was associate chair of the Computer Science department from 1974 to 1976.

Gentleman was the first director of the University of Waterloo Mathematics Faculty Computing Facility (MFCF), where he established the Software Development Group that served as an important training ground for many who subsequently worked in the Canadian computing industry.

In 1980 he was appointed University Computing Officer, a role that involved maintaining communications with all units on campus engaged in the use of computers, and advising the Vice-President, Academic on all matters concerning computing at the University.

Gentleman left the University in June 1984.

After leaving Waterloo, Gentleman moved to the National Research Council in Ottawa. He also served as director of the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Software Engineering (ConGESE), and co-led, with Dr. Jacob Slonim, the establishment of a Consortium for Software Engineering Research (CSER) that included universities from across Canada. In 2000, Morven joined the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University as the director for the new Global Information Networking Institute (GINI). During this time he also served as a professor of computer science and taught a course in industrial engineering.

A memorial gathering is being planned for spring 2019. If anyone wants to share their memories of Morven Gentleman, they are invited to contact his daughter, Professor Wendy Gentleman, at Wendy.Gentleman@Dal.Ca.