Environment does it different

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Faye and Jean in Covid-19 and Tiger costume respectively
On Thursday May 12, 2022, the Faculty of Environment held the first in-person General Assembly in over two years. The assembly received an entertaining annual report presentation from all the departments, attributed to Dean Jean Andrey’s goal for a creative spin on the classic reports.

To kick off the event, the Advancement team presented their report in a game format, titled “What’s in the box”. Faculty members were chosen to identify objects in a covered box that represented the Faculty's accomplishments for the year. An example was Professor Marcus Moo’s attempt to identify a plane and clouds, and relate his identified objects to the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA).

Next, Dean Jean gave a captivating performance in her Tigger outfit about the activities of the Dean’s office as she argued with Faye Schultz, dressed as “covie”, the covid germ. The Dean’s outfit represented a Tigger’s calming nature as she assured her team that everything would be all right during the tough years of battling Covid-19. 

The Associate Deans Graduate, Undergraduate, Research, and Strategic Initiatives all had their ups and downs in the past year.

The Graduate team had trouble organizing Teaching Assistants (TAs) and learning how to dance salsa but received amazing numbers with many scholarship recipients and grad events in the year.

Similarly, the Research team had taken a hit over these past few years in funding but enthusiastically presented their highest research funding year in a lively game of Jeopardy.

The Undergraduate team took the attendees on a bird-watching trip analogy to display the number of undergraduate students, including “migrants” that came to the nurturing shores of the Faculty of Environment this past Fall. However, “tyrant” birds were detected such as the mockingbird, seen to be copying other students’ materials.

The Strategic Initiatives team raised the bar this year. They presented the new Future Cities program. With six students, it is a slow but steady start to launching the new initiative.

In addition, each department gave a creative report starting with the Department of Geography & Environmental Management (GEM) that put together an artistic video which showed the life of a GEM student and their incredible adventures.

The Department of Knowledge Integration gave a detailed report on how integrative their students can be, and other interdisciplinary partnerships. They ended their presentation with a rhyme thanking the Dean for everything she has made possible.

In their presentation, the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) team hosted an informative talk show where they went over a variety of subjects, including Environment 3's innovative flood-risk management system – a pilon.

Banana mascot presenting gift to Dean Jean

The students and staff of the School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability (SERS) produced an enlightening and hilarious skit that ended with the department's mascot, the Big Banana, making an appearance to present a farewell gift to the Dean.

The School of Planning displayed their data by going through reviews of its program which was rated an overall 4.4 out of five stars.

Finally, the Mapping, Analysis & Design (MAD) team ended their presentation with a very original rendition of YMCA, using the acronym, Mapping, Analysis, Ecology, Design (MEAD) representing the collaboration of the Ecology Lab and the MAD team.

The General Assembly was a great success, interesting and engaging all through the event. Professor James W.E. Rush, vice-president, Academic and provost, and Professor Lili Liu, dean, Faculty of Health were part of the guest attendees to this year’s event.