Dear faculty, staff and graduate students,
This isn’t the message I was planning to write this December. Just as we were beginning to resume some limited in-person public gatherings, the rapidly spreading recent Omicron variant reminds us that we are not out of the woods.
Even though some of us may feel the same distress we did in March 2020, we now know more than we did at the beginning of this pandemic. We have more tools to navigate the uncertainties and complexities of doing our work online. Some of us have also been working on campus on a part-time basis, so that when we do return in person in the new year, we will be able to adapt more easily. As vaccinations of young children and boosters pick up over the next couple of months, we hope to see a better fight against this variant than in previous waves.
Personally, I am disappointed that some of my family gatherings will be cancelled, but I am grateful that we did get together before the new variant emerged. Despite COVID fatigue during yet another holiday season, I wish for each of you a restful and healthy break so that we can enter 2022 with optimism and energy.
Lili Liu
This month I Events I Tips and reminders
THIS MONTH
Cluster Hiring Initiative update
As part of the Cluster Hiring Initiative, which is coordinated through the Provost's office, the University received 383 eligible applications for the Black Excellence faculty positions, and 40 for the Indigenous Excellence positions. A Department/School Advisory Committee on Appointments (DACA/SACA) has been established in all three Health academic units and these committees are in the process of reviewing the applicant files to generate a 'long' shortlist to review in the new year. Members include Karla Boluk (RLS DACA chair), Lisbeth Berbary, Ryan Snelgrove, Bryan Grimwood, Craig Janes (SPHS SACA chair), Diane Williams, Plinio Morita, Chris Perlman (EDI champion), Jim Wallace, Samantha Meyer, Hannah Neufeld, Russ Tupling (KHS DACA chair), Jason Au, Monica Maly, Kaylena Ehgoetz Martens) and Trevor Charles (Biology). Thank you to everyone.
SPHS student receives Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Tauhid Khan, a PhD student in the School of Public Health Sciences, has received an international Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) valued at $15,000. Only five OGS international awards are available each year, and are given to Ontario’s best graduate students in all disciplines of academic study. Supervised by Ellen MacEachen, Khan's thesis addresses the health and social security protections of self-employed workers.
Recreation student wins top Canadian football award
Tre Ford, a fourth-year Recreation and Sport Business student and Waterloo Warriors varsity football quarterback, became the first player in university history to win Canada's top football award in university sports. Ford received the 2021 Hec Crighton trophy from U Sports, the national governing body in Canadian university sport, and has won several other MVP awards during his university career.
Another Concept $5K winner
Congratulations to PERCare for being one of this term's Concept $5K Pitch Competition winners. The team, which includes School of Public Health Sciences student Faiq Ahmad, is creating logistics software for unit charge nurses in hospital emergency departments. The competition offers the opportunity for UWaterloo student-led teams with innovative solutions and high-potential business ideas to showcase their work and compete for $5,000 in grant funding.
Giving Tuesday unlocked
The Health Advancement team is excited to announce the final Giving Tuesday 2021 results: 79 donors gave a total of $19,370. This amount includes a $10,000 Challenge Gift from Health alumna Krista McKerracher (BSc '84), which was unlocked when we hit 50 donors. Most of these donations were directed to our new Faculty of Health Student Experiential Learning Fund. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Upcoming retirements
We have two retirements coming up in the Faculty in January: , an academic advisor in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and Bryan Smale, a professor in Recreation and Leisure Studies. Coulter has dedicated 35 years to students in the department, and Smale has been a faculty member for 37 years, with another seven before that as RLS undergrad and master’s student (BA ’76, MA ’80). We wish both of you a very happy retirement!
Building closures: December 23-January 4
As of Thursday afternoon, December 23, the outside doors to BMH, LHI, the Expansion building and Toby Jenkins Research Centre will be locked. They will reopen at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, January 4. If you need entry into the buildings during this time, you should obtain the necessary authorization for an outdoor access key. If you are working in a lab during shutdown, you must have your supervisor and departmental Chair's/Director's approval and adhere to the Working Alone Guidelines posted on the Safety Office website.
Deadline for two CRC positions: December 31
The Faculty is seeking two exceptional scholars and researchers to apply for a Tier 2 CIHR Canada Research Chair (CRC) and contribute to research excellence within the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences or the School of Public Health Sciences. This search is internal, so the candidates should already be regular faculty members at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor within the Faculty of Health at Waterloo. Applications close on December 31.
CTE workshops: January
The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is hosting the following workshops in January (registration is required):
- From TA to Course Instructor: Friday, January 7, 10-11:30 a.m.
- LEARN for TAs: Wednesday, January 12, 10-11:30 a.m.
- LEARN for TAs: Tuesday, January 18, 1:30-3 p.m.
GRADflix Showcase: January 31
Join Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) on January 31 for a virtual viewing party of select GRADflix submissions before the winners are announced. The Showcase will be streamed live on the GSPA YouTube channel and will feature special guests, audience prizes and more. Read more on the GRADflix webpage. Reminder: If you’ve registered to submit a video, the deadline to submit your video is January 10.
TIPS AND REMINDERS
Research data centre network available
Faculty members and graduate students who work in quantitative social and health sciences may consider using the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) for unique access to Statistics Canada data, including data from the Canadian Cancer Registry, the Aboriginal People's Survey, the Labour Force Survey, Canadian Community Health Survey and much more. Please contact Stéphanie Lluis (Economics) or see the Southwestern Ontario Research Data Centre for more information.
New video resources
The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) has added two sessions to their YouTube channel – one on the impact of reflection on student learning by Kylie Myles (a Psychology student at the University), and another featuring the PebblePad Users' Group, delivered by Jennifer Yessis (instructor in the Master of Public Health program) and Jahaira Aguila (student in the MPH program).
Indigenous communities and COVID video update
Due to a change in permissions, the video of last spring's Hallman Lecture on Indigenous communities and COVID-19 may not have been available for viewing from the link in a previous Dean's Update. Watch the Perry Bellegarde lecture and expert panel video from this link until the end of February, at which time it will no longer be available for viewing.
This holiday season's HealthFlix recommendation: Miracle on Ring Road
Do you have a news item to share? Please email it to Eugenia Xenos Anderson.