Colleagues,
Many of you attended the “Bridge to 2020” event on June 18 that launched the University’s strategic planning process. It is also time to renew our Faculty’s strategic plan. An important part of our efforts will be to consider directions and opportunities for our Faculty in the theme areas put forward in the seven issue papers presented at the Bridge to 2020 event: Student Learning Environment, Research Excellence, Internationalization, Graduate Studies, Undergraduate Learning, Empowering People and Leveraging Resources. These papers will serve as a starting point for the University’s planning consultations, and will also be useful guides to ensure alignment of the Faculty and University strategic plans. For both processes, your input will be important and welcome.
Paul
Paul Stolee, PhD
Professor and Interim Dean
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Highlights I Events I Nominations and more
Some highlights from this month
Record number of new AHS undergrad students
Thank you to everyone who supported our undergraduate recruitment efforts over the past year. As of the June 5 confirmation report, the Faculty has 711 new first-year students confirmed for September 2018 (643 domestic, 68 international), the largest incoming class to date. Your contributions - including conversations at events and during tours, and hand cramps from all the personal notes that you wrote - were an important part of helping them decide that AHS was the right fit for them.
As we help these students transition to university over the summer months, we also start preparing to recruit the students who will join us in September 2019. The University has confirmed the 2018-19 on-campus recruitment event dates. These events welcome thousands of prospective students and their families to campus, and I ask that you keep these in mind as you make plans within your academic units.
- Fall Open House – Saturday, November 3, 2018
- March Break Open House – Saturday, March 9, 2019
- You @ Waterloo Day – Saturday, May 25, 2019
If you have any questions about these events, please contact our undergraduate recruitment coordinator, Leanne Wright.
Research team receives large SSHRC grant
Recreation and Leisure Studies Professor Bryan Grimwood and co-investigators (including Lisbeth Berbary in the department and Lori Campbell, Director, Indigenous Initiatives) have secured a $278,000 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant for a project called Unsettling Tourism: Settler Stories, Indigenous Lands, and Awakening an Ethics of Reconciliation. The five-year study will examine tourism's effects on Indigenous lands and peoples, support Indigenous community research capacities to maintain cultural narratives and values, and create spaces for reflecting on and challenging tourism’s role in reconciliation.
Recognizing our outstanding instructors and TAs
The Faculty has many outstanding instructors. Each year, we recognize one exceptional instructor with the AHS Teaching Award. The 2017-2018 AHS Teaching Award recipient is Zara Rafferty from Recreation and Leisure Studies. Zara received 12 out of 72 total nominations, which was the highest number among the nominees. These are some excerpts from Zara’s nominations, “Zara really goes above and beyond expectations for teaching and her classes were the best part of my undergraduate education,” “Zara creates a class environment that is fun, engaging, new, and exciting” and “Zara makes experiential education integral to how her students learn, therein building world-ready graduates who are at home in diverse workplaces and environments.”
Also, the support that teaching assistants provide our instructors is invaluable. Each term, there are a small number of TAs that go above and beyond what is expected of them, and for this we recognize them with the AHS Teaching Assistant Award. We would like to congratulate the following TAs:
Fall 2017: Paige Chambers, Louise Watson, Adam G. Cole
Winter 2018: Jasmine Nijjar, Kathleen Pauloff, Laura Williams
If you have worked with an exceptional TA in the Spring 2018 term, please nominate them by completing the form on the Teaching Fellow website.
Outstanding Performance Award winners named
I was honoured to be one of the faculty members who received 2017 Outstanding Performance Awards, announced by Provost George Dixon earlier this month. The AHS recipients were:
- Lisbeth Berbary
- Mark Ferro
- Shannon Majowicz
- Joe Quadrilatero
- Chris Vigna
- Paul Stolee
The University of Waterloo established the Outstanding Performance Fund to reward faculty members for outstanding contributions in teaching and scholarship. The award came into effect in 2005.
Trans Health Care initiative accepting volunteers
AHS, along with the Gender and Sexual Diversity Work Group, the Office of Human Rights, Inclusion and Equity, Health Services and FEDS, is planning a two-day Trans Health Care workshop in November to help train health practitioners from Waterloo, Laurier, Conestoga College, McMaster and other organizations in KW to be more Trans affirming. If anyone is interested in getting involved, please contact Corey Johnson.
Courtyard construction to begin soon
Plant Operations has let us know that the AHS courtyard construction contract is out to bid, and will close July 10. Ideally, the work will start before the end of July and be substantially finished for the beginning of classes in September. The courtyard is getting accessibility features and a facelift as part of the 50th anniversary project.
News to You coming
Work on the annual newsmagazine is under way and will be published in the fall. Continuing with the theme of 'AHS leading a conversation' from the special 50th anniversary edition, the approach this year will be to highlight examples of how Applied Health Sciences is doing just that. All faculty, staff and students are invited to share news items from your school or department by connecting with Karry Kwan, Alumni Advancement Officer.
Upcoming events
#BeInTheMoment Zumba: July 10 and 27
Hosted by the AHS Advisory on Mental Health and Well-being Graduate Student Subcommittee, Zumba is a guided dance class that provides an opportunity to relieve stress and be in the moment. Free snack provided and prizes to be won. Register on the July 10 Zumba event page or the July 27 Zumba event page.
Public lecture by Stephanie Jones: July 11
In partnership with the HeforShe initiative, Recreation and Leisure Studies is hosting Stephanie Jones, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Georgia, who will speak on “Childhood Play Spaces as What-if Worlds: The Uncertainties of Misogyny, Racism, and Classism.” Please register on the Childhood Play Spaces event page.
Pop-up Cinema movie night: July 17
Bring your friends and family to see “The Blind Side” at this pop-up outdoor cinema on campus. Hosted by Recreation and Leisure Studies. Wear your favourite jersey! Details on the Pop-up Cinema event page.
One-day LEARN retreat: July 17 (full) or 19
The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is facilitating a one-day retreat to promote the use of LEARN and assist instructors in developing and improving your blended learning courses. You will learn how to set up and manage a course in LEARN, and how to employ LEARN in ways that meaningfully enhance instruction and learning inside and outside the classroom. Open to all instructors. Please use the LEARN retreat registration form to sign up.
Body image and nutrition workshop: July 18
Hosted by the AHS Advisory on Mental Health and Well-being Graduate Student Subcommittee, this free workshop will examine body image through personal reflection and audience engagement. Free snack provided and prizes to be won. Register on the #IYamWhoIYam event page.
Hallman Lecture by Donna Chambers: July 24
Donna Chambers heads the Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism Research Institute at the University of Sutherland, and will speak on “Whiteness, Women, and Sex Tourism.” Hosted by Recreation and Leisure Studies. Please register on the Whiteness, Women and Sex Tourism event page.
Nominations, awards and more
How to complete Office of Research cover sheets
Some of you are aware that a renewal of the Research Application web page has been happening. Thank you to those of you who offered input. It is now complete and ready for reference for faculty members. We are hoping that the cover sheet page with instructions PDF will help answer common questions that come up. Of course, if you have questions, want to offer feedback, or notice anything that seems to be amiss, please let Catherine Maine know.