Thrive Month focused on building a culture of wellbeing and normalizing mental health struggles for Waterloo students and employees. President Goel shares a message to the University community to kick off Thrive Month.
On October 6, President Vivek Goel held a forum to share his perspectives and opportunities for the University. This forum was the first of what will be a series of three sessions that will explore themes from the University’s strategic plan. The president was joined by a panel of Waterloo senior leaders to explore the future of work and how the University develops talent for a complex future.
As the world continues to change and everyone rethinks their business, the digital divide could further divide those who have access to technology and those that do not — but we’ll see a new gap in digital skills.
“There’s a new digital divide that’s going to come upon us — it’s going to be those that have the skills to thrive in a digital world and those who don’t,” said Vivek Goel, University of Waterloo president.
A social activist who started Waterloo’s software engineering program this semester is passionate about seeing what she can accomplish as a new student.
Charlene Rocha brings with her a wide range of experience from leading climate change events and strikes at Queen’s Park to heading up a Canadian high school chapter of an initiative to 3D print prosthetic limbs and advocating for women in STEM.
This fall, 274 Faculty of Health graduands will celebrate their achievements as students and begin their journeys as alumni of the University of Waterloo. Some will pursue graduate studies, others will be embarking on new careers – but all will be doing what Health graduates do: Improving the health and well-being of individuals, communities or populations.
We asked a couple of graduating students to tell us what motivated them during their studies and what they will miss most as they move on to a new phase of their lives:
Every day in 2020, it is estimated that 75 Canadian women were diagnosed with breast cancer, says Marina Mourtzakis, a Kinesiology and Health Sciences researcher at the University of Waterloo. “That’s approximately 27,400 women with a diagnosis, representing 25 per cent of all new cancer cases in women.”
COVID-19 has reshaped the way educators around the world teach and students learn. Fading are the days where rows of desks facing the front of the classroom are standard practice. Instead, reliance on heightened opportunities with technology integrated with flexible learning schedules and environments is paving the way for a revolution in education. The pandemic has, in many ways, forced changes in teaching and learning that will remain present even after it’s over.
The University of Waterloo has secured its top spot as most innovative University in Canada. For 29 years, Waterloo held this title, 2020 being the exception. The University of Toronto and University of British Columbia follow in second and third place.
The Toronto-Waterloo startup ecosystem has risen four spots in the recently released 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Startup Genome. The report ranks 140 ecosystems around the world and highlights Toronto-Waterloo as one of the year’s biggest movers, moving up in the rankings from 18th in 2020 to 14th in 2021. The University of Waterloo, along with the Region, MaRS Discovery District and Communitech, worked closely with Startup Genome to highlight Toronto-Waterloo’s strengths.