Community

COVID-19 has had an immense impact on the way people interact and connect with each other, particularly through work. It’s likely the current normal of virtual workplaces will continue to evolve after the pandemic ends.

“The future is really going to change,” Andrea Kerswill said, director at Innovation & Scotiabank FactoryU, Scotiabank. “It’s going to change, in fact, for the better. Instead of the office as a place that you go to for everything, it’s going to be the place that you go to for some things — meeting with customers, socializing, collaboration and creativity.”

The reality television competition series, which premieres tonight, Thursday, July 2, is based on the American series RuPaul’s Drag Race and tests the contestants on acting, dancing, branding, improv, performance, sewing and everything a drag queen does in their career.

Jean Becker joined the University of Waterloo in January as the new senior director, Indigenous initiatives. Becker, who is Inuk and a member of the Nunatsiavut Territory of Labrador, has a long track record of building reciprocal relationships between post-secondary institutions and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities.

Many people will be celebrating Canada on July 1. Please share how some Indigenous peoples prefer to mark Canada Day.

Online learning is the new norm at the School of Pharmacy in Spring Term as a result of COVID-19. Faculty members are exploring a variety of innovative methods to deliver content and assessments in a virtual space.

Thomas Brzustowski, a former member of the Faculty of Engineering and Provost Emeritus, passed away on Friday, June 19.

Vaccine development, testing, diagnostics and new technologies are all part of the University of Waterloo’s research, innovation and contribution to the battle against COVID-19.

It was an event well-attended, although presented entirely virtually for the first time ever.

Within the initial 12 hours, Velocity’s virtual Fund Pitch Competition (VFPC) garnered more than one thousand pageviews through its new VFPC video portal — a page designed specifically for this term’s competing entrepreneurs. Eleven companies went head-to-head in hopes of receiving up to $400,000 in pre-seed investments.

Although graduates cannot be together to celebrate their spring convocation on campus, the University of Waterloo hopes to make their achievement a more memorable experience with a personalized video.

The videos were made using a product created by Vidyard, a video platform for business based in Kitchener, that was founded by two Waterloo alumni. Michael Litt (BASc ’11) and Devon Galloway (BASc ’10) founded Vidyard in 2010.

Mariko Shimoda
Faculty of Engineering (BASc '20)

Mariko Shimoda is officially graduating this week with a University of Waterloo engineering degree, a full-time position with the company she worked for during her last co-op term and invaluable experience gained from volunteering over the past five years.

As Kerthanan Srikantharajah reflects on his time at the University of Waterloo, he feels that he’s leaving ready to become a leader and make things happen. Equipped with a BMath, Honours in Actuarial Science with a Finance option, Joint Honours in Statistics, a minor in Computer Science and four job offers, the road ahead looks promising.

Srikantharajah believes that Waterloo helped him to build the skills, knowledge and expertise necessary for the real world. His classes and co-op positions challenged him and gave him valuable experience that’s beneficial in today’s society.