NS premier leads delegation to Waterloo

Nova Scotia's Premier the Honorable Stephen McNeil will be visiting the University of Waterloo campus today along with a delegation of university and college presidents who will be finding out, if you'll pardon the old chestnut, what's in the water in Waterloo.

Institutional leaders participating in the mission to Waterloo include:

• Richard Florizone, President of Dalhousie University;
• Ramona Lumpkin, President of Mount Saint Vincent University;
• George Cooper, President, University of King's College;
• Ray Ivany, President, Acadia University;
  
• David Wheeler, President, Cape Breton University;
• Sean Riley, President, St. Francis Xavier University; and
• Don Bureaux, President of Nova Scotia Community College.

Nova Scotia's Minister of Labour and Advanced Education Kelly Regan, who is accompanying the Premier on this trip, is a University of Waterloo alumna (BA ‘84, English), and the Honorable Michel Sampson, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, is also in attendance.

Rounding out the delegation are Richard Butts, CAO of the Regional Municipality of Halifax, Kevin Vessey, AVP Research at Saint Mary's University, Kenneth Deveaux, VP Academic, Universite de Ste Anne, Martha Crago, VP Research at Dalhousie, Matt Hebb, AVP Government Relations, Dalhousie, Stephen Hartlen, AVP Industry Liaison, Dalhousie University, Peggy Cunningham, Dean of Management, Dalhousie University, Peter Halpin, executive director of the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents, Sandra McKenzie, deputy minister in Labour and Advanced Education, Ava Czapalay, senior executive director of Advanced Education, Stephen Duff, CEO of Innovacorp, Colin McLean, CEO of Waterfront Development Corporation Ltd., and Jim Hanlon, CEO, Institute for Ocean Research Enterprise.

This is the second day of a two-day tour of Waterloo Region that has included stops at the Communitech Tech Leadership Conference, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and the Perimeter Institute.

The delegation will meet at the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre and meet President Feridun Hamdullahpur, who will give a presentation before the delegation tours the building. Then the group will travel to Engineering 5 for a visit to the Sedra Student Design Centre. Following that, the delegation will visit the Tatham Centre for a presentation by Peggy Jarvie on Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA).

After their tour of the University is complete, the delegation will depart for Communitech, meet with Ed Tech startups, and tour the offices of Desire2Learn and Google in downtown Kitchener.

 

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From global to local, Waterloo’s profile grows

by Feridun Hamdullahpur, President and Vice-Chancellor.

Both at home and abroad, May has been an exciting month for Waterloo.

As you know, building our international profile and prominence is an important part of our Strategic Plan. In pursuit of that goal, I led a delegation of Waterloo administrators and researchers to visit some of our key partners in China this month and the results have been excellent.

Our valued partner Tsinghua University — ranked one of the world’s Top 50 universities — has established a one-year pre-bachelor course that will enable students to study with us here at Waterloo. At Nanjing University, we co-hosted a Symposium on environmental challenges and opportunities pertaining specifically to marine issues. And at Soochow University, our delegation was focused on deepening the ties that bind or two institutions together through co-operative education and partnership on nanotechnology.

You can read about this delegation in more detail at Waterloo News.

These institutions represent the elite level of China’s growing post-secondary education sector. Strategically selecting our international partners, and nurturing these relationships to the benefit of our students and faculty, are key priorities for our international team and our entire administration.

President Hamdullahpur is pictured at right with Soochow University President Xiulin Zhu.

                                                           

In keeping with the theme of elite international partnerships, we were delighted to welcome our partners from France’s Universite de Bordeaux to campus this month to establish Canada’s first Bachelor of Bio-based Chemistry. I congratulate our international team and especially Professor Eric Prouzet for convening such an interesting and valuable conference.

To underline the progress Waterloo is making on the international front, I should mention that we were privileged to host several senior diplomatic officers to campus this month, all of whom shared a keen interest in what makes Waterloo such a unique institution. It was my pleasure to host senior representatives of Israel, Austria, and France to continue shaping global perceptions about Waterloo’s strengths and priorities.

Locally, we’ve had a great month both on campus and in the broader Waterloo community.

On May 2, I was very proud to participate in the official opening of the Bright Starts Co-operative Early Learning Centre, now Waterloo Region’s largest child care centre. The outcome of a strong collaborative effort between the Faculty Association, the Staff Association, and the University of Waterloo, Bright Starts is an excellent example of our university’s progressive culture, and of momentum on our Strategic Plan theme of sustaining a sound value system.

It was also a pleasure to represent the university at the 10^th annual Town and Gown Symposium, hosted by the Town and Gown Association of Ontario.  I participated in the Presidents’ and Mayor’s panel, along with co-panelists President Max Blouw from Wilfrid Laurier University, President John Tibbits from Conestoga College, and Mayor Brenda Halloran of Waterloo. The value of our co-operative education program — both as a bridge between the university and local businesses, and as a means for developing career-ready graduates — was one of the main areas of focus in our conversation.

That’s one of the many aspects of our university I’m proud to be discussing today with Nova Scotia’s Premier Stephen McNeil. He and several of his colleagues from Nova Scotia’s higher education and public service sectors are visiting us on campus today, as my guests, to learn more about Waterloo and to discuss the university-community connection.

If you see us on campus, be sure to stop and say hello!

Thanks to all for your contributions this month.

With my best wishes for a great weekend,

Feridun

 

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Racers charge up for electric vehicle challenge

Local high schools are plugging in for the University of Waterloo’s third annual High School Electric Vehicle Challenge on Saturday, May 31.

The electric vehicles will charge out of the pit area in 60 and 80 minute endurance races, ending when the time is complete or the vehicles can no longer continue. The drivers will buzz around a temporary on-campus street course set up in the parking lots surrounding Engineering 5 and Engineering 6.

“The EV Challenge is a showcase for the hard work and commitment of these students and their teachers,” said Professor Peter Teertstra, organizer of the event. “Designing, building and bringing an electric car to this competition requires considerable time and effort, and the lessons learned by the students will benefit them as they move into post-secondary education, and eventually into the workforce.”

The competition, sponsored by the Trillium Auto Dealers Association, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Navitas, challenges students to build their own cars and enter them in the endurance race and an engineering design competition.

Two races are scheduled – one for 12 volt vehicles at 11:00 a.m. followed by the feature race at 1:30 p.m. for 24 volt competitors. The race winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m.

The 24-volt winners will display their car at the Toronto Auto Show and win VIP passes to the event.

Participating local high schools include: Bluevale Collegiate Institute, Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School, Waterloo Collegiate Institute and Saint Benedict’s Catholic Secondary School.

Live race results and a webcast from the start/finish line will be live-streamed on UStreamTV. Download the app or visit ustream.tv on your laptop and search for WaterlooEV.

 

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Procurement trade show and other notes

"Procurement and Contract Services (P&CS) is once again hosting our annual Trade Show to take place in the Davis Centre “fishbowl” on Monday June 2 and Tuesday June 3," writes Donna Foreman-Braun.

The trade show is an opportunity to showcase to the University community the resources available to them through P&CS's network of suppliers. Staples Advantage will be back by popular demand on Monday, supported by a number of their select suppliers.

This year, P&CS has invited a number of their suppliers to showcase their online ordering capabilities, and prizes will be raffled off to some lucky attendees.

The show will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Human Resources is reporting that retiree Patricia Richardson died May 20. Richardson began her employment in July 1970 as a cashier in the Bookstore. She retired from the position of Secretary to the Director in the Bookstore as of January 1991. She is survived by her spouse, Henry.

Pulling the plug on FedsConnect: The Waterloo online student community launched in August 2012, and accessible to anyone with a WATIAM login is shutting down tomorrow, May 31.

"The Federation of Students conducted social media focus groups in late March 2014, and discovered that undergraduates at the University of Waterloo preferred to engage with the students union through traditional social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter," says a statement from the federation emailed to FedsConnect users. "Many of the students who participated in the focus groups said this is because they’ve been on the two websites for several years, are already very familiar with them, and are able to use these platforms to integrate both their personal and academic lives. Taking this into consideration, Feds has decided to close FedsConnect, its social media platform, at the end of May to expand its efforts on other popular mainstream platforms, including Facebook and Twitter."

Content will become inaccessible after the May 31 shutdown date, so back up any of your content while you still can.

Since its establishment, more than 7,000 users had registered on the platform.

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