![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Purple, with pale UW, lines 50nm wide]](/images/2005/1004nanometer.gif)
A tiny pen
is the Scanning Probe Microscope in the chemistry department's
WatLab facility. Lab manager
Nina Heinig created this corporate
graffiti as a demonstration for undergraduate students learning to
use the device for nanolithography. The lines are 50 one-billionths
of a meter wide.
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"By now," she writes, "we all know the problem that faces us when we graduate: Employers want degrees from good universities (check), but they also want 1-3 years of professional job experience even for entry level positions! The question is, how can you get that experience and explore areas of interest without going back in time and signing up for co-op?"
Even the co-op stamp, she says, "might still not be enough. One solution to this dilemma could be through a not-for-profit internship." That's what will be shown off tomorrow, from 11 to 2 in the SLC.
The main difference between a not-for-profit internship and a regular volunteering commitment, says Keogh, is that in an internship the student has the chance to apply what's learned in classes while gaining professional knowledge: "It is a study-related work experience. On a resumé, an internship goes under the heading Work Experience, since it involves much more detail, set tasks and timelines, whereas volunteering experiences can vary widely and do not have a set project that is completely yours."
An internship is offered at a not-for-profit agency when a project that needs to be done has no available funding. "It is amazing how many different disciplines are needed: organisations require students to help manage and plan special events, to plan and implement marketing campaigns, create websites, prepare presentations and reports and to do research funding avenues, among countless other opportunities."
And it needn't be a four-month full-time activity like a co-op job, either. "It is possible to arrange an internship requiring only a few hours or days a week of your time. There are still many opportunities for longer full-time internships, and they can be great in the summer term or if you are thinking of taking some time off school. Keep in mind, it is not the time commitment that makes these positions internships, it is the fact that you are learning skills that directly apply to your studies or to what you want to do after graduation.
"Through an internship, you can learn new skills to build a resumé, try out career possibilities in areas of interest that may otherwise be impossible. In addition, it is a great chance to develop your professional network and make a difference in your community."
Tomorrow's fair in the SLC is the first one of its kind to be held on the main campus -- previous editions were at Conrad Grebel University College. Grebel is co-sponsoring the fair along with career services and St. Jerome's University. Organizations taking part include Engineers Without Borders, the Waterloo Children's Museum, L'Arche, Lutherwood and Focus for Ethnic Women. Also on hand will be representatives from the Student Awards Office, to provide information on financing available to students who choose to take an internship.
The visit is "an excellent opportunity to showcase UW in the United States and Canada", says Roberts, who notes that the footage will be used on a family-oriented program called Today's Family. "Today's Family is aired on the ABC Family Channel, which produces programming in partnership with Walt Disney Company, and it reaches about 85 million households via cable and satellite. UW will be part of a 5-minute segment called 'The Importance of Choosing the Right University'." In Canada the same show will be aired on The Learning Channel.
She says the producers -- Platinum Television Group -- explain that the decision to create a show about the importance of choosing the right university "came about as a result of viewer feedback. Today's Family focuses on presenting viewers with successful parenting strategies and covers topics such as learning/education, eating healthy foods, home ideas, raising children, staying fit, etc."
Roberts says the associate vice-president (academic) is responsible for UW's involvement, and staff from marketing and undergrad recruitment "have been working step by step with the American producers to create a script, to determine areas to be filmed, people to be interviewed, photography selection, etc.
"The intent is to produce a segment about Waterloo that fairly and accurately depicts the range of programs, facilities and strengths of the University for an audience that knows little if anything about UW. The actual segment about Waterloo will be aired sometime in November or December in about 30 geographic areas which have been targeted by us, in both Canada and the US. We think this TV production offers a potentially very useful way to reach out to American families and U.S. students who are thinking about studying in Canada, and to Canadians outside Ontario."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Waterloo-Germany exchange program information session
11:00, Modern Languages room 245, information
online.
East Asian studies lecture: Norman Smith, University of Guelph, "Chinese Feminist Discourses in a Japanese Colonial Context", 12 noon, Renison College great hall. Career workshop: "Letter Writing" 4:30, Tatham Centre room 1208, registration online. Engineering faculty council 3:00, CEIT room 3142. FASS organizational meeting for the 2006 show 6:00, multipurpose room, Student Life Centre -- all Faculty, Alumni, Staff and Students welcome. Architecture lecture: "Private Passions, Public Places" series winds up with Gary Michael Dault, Globe and Mail columnist, "My Favourite House: The Casa Malaparte", Wednesday 7:30, Architecture lecture hall, tickets from Cambridge Galleries. 'Picking the Purrfect Pet' brown-bag talk by Elizabeth Bonkink, K-W Humane Society, Wednesday 12 noon, Physics room 150, sponsored by Employee Assistance Program. Drama and speech communication career night, Wednesday 7:00 to 9:30 p.m., South Campus Hall. Central Ontario Family Business second annual conference, sponsored by Centre for Family Business, Conrad Grebel University College, Friday, Waterloo Inn. |
Pat Bow, a colleague here in communications and public affairs, is one of the nominees for one of the coming year's Silver Birch Awards from the Ontario Library Association -- an honour representing children's choice of their favourite book. Bow's book is The Bone Flute, described as a story "about the very thin wall that separates our everyday world from an equally real world of wonders and terrors". She'll be autographing the book at a launch party tonight in Toronto for the OLA's 2006 "Forest of Reading" program, which includes six categories of awards, all named for trees.
There's a new convenience in the UW telephone system. Calls from UW extensions to extensions at St. Jerome's University can now be dialed directly -- the numbers at St. Jerome's work like four-digit UW extension numbers, all starting with 82. (It's still possible to reach St. Jerome's at 519-884-8111, then enter the extension number.)
A by-invitation reception is being held at the University Club this afternoon to honour the winners of the first annual Awards of Excellence in Graduate Supervision. . . . Chris Corr, a serviceperson in plant operations who's been working at UW since 1998, will officially retire November 1. . . . As of October 1, UW is sending not just PhD theses but also master's theses to Library and Archives Canada to be microfilmed, the university senate was told last night. . . .
Former UW staff member Antonio Oliveira died October 3. He was a custodian in plant operations from 1995 to his retirement in February 2001.
Students in the accounting program, whose co-op process is handled separately from the main group of students, are ranking winter term jobs today and will get their results tomorrow morning. . . . Chili lovers can call ext. 2696 now for tickets ($5) to a chili lunch next Tuesday, sponsored by the pure math and combinatorics and optimization departments, as a United Way fund-raiser. . . . The golf Warriors, both men's and women's teams, are competing in the OUA championship tournament today and tomorrow at Sunningdale Golf Club in London. . . .
CAR