Hamdullahpur named interim president

The following is a statement from Bob Harding, Chair of the Board of Governors:

Policy 50, President of the University, provides that "where the President's Office becomes vacant through...resignation...it is the responsibility of the Board of Governors, in consultation with the Vice-President, Academic & Provost and other senior University Officers, to appoint an interim President to serve until a nominating committee has finished its work."

Consistent with policy, members of Executive Council were consulted and, based on this consultation, a recommendation was made to the Board that Feridun Hamdullahpur be appointed as interim president. I am pleased to advise that today the Board unanimously approved this recommendation and Professor Hamdullahpur has agreed to serve as interim president effective October 1, 2010 and until such time as Waterloo's 6th president takes office.

Over the next several weeks, there will be many occasions to thank President Johnston, both formally and informally, for the quantum contributions he has made to UW and on behalf of the Board let me do so now. Let me also, on behalf of the Board, thank Professor Hamdullahpur for his willingness to assume this responsibility at an exciting and dynamic time for Waterloo.

The following is a statement from interim president Feridun Hamdullahpur:

"I am honoured to be selected interim President. In the coming weeks I will consult with my EC colleagues about how best to fulfill the roles of VP Academic and Provost in an acting capacity during the appointment as interim President. I will report to the campus as plans evolve."

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Human Resources directors hired

Two new director positions announced in March as part of a reorganization in the Human Resources department have been filled.

"We have completed our hiring for two Human Resources director positions," writes Janet Passmore, associate provost (human resources) in a memo sent July 15. "I’m pleased to share with you a brief introduction."

Kenton Needham is the new Director of Pension, Benefits and Compensation. Needham was previously with Nestlé Canada in a variety of HR roles of increasing responsibility. His experience includes accountability for the Pension and Benefit programs, including membership on Nestlé's equivalent of this university's Pension and Benefits Committee, development and implementation of performance planning and evaluation systems, co development and implementation of an automated hiring system, bargaining committee for union negotiations, establishment of compensation and incentive programs; mergers and acquisition, employee rewards and recognition, organizational development, employee engagement, and HR effectiveness.

He has a number of HR designations, a Certificate in Business Administration from Ryerson University, and the equivalent of an undergraduate degree from Leeds University. 

Tracey White is stepping into the newly created role of Director of Organizational Change and Leadership. White has worked in the Organizational Change practice area for the past 10 years, with ScotiaBank, HSBC and Root Learning.  The initiatives she has lead or been a team member on include developing and implementing change strategies and communications support through restructurings in several functional units, development and delivery of change training to leaders and executives, implementation of a global program to support a new business strategy for Pioneer Hi Bred International, the design of a program to implement initial public offering for Mastercard, a learning model to improve audit process for Sarbanes-Oxley, and the execution of a North American strategy to build brand and generate revenue for the London School of Economics.  She has extensive experience in Organizational Change, communications, process management, and leadership development. 

She has a M. Sc., Economics from the London School of Economics, an Honours B.A. from Carleton University, and certificates in Adult Learning and Development from OISE, University of Toronto, a Dispute Resolution Certificate from York University, and in Organizational  & Relationship Systems Coaching. 

Both Needham and White are relocating to Waterloo Region as they take their new positions.

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Prison performance art and homegrown terrorism: a sabbaticals listing

Here’s another list of faculty members who are currently on sabbatical leaves.

Thomas Abler (right), anthropology: “In April 2008 I was awarded with Pamela Stern (Simon Fraser University) a Research Grant from SSHRC to investigate Significant Others: Iconic Ethnographic Cultures in the Anthropological Canon. The sabbatical leave will bring this work through its final stages which include the production of a book discussing in depth the anthropological importance of some of these classic cases.”

Susan Arai (left), recreation and leisure studies: “I will continue fieldwork and dissemination for two ongoing projects: Performance art initiative with women federally incarcerated at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, Kitchener; and Examination of therapeutic relationships in recreation therapy (with the Recreation Therapy team, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto). In addition, I will be writing journal articles from research completed on mindfulness and transformation through leisure for people who have experienced trauma and abuse (with colleague Janet Griffin, Recreation Therapist, Program for Trauma and Stress Recovery, Homewood Health Centre). I am also engaged in advanced training in psychotherapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to support on-going and future research.”

Derek Besner (right), psychology: “Work on a large scale project that examines the role of feedback from higher to lower levels when reading at the single word level. This work involves both computational modeling as well as measures taken from skilled readers.”

Vivian Choh (left), optometry: “I will be using the leave to finish on-going research projects and to start new ones. I will be travelling to conferences and I will be exploring new projects with collaborators in Berkeley and Germany. I will also be exploring new collaborations with investigators on campus and at other Ontario universities. I will also be developing electrophysiological and imaging techniques with new collaborators at Guelph and at Waterloo.”

Lorne Dawson (right), sociology (six months beginning July 1 and a further six months July-December 2011): “During the leave I will be writing a book under contract with Oxford University Press (Religion in the Late Modern World) plus researching and writing several articles on the radicalization of home-grown terrorists, as well as working on a planned edition volume on Religion, Radicalization, and Security, done in collaboration with Public Safety Canada and Defence Research and Development Canada.”

Matthew Doyle (left), economics: “I expect to remain based at the University of Waterloo during the requested leave. My focus during this period will be my research. In particular, I plan to finish my ongoing projects concerning the causes of the rise and fall of inflation in OECD countries in the 1970s and 1980s. I also hope to advance a new research agenda, which is still in the early stages, that examines insurance in labour markets from the perspective of search theory. Finally, I will attend conferences, such as tahe Canadian Macro Study Group, in the fall semester of my requested leave.”

Doreen Fraser (right), philosophy: “In preparation for applying for tenure, I will complete several articles currentely in progress on the philosophy of quantum theory and the applicability of mathematics in physics. I will also undertake a literature review for my next project for the purpose of applying for a SSHRC Standard Research Grant in the October 2010 competition.”

Dinghai Xu (left), economics: “Working on two research projects: Empirical Evidence of Leverage Effect in a Stochastic Volatility Model: A Realized Volatility Approach (joint with Yuying Li); and Computation of Portfolio VaRs with GARCH Models Using Independent Component Analysis (joint with Tony Wirjanto). I will also attend several conferences, presenting research papers.”

All these leaves began July 1, 2010, and are for six months, except where noted.

In each case, the plans described are as reported to the university’s board of governors, which has to give approval for all sabbaticals.

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