It was a 3,000 WatCard weekend

Orientation is under way across the main campus today, as you might know from the chants, songs and boombox music. Thousands of new students arrived Sunday or yesterday, unloaded their gear with the help of T-shirted volunteers, and met dons and roommates. Today they're getting to know the campus with icebreakers and introductory events: applied health sciences on the Matthews Hall green, arts students at “Base Camp” in the arts quad, and so on. Environment students have academic briefings this morning; engineering students will have lunch shortly in their respective departments, then “earn” their hard hats at a series of locations on the east side of the campus. For most students, tonight is “Variety Night” based on their residence assignment.

Over the next three days there will be nine performances of “Single and Sexy”, the most famous feature of UW orientation (and one that’s been adopted at other institutions as well — Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie is staging its ninth annual performance of the show today). S&S lasts about an hour, and will hit the Humanities Theatre stage today at 10:00, 1:00 and 4:00; Wednesday at 9:30, 1:00 and 4:00; and Thursday at 9:30, 12:30 and 4:00. Specific groups of new students will be heading for the theatre at each of those times, but I understand it’s possible for others to sidle in as well and see what the play has to say about sex (wanted and unwanted), drugs, plagiarism, friendship, Bombshelter lineups and other issues of student life.

Lots more is happening during orientation week — details are on the orientation web site, as well as in printed material available through the orientation program. Social and academic events are balanced all week with exposure to campus places and services. Central registration for orientation week takes place in the Student Life Centre multi-purpose room, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily all week. First-year students will need their WatCard to register.

Two nights in a row, Wednesday and Thursday, the SLC will be closed to general use from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. because of orientation events. (Wednesday it’s “Boars, Tools and Ties” for new students in arts, engineering and math; Thursday it’s the all-faculty Monte Carlo Night.) “The Turnkey Desk along with ticketing for GO Transit and Greyhound will remain open throughout the event,” says Scott Pearson, assistant manager of the SLC. “Access to the Turnkey Desk or the Prayer Room can be made through the SLC entrance on the PAC side of the building. Tim Hortons will remain open throughout the event with access through the Ring Road entrance of the SLC.”

With the arrival of thousands of new students, and the return of thousands who aren’t new, campus services are back in full swing, or soon will be. Hours for a few key operations:

• Retail services —  Bookstore, Waterloo Store, E-Smart, Write Stuff and Campus Tech open 9 to 5 through Friday; extended bookstore hours September 13-16. (Left: the bookstore lineup cam as of 8:20 this morning — no crowds yet.)

• Libraries — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this week, noon to 5 on Saturday and Sunday; full schedules begin next Monday, the first day of fall term classes. And as of this morning, the main entrance to the Dana Porter Library seems to be reopened, after months of repair work on the concourse.

• Athletics — PAC and Columbia Icefield open Monday-Thursday 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Saturday 9 to 7:30, Sunday 9 to 11:30.

• Food services — Residence cafeterias now open daily. Most main campus outlets open for limited hours this week, full hours beginning September 13. Festival Fare (South Campus Hall) and CEIT Café still closed this week, open next week. Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre open 24 hours until Friday, limited hours this weekend, then Monday 7:30 a.m. to Friday 9 p.m. plus 11:00 to 9:00 each Saturday and Sunday. Details are online.

The WatCard office in the SLC "was extremely busy over the weekend", says its manager, John Cunningham. "On Sunday and Monday we processed over 3,000 student WatCards. This year's program to have students send their picture electronically has been the most successful ever. We have received 3,300 student pictures electronically since July 15 and are still getting them in. In fact 20 more came in last night. This process allows us to print the WatCard in advance and then we authenticate the student and the photo."

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The Canadian entry in the 2010 Venice Biennale in Architecture is “Hylozoic Ground,” a project developed “in collaboration with” the Waterloo School of Architecture. Canadian ambassador James Fox is seen speaking at last week's official opening of the Biennale, the world’s most prominent architectural exhibition, which continues through November. Three UW people are involved: architecture professor Philip Beesley (in photo, with purple shirt); Andrew Hunter, former curator of Render, the UW gallery; and Rob Gorbet, faculty member in knowledge integration. The lead agency is PBAI, Beesley’s private architectural practice.

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New this fall at the Balsillie School

a news release from the Balsillie School of International Affairs

The Balsillie School of International Affairs is set to launch the new academic year with several initiatives, including a redesigned professional development program for its master’s students, a new logo and website, and a speaker series for students and faculty.

The new CIGI Junior Fellowship program combines a $15,000 three-term scholarship with opportunities to enhance students’ knowledge and skills. The program consists of research assistantships, policy-brief writing workshops, interactive learning sessions with senior experts from the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and publication opportunities.

“We hope the time Balsillie School students spend at CIGI will provide them with invaluable experiences that will prepare them for leading public policy careers,” said David Welch, interim director and CIGI Chair of Global Security at the Balsillie School, as well as a professor at the University of Waterloo. “Other schools lack the ability to leverage a think-tank partnership; this really is the school’s competitive advantage.”

“CIGI’s policy-oriented activities and our team of expert researchers provide a great environment where students can learn about policy-making and gain professional experience with some of Canada’s best-known policy leaders,” said CIGI vice-president of programs and acting executive director Thomas Bernes.

The Balsillie School of International Affairs is an academic institution devoted to the study of international affairs and global governance. The school assembles a critical mass of extraordinary experts to understand, explain and shape the ideas that will create effective global governance. Through its graduate programs, the school cultivates an interdisciplinary learning environment that develops knowledge of international issues from the core disciplines of political science, economics, history, and environmental studies and other related disciplines. The Balsillie School was founded in 2007 by Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research In Motion, and is a collaborative partnership among CIGI, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.

The Balsillie School has also introduced a new logo as it prepares to transition to its soon-to-be-completed building, now under construction on the corner of Erb Street West and Father David Bauer Drive in uptown Waterloo. The new logo prominently features a stylized, borderless networked globe in blue and gold — the colours of its three partners: Waterloo, Laurier and CIGI. The new logo, which emerged from a consultative process involving input from faculty, students and staff from all three partners, will also appear on the Balsillie School’s new website, which will be launched later this month.

As part of its ongoing International Governance Speakers Series for students and faculty, the Balsillie School is presenting Tom Farer, professor of international relations and former dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His talk entitled “Obama’s foreign policy: Is the air leaking from the balloon of hope?” takes place September 24. Coordinated by CIGI Distinguished Fellow and CIGI Chair in Global Governance Jorge Heine, a professor of political science at Laurier, this monthly speakers series provides students at the Balsillie School with an opportunity for close interaction with leading scholars, as well as practitioners of global governance in a seminar setting.

For ongoing information about the school’s construction progress and a full range of topics surrounding the school, visit Building for the Future, the school’s video blog.

CAR

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