David Johnston — in his Team Canada sweater — took a moment during last night's dinner to pose with student senator Reemah Khalid.

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Friends and celebrities honour the president

They laughed, they cried, and from six o’clock till after ten last night, they celebrated David Johnston as he winds up his eleven years as president of the university. On October 1, he takes on a national role as Governor General of Canada — and recognizing that, the crowd attending his testimonial dinner last night wound up the evening by singing O Canada in both English and French.

That came after a high-wattage series of family moments, hockey allusions, university memories, VIP cameo appearances, real and symbolic gifts, jokes, songs, food and drink, and the announcement of how Johnston’s name will be commemorated on the Waterloo campus.

The 1,100 guests who attended Johnston’s farewell dinner were taken on a whirlwind tour of his time as Waterloo’s fifth president. From one end of Bingeman's vast Marshall Hall to the other, Johnston’s fans were treated to “wonderful food, moving speeches, and some great entertainment”, reports Ryan Jacobs, who along with colleague Kayleigh Platz spent the evening livetweeting the proceedings.

Says Jacobs: “By all accounts, guests who came to pay tribute to Johnston felt the evening was an enormous success. Despite the crowds, Johnston did his best to spend a few minutes speaking with as many people as possible during the two receptions that started at 6:00.

“Much of the evening’s success can be attributed to the generous sponsorship of several companies. A tireless volunteer committee pulled the event together — on extremely short notice for an event of this size, it should be noted — under the leadership of Diane Wiles of the development office and Mary Bales, a Waterloo alumna, long-time supporter of the university (and, incidentally, David and Sharon Johnston’s realtor for the purchase of Chatterbox Farm when they moved to Waterloo).”

It was Bales who provided one of the evening’s memorable lines, when she got her precious moments at the microphone, right after chancellor Prem Watsa and before the student a cappella group The Waterboys. Remembering her service as a board of governors representative on the presidential search committee in 1998, Bales declared that “Helping to pick David as Waterloo’s president is the most important thing I’ve done.”

A few more of last night’s highlights:

• Johnston was given a 16-foot handcrafted canoe built from British Columbia cedar, along with paddles for each of his children and grandchildren.
• Grampa Book Goes to Rideau Hall, a poem written by Harry Froklage and illustrated by Sara Leblanc (and drawing on the nickname Johnston has acquired from some of his grandchildren), was read by Stratford Festival performer and Canadian television actress Cynthia Dale.
• Table centrepieces were designed by volunteers at the School of Architecture, organized by director Rick Haldenby. Guests received a piece of laser-cut veneer and each table had to work together to raise their own little barn.
• Thanks to the School of Architecture and Christie Digital, both pre-dinner receptions featured 3D models of campus with projectors mounted a few metres above. Lights flashed over the buildings and spaces on campus to show the growth that has occurred under Johnston’s watch.
• Johnston, a life-long hockey player, was presented with a Team Canada jersey, as well as a circular quilted hanging in University of Waterloo colours, executed by artist Rosemary Plummer, and a pencil box made of wood from the mighty tree that once grew on the hill where the Tatham Centre now stands.
• Communications and Public Affairs produced a video narrated by Nancy Richards, a local media personality and Waterloo graduate. The presentation took guests through many of the highlights of Johnston’s time as president and included accolades from students, premier Dalton McGuinty, board of governors chair Bob Harding (the master of ceremonies for the evening), and others.

So far, it was announced, almost $5 million has been raised for the David Johnston International Experience Awards. “It’s no secret that President Johnston is passionate about creating opportunities for students,” Jacobs reports, “and this endowment in his honour will help his dream come to fruition. It will provide awards in perpetuity to students who wish to live, work, or study in another country, and will help attract the best and brightest international students to Waterloo.”

When Johnston was finally given a chance to speak as the evening’s climax, he emphasized his appreciation for the many folks surrounding him with support — from his wife, Sharon, and their five daughters, to his good friend and colleague, Bob Harding.

“If you see me as a leader,” said Johnston, “look around you. I see leadership as the total dependency on the people around you.”

And his closing words: “Be kind to one another and gentle with yourselves.”

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R&T Park will bear Johnston's name

The research and technology park on the north campus will be renamed in honour of departing president David Johnston, officials announced last night on behalf of the university’s board of governors.

“The research and technology park has been hailed as a great success across Canada,” says an official announcement being issued this morning, “and many give Johnston credit for bringing the necessary public-private-government partnership together. The park is only 10 years old, accommodating 1.2 million square feet of office space on 120 acres (49 hectares), housing thousands of researchers, creating new technology jobs, and generating billions of dollars in economic impact.”

Says board of governors chair Bob Harding: “Creating the research and technology park (map, left) was a very difficult challenge, but David has that unique ability to bring people and organizations together, to make them see the benefits in working in harmony for the greater good. The creation of this park was extremely important in terms of its lasting impact on the university and the whole Waterloo region community where it has become a powerful centre of innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization.”

The R and T Park “is ideally located on the campus of Canada's most innovative university,” its publicity says. “Reflecting the enterprising spirit of Waterloo Region, it ensures continued support for pure and applied research and innovation throughout Canada. Tenants of the Research Park have unprecedented access to Waterloo’s talented co-op students, alumni, and professors. Their goal is to create breakthrough research discoveries that lead to social and commercial advantage.

“The University of Waterloo Research and Technology Park is growing and nurturing new technology, generating thousands of high-quality jobs, contributing to environmental excellence and the well-being of the community.”

Waterloo Region chair Ken Seiling, who helped spearhead the creation of the park, called the honour fitting. “David has been a major force in advancing the research and development agenda of this Region. It is only fitting that we should recognize his energy and drive in building an even stronger Waterloo Region,” said Seiling.

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And just a few other announcements

The English Language Institute at Renison University College is launching an advanced level course in grammar and writing for non-native speakers of English who wish to improve their workplace communication skills. "Last year’s intermediate level course was well received," says a news release, "with people from the KW community registering, as well as staff from University of Waterloo. Each 25-hour course consists of ten lessons with a focus on ESL grammar and business writing with detailed instructor review of each student’s writing. Both courses begin the week of September 20 and end the week of November 22, 2010. Joe Visser, a veteran ESL instructor with extensive business and international experience, will teach the courses. He taught the intermediate level course last year, and says that all the students had certain things in common. 'They were ESL writers who had been working for years in an English language environment. Most had not studied English since arriving in Canada and their knowledge of grammar, formatting and punctuation was rusty. They all made a lot of mistakes in their writing, and they were conscious of the mistakes, but they didn't know how to correct them. They would ask co-workers to help them edit their writing, but they would get unsatisfactory results and explanations.' Visser says that practical experience in writing authentic emails, memos, reports, minutes and letters will be the most valuable aspects of this course, along with the detailed feedback that most students will not acquire in the workplace."

Here's a memo from information systems and technology, of interest to those who don't want viruses on their Windows computers: "Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) has replaced Symantec Antivirus (SAV). Symantec has announced Antivirus 10.X is being terminated January 10, 2011. Current student, faculty and staff Windows clients should upgrade to the new Endpoint Protection before the campus antivirus servers are turned off on October 15, 2010 (revised from September 15, 2010 in response to a number of requests from campus support groups). For stand-alone, user-managed machines download the new client from UW Software Depot. If your computer is part of a managed domain, contact your computer support representative. System administrators, if you would like a SEP management console for deploying the client to workstations you administer, please submit a request to the UW Problem Tracking System."

If you think “mindfulness” might help you cut your stress, well, here’s the perfect opportunity: a workshop for staff and faculty members and one for students, both starting next week and both led by Marilyn Perdue of counselling services. “Now is the time to make time for you!” says Perdue, addressing people “challenged by life stressors or who have  experienced depression and/or anxiety in the past.” Mindfulness, she says, “is the practice of becoming more aware, in the present moment, of our automatic, conditioned thoughts, feelings and behaviours which can lead to a deeper awareness of the connection between impulses and actions. This allows us to see how to step out of conditioned, auto-pilot reactions and, in awareness, to choose how to respond in more helpful and self-supportive ways. We are then able to change how we relate to the inevitable ups and downs of everyday life, allowing us to feel more emotionally balanced, flexible and grounded. In turn, this can have a profound effect on the quality of our lives.” Both versions of the workshop will take place in the Village I great hall and will run for eight weeks — staff and faculty from 4:30 to 6:30 each Tuesday, students from 4:00 to 6:00 each Wednesday. Registration is online, or people are welcome to visit counselling services in Needles Hall to sign up.  There’s a $20 fee.

CAR

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