Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Waterloo's United Arab Emirates campus do their part to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UAE on National Day, December 2. National Day marks the anniversary of the UAE's independence from the United Kingdom and the unification of the seven emirates that form the country.

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Seminar season for faculty, staff, students

The Mental Health Day staff and faculty seminar is taking place this morning from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the Humanities Theatre. The event, sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, entitled "STATE OF MIND: A Look at Mental Health Issues in the Workplace," features a candid talk on mental wellness by two experts on workplace mental health — Ian Arnold and Mary Ann Baynton. This initiative is supported by the Faculty Association, Occupational Health, Human Resources, the Staff Association, the Employee Assistance Program, and benefit carrier Great West Life Assurance Company. This event is just the beginning: there will be further presentations in the New Year that will build on the foundation presented today.

A workshop on the transition 'from classroom to co-op or new grad to real world" with a humourous spin will be held Monday, December 5. The "Laugh & Learn — Your First Real Job" will be an educational and entertaining seminar that features University of Waterloo alumna of both Applied Health Studies and Engineering and stand-up comic Julie Kim (right) as facilitator. A staff member from the Centre for Career Action will also be making a short presentation on their services prior to the workshop.

Kim finished in 3rd place out of 175 competitors in the Toronto Comedy Brawl and was featured in the Second City's Fresh Meat 2011 showcase, and has performed in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Boston, and Chicago.

The event is free and takes place in the Sun Life Auditorium (LHI 1621) from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday.

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Kids hit the bricks in Lego League qualifier

a news release from the media relations office

Lego robots, along with creative thinking, problem-solving skills and teamwork, will be in action at the University of Waterloo on Sunday, Dec. 4 as 250 youngsters aged nine to 14 compete in the WE-Connect FIRST League Lego (FLL) Waterloo qualifier. (above, a scene from last year's qualifier event)

Competing in this year's "Food Factor" challenge, the teams have spent the last eight weeks building and programming Lego Mindstorm robots to accomplish up to 15 missions on a specialized mat. The missions include collecting bacteria and washing them off in a sink, delivering groceries, reversing pollution to protect food and lowering the temperature to keep refrigerated food safe. Teams will also present projects to develop innovative solutions to ensure the safe delivery of food to dinner tables.

The qualifier will be held this coming Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Engineering 5 building on Waterloo's south campus. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend.

Maud Gorbet, a Waterloo professor of systems design engineering, has coached a local team for three years and for the last four years, as part of WE-Connect Waterloo Engineering Outreach activities, has spearheaded increased local involvement in the program.

"This program is fantastic for kids with science and engineering minds," said Gorbet. "It gives them a chance to sharpen and develop skills including competitive play and sportsmanship. It also provides them with a sense of community."

Competing in the qualifier will be 18 teams from local schools, four from the Greater Toronto Area, two from Brantford, two from Kincardine and two from Oshweken. Five of the teams will advance to a provincial tournament in January. The provincial tournament winners will compete in the First Lego League World Festival to be held in April in St. Louis. In the biggest season ever for the 30-year-old FLL, more than 20,000 teams in over 50 countries are competing in hundreds of qualifying and championship tournaments.

The FLL program offers a unique way for students to enjoy hands-on learning that is fun, open-ended and based on solving real-world problems. Students work as a team with teachers and parents acting as coaches and team mentors. Each year, the response from students has been overwhelming and local schools participating in the event often have more than one team to accommodate as many kids as possible.

This is the second year in a row that the regional qualifying FLL tournament, sponsored by Waterloo Engineering, Google and the Ontario government, will be held at the University of Waterloo. The teams will be judged for project presentation, robot performance, technical design and programming of the robot, and teamwork. The highest honour will go to the team that best exemplifies the spirit and values of the program.

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Friday notes

Professor Robert Shipley, (right) Director of the Heritage Resources Centre, spoke Tuesday to the 17th General Assembly of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, addressing over 200 representatives from dozens of countries around the world. Shipley is one of the leading international researchers on the economic impacts of heritage conservation and his paper was one of a small number selected from over 500 submissions to the conference.

The Office of Development and Alumni Affairs has become somewhat more decentralized since their temporary move from South Campus Hall to make room for the Office of Student Success. As such, sending on-campus mail to the department is a little complicated these days, but a memo from Senior Director, Advancement Services Maryann Gavin clears things up. The Alumni Affairs team now resides in the PAS building (ODAA-PAS). Advancement Services, Annual & Planned Giving, Leadership Giving, and the office of the Associate Vice-President, Development and Campaigns are located in the Research Advancement Centre 1, or RAC 1. (ODAA-RAC). The Principal Gifts team can be found in the Math and Computer building (ODAA-MC), while the Stewardship team can be reached in Needles Hall (c/o CPA). The Call Centre remains active in South Campus Hall (ODAA-SCH). Addressing your mail with the department and building codes will assist our colleagues in Central Stores ensure that on-campus mail is routed correctly.

The last of 40 final mid-cycle review consultation sessions that have been happening since September takes place on Monday, December 5 at 10:00 a.m. in the Village 1 Great Hall. This session is open to all members of the university community, and all you need to do is register.

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