Next dean for Environment comes August 1

The university’s president is announcing in a memo this morning that André Roy, now a Canada Research Chair at the Université de Montréal, will be the next dean of the Faculty of Environment. He’ll arrive on August 1 and serve “an initial five-year term ending June 30, 2016”.

Says the memo from president Feridun Hamdullahpur: “The appointment was recommended by the nominating committee established under Policy 45 ‘The Dean of a Faculty’ and has been approved by Senate and by the Board Executive Committee (acting on the delegated authority of the Board of Governors); the Executive Committee has also approved his appointment as professor with tenure in the Department of Geography & Environmental Management.

“Professor Roy is a highly respected leader, administrator and teacher, and an internationally recognized scholar. Following the completion of his PhD in 1982 at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he joined the University of Montreal as assistant professor. Since 1993 Professor Roy has been a full professor at U of M. Between 1994 and 2008 he served both as head and as interim head of the Department of Geography, and associate dean, research of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Professor Roy (left, doing fieldwork in France) was a visiting research fellow in the Department of Geography, University of Leeds, UK from 1988-1989. Since 2003 he has held the Canada Research Chair in Fluvial Dynamics.

“As a physical geographer, André Roy’s work demonstrates a keen interest in the environment and in interdisciplinary approaches; his appointment has strong support within the Faculty of Environment.  He brings to the University of Waterloo the wisdom, commitment and energy to lead environment in enhancing its position as a major player on both the national and international scenes and he will be a valued member of Waterloo’s senior administrative team.”

Roy will be the second Environment dean in a row to come from the U de M. Deep Saini, who became dean in 2006, had been director of Montréal’s Plant Biology Research Institute. He left Waterloo last summer to become vice-president and principal of the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Mark Seasons, of the school of planning, has been serving as interim dean.

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Stratford program, Feds candidates,

On the heels of publicity for the new Master of Digital Innovation degree, the university’s Stratford campus announced yesterday that it will welcome some undergraduate students this September as well. It’ll take transfer students into the new Bachelor of Global Business and Digital Arts program: “Third and fourth year students will come to the Waterloo Stratford Campus to experience the latest technologies and business processes for a combination degree of global awareness and digital design skills. The first of its kind in Canada, the program has a problem-driven, project-based focus providing students with practical skills like project management, leadership, team collaboration, digital design. Students will also gain a solid intellectual foundation linking globalization, cultural studies, business ethics, economics and marketing. This educational program will position graduates as mindful leaders and transformers of 21st century business, government and culture."

Two candidates are seeking the top job in the Federation of Students for 2011-12, according to an announcement following the close of nominations for the Feds' annual election. Math student Ian Charlesworth (left) will vie with science student Matt Colphon (right) for the Fed presidency, in voting that's scheduled for February 8-10. Three vice-presidencies are also up for election. Candidates for VP (administration and finance) are Marc Burns and Prashant Patel; for VP (internal), John Stevenson, Luke Burke and Rob Fry; for VP (education), Natalie Cockburn, Edgar Bering, Brian Maloney and Andre Magalhaes. The campaign period will begin Monday.

Work is beginning on a study of what Waterloo diplomas look like, registrar Ken Lavigne told the university senate on Monday. “Last year senate passed a motion to review the format, and commissioned us to look at the current diploma,” he said, “so I’m here to confirm that we have been doing work.” A key goal: “A degree is an important credential, and a Waterloo degree is an invaluable credential. It’s a symbol and a trophy and should be designed with that in mind. It’s a source of pride, and we want our graduates to display it in their homes — and more importantly, offices and public places.” The diploma should “attract attention” and communicate the message that “Waterloo is an innovative university,” the registrar said. Consultation is going to be vital, he went on, saying that the first student input will come from student representatives on senate, who will advise on the next steps. Alumni consultation is also planned. “We don’t have any predetermined notions,” Lavigne said, “but from that consultation we’ll create a brief, we’ll validate that creative brief, we’ll test those design considerations against the current diploma, which we’ve been using since 1989, and we’ll consider design development, obtain feedback, and only then will we come to senate with an airtight proposal of either maintaining the current one or moving ahead with it.” A report is expected next year.

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Two Warrior hockey players — forwards Thomas Cardiff of the men's team and Sarah Wolfe of the women's — joined a couple of kids on the floor of the Columbia Icefield Tuesday to shoot some video for the History Channel. Waterloo alumna Linda Stortz, co-owner of Stortz and Associates Inc., brought the group together to demonstrate a Canadian-made product Stortz is marketing called WristShooters, and incidentally to give the university some visibility. The History Channel is seeking to broaden its appeal by featuring top Canadian products and services, and that would include Stortz's new devices, which are hand-held plastic hockey blades. Chris Gilbert and Dan Ackerman of athletics and recreational services helped to put blades, players and venue together.

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. . . and other notes under a blue sky

Keith Hipel (right), a systems design engineering professor, was presented with the Engineering Medal for Research and Development from Professional Engineers Ontario late in the fall term. His award citation says he is “internationally recognized as an outstanding academic whose passion to develop systems thinking methods to ascertain how humans can live in harmony with one another and their environment has advanced the engineering profession.” Says the PEO: “Much of Dr. Hipel’s research focuses on developing and applying conflict resolution, multiple objective decision making, and time series analysis from a systems design engineering perspective. The main application of these decision technologies is in water resources management, hydrology, environmental engineering and sustainable development, with industrial, military and government organizations in Canada and abroad benefitting from the results. Dr. Hipel (right) provides engineering students with a valuable systems perspective that takes into account the physical and societal systems aspects of pressing inter-disciplinary challenges in management and governance. He also founded and is director of the university’s Conflict Analysis Group. A recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award and the Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision from the University of Waterloo, Dr. Hipel has contributed substantially to the internationalization of engineering education by establishing and directing exchange programs that enable Canadian students to study in Japan and work in Japanese industry.”  Hipel was honoured at the PEO awards gala on November 20 in Mississauga.

A note from the VeloCity blog, posted late Tuesday night: “Last night at the University Club, VeloCity hosted an event to remember. The Winter 2011 Kick-Off BBQ was a huge success with many students, faculty members, and start-ups all in attendance for this three-hour event. VeloCity students worked hard for the past week, brainstorming for the first three days and than busy coding throughout the entire weekend. The end result was the creation of many creative, original, and in some cases, hilarious demos that were presented throughout the night. Let's just say that these students worked very hard and it was clearly evident throughout the presentations, especially when one team walked over 100 km away, from the University Club, just to demonstrate their product, Digital Babysitter.”

Academic calendar dates for the 2011-12 year were officially approved at Monday's senate meeting and are now available online. • Statistics and actuarial science professor Wayne Oldford (left) became associate dean (computing) for the faculty of mathematics as of November 1, 2010. • Brent Charette of The Museum in downtown Kitchener says he's hoping for visitors from "the late night university crowd", among others, when the museum stays open all night Friday with special attractions in connection with its current show, "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition".

The human resources department sends the names of several Waterloo staff members who officially retired January 1. They include Elaine Garner, senior manager in the graduate studies office (who began work at the university in 1976); Pamela Martin, assistant career advisor in the Centre for Career Action (1985); Yvonne Wepler, administrative assistant in psychology (1984); Robert Bernard, technician in parking services (1999); Carol Pearce-Kube, payroll benefits assistant in human resources (1999); Carol Wooten, payroll coordinator specialist in HR (1972); Vivian Schoner, research and evaluation consultant in the Centre for Teaching Excellence (1999); and Monica Wielonda, administrative systems assistant in plant operations (1986).

CAR

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