Feridun Hamdullahpur spoke at a ceremony at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Ottawa on Wednesday, April 11, as Nanjing University conferred an honorary doctorate on His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada (and University of Waterloo President Emeritus) (right). Nanjing University was represented by its Chancellor, Hong Yinxing (centre).

The University of Waterloo and Nanjing University established the Sino-Canadian College in 2006 during the Governor General's presidency. The partnership includes collaborative research, faculty exchanges, and joint undergraduate degrees in the faculties of arts, environment, mathematics, and science, as well as joint training programs.

Photograph by Sgt Ronald Duchesne, Rideau Hall.

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Warriors raise $25,000 for cancer

a media release from Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Women’s Basketball Coaches Association have announced that the organization had raised $98,706.92 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in 2011-12 thanks to the fifth edition of its annual Shoot For The Cure initiative.

An additional $22,541.78 was amassed by schools that elected to donate their fundraised money to local or provincial organizations – including $7154.44 to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation - bringing this season’s Shoot For The Cure overall total to $121,248.70, and the five-year total to over half a million dollars.

The University of Waterloo Warriors and the school’s athletics department continued to lead the way by raising $25,000. Cape Breton University and the University of New Brunswick also had very successful events, amassing just over $10,000 and $9,500, respectively.

The initiative was launched in 2007-08 to raise awareness and money to fight the deadly disease and in five years, CIS women’s basketball programs have now collected $512,394.58.

This season, for the first time, all 43 universities that field women’s hoops teams participated by holding one or numerous fundraising games or activities over the course of the campaign.

“In addition to doing our best to raise money and awareness to fight this terrible disease, we had two other goals in mind this year,” said Jeff Speedy, president of the WBCA, Shoot For The Cure project manager and head coach at UNB. “We wanted to have all of our teams participate, and raise enough money to get us over the half a million mark for the five years of this initiative. I am thrilled that we have accomplished those two goals!

“Our coaches, student athletes, athletic directors and sports information directors have really bought into Shoot For The Cure and are really making a positive difference in so many ways.”

More information about the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is available online.

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Reception connects donors and recipients

by Sharon McFarlane, interim communications officer, Faculty of Science

Putting a face to the name was the order of the day for the Faculty of Science as it hosted the Student Donor Reception on Thursday, March 23. Approximately 60 people, including scholarship recipients, donors, faculty, and staff gathered in the EIT foyer to celebrate the generous contributions of the faculty’s alumni and friends and to recognize the outstanding students receiving the awards.

“The reception is an annual event that both student recipients and the donors themselves look forward to,” explains Stephen Woods, the Student Success Officer for the faculty, “For the students, it’s a chance to personally thank the donors for their generosity, and for the donors the reception allows them to meet and speak to those who have benefited from their actions.”

Naureen Brodie (left) and her husband, retired physics professor and past Dean of Science Don Brodie have been generous supporters of numerous scholarships since 1980. Here, Mrs. Brodie speaks with scholarship recipient Shannon Farnham.

Current Dean of Science Terry McMahon gave an enthusiastic welcome to the crowd while Federation of Students President and science alumnus, Matt Colphon expressed the gratitude of every scholarship recipient. Science alumnus and current donor, Ray Clement urged everyone in the room to continue this proud tradition in giving so that the hopes and dreams of the next generation of Waterloo scientists would be realized and not throttled by financial shortcomings.

Just over 1000 science students received a scholarship or bursary between the fall 2011 and winter 2012 with the majority of support going to first year students.

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Monday's notes

The university's Senate meets this afternoon at the usual time (that's 3:30 p.m.) and in the usual place (that's NH 3001). On the agenda are a number of items for decision, and a research presentation by the department of Drama and Speech Communication's Jill Tomasson Goodwin. Up for approval is a process change for the acclamation and election of members to senate committees and councils. Under the current practice, the Secretariat asks faculty senators with continuing terms and faculty senators-elect to rank their preferences for serving on Senate committees and councils, and these preferences are referred to the deans with a request to ensure there is at least one name for each vacant seat. The deans then return a slate of names for Senate's consideration, and during the election process there is an opportunity for nominations from the floor. If a nomination is contested, the election takes place via secret ballot at the meeting. Under the proposed process, deans will be asked to nominate a qualified member of faculty to serve. These nominations will then be forwarded to Senate, where further nominations will be accepted from the floor. In the event that a seat is contested, an electronic election will follow the meeting.

I'm passing along a note from Judy Richardson of the Centre for Extended Learning, who wants to send out a heartfelt "thank you" to the anonymous group of strangers who helped her out on the walk between Math & Computer and the Hallman Institute on Thursday morning. When she tripped and fell, she was overwhelmed by the folks who came rushing to support her.

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