Call the pharmacy maybe? On Monday, November 26, four University of Waterloo Pharmacy students—Bhupender Sayain, Kacie Lunn, Danielle Paes and Jaskiran Otal —were named the winners of the Loblaws National Pharmacy Student Video Competition, receiving their award at the Commitment to Care Services & Awards gala. This is the School of Pharmacy's second victory in a row at the video competition, which is open to all pharmacy schools across Canada.

 

Back to top

Student input on email requested

Email is one of the main ways that the University of Waterloo communicates with students and so the Student Success Office (SSO) is going to the source to learn what makes a good email and what kinds of information students would like to receive via email.

The SSO has created a survey to share with students asking for their feedback about email communications and is interested in hearing from students about preferred message content, formatting, and length.

The survey was developed after the SSO's Student Consultation Group invited students to discuss what they liked and didn't like about email communications at a session on November 21.

Changes may not happen overnight, says the Student Success Office's Kirsty Budd, but "the SSO hopes that the results will help to establish recommendations for email best practices."

 

Back to top

Press lectures on value of science today

Professor William Press, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will be on campus today to deliver the latest talk in the University of Waterloo Lecture Series entitled "What’s So Special About Science – And How Much Should We Spend On It?” The lecture will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

"In times when governments seek both to promote private-sector economic growth and also to cut their own expenditures, the science community describes itself as a social and economic investment deserving continued -- and even increased -- support," the lecture abstract reads. "What is the evidence that supports this claim? Does government investment in basic research, or in research and development more generally, actually pay off? And, if so, to whom? In this talk we review the economic evidence, including its ambiguities, and social capital that is long-tailed in time, and that has benefits that are not easily monetizable."

Press is the Warren J. and Viola M. Raymer Professor in Computer Science and in Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of President Barack Obama's Science and Technology Advisory Council. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, and was Deputy Laboratory Director for Science and Technology at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The lecture is free, and seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 2:25 p.m. at the Theatre of the Arts in the Modern Languages Building.

Press's talk is the latest entry in the University of Waterloo Lecture Series.

 

Back to top

Tuesday's notes

The Registrar’s Office and Student Awards & Financial Aid will be closed on Wednesday, December 5 from 11:45 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. for a holiday function.

The Centre for Teaching Excellence is reporting that registration is now open for a new round of Fall 2012 courses for instructors, including:

• CTE656 Getting Started in LEARN: Session 0043 is on Wednesday, December 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and Session 0044 is scheduled for Monday, December 17, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• CTE667 Customize Your Course in LEARN: Session 0003 is on Wednesday, December 12, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• CTE686 LEARN Instructor User Group: the user group will be held on Thursday, December 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with presenters Heidi Engelhardt from Biology and Kevin Markle from Accounting and Finance.
• CTE666 Using LEARN's Quiz Feature: Session 0004 will be held on Thursday, December 13 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• CTE669 Discussion and Blogs in LEARN: Session 0004 will be held Friday, December 14, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• CTE665 Dropboxes and Rubrics in LEARN: Session 0004 is on Tuesday, December 18 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
  
• CTE685 LITE Grant Info & Question/Answer Session on Wednesday, December 19, 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
  
• CTE668 Using the Grades Tool in LEARN: Session 0008 is on Thursday, December 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
  

All sessions are held in the Library's FLEX Lab in room LIB 329. Instructors can register through myHRinfo and check the Centre for Teaching Excellence's website for more information.

 

Back to top