Neighbourhood outreach, with a smile: On Saturday, November 24, Recreation students from REC 220, Program Management organized a series of family-friendly activities at the Stork Family Y and Harper Library as part of Waterloo West Neighbour Fest.

The students were able to apply the knowledge they’re learning in the classroom to develop and implement programming to engage families with the community. Meryl Norris (above) spent time connecting with kids at a "What is healthy living?" booth, an interactive jeopardy game helping families learn about healthy living, and the healthy living services and opportunities available in the community.

Photograph by Light Imaging.

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Environment 3 wins LEED Platinum status

a news release from the media relations office.

The Faculty of Environment's Environment 3 building has earned platinum status for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The third-party certification administered by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) is an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

The platinum designation is the highest LEED certification possible, recognizing performance in five key areas including sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

"The University of Waterloo is deeply committed to innovative ideas, life-changing research, and a groundbreaking approach to solving many of today's challenges," said Feridun Hamdullahpur. "This commitment to real-world impact and transformative change serves us today and will guide our future. It is only fitting that a building on the cutting edge of green design be a part of our campus."

Working with Akitt Swanson & Pearce Architects and WalterFedy, Cooper Construction oversaw the design and build of Environment 3, the first LEED Canada Platinum structure at an Ontario university, and only the second on a campus in Canada. The building also hosts Waterloo’s School of Planning and the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), thus making it home to Canada’s only LEED Canada Platinum professional school.

The bright and spacious Minto atrium contains a two-storey, plant-covered, living wall connected to the ventilation system. It removes volatile organic compounds, and acts as a living air filter for the entire building.

Using sustainable wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and 88 per cent recycled steel, the building was constructed using a cutting-edge structural system allowing it to sit on top of the existing Environment 2 building, thus minimizing the structure’s physical footprint on the Waterloo campus.

“Achieving a LEED Platinum certification demonstrates the Faculty of Environment’s commitment to implementing our core values in everything we do,” said André Roy, Dean of the Faculty of Environment at Waterloo. “By offering an innovative and environmentally responsible mixed-use place to work and learn, we hope our students will be inspired to go out into the world and shape our sustainable future.”

Water efficiency is achieved through automatic, low-flow faucets, and low-flush toilets and urinals that use rainwater collected from the roof and filtered through the wetlands outside reducing the building’s water consumption by 87 per cent compared to a standard plumbing system.

The careful placement of the windows maximizes daylight in working spaces with automatic sensors, controlling artificial light during dark hours. The panes are glazed using a leading-edge honeycomb technique developed at Waterloo’s solar lab making them five times more insulating. These modifications help Environment 3 consume 45 per cent less energy than a standard building of its size. Much of this energy is supplied by an array of rooftop solar panels providing up to 67,000 kWh/year of power, roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of seven single-family homes.

 

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How CECA supports students, faculty, staff

by Karina Graf, Co-operative Education and Career Action.

Did you know that CECA has a team dedicated to supporting the uWaterloo community? The student and faculty relations team (pictured above are several members) assists students, faculties, and support units on campus. Here’s how:

 

Students: our co-op student experience manager assesses the co-op student experience on campus to ensure that our support process is optimal and that students are well-prepared. This process includes documenting student challenges, looking at what we can do better, and making positive changes. We also have a team of student advisors who provide support during the work term, checking in to make sure students have a successful term.

 

Faculties: our faculty relations managers help faculties integrate co-op their academic missions. They help strengthen new and existing programs, align co-op and faculty policies and procedures to create a seamless experience for students, and help faculties hire co-op students. For new programs, we conduct feasibility studies to ensure co-op can positively contribute to the goals and objectives of the program. For example, will we be able to find high quality jobs for students? If so, what is a realistic target growth rate to ensure that all students have success in the workplace? We also partner with faculties to provide research support, share work term data, assist with program reviews and learning outcomes, and support strategic efforts to improve the co-op experience.

Support units: as a whole, the university employs more than 200 co-op students each term. Our academic support unit relations manager helps support units meet their hiring needs, identify how their unit might benefit from hiring students, and talk about how the hiring process works.

Last week’s poll results: 91 per cent of you guessed correctly (wow!); 81 percent of students would like to be connected with an experienced mentor in their next workplace. Congratulations to last week’s draw winner Jeff Carette, Chemical Engineering student.

This week’s question: True or false: it’s too late to post a job and hire a co-op student for the winter 2013 work term (January to April). Take a guess and enter to win a CECA umbrella.

 

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Wednesday's bits and pieces

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Science Teaching Complex will take place tomorrow in a tent outside Biology 2 at 9:30 a.m. The five-storey, 120,000-square-foot building will be located between the Faculty’s two existing biology buildings.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) has organized a seminar entitled "Anything But Merry: Dealing with Grief Over the Holidays," on Thursday, December 6 at 12:00 p.m.

"For those of us who are struggling with grief over the death of a loved one, the holiday season can be anything but merry," reads the seminar's promotional material. "It can be a time of overwhelming emotions, new challenges and unrealistic expectations from family and friends. How do you manage the holiday season and still allow for grief? Join us to learn coping strategies that can help you get through this holiday season." The seminar "discusses how grief affects us in all facets of our life, the myths and facts surrounding grief and mourning, the needs of mourning and coping strategies to work through and support grief. It can also be very helpful for friends and family of individuals who have experienced a death."

The 40-minute seminar will take place in room 1208 of the Tatham Centre. Registration is not required.

Finally, Waterloo Region fared well in a recent review of the world's top startup ecosystems. Waterloo ranked 16th and was the third Canadian city to rank in the top 20, with Toronto sitting at #8 and Vancouver at #9. Silicon Valley in California, Tel Aviv in Israel, and Los Angeles took the top three spots in the study by Startup Genome, which indexes eight key areas including Startup Output, Funding, Company Performance, Talent, Support Infrastructure, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Trendsetting Tendencies, and Ecosystem Differentiation. Waterloo is keeping some good company, in more ways than one.

 

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