Stratford director wins Barnraiser Award

with material from the Waterloo Stratford Campus.

"We’re all extremely proud here that our own Executive Director, Ginny Dybenko, was named the winner of the Barnraiser award!" reads a blog post from the Waterloo Stratford Campus posted Monday. "As well as her very busy day job leading the Stratford Campus, Ginny is a tireless volunteer and a strong believer in mentoring and giving back to the community."

Dybenko (pictured above) is the executive director of the Waterloo Stratford Campus, joining the satellite campus in October 2011 after five years at Wilfrid Laurier University.

The award was established in 2008 by the Waterloo Region Record and previous winners include Tim Jackson, Roger Farwell , K-W Counselling Services, and Ron Schlegel.

"The Waterloo Region Record Barnraiser Award recognizes this community's tradition of working collaboratively to accomplish what an individual cannot," says the Waterloo Region Record's website. "It honours a practice and spirit that is deep-rooted in our community, one that sees individuals and groups work together to benefit everyone, without regard to personal gain." This award will be given annually to the individual or group in Waterloo Region that best exemplifies that community-minded spirit.

According to the Waterloo Region Record, Dybenko's nomination was supported by 22 testimonials.

"What most impresses her supporters is her boundless enthusiasm and positive energy – we couldn’t agree more!" continues the Stratford campus blog post. "Congratulations and well deserved, Ginny!"

Congratulations indeed!

Photograph by Light Imaging.

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Co-op and research: a winning combination

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

When 2A science student Eugene Kovalenko talked to friends in his first year class last year, he realized they had similar academic backgrounds, similar job experience, and, most likely, similar résumés. With so many similarities, he wondered how he would stand out from the pack and get his first co-op job the following winter.

Wanting to get a head start, Kovalenko decided to search for a summer job related to his future career aspirations – he hopes to make a difference in the world through academic discoveries. “I’m really interested in research and trying to help people; having a career in research is the best way I can think of to make a positive impact on the largest number of people,” he said. “I would like to try to help as many people as I can.”

Initially, he emailed professors who he wanted to work with, but didn’t have success. Eventually, a friend connected him to Dr. Pu Chen’s research group in Waterloo’s chemical engineering department. He met with researcher Parisa Sadatmousavi to talk about the job – and was hired!

Over the summer Kovalenko experienced life in a research lab firsthand. He measured florescence, mixed solutions, and more. “We’re trying to develop a better transport system for a cancer drug,” he explained. “Essentially, the drug is supposed to be introduced intravenously to get to the cancer site. We’re trying to make sure the drug will properly stick to the protein in the body while it’s getting to the cancer site, and that it will be released at the needed time at the needed location.”

After four months on the job, he’s still ready for more. When Chen offered Kovalenko a job for his first co-op work term in winter 2013, he was pumped. “They trust me, they know who I am, and they know what kind of workload I can handle,” he said. “Plus, when I go back I’ll be exposed to a different field of work; in the summer I did more physical chemistry work and when I come back it’ll be more biology-related.”

And having his first co-op job lined up before most of his friends was also a bonus. “My advice to other students is start as early as you can. In the four months before your actual work term – I’ve been seeing my friends try to find jobs – it seems really difficult. I’m really lucky that I got this job before the whole co-op process even started.”

What’s in store for the future? “I’m really hoping to be able to either co-edit or even co-author a paper this time around.”

Last week’s poll results: 36 per cent of you guessed correctly; each year we receive 140 nominations for the Co-op Student of the Year award. Congratulations to last week’s draw winner Dayna Finke, Math student.

This week’s question: As mentioned in the story above, Eugene Kovalenko will be working for uWaterloo next term. Other universities also hire our co-op students. What percentage of our employers are universities? (Hint: check out this infographic.) Take a guess and enter to win a CECA lunch bag.

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Wednesday's notes

Plant Operations is advising that a section of corridor #3370A between rooms 3370 and 3371 in CPH will be closed on Thursday, December 20, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for maintenance. Access to or from the third floor is still available.

In addition, the water will be shut off in Needles Hall on Thursday morning for approximately an hour starting at 7:30 a.m.

Human Resources is reporting that retired staff member Hugh O'Brien died on December 15. O'Brien started working at the university in June 1975 and retired in July 2011 as a Mechanic in Plant Operations. He was predeceased by his wife Maureen, who was also a university employee, in 2005.

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