St. Jerome's launches interactive video tool

with material from St. Jerome's University.

St. Jerome’s University (SJU) has launched an innovative recruitment tool aimed at entertaining and engaging a new breed of tech savvy and video-seasoned prospective students and is now poised to enter the recruitment season with a fresh new look. 

Jay Smith (pictured above at left opposite students Jen Gooderham and Mike Sawka), manager of recruitment and admissions, wanted to create a video that was designed to not only promote and inform future students about life at SJU but also provide a way to entice a generation of students that would often prefer to watch a video then read text on a webpage. 

“We were looking for an innovative way to reach out to prospective students and really encourage them to add SJU to their post-secondary shortlist,” says Smith. “We knew video was the way to do that and we took it one step further by making it innovative and interactive.”

The new SJU Interactive Virtual Tour is a series of short, informative video clips that highlight SJU campus life, program offerings, and the unique relationship it shares with the University of Waterloo, all tied together with navigation buttons embedded right into the clips.  This gives the prospective students the opportunity to click on what videos they want to see, learning the information that is most important to them, resulting in an engaging ‘choose your own adventure’ online experience.

As an added bonus, the interactive technology is Canadian made.  SJU teamed up with HuStream Video, a video production agency based out of Kelowna, BC. Founded in 2008, HuStream has also produced interactive video for heavyweights like Microsoft, Intel, and Lenovo.  From concept to delivery, the entire process took only a few short months.

Says Smith: “With HuStream we were able to combine innovative and forward thinking videos with our recruitment initiatives, allowing us to increase our marketing presence on the internet and really engage with the prospective student who is very video driven.”

The videos are also hosted by current students, which gives the content an authentic feel as they tell the story about campus life at SJU.  “It’s wonderful for future students to have an opportunity to learn about life at SJU from real students who are already living it.  They get a taste and feel for what it’s like at SJU even if they can’t be here for a tour," says Smith. "This is a valuable complement to our print pieces and is the next evolution in student recruitment."

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4,500 plus 16,157 equals one great year

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

What do you get when you put together 4,500 organizations and 16,157 scheduled work terms? One great year, as the video below explains while giving viewers an inside look into a year in the life of co-operative education at the University of Waterloo.

Last week’s poll results: 16 per cent of you guessed correctly; job security and opportunities for advancement are tied as the second most influential factor in a job offering (after interesting work). Congratulations to last week’s draw winner Erin Marchand, mathematics/business administration student.

This week’s question: What percentage of students would like to be connected with an experienced mentor in their next workplace? Take a guess and enter to win a CECA water bottle.

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President to speak at education summit

University of Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur is one of the speakers at an "education summit" that will be taking place in Toronto today and tomorrow. The event, entitled "Transforming Public Education to Embrace the New Global Realities," features keynote addresses from the Honourable John Manley, a former deputy prime minister who is currently president and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and Don Tapscott, adjunct professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. On Thursday, the luncheon address will be delivered by Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario.

Tomorrow, Hamdullahpur will participate at a panel entitled "Learning in the 21st century" alongside George Zegarac, deputy minister in Ontario's Ministry of Education, and Professor Chris Whitaker, president and CEO of Humber College. Table discussions and a debrief with the panellists will follow.

The summit has been organized by The Learning Partnership, a nonprofit established in 1993 to champion a strong Canadian public education system, and is being billed as an opportunity to "generate new ideas on education innovation to best prepare K-12 students to meet the needs of the changing labour market" and "develop multi-sector recommendations on how the public education system can best prepare today's students for tomorrow's world."

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A plea for plastic bags

From the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) comes the following message: "If there are any professors, instructors, or teaching assistants who may have plastic zip bags left over from a previous term's online class examination, Avril McVicar would really appreciate getting them back as soon as possible."

McVicar, who is the CEL's examinations and materials supervisor, explains that each term, the CEL packs exams for online classes in plastic zip bags. Instructors are asked to return the used bags to the CEL, but often do not do so. The supply of plastic zip bags is running low.

Writes McVicar, "In the interests of the budget, and the environment, if you have bags, please send them to Avril McVicar, CEL, Gage Avenue (GA), via campus mail."

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Pension info session and other notes

This September, the Pension Team in Human Resources launched quarterly “Lunch and Learn” information sessions on various pension topics.  The first session, held September 26, focused on the benefits of participating in the UW Pension Plan.  The next session is Thursday, December 6 and is entitled “Forms of Pension and Other Considerations”.  Bring your lunch and join the Pension Team in DC 1302 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Information about future sessions can be found on the HR website.

The final VeloCity Campus Workshop of the term is taking place on Thursday, November 29, and will feature Tricia Mumby, co-founder of Mabel's Labels, as guest speaker. "VeloCity Campus Workshops are geared towards enabling all students on campus (undergrad or grad, across all faculties) with the opportunity to learn about all aspects of entrepreneurship with the intention that these workshops will empower students to kick start their own business ideas," writes VeloCity's Kim Ho. "Every week a workshop is held which covers a variety of topics related to business. We are hoping to end this term with a success story right from uWaterloo, Trish's story is a successful one with comes right from the grass roots of our campus!"

Mabel's Labels, a personalized children's label-making company, was founded by four University of Waterloo grads, including Mumby, who were deeply involved in student life through the Federation of Students and, in Mumby's case, worked at the university after graduation. The workshop will take place at 7:30 p.m. in RCH 306.

Finally, Human Resources is reporting that the following retired staff members have recently passed away:

Mildred (Betty) Mulholland, who started working at the university's Humanities Theatre as a secretary, died October 25. She retired in March of 1989 as Clerk Typist for the library.

Joan Boyer, whose career at the university began in October 1972, died on November 11. She was department secretary for the Political Science department and retired in August 1986. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert, in 2003.

In addition, Al Anderson died on November 10. He was hired in May 1983 as a lecturer in the Department of Drama and Speech Communication and was also employed as Manager of Theatres. He is survived by his spouse, Tamara Bruce.

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