Stratford Campus takes centre stage

with material from a Waterloo Stratford Campus media release.

The University of Waterloo Stratford Campus marks a historic occasion today with the grand opening of its new building that will house programs designed to support the confluence of art, business and technology.

The ribbon-cutting event, which is being streamed live, begins at 11:00 a.m. in Stratford at the campus's permanent location at 125 St. Patrick  Street.

"The grand opening today of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus marks the culmination of a significant investment in making this building and campus a reality," said Feridun Hamdullahpur. "We are very proud of the unique partnership between the university, various levels of government, and the private sector that mobilized a great vision and brought us all to this important occasion."

This event is more than six years in the making, and in fact is being held six years to the day that the [15]initial memorandum of agreement was signed by Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson, General Director of the Stratford Festival Antoni Cimolino, and David Johnston, then-president of the University of Waterloo. The present site was secured in January 2010, with construction beginning the following spring.

The 45,000 square-foot, three-story facility on St. Patrick Street boasts many amenities, including digital media labs, editing suites, project rooms and bright, open collaboration spaces. The highlight of the building is a three-story Christie Digital MicroTile wall - the largest installation of its kind in Canada - that displays curated and student content on 150 linked MicroTiles. The MicroTile wall can be seen from all three floors inside the
building, as well as from the street through the front glass façade.

The campus's new home was enabled through the support of the Ontario government and the City of Stratford, which each invested $10 million for a total $20 million for the building. The city's full commitment to the project included the additional expenditure of $4.5 million for the land.

The building was designed by Canadian architectural firm ZAS Architects and built by Bondfield Construction over the last 18 months. Operating costs for programs at the Stratford Campus were contributed by the federal government along with $10 million in funding and in-kind services from OpenText.

The campus is home to more than 90 undergraduate students in the Global Business and Digital Arts program, and a cohort of 19 graduate students in the Master of Digital Experience Innovation program.

"Today we celebrate establishing a brand new curriculum that is important for Canada's future success in digital media on an international playing field," said Ginny Dybenko, executive director of the Stratford Campus. "We initiated our graduate program last year in a temporary location. This fall, we launched our undergraduate program in our new building with overwhelming success."

Following the ribbon-cutting, a public open house with tours of the new building has been organized from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The community of Stratford is also celebrating by hosting "Black and Gold Day" where local business storefronts will be festooned with black and gold decorations.

Photograph by Jim Wilkinson.

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Call for proposals for 2013 staff conference

Organizational & Human Development (OHD) is inviting internal proposals from the campus community for workshop sessions at the sixth annual Staff Conference, which will be taking place on April 9 and 10, 2013.

"Proposals should be for an educational and interactive session(s) focused on professional and/or personal development --from all areas of campus life, be it work-life balance to health and wellness to emerging technologies-- that will include discussion, activities, and engagement on your specific topic," reads a memo circulated earlier this term.

Workshop proposal guidelines are available online for those seeking more information about this call for proposals.

The due date for proposals has been extended until Friday, November 2.

Mark Lisetto-Smith of Organizational & Human Development (OHD) is available to take any questions about the proposal guidelines and submission process.

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Flu vaccine for "high risk" employees available

Well, it's that time of year again. In the context of recent outbreaks of influenza reported in Waterloo Region, Health Services is running its High Risk flu clinic for members of the university community.

Who is considered high risk, you may ask? Well, Health Services has provided a handy list:

• uWaterloo Police, Daycare workers and Optometry students currently in
  clinic;
  
• Health care providers who work in facilities and community settings,
  such as physicians, nurses and emergency response workers;
  
• Persons 65 years of age or over;
  
• All children 6 to 59 months of age;
  
• Pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy;
  
• Aboriginal people;
  
• Adults and children with diabetes or other metabolic disease, chronic cardiac or respiratory conditions (asthma), cancer, obesity, kidney disease, blood disorders or anyone whose immune system is weakened;
  
• Children and adolescents who have been treated with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) for long periods;
  
• Anyone who lives, works or volunteers in a nursing home, retirement home
  or chronic care facility;
  
• People who live in the same household as, or are in close contact with, a person who is at increased risk of the flu's more serious effects;
  
• Care providers of children aged 0-59 months;
  
• Essential community service people; and
  
• People in direct contact with avian-influenza infected poultry during culling operations.

Students, faculty and staff who meet the "high risk" definition can get
their flu shots at the health services clinic on a walk-in basis between
2:00 and 4:00 p.m. today, or on the following days:

• Thursday, October 18
  
• Tuesday, October 23 and Thursday, October 25
  
• Tuesday, October 30 and Thursday, November 1

The annual vaccination clinic for the "healthy population" on campus is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14 through to Friday, November 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Student Life Centre.

According to a fact sheet from Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, "influenza is a serious illness that can lead to pneumonia. The flu shot is safe and it's the most effective way to protect you and your family from the flu. Studies have found that the flu shot can prevent up to 90% of influenza in healthy adults and children."

Influenza spreads by respiratory droplets from infected persons, through coughing or sneezing. It is also spread through direct contact with surfaces contaminated by the influenza virus, such as toys, eating utensils and unwashed hands.

Health Services may be contacted at 519-888-4096 for more information.

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Focus on Teaching Week and other notes

A week's worth of seminars and courses has been organized for this year's Focus on Teaching Week, offered by the Centre for Teaching Excellence, including guest speaker Mick Healey, a higher education consultant and researcher from the United Kingdom. Focus on Teaching Week offers CTE a chance to run a schedule of its greatest hits in a single week, with some of its most popular workshops on offer.

Monday's featured courses included CTE690, "Using Learning Activities in LEARN to Promote Deep Learning" and CTE691, "Flipping Your Classroom." The rest of the week's schedule is as follows:

Day 2: Tuesday, October 16

CTE642 Course Design Fundamentals, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., EV1 242.

CTE 692 The Bachelor of Knowledge Integration's Experience with Implementing
an Undergraduate Senior Research Project - Benefits and Challenges and
Lessons Learned, 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m., FLEX Lab (LIB 329).

Day 3: Wednesday, October 17
CTE693 Assessing for Learning that Lasts, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., FLEX Lab (LIB 329).

Day 4: Thursday, October 18
CTE694 Developing Independent and Autonomous Learning (presented by Mick
Healey, Higher Education Consultant and Researcher), 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, FLEX Lab (LIB 329).

Day 5: Friday, October 19
CTE642 Course Design Fundamentals, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., EV1 242.

Registration details are available on the CTE website.

Human Resources is reporting that retired chemistry professor R. Graham
Woolford died on September 19. Woolford began his career at the university in January 1959 as an assistant professor in Chemistry, becoming Associate Professor in October 1963 and receiving tenure in April 1969. He held the positions of associate chair and associate dean of the faculty over the course of his career before retiring in September 1996 under the university's Special Early Retirement Program. Professor Woolford
was predeceased by his spouse, Lillian.

In addition, John McDonald, who worked in Plant Operations from August 1982 until his retirement as Building Serviceperson in June 1998, died October 1.

And a reminder that faculty and staff are being encouraged to fill out the TravelWise survey about their commuting habits.

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