Thursday is Mental Health Awareness Day

By Jude Doble, Student Success Office.

This Thursday, October 25, is Mental Health Wellness Day. Staff, faculty and student leaders will be decked out in orange t-shirts to show support for this important event. The back of each t-shirt reads “1 in 5 – Ask Me” to encourage campus-wide curiosity and conversation. As one in five Canadians will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime, we want students to know uWaterloo is a caring community where they should feel comfortable asking for information and help. We want to encourage students to reach out to anyone wearing the t-shirts who can inform them of the valuable resources we have on campus.

“Mental health on university campuses is an extremely important issue and we are committed to talking openly and honestly about the challenges students face,” says President Feridun Hamdullahpur. “We want our entire campus community to feel comfortable asking for help if they need it and know that we have the resources in place to help them.”

The t-shirts will be delivered by Wednesday to departments who placed their orders last week. Each department will also receive information cards about the purpose of the day and a list of resources to share with students.

All this week, student groups will be set up in the SLC to encourage conversations about mental health, as well as hosting workshops and other outreach in the lead up to Mental Health Wellness Day. Student groups include Stand Up to Stigma, Burst Your Bubble, Healthy Minds and Feds One Waterloo.

On Thursday, several campus resources and student groups will have booths in the SLC, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Special guest speaker, recent graduate Alicia Raimundo, who is currently representing Canada as one of the five faces of mental illness for the Mental Illnesses Awareness Campaign, will share her personal experience with Waterloo students at 12 p.m. in the SLC Great Hall.

 

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How to prepare for a phishing expedition

by Terry Labach, Information Systems and Technology, as part of Information Security Awareness month.

One of the most common cyberattacks we see at uWaterloo is phishing - the sending of fraudulent email trying to trick recipients into disclosing personal information.  By harvesting usernames, passwords, and banking and credit card information, criminals can use your information many ways.  You may be subject to financial losses, identity theft, or the use of your email accounts to send more spam or phishing attacks.

One such attack that recently flooded uWaterloo used this email message:

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From: Paul Lewis <Paul.Lewis@ymca.org.au>

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:45:05 +1000

To: "info@feedback.com" <info@feedback.com>

Subject: Your Mailbox Update

To ensure quick, responsive e-mail services, it is necessary to establish limits on the amount of e-mail each user may store on the system.

Our records show that you have almost exhausted your usage allowance provided with your webmail service.

Depending on your current storage space you may request for additional storage.

Please click here to request for additional storage.

Thank you,

System Administrator

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When you receive suspicious email, there are a number of ways you can test its validity by examining the addresses and links it contains.  (Note: your email client may not show message details by default.  Many recipients of this phishing attack saw only "Paul Lewis" as the message sender.  However, moving your mouse pointer over the address or link will often display the actual contents.  Email readers usually have other options that will help, like a "Display Full Headers" command.)

Is the From: address reasonable?  In the above email, it isn't plausible that the Australian YMCA would send email administrative messages to uWaterloo.  Even if the address is that of a uwaterloo.ca email account, it is possible that the address from an account that has been compromised or is forged.

Was the email sent to you or a mailing list you belong to?  The To: address above is unrelated to uWaterloo and shouldn't be taken seriously.

What web sites does it link to?  The "click here" link above pointed to a site called mk7788.7uw.net (note: don't go there, folks).  If a linked site is not uwaterloo.ca, you should not trust it.

If you determine the message is fake, do not respond.  If you decide the message seems genuine, but the email or linked web page asks for passwords, banking information, social insurance numbers, or other personal information, ignore it!  When in doubt, telephone the purported sender to verify the legitimacy of the message.

The federal government has additional information on phishing.

You can get more information or report phishing attacks by contacting the uWaterloo Information Security Services team at soc@uwaterloo.ca.

 

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United Way campaign in its fourth week

by Jacqueline Martinz, Federation of Students

The University of Waterloo’s United Way Campaign is now in its fourth week. The University community is able to contribute in a variety of ways including one-time gifts and monthly payroll deductions. The money raised from the campaign will be used by United Way KW to fund a variety of projects in Kitchener-Waterloo.

“A donation to the United Way will make a huge difference in another person’s life, and in this community,” said Alex Lippert, co-chair of the University’s campaign. “The campaign goal for this year is $230,000 and we have over $147,000 so far. Every donation – large or small – is valuable.”

United Way KW has three focus areas: All That Kids Can Be; From Poverty to Possibility; and, Healthy People, Strong Communities. In 2011, United Way KW supported over 430 children and youth by investing more than $459,000 in programs geared to building their self-esteem and helping them develop strong interpersonal skills. That same year, United Way KW invested over $600,000 into programs that improve housing and access to emergency shelters, along with over $777,500 to support counselling and mental health.

“We’re very thankful to everyone who has already given,” said Lippert. “Let’s work together to reach the full amount. The more money we raise, the more United Way KW is able do.”

 

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Road construction updates and other notes

The university has been advised that the Phillip Street reconstruction project is "significantly behind schedule" and as a result only the north phase, which faces Columbia Street and is currently under construction will be completed and reopened this year (December 21, according to the city's road closures page). At that point, all of Phillip will be open to traffic. The south side of the street, which exits onto University Avenue, will be reconstructed in the spring and summer of 2013.

The reconstruction will see Phillip Street transformed significantly with a single lane in either direction, a continuous turning lane, bicycles lanes, and two pedestrian refuge crossings.

More than 1,900 students crossed the stage on Friday and Saturday at the University of Waterloo’s 105th Convocation. There were 1,170 undergraduate degrees, 660 master's degrees and 109 doctoral degrees handed out. Among the highlights: the university recognized three distinguished professors emeriti, and two people became honorary members of the university, including Daily Bulletin founding editor Chris Redmond. Michele Morin-Guy won the James D. Leslie Prize for outstanding performance in studies by distance/online education. The ceremonies also represented Pearl Sullivan's first Convocation as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

Finally, the Student Accounts office will be opening a little later on Wednesday, October 24 to allow for a staff training opportunity.

 

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