Still Single & Sexy after 25 years

A message from Health Services.

Campus during Orientation is a flurry of bright colours and the regular din of group chants, but one of the most popular Orientation events is the production of Single and Sexy. Celebrating its 25^th year, this provocative play, coordinated by Health Services, is written and performed by upper-year students.

Edgy, entertaining and educational, the play covers challenging topics that students are likely to face during their university career: sex, drug use, racism, homophobia, date rape and gender identity, among many others. The cast presents these topics in a non-judgmental way, using language students will understand and mashing them into catchy musical numbers. Throughout the play, on-campus resources are referenced to ensure students know where to turn if they face challenging situations.

Each year, the script gets updated to reflect current issues such as plagiarism and cyber stalking, and for some students the play can be shocking. “We talk about truthful experiences that many students will go through,” says cast member Brendan Stehouwer, a third-year Arts student. “The issues aren’t sugar-coated and some content can be hard to listen to, but it’s best to be open about it.” And this is exactly what helps to make it memorable for students. “I cried when I saw it in first year,” says Elise Brisson, another cast member, now in her final year of Arts. “It has such deeply human moments contrasted with the silly moments of real life. It’s poignant.”

Campus leaders and staff working in a front-line capacity with students, such as residence dons, were invited to the premiere performance of Single and Sexy, starting at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Health Services’ manager of health education, Sandra Gibson says, “We encourage staff and faculty to engage their students in conversations about the topics in the play, and let them know there are valuable resources on campus that students can access if they need some support.”

Performances will run all next week including a special performance for Orientation leaders on Monday at 7:30 p.m., followed by three performances a day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.. All performances are at the Humanities Theatre.

Please contact Sandra Gibson if you would like to squeeze into a performance next week.

 

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Moving students into their right FIT...

by Sabrina Hutchison, Housing and Residences

This Labour Day weekend, Waterloo Residences will welcome thousands of students who will be moving into residence for the fall term. 5,100 undergraduate and 420 graduate students and families will soon call Waterloo Residences home!

This number is particularly high this year – so high in fact that over the spring 2013 term, the department of Housing and Residences had to rent a new residence community – Waterloo Central Place – from Wilfrid Laurier University. This kept all Housing staff busy as they worked hard to ensure that all residents, in all communities, receive the same great experience and support of rez.

Move-in will happen over two days: Sunday, September 1st and Monday, September 2nd. For more details about moving into residence, students can visit our website.

Members of the university community have been invited to volunteer at the fourth annual Residence Move-In Engagement Project to welcome families to the university and students to their new home. Faculty and staff will make the move-in experience more welcoming and personal by helping students move into their room, or by taking part in the Family Send-off – a great opportunity to say goodbye and celebrate the start of a student’s university career!

Waterloo Residences would like to welcome all students and thank them for choosing to live with us!

 

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...while welcoming parents to the community

by Jude Doble, Student Success Office.

This weekend is a big one on campus: thousands of first-year students and their families will arrive on Sunday and Monday for the ritual residence move-in. And for every student who is excited and nervous about starting university this fall, there are parents secretly, and not-so-secretly, experiencing similar anxiety about their children starting this new chapter in their lives.

The Student Success Office knows that helping parents to think of themselves as their student’s coach will help new students be more independent and successful. This weekend, the SSO will offer sessions called Tips for New Waterloo Families. Run twice each move-in day, the sessions help educate parents about the new experiences that both they and their student will go through, and how to see themselves as a partner in their student’s success.

“We cover simple things like letting their student unpack their own residence room and creating a plan for regular communication that everyone can live with,” says Courtney Gray, the SSO’s Coordinator, Parent and Family Programs. “These tips and strategies help students become more confident in their abilities and settle into their new homes more quickly.” 

The Student Success Office has also produced a video with tips for parents.

At the end of each move-in day, students and their families are invited to Family Send-off, a celebration of the student’s arrival at Waterloo, with an official greeting from senior administrators and a photo booth to mark the occasion. This is also a gentle way to encourage families to say good-bye to their student and let them begin their new life (and Orientation) at uWaterloo. Three weeks later, parents can return to campus for Fall Family Day, to visit their student, attend a varsity game and connect with other first-year families.

If you encounter parents in your uWaterloo role, you can direct parents to the SSO website where we offer additional resources to help parents coach their students to develop their independence and problem-solving skills.

 

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An end of month, end of term President's report

In a few short days, our university will be at its most vital and exciting, as new and returning members of our community join us on campus.

It’s the kind of energy I thrive on, and from chatting with many of you, I know that you feel the same way. To all of you – student leaders, staff members, and faculty representatives – on campus who assist with Orientation and supporting our new students, my sincere thanks and best wishes for a wonderful September.

The last month has been very productive on my end. I was joined by our Provost, Geoff McBoyle, in attending a total of four roundtables sponsored by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, on subjects including: Differentiation and Strategic Mandate Agreements; Online Learning; Credit Transfer; and Graduate Space Allocation.  These discussions took place to try and strengthen awareness about the opportunities and challenges in these specific areas, and to enable our government partners to develop strong policy to advance them along. The talks were very productive and we anticipate solid progress to flow from them. I will keep you updated.

In late July and into early August, our Associate Vice-President, International, Nello Angerilli, joined me in a delegation to Australia which included our colleagues from Western University and the University of Toronto.  We met with counterparts and stakeholders in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to discuss high-level research collaboration between Canadian and Australian universities.

On behalf of Waterloo, I concluded and signed an extension of Waterloo’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australia’s Monash University, a member of Australia’s prestigious G8 grouping of research-intensive universities and a well-renowned innovation university.

International research partnerships, like our ongoing relationship with Monash U, are key to developing Waterloo’s global profile and to growing our already significant research impact.

This month I also attended a meeting of U15 executive heads in Quebec City. (The U15 is an association of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, of which Waterloo is a member.) The Quebec City meeting centred upon our goals of seeing a new Research Excellence Fund included in the next federal budget, and the overarching need to strengthen the government’s Indirect Cost of Research program. The U15 meeting was an important step in strengthening the voice of research-intensive universities in Canada, so that we can communicate strongly and persuasively in Ottawa and in the provinces.

At the meeting we were joined by the Honourable Christian Paradis, who serves as Minister of International Development in the federal government. Maintaining close and open communication with the Government of Canada is essential for research-intensive universities, since much of our contribution to the country – especially our research impact, partnerships, and funding – hinges upon federal-level public policy. Check out the U15 website, which Waterloo staff members helped build, to learn more about this important group.

The highlight for August was the final approval of our Strategic Plan by the university’s Board of Governors on the 28^th. Our new Strategic Plan – which we have shepherded from consultation, to goal development, to endorsement by the Senate and the Board of Governors – is our community’s road map for ongoing success in a rapidly globalizing, highly competitive post-secondary education sector. PDFs of the Strategic Plan and the Strategic Plan Executive Summary are available on the Strategic Plan website.

Thanks to each and every one of you – and there are many – who contributed to the Strategic Plan, and who have important roles to play in implementing it.

With the plan now approved, we are immediately turning to implementation and measurement, which are coequally important to the plan itself. We have identified team leaders for each of the three differentiating strengths (experiential learning, entrepreneurship, and research) as well as the five foundational strengths. They will be responsible for assembling teams to track and report on progress, and keep the momentum going for each of our strengths.

And we are also taking forward steps to update the university’s visual identity – to build on the momentum of the Strategic Plan and continue moving forward with our bold vision for Waterloo as a rising, world-class innovation university. More on this from me next week.

Let me close by offering my best wishes as we embark upon a new academic year, and please stop me and say hi if you see me at Orientation and Reunion events next month.

And remember: I welcome your feedback on these updates – get in touch with me at president@uwaterloo.ca. Let me know what you think about the format, the items covered, and any changes you think would be beneficial. I promise to read each message, even if I can’t respond to all of them!

Sincerely,

FH

 

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