Promoting mental health, wellness on campus

by Mark Beadle, director, campus wellness

Today is Bell Let's Talk day.  This is a program dedicated to the promotion and support of mental health across Canada.  The program enhances awareness, understanding, and treatment of mental illness and promotes access to care and research across the country.  Today, 5 cents from every text message sent, long distance call made, tweet using #BellLetsTalk, and Facebook share of the Bell Let's Talk image will be donated to mental health initiatives across Canada. 

Our campus community also has a strong commitment to promoting awareness and treatment of people with mental health concerns, as well as a focus on Mental Wellness for our students, staff, and faculty.  Many of you participated in the events leading up to Mental Health Wellness Day in the Fall term.  You may recall the orange t-shirts worn by staff, faculty, and student leaders.  The key message of Mental Health Wellness Day is that:

• 1 in 5 Canadians will be affected by mental illness in their lifetime
• uWaterloo is a caring community and is a safe place to ask for help
• we have the resources to help you

We are pleased to launch our calendar of activities geared at de-stigmatizing mental illness and promoting mental wellness for the Winter term.  In partnership with on-campus departments including FEDS, Campus Recreation, and the Student Success Office, and with the tremendous support of student groups (Stand Up to Stigma, Healthy Minds, Burst Your Bubble, Mission Nutrition, Leave the Pack Behind, and One Waterloo), we have six weeks of Mental Health and Wellness activities happening on campus.  The activities include:

• February 27:     Physical Activity to reduce stress
• March 6:           Spotlight on Mental Health (Art Exhibit hosted by Stand Up to Stigma)
• March 11:         De-stress and Socialize Games Night
• March 18:        Mighty Minute Massages
• March 25:        Puppy Therapy
• April 1:            Mental Wellness Self-Care (pre-exam period) Packages

Participating in these activities is fun and good for you!  Details of dates/times/locations will be broadcast via the Daily Bulletin, the Student Success Office website, and Twitter.  We look forward to seeing you there!  Activities are open to all students, staff and faculty.

 

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Voting begins in Feds elections

Student election season reaches its fever pitch today as voting begins in the annual Federation of Students elections. The voting, which has been held online for more than a decade, began at 8:00 a.m. this morning and will continue until 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 14.

Up for grabs are the four Federation of Students executive positions, a number of seats on Students' Council, and student positions on the university's senate (the Federation of Students is kind enough to run the Senate elections conterminously with their own).

Judging from the posters plastered around campus, two slates, or teams, are duking it out for the Federation's executive positions: Team Yellow and Team Teal. A colourful bunch, to be sure. The exception is the race for president, where there are three candidates, one representing each slate, and an independent. The candidates are:

• President: David Collins, Jesse McGinnis, and Moe Bdeir
• Vice-President, Education: Adam Garcia (the incumbent) and Christina Romualdo
• Vice-President, Administration and Finance: Elizabeth McFaul and Natasha Pozega
• Vice-President, Internal: Devin Drury and Mujeeb Duranai

There is also a race for an at-large student senator position between Nauman Ashraf and Sean Hunt, and in the Engineering constituency between Allyson Francis and David Birnbaum. Voting information and candidate profiles for those running for the federation executive and student senate positions can be found on the Federation of Students' election website.

The election results will be released publicly on Friday, February 15.

 

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Nominations open for faculty, grad Senate seats

While we're on the subject of elections, the Secretariat has declared nominations to be open for a number of vacant or soon-to-be-vacant faculty and graduate student seats on the university's senate.

There are 16 faculty member seats available:

• one faculty member to be elected by/from each faculty of the university, for a term beginning May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2016;
• one faculty member to be elected by/from the Faculty of Environment, with a term ending April 30, 2015.
• eight faculty-at-large representatives to be elected by/from the members of faculty of the university, for a term beginning May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2016.
• one at-large representative to be elected by/from the members of the faculty of the university with a term ending April 30, 2015.
• One faculty member to be elected by/from the members of faculty of St. Jerome's University, with a term of May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2016.
• One faculty member to be elected by/from the members of faculty of Conrad Grebel University College with a term of May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2016.

In addition, two graduate student representative positions are available, with the students to be elected by/from the full- and part-time graduate students of the university for a term of May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2015.

Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat at extension 36125 and from the Secretariat's website. At least five nominators are required in each case, and nominations should be sent to the Secretariat in Needles Hall (room 3060) no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1. Elections will follow if necessary.

Senators whose terms expire on April 30 include:

Faculty: Joseph Cheriyan (combinatorics & optimization), Tara Collington (French studies), Brian Dixon (biology), Paul Guild (management sciences), Anwar Hasan (electrical & computer engineering), Bruce Hellinga (civil & environmental engineering), Keith Hipel* (system design engineering), Susan Leat (optometry & vision science), Stephen McColl (public health & health systems), Jim Pankratz (Conrad Grebel University College), Diana Parry (recreation & leisure studies), Tracy Penny Light (St. Jerome’s University), Metin Renksizbulut (mechanical & mechatronics engineering), Robert Shipley (planning), Olaf Weber (environment, enterprise & development).

Graduate Students: Michael Makahnouk (earth & environmental sciences), Krista Mathias (public health & health systems).

 

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