A bunch of heels: Members of the "Handsome Men Club", a team of graduate students from Applied Health Sciences, are preparing to participate in the annual YWCA Walk a Mile in Her Shoes fundraising event, which will take place on Wednesday, June 12.

The picture above is last year's team, who raised just over $1,000 towards the YWCA's turning point program for women and girls - the most money raised by any participating team. This year, they are doubling down and hope to raise $2,000.

Contributions will help the YWCA to:

• Support women on their journey to economic independence through employment programs;
• Build a safer community for young women through innovative programs that reduce violence and aggression in schools and promote pro-social behaviours;
• Equip girls with anti-violence strategies and skills;
• Create safe spaces for girls and young women to learn skills that will help them to develop healthy, equal relationships; and
  
• Cultivate leaders of tomorrow through leadership opportunities for girls.

Anyone wishing to donate can reach out to Chris Vigna via email and he will show up at your office wearing his shoes to collect your donation. You can also visit the campaign web page and navigate to the Pledge a Walker section, selecting from the @HandsomeMensClub members you wish to support.

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Places to Grow on Pragma Council's agenda

The Pragma Council, a forum of peers from business, education, and government that meet on a semi-annual basis to discuss issues relating to economic growth, environmental quality, development and land use change, and, in general, the quality of life in Canada, held its Spring 2013 conference on Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10, hosted by the School of Planning.

This year's theme was "Ontario's Places to Grow Plan: From Accolades to Implementation."

Delivering the keynote address was Bryan Tuckey, president and chief executive officer of the Building Industry and Land Development Association, who spoke on "Looking Back and Looking Forward: Ontario's Growth Plan."

Other conference sessions included Ontario Growth Challenges and Achievements, Planners' Perception of Obstacles to the Achievement of Growth Plan Objectives, Development Industry Perspectives on Places to Grow, and a number of case studies focusing on specific Ontario communities and their experiences.

Pragma was established in 1987, has several objectives, including providing financial and other support for School of Planning projects such as field trips and student awards, supporting a Planner-in-Residence program that allows an experienced planning professional to spend time teaching and advising students, serving as an advisory body to Waterloo's Planning program, giving advice and assistance to ensure programs and research remain effective and relevant, and addressing problem of common concern linked to the challenges of growth and change in society.

Membership in the council is by invitation and is limited to individuals whose backgrounds have extensive professional experience and broad-based levels of expertise in the areas of planning, environment, and the development of human and fiscal resources. The council's membership represents a wide range of fields, and varying degrees of knowledge, perspectives, and viewpoints.

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This weekend, Progress to Success

The Southwestern Ontario chapter of the Society of Technical Communication (STC) is holding an educational event on campus this Saturday. Entitled "Progress to Success," the event includes roundtable presentations by knowledge experts across a variety of subjects, including self-employed financial planning, social media, contracting, content re-use, resumes, small businesses, and networking.

The event kicks off with the Society's annual general meeting from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in DC 1302, with the roundtable discussion sessions happening afterwards.

The roundtables take the form of a progression, with attendees choosing which presenter they would like to hear from first, and then moving from table to table until they have heard from all four presenters.

Registration and admission information is available online.

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Board of Governors meets tomorrow, other notes

The university's Board of Governors meets tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. for a meeting that will take place first in Engineering 5, and then at the University Club. Up for approval on the agenda at tomorrow's Board of Governors meeting are tuition fee increases and incidental fee changes and the operating budget for 2013-2014. The governors will also discuss the university's strategic plan at length. Aside from the usual committee reports, governors will also hear a research presentation from 2013 Killam Prize Winner Paul Thagard and a report from the Dean of Engineering.

The Conrad Centre is hosting Professor Jianxi Luo from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) today at 2:00 p.m. Professor Luo is an assistant professor in the Engineering Product Development Pillar at SUTD, and according to the event's promotional material is a "serial entrepreneur" who si "passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship in research, teaching, and practice, and his research explores the structures and dynamics of innovation ecosystems." Professor Luo will be speaking about "The Role of Global Entrepreneurship in the Emergence of China’s Photovoltaic Industrial Ecosystem". The event is free and open to the public.

The next VeloCity Campus event is entitled "Business Model Generation" and features speaker Aditya Sharm. It will take place on Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Environment 3's room 4412. Register online. There will be free pizza, oh yes, there will be.

Human Resources is reporting that retiree Helen Schneider, who worked in Food Services as a Food Services Assistant from September 1971 to January 1989, died May 26. In addition, George Nikolica Jr. died May 9. George worked as a Custodian in Plant Operations from 1992 to 2010. He is survived by his wife, Konstanca, also a uWaterloo employee.

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