Nominations open for equity, inclusion award

A message from the Status of Women and Equity Committee (SWEC).

The Status of Women and Equity Committee (SWEC) is seeking nominations for the second annual equity and inclusion award. This award is a celebration of excellence in equity, inclusivity, and diversity. The award recognizes a member or affiliate of the University of Waterloo community whose actions have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving equity, inclusivity, and/or diversity at the University of Waterloo. 

Nominees will normally be an individual, group, or unit associated with the University of Waterloo or the Federated University and Affiliated Colleges (FUAC).  The committee will also consider those who, although not formally affiliated with the University, have nonetheless made a demonstrable impact on equity, inclusivity, and/or diversity.

Nominees will have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving the lives of women and/or other members of equity-seeking groups on campus. The impact of their efforts or actions should be demonstrable and shareable. These efforts or actions could be in, but not restricted to, the following areas: outstanding service; policy development or improvements; education or awareness-raising efforts; political, legal, or collective bargaining advancements; relevant scholarship; organizational leadership.

Nomination packages should include the following: a cover letter by the nominator, a C.V. or resume, additional letters of support, and any other evidence deemed relevant by the nominator(s). Only completed nomination packages will be considered. Please send nomination packages by June 3, 2013 to Diana Parry, Chair of SWEC.

The successful candidate will be notified by August 1 and the award celebration will take place in the Fall of 2013.

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PumpUp takes second in mobile competition

PumpUp, a VeloCity Garage startup and mobile application that is designed to provide users with personalized workouts, placed second at the University Mobile Challenge at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain on February 28.

The challenge asked competitors to develop an innovated concept that "will address a need today" and could take the form of a business concept or technology development (application or device) that could be aimed at any market and address any issue.

A baker's dozen of student teams from around the world participated in the competition, included competitors from Harvard, Oxford, the University of California - Berkeley, the National University of Singapore, and Princess Sumaya University For Technology. Four of the 13 finalists, including Waterloo's PumpUp, made it to the final round of the competition.

In the end, the team from UC Berkeley carried the day, with an app designed to help solve the problem of the lack of water in developing nations by allowing water providers to remotely control water supplies.

PumpUp, which got its start in the VeloCity Garage, is also part of Communitech's HYPERDRIVE incubator program. It was founded by Garrett Gottlieb, a Waterloo computer science student, and Wilfrid Laurier University grad Phil Jacobson.

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Celebrating a 42-year career

by Carol Truemner. A longer version of this piece appears in the February issue of the Waterloo Engineering Alumni eLetter (WEAL).

June Lowe (right) has kept the name of every Waterloo Engineering student she has ever worked with or taught. And considering she's been with the Faculty for over 42 years, that's quite a few names. More than 30,000, in fact.

The personal connection she forms with her students is one of the reasons the senior demonstrator, first year engineering, will be missed when she officially retires from the University of Waterloo in March.

“I think more than anyone I have ever met, June cares about others,” says her colleague Chris Rennick, also a senior demonstrator for first year engineering. “She has been extremely dedicated to her students and seems to have a knack for knowing what they needed over the years. If you ask alumni if they remember June, without fail their faces light up, and they have some humorous anecdote of something she did for them.”

June began working in Waterloo Engineering on July 2, 1970 or, as she puts it, before there were computers. Only two students in her first class had calculators and the rest had slide rules.

There were occasions she considered a career move, but was persuaded not to leave. "Every time I went for a new job I was offered a different role or responsibility within the Faculty," June says. Her dedication to Waterloo Engineering has been recognized with the Faculty’s 1975 Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2012 Engineering Outstanding Staff Performance Award in the technical category.

June’s retirement plans include building a house for herself and travelling to Tanzania in January 2014 to teach for a couple of months for another institution. And she’s also planning to do something with all the names of her students that she’s collected throughout the years.

“At this point I don’t quite know what I’ll do with them,” she laughs. “I’ll definitely count the names and maybe plot them on a graph.”

Read the entire piece at the Waterloo Engineering Alumni eLetter (WEAL).

June's retirement celebration will be held tomorrow, March 14, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in South Campus Hall's Festival Room. To recognize June’s 42 years of service to our students, the Faculty of Engineering would like to establish an entrance scholarship in her honour, the June Lowe Scholarship.

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Light Rail Lunch and Learn and other notes

Commuting options will be the topic for discussion at an event entitled "Lunchtime Lecture Series: Waterloo Region on the Move" on Wednesday, March 27 in Arts Lecture Hall 124.

Organized by TravelWise, the event will feature guest speaker Kimberly Moser, the Rapid Transit Community Manager for Waterloo Region, who will be discussing the impact that commuting has in Waterloo Region, and reviewing some of the updates for Waterloo Region's forthcoming Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. Registration for the event is free.

TravelWise is a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program that provides an assortment of transportation tools and services to program members to encourage sustainable transportation to and from work.

Other notes as the week hits its stride:

Waterloo Regional Police are seeking information about an assault that occurred on Saturday, March 9 in the parking lot of UW Place. A news bulletin on the University of Waterloo Police Services website has more details on the incident.

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) has a piece on its website about longtime university staff member Chandrika Anjaria, who recently received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Congratulations Chandrika!

Information Systems & Technology (IST) has announced that registration has opened for the early spring course offerings of Skills for the Electronic Workplace (SEW). Courses are registered through myHRinfo (there's a handy how-to guide if you need it).

Here's today's nutrition "myth vs. fact" provided by Health Services Dietician Sandra Ace:

"Myth:" Nuts are fattening and should be avoided if you are trying to lose weight.

"Fact:"  It is true that nuts are high in calories because they contain mostly fat, which is more calorically-dense than either carbohydrates or protein. However, nuts contain heart healthy types of fats as well as fibre, vitamins, minerals and protein. In small amounts, nuts can be part of a healthy eating pattern even for people trying to lose weight. Some studies have indicated that eating nuts may even aid in weight loss. This might be due to nuts’ satiety properties which help a person to feel full and satisfied and may mean less snacking on other foods or smaller meal portions. If you are trying to lose weight, rather than a chocolate bar, serving of chips or cookies, you might try snacking on a ¼ cup of nuts with a piece of fruit. Choose unsalted nuts that are raw or dry-roasted without oil. And, unless you have a lot of willpower, avoid keeping large containers of nuts at your desk or by the TV; when you snack directly from the jar it’s easy to overeat!

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