Brent Thornhill from the office of advancement writes: "At Alumni Theatre Night held Tuesday, March 12, we recognized Keystone donors and members of our President’s Circle, Laurel Society and 1957 Society who came together in support of our talented students. To find out more about our Circle program and other giving societies, please contact Meghan Whitfield, Associate Director, Annual Giving."

Pictured above are Circle members and Keystone donors with cast members of the 2013 Theatre Night production, Top Girls.

 

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"Magical" hockey playoff run ends with loss

So, that happened.

The Waterloo men's hockey team's Cinderella season run that saw the Warriors knock out some of the top-seeded teams in the OUA West division and beyond ended one game short of the University Cup final on Saturday with a 5-1 loss to the St. Mary's Huskies.

The Athletics department has a full rundown of the game on its website. Waterloo scored early on in the game, but St. Mary's would even the score before the end of the first period, adding a second goal in the second period, and three more in the third.

St. Mary's would go on to the championship game held yesterday afternoon, and fell to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, who won the final game 2-0.

But this may not be the end of the fairy tale. After all, points out the Athletics department, 18 of the 21 Waterloo men's hockey players will be back in uniform next season.

Well played, gentlemen, well played.

 

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Co-op Students of the Year announced

A message from Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA).

This is National Co-op Week! It’s an annual celebration of the long history of co-operative education in Canada and the continuing growth and job development that is so crucial to all of Canada’s co-op programs.  The Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (of which uWaterloo is a member) celebrates by awarding a nationwide Co-op Student of the Year award, encouraging co-op students to participate in a social media contest, as well as suggesting that post-secondary institutions with co-op programs celebrate with their own students.

As part of the week’s celebrations, one co-op student from each of Waterloo’s six faculties will receive the 2012 University of Waterloo Co-op Student of the Year Award.  The ceremony takes place in the William M. Tatham Centre on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.  The university is recognizing these students primarily due to their exemplary performance during a 2012 work term, along with other factors including community involvement, contribution to co-op and academic achievements. 

"These six winners are just some of the many remarkable students enrolled in co-op," says Peggy Jarvie, executive director of Co-operative Education & Career Action. "With their achievements, they embody the determination and passion for learning that Waterloo represents. It is with great pleasure that we celebrate their accomplishments and thank them for their dedication.”

National Co-op Week celebrates the growth of co-op education programs across the country. Waterloo is home to the world's largest co-op program and the first one in Canada. Co-op has greatly benefitted students, employers and academic institutions since its launch at the University of Waterloo in 1957.

Our co-op students of the year are:

Diljot Chhina – Biotechnology/Economics (Science)

Diljot was employed at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, beginning as a project management co-ordinator, but promoted after two months to project management consultant, a role classified as a full-time position within the Ministry.  Her main task during her work term was developing and integrating a Project Management & Process Improvement Portal to be used by over 4000 staff members, requiring her to learn the technical language necessary to develop the portal.  Diljot presented the portal to a Ugandan Delegation, demonstrating how valuable an online tool can be for integrating innovation within a governmental setting.  The portal has now been nominated for an Innovation Award with the Ontario Public Service.  Diljot also serves as the current director of marketing for the National Business and Technology Conference, and was the Entrepreneurship Lead for the International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition in 2012.

Akash Kapoor – Accounting and Financial Management (Arts)

Akash spent his work term with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he proved his value by managing a new client’s tax return from beginning to end (something usually only done by experienced associates or managers).  While working with the Scientific Research & Experimental Development Group he created an Excel workbook used to gather and organize financial information from the client. This was the first of its kind and has gone on to become a standardized template used by the National Client Engagement Team, to be used by company offices all over Canada.  Akash has volunteered as a Teaching & Research assistant at Waterloo, and has donated his time to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario Tax Clinic, a program that helps low-income families and students prepare their tax returns.

Henry Shi – Computer Science (Math)

During his work term at Bloomberg Sports, a new start-up company in New York City, Henry worked directly with a Major League Baseball Team, helping to improve their advanced scouting and ultimately impacting their game performance.  He was the sole developer of a suite of tools and reports that provided statistical information (opposing players to watch out for, strong and weak hitters etc.) for their pre-game preparation.  While Henry does not claim direct causation, the team he worked with has emerged as leaders of their division in a truly remarkable comeback story.  Henry is a member of the VeloCity program at Waterloo, which keeps him very busy.  He independently taught other students the basics of programming, the response to which was so positive the program was officially offered as a course to students this term.   Henry is also receiving CAFCE’s 2012 National Co-op Student of the Year Award and the Emery-Dufault Award.

Dominique Souris – Environment and Resource Studies (Environment)

Dominique spent her work term at the Ontario Energy Board, where she was a key player in introducing new presentation software to the company.  In addition to training permanent staff members on the software, she held a Lunch and Learn session and went on to design a presentation that senior managers used at a conference.  Dominique also took on the daunting task of expanding the Board’s outreach contacts by developing relationships with student unions and campus organizations and distributing promotional materials across the province.  Dominique is a member of the uWaterloo Sustainability Project, the Events and Web Director of the Environment Student Association, the Environmental Co-ordinator at Renison University College, Campaign Co-ordinator with the Ban the Bottle coalition, and a member of the Environment sub-committee for the Environment Student Society. 

Nemica Thavarajah – Health Studies: Gerontology (Applied Health Sciences)

Nemica worked in Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre’s Rapid Response Radiotherapy Clinic (RRPR), where she researched the treatments provided there in order to better assess the level of patient care.  Analyzing over 5400 patient cases, she wrote three first-authored manuscripts presenting her findings, which will be shared on a national and international basis.  Nemica also published a manuscript determining the knowledge of pain management of cancer patients among radiation therapists, which was the first study of its kind.  Nemica serves as the Team Leader for Waterloo’s Mission Nutrition Team, a group dedicated to promoting nutrition and a healthy lifestyle to students and staff on campus.  Along with her team, she has organized many events on campus. 

Dominic Toselli – Mechanical Engineering (Engineering)

Dominic spent his work term in Calgary at Shell Canada, where he took the lead role on a Root Cause Analysis of a costly heat exchanger problem.  In his report, he addressed the human factor in the issue, which turned out to account for 80% of the failings the company was encountering.  Because of the costly and time-consuming process of replacing the heat exchangers, Dominic’s project resulted in a direct savings of $1 million/year for Shell Canada.  Dominic had the opportunity to present his findings in front of the Technical Assurance Engineering Group, which is comprised of over 100 professional engineers.  His report was published at the Shell Calgary Research Centre’s global technical library.  Dominic has worked for 2 years on creating a bilateral exchange agreement between the Politecnico di Milan and the University of Waterloo, and is currently on academic exchange in Italy. 

In addition to these students, Elias Chiddicks (Arts: Legal Studies) and Michal Grzadkowski (Math: Combinatorics & Optimization) received Honourable Mentions. 

Co-operative Education and Career Action presents the Co-op Student of the Year Award annually.

 

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President: freedom to speak is "fundamental"

by Feridun Hamdullahpur, President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

As the president of a university that treasures the principles of free speech, I am extremely disappointed that a guest invited to speak at a University of Waterloo Federation of Students-sanctioned club event on Wednesday, March 13, was interrupted by vociferous protest by a group of nearly two-dozen Waterloo and non-Waterloo students.

Although instances such as this are fortunately rare at Waterloo, I consider the events of March 13 to be an attack on our presence as a place where issues are explored, discussed and debated. The freedom to speak and to learn is fundamental to the values of this institution.

The University of Waterloo is committed to creating an environment where ideas are peacefully and safely explored for the betterment of all. The silencing of anyone who proffers an opinion is unacceptable.

We are examining ways in which we can ensure all invited speakers, whatever the topic, are able to speak in a safe and productive environment. We are also exploring ways in which we can partner with student groups to provide appropriate support for their events on campus. A review into this incident is underway.

 

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Monday's notes

Federation Xpress, we hardly knew ye: Five years after the Federation of Students moved its convenience store Aussie's from its location "down under" the stairs to the Student Life Centre's basement level up to the main entrance of the SLC, renaming it Federation Xpress, they've gone and replaced it with International News.

Among the new offerings at the store are lottery tickets, Red Bull and Coca-Cola products. Fed Bus tickets continue to be sold at the cash registers. The Federation of Students promises major renovations in the winter term to improve wheelchair accessibility and expand the "grab n' go" area. An official launch is planned for later in the spring.

And here's the latest nutrition "myth vs. fact" supplied by Health Services dietician Sandra Ace:

"Myth:"  Non-dairy “milks” have the same nutrients as regular milk.

"Fact:"  If you don’t drink cow’s milk because of an allergy or intolerance, or you follow a vegan diet or simply don’t like it’s taste, a wide array of alternative plant-based beverages are available. But are all “milks” created equal? Most soy beverages are fortified to make them nutritionally the most similar to cow’s milk, so these are your best bet. While some rice and almond beverages may be fortified with calcium, vitamin D and a few other nutrients, not all are. Also, only soy beverage contains close to the amount of protein as that found in cow’s milk (about 6-7 grams per 250 mL in soy milk compared to 9 grams per 250 mL in cow’s milk). Almond and rice drinks have just 1 gram or less of protein in a 250 mL serving. If you buy plant-based, non-dairy beverages, especially rice or almond drinks, check the Nutrition Facts and be aware that you may need to get the many nutrients found in a glass of cow’s milk, such as protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamins A, B12 and D, elsewhere in your diet. 

 

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