Giving the gift of music

Do you have an old iPod or mp3 player collecting dust somewhere? Maybe even a Zune?

If so, consider donating it to the University of Waterloo's Murray Alzheimer Research & Education Program (MAREP) and help bring music to the lives of persons living with dementia.

The drive for used music players is part of MAREP's 20th anniversary celebrations, as the program "pays it forward" by donating them to their partners in long-term care home and community settings for use with persons living with Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias.

Access to music is a factor in improving the quality of life of individuals living with dementia.

"MAREP’s MP3 Drive was inspired by a global project called Music & Memory," wrote Director Sherry Dupuis in an email to colleagues in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. "Participants in the Music & Memory programs have reported increased mobility, renewed language and communication skills, decreased anxiety, richer connections, and a greater sense of joy."

The initiative has attracted media attention.

Mp3 players can be delivered to Sacha Geer, knowledge translation specialist at MAREP, in LHI room 1631 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

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Students win business plan competition

A project involving University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University students won $20,000 in a province-wide business competition last Thursday. The team was one of four across the province to win top prize at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Social Enterprise Student Competition. Five judges assessed each team's venture on criteria including innovation, feasibility, marketing, social, or environmental values.

Pictured above are Waterloo Banking Project Senior Director Helena Cao, project leader Ryan Chen-Wing, and Emily Peat, a University of Waterloo civil engineering student whose project, EcoPlace Organics, also won a prize.

"As the financial challenges of a university education grow, we will help students graduate with more money and better financial skills," said Helena Cao, a fourth year math and business double degree student at Waterloo and WLU. Cao serves as senior director on the project and co-ordinated the team's entry into the competition.

The Waterloo Banking Project is creating a retail banking and financial planning service called ReLeaf Financial to help students manage the cost of their education so they can focus on their studies.

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Public service leaders tour campus

On Friday, March 22, the University of Waterloo hosted a group of deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers for a uWaterloo Innovation Showcase tour. The all-day visit took the senior public servants on a whirlwind tour of the Communitech Hub, the VeloCity Garage, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Accelerator Centre, Open Text, the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, and the faculties of Engineering and Applied Health Sciences.

Pictured above, from left to right, are:

• Jacqueline Shaw, Manager, Knowledge Management, Reporting and Coordination, Infrastructure Canada
• Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer for OpenText
• Taki Sarantakis, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy & Communications, Infrastructure Canada
• Bruce Archibald, President, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
• Liseanne Forand, President, Shared Services Canada
• Paul Rochon, Associate Deputy Minister of Health
• Feridun Hamdullahpur, President & Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo
• Louise Levonian, Associate Deputy Minister, Finance Canada
• Serge Dupont, Deputy Minister, Natural Resources Canada
• Yaprak Baltacioglu, Secretary of the Treasury Board
• Anita Biguzs, Associate DeputyMinister, Transport Canada
• Alister Smith, Associate Secretary, Treasury Board Secretariat

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Holiday closures and other notes

Tomrrow is Good Friday. That makes today payday for those staff members paid on the monthly schedule. A complete list of pay dates for both the biweekly and monthly earners is available on the Human Resources website. The holiday also means that the university is closed, more or less. Retail Services outlets will close this afternoon, reopening on Monday, and almost no other university services will operate over the Easter weekend. Most food services locations are closed, with the exception of REVelation (open 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Friday to Sunday). Tim Hortons locations will be closing this afternoon, with Modern Languages shutting down at 2:30 p.m., Davis Centre and South Campus Hall closing at 4:00 p.m., and the Student Life Centre at 5:00 p.m. The William's in Environment 3 will close at 3:30 p.m. A full list of holiday hours can be found on the Food Services website. The Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield will be closed Friday and open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The libraries are a different story. Dana Porter and Davis Centre locations will be open Friday from noon to 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, they will be open for regular hours, which for Davis is 11:00 a.m. to midnight and for Dana Porter is 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. On Sunday, March 31, extended hours for the exam study period begin, and both libraries will open at 8:00 a.m.

As always, even on holidays, the university police (ext. 22222, or 519-888-4911), and the central plant will monitor campus buildings (24-hour service and maintenance line, ext.33793).

And here's the final nutrition "myth vs. fact" supplied by Health Services dietician Sandra Ace. We've been running these in the Daily Bulletin in support of Nutrition Month. I would like to thank Sandra for preparing these tips for the last four weeks. Here's the final tip:

"Myth:: Healthy meals are boring and tasteless (otherwise stated “if it tastes good, it must be bad for me!”).

"Truth:" Healthy eating is about balance, variety and moderation, and focuses far more on the endless selection of foods you can eat, not what to stay away from. The guidance Registered Dietitians provide on healthy eating is not intended to make you feel guilty, deprived or relegated to eating bland, unpleasant meals. It may not be headline-grabbing like the Wheat Belly Diet or the Paleo Diet, or any of the hundreds of nutrition/diet/food-related books that have come and gone once their gimmick has worn thin, but our advice stands the test of time. It is based not just on the highest levels of scientific evidence but also on our belief that food should taste good. If you aren’t already a believer, you may just discover that eating healthy can taste better, can include more variety and can be more satisfying than a diet of less healthy, highly processed foods if you give it a try. You might start by preparing one new recipe a week made with natural, flavourful ingredients. Think of a simple dinner of maple syrup and Dijon glazed salmon, a baked sweet potato (cooked to creamy perfection in a microwave in just 4 or 5 minutes – don’t forget to prick with a fork several times first), steamed asparagus with a squeeze of fresh lemon and mixed greens topped with orange slices, a sprinkle of crumbled goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette, all ready in 20 minutes. The choices are endless and there is a whole world of fabulous flavors waiting to be explored.  So plan, shop, cook, but most of all enjoy!

If you've enjoyed the tips that have appeared this month, please send a message to Sandra and let her know.

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