Tutor Connect links students to success

by Ainsley Munro, Student Success Office.

As students return to campus, we enter a new term of midterms, assignments and papers. Some students struggle with their academic course loads, and reaching out for help can be daunting.

The Student Success Office has created an online tool called Tutor Connect, which will make it easier for students to find extra help with their courses. The centralized, online tutor board will allow uWaterloo students to connect needs with skills.

With the launch of Tutor Connect the Student Success Office is looking to the campus community to help promote the tutor board to potential tutors and those who would benefit from peer tutoring.

Students can create their tutor profile on Tutor Connect and set their own fees and hours. For tutors, this is an opportunity to help their peers succeed while also building experience for their resume. The board allows tutors to update their availability and services throughout the term.

Students looking for help can search for tutors by course code and view the tutor’s current academic year, their hourly rate of pay and any additional information the tutor has provided.

“Sometimes you just need a little extra help,” says Erica McKellar, an SSO success coach. “Our hope is that this online tutoring board will connect students with success, whether that means passing a course, scoring a 90 per cent or helping fund their weekend outings while helping others.”

Tutor Connect is hosted on the Student Success Office website and users are required to log in with their WatIAM ID and accept the terms of use.

 

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Lieutenant Governor to open Renison extension

Call it getting the viceregal treatment.

Today the Honourable David Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario will be in attendance to officially open Renison University College's newest building, the East Side Extension. The extension includes additional classrooms, office space and a student lounge.

“We are delighted to have the Lieutenant Governor with us to open the East Side Extension and mark this new growth at Renison,” said Dr. Glenn F. Cartwright, Renison’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor. “Renison University College’s relationship with the Canadian Crown, through the office of the Lieutenant Governor, is greatly valued. Renison is excited to celebrate this step in our ongoing development with both His Honour and our wider community.”

The ongoing relationship between Renison and the Office of Lieutenant Governor stretches back to the University College’s very beginnings. The Honourable J. Keiller MacKay, Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor from 1957-1963 (pictued at left), laid the cornerstone of Renison University College’s first building, the Founders Building, in 1962.

Subsequently, two Lieutenant Governors, the Hon. John B. Aird (1985) and the Hon. Lincoln M. Alexander (1989), were named Honorary Senior Fellows of Renison University College.

The event begins at 4:30 p.m.

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Bits and bites from the provincial budget

The Ontario government tabled its 2013 budget last Thursday, and there were several elements of interest to the post-secondary education sector. Some of these were not a surprise – the re-announcement of the 3 per cent cap on undergraduate tuition fees, and infrastructure commitments of $800 million over the next three years for 20 projects either already announced or already underway at Ontario colleges and universities, for example. Post-secondary institutions are also being given a 1.9 per cent boost to operating funding to pay for modest growth in enrolments, a promise made last year.

The big-ticket item, if there was one, was the $295 million youth employment strategy. The budget also announced the creation of the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities and the establishment of an Ontario Youth Employment Fund of $195 million over two years to be administered through the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities’ existing service units, and a $45 million Ontario Youth Entrepreneurship Fund. The fund will direct $45M over two years to three priority areas – mentorship, high school entrepreneurship outreach, and seed-stage capital, to be administered through “accelerator hubs.”

In addition, Ontario Youth Innovation Funds worth $10M over two years will allow post-doctoral fellows to lead industrial research and development (R&D) and commercialization. On-Campus Accelerator Centres funding of $20M over two years will build on existing centres (VeloCity was given a shout-out in the budget document) to “facilitate development of entrepreneurial activity in Ontario’s universities and colleges.” The fund will be competitive and proposal-based, with institutions needing to tell their entrepreneurship story and link their activities on campus with local business and regional innovation centres.

In the interest of improving accountability, the budget also proposed that universities and colleges better track student outcomes over time and report on their graduates’ career success rates, building on the existing reporting structures outlined in institutional Multi-Year Accountability Agreements.

The current freeze on public sector executive compensation was given an end date as it was linked to the return to balanced budgets, slated for the 2017-2018 year. The government also committed to continuing to work towards solutions for individual public sector pension plans that are moving toward solving their own problems either independently or through pooled programs.

 

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Feds Welcome Week and other notes

Sex Toy Bingo and Trivia Night are among the special events for the Federation of Students’ Spring Welcome Week 2013. Organized by Waterloo Team Feds, it will be held from May 13-17.

"To take advantage of the warmth and sunshine, this year’s Spring Welcome Week also includes a new addition in Ultimate Frisbee," writes the federation's Jacqueline Martinz. "Undergraduates will be able to challenge each other with Frisbees in the faculty colours."

The full schedule is available online.

As part of National Mental Health Week and in recognition of International No-Diet Day which fell on Monday, May 6, Sharon Roberts, Assistant Professor at Renison University College will be presenting “The ‘I’ in in Diet: Selling you Thin" at 7:00 p.m. in Renison University College's Dunker Family lounge.

"Are you pursuing a personal development opportunity for which you would like funding assistance?" asks an email from the University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA). "Apply for a Staff Enhancement Grant today!" The purpose of the Staff Enhancement Grant (SEG) is "to cover the costs associated with the pursuit of personal development for staff." Applications are reviewed and the UWSA recommends recipients for grants of up to $500. Applications are judged "on the basis of the overall merit of the objectives, activities, and benefits to the individual, and the community."

All UWSA members are eligible to apply for funds. The next application deadline is June 1, 2013.

The Registrar's Office is sending out an email to students reminding them that even as the term gets started, they shouldn't get too complacent - the last day to add classes for online courses is Friday, May 10, and for on-campus course offerings, the deadline is Friday, May 17. These and other important dates are available on the Quest information website.

Other helpful links in the Registrar's Office memo include:

• the Registrar's Office help page - and online contact us form;
• the Quest website;
• the Scheduling, timetabling, and examinations projects (STEP) website;
• Student Awards & Financial Aid website; and
• the Undergraduate Calendar.

The University of Waterloo Recreation Committee (UWRC) is running a contest. To enter, simply email the committee with the on-campus location of a Canada Goose nest by Friday, May 10. There will be more than one prize awarded, so go after that golden goose.

The University Club is running its Mother's Day Brunch on Sunday, May 12. Check out the menu. Call the club at extension 33801 to reserve seats.

 

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