No lizards in this lounge: The Canada 3.0 conference, billed as a "national digital media conference focused on the commercialization of innovation," opened yesterday and continues today at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Now in its fifth year, the conference is in Toronto for the first time. The University of Waterloo Stratford Campus is a "network and mentor sponsor" of the event, and the university's presence at the conference includes the networking lounge pictured above.

Search Twitter using the #CDA30 hashtag for conference updates.

Additionally, a review of the Canada 3.0 Youth Program, hosted yesterday by the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, is available on the Stratford Campus blog.

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Giving career advice for graduate students

By Sue Horton, Associate Provost, Graduate Studies. Excerpted from the Spring 2013 issue of the Prism newsletter - the latest issue has the full version of this article and more news from the Centre for Career Action.

It’s hard to miss the growing call from graduate students for career advice and direction.

Best estimates indicate that as little as 20 per cent of PhDs are landing tenure-track academic positions (Charbonneau, 2011); moreover, 39 per cent of grad students change career goals during their studies (Wendler et al, 2012)¹.

uWaterloo has taken significant steps to meet this heightening demand. In 2011, the Graduate Studies Office (GSO) and the Centre for Career Action (CCA) began expanding graduate student services on the career front. CCA offers expertise in career development and self-marketing strategies and tactics, and it regularly partners with faculty and other subject matter experts to bring students targeted support and resources.

In August 2012, CCA expanded to include two full-time Career Advisors dedicated to grad students – to not only increase its capacity to collaborate with faculty, but also tailor its resources to this audience’s needs. In 2012, it delivered (scheduled and custom) workshops to 1754 grad student participants on a wide array of topics, such as Careers Beyond Academia, Non-Academic Work Search & Networking, and a regular faculty speaker panel on the Academic Interview.  CCA also held 669 individual appointments with 404 unique grad students that year– these included résumé critiques, mock interviews, work search consultations, and career exploration sessions designed to address students’ specific career questions. 

Partnerships across campus are also flourishing. For instance, the Faculty of Arts and CCA are currently collaborating to put on a spring event, “Living Library: the REAL story on Arts careers,” bringing in alumni with advanced degrees to share their professional insights and to network with students.

James Skidmore, Professor of German Studies, shares his observations: “The Centre for Career Action has taken a leading role in preparing uWaterloo’s graduate students for their careers. One area of activity – advising grad students wishing to pursue non-academic careers – has been extremely useful. Given the changing landscape of higher education in Canada, this kind of training is essential, but faculty members do not have the necessary expertise to help students market their academic skills in the non-academic workplace. CCA has that expertise, and more importantly the willingness to share it.”

CCA offers services to all students: grad, undergrad, co-op and regular, as well as to alumni and postdocs. The services are proving increasingly popular – keep an eye out for further developments.

¹ Wendler, C., Bridgeman, B., Markle, R., Cline, F., Bell, N., McAllister, P., and Kent, J. (2012). Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service

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Lace up your shoes for Campus Walk 2013

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is running the fourth annual Campus Walk from Tuesday, May 21 to Friday, June 14.

Last year, more than 300 employees, including teams from both the main campus and satellite campuses, walked over 67,095 kilometres. As Mark Lisetto-Smith puts it, "That's Kitchener to Dubai over five times."

"Let’s Do it Again! Talk to your colleagues and friends, put your walking shoes on, and start counting. You can participate individually or as part of a team."

Register online, map your route and track your steps or kilometres. To register visit the EAP's website and select the Campus Walk logo to begin the process. You can participate as an individual or team.

"After you register, begin walking on Tuesday, May 21!  Record your walking steps/kms and add them to the Campus Walk website. Prizes will be awarded for best teams and individuals!"

"Feel free to bring a pedometer to use, or you can utilize online tools such as MapMyRun or the corresponding mobile app for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. As well, many smartphones have other pedometer apps in their respective application markets. Turn on your smartphone's GPS and start walking."

"Last year, 60 Waterloo teams took part, which comprised of 373 Walkers from our main campus and our satellite campuses. Let's see those numbers rise!"

Anyone with questions can contact Mark Lisetto-Smith or other members of the EAP Steering Committee.

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Welcome Week continues and other notes

Jacqueline Martinz of the Federation of Students writes: "From May 15 to 17, the Federation of Students is hosting the Get Involved Fair and Clubs and Societies’ Days. Students will have the opportunity to visit booths and ask volunteers for Feds clubs, societies and services about what they do, why they do it, and how they benefit from being active on campus."

The two events are a part of Feds Spring Welcome Week. More information is available

online.

"The Federation of Students encourages all undergraduates to join a group to make new friends, learn useful skills, and make a difference in the lives of their peers."

While we're on the subject of student groups, the University of Waterloo Petroleum and Energy Association (UWPEA), a student-based organization that focuses on petroleum-related initiatives on campus, has recently received certification from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, which means it is now an official SPE student chapter. Students who join the UWPEA will now have "several new avenues like scholarships and graduate student funding open to them," according to UWPEA marketing associate Priyanka Kaul. "They will also be able to attend international conferences with professional petroleum engineers, which would be a tremendous learning experience." More information about the benefits of SPE certification can be found on UWPEA's blog.

Three new green energy stories featuring Waterloo researchers are up on the Waterloo Stories page as of last Friday. The researchers profiled include Hyung-Sool Lee (civil and environmental engineering), Ian Rowlands (environment and resource studies) and Srinivasan Keshav (Cheriton School of Computer Science).

The IT strategic planning process at the university has reached a new milestone, according to IST communications officer Natasha Jennings, with the completion of the IT directions document.

"Taking a university-wide perspective to IT, this document is the first of its kind and carries with it an underpinning motto of "Together we enable". As we move towards the implementation phase of the IT Strategic Plan, the strategic directions identified will focus attention on four key areas:

• Revitalize our student IT environment;
  
• Grow our technology-enabled learning environment;
  
• Build upon information and technology foundations to support research and administration;
  
• Work together to improve usability, delivery and support of IT

To read the document in its entirety, please visit the IT Strategic Planning website. There is also a post on the subject at uWaterloo Connect IT, IST's new communications vehicle.

Human Resources has reported that two retired staff members have died recently:

• Henry Ruppert died on May 3. He started working at the university in September 1972 as a Custodian in Plant Operations and retired in July 1981. Ruppert was predeceased by his wife Katharina in May 2012.
• Leonard Swainston died on May 5. Leonard began his employment in October 1966 and worked as a Kiosk Information Officer in Police and Parking Services before retiring in July of 1977. Leonard is survived by his spouse, Dorothy Swainston, also a uWaterloo retiree.
  

In addition, Human Resources notes that Distinguished Professor Emeritus Mircea Cohn died on December 6, 2012. Cohn started at the university in November 1963, teaching in civil engineering, and retired in December 1995. He received the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1996.

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