A campus in bloom: Charlene Schumm of the Registrar's Office captured this photo of the wisteria in the Peter Russell Rock Garden yesterday.

 

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Faculty awarded for outstanding performance

"Effective May 1, 2005, in accordance with the 2003 Faculty Salary Settlement, the University of Waterloo established an Outstanding Performance Fund to reward faculty members for outstanding contribution in teaching and scholarship," writes Vice-President, Academic & Provost Geoff McBoyle. "I am very pleased to announce the award recipients for 2013, and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them for their outstanding contributions to the University of Waterloo."

Arranged by faculty, the 2013 winners are:

• Applied Health Sciences: Sherry Dupuis, Troy Glover, Rhona Hanning, Scott Leatherdale, and Russell Tupling;
• Arts: Sheila Ager, Peter Carrington, Karen Collins, Martin Cooke, Tara Cooper, James Danckert, Shannon Dea, David DeVidi, Jay Dolmage, Myra Fernandes, Geoffrey Fong, Geoffrey Hayes, Eric Helleiner; Andrew Houston, Ranjina Jha, Marcel O'Gorman, John Sbardellati, Barbara Schmenk, Anindya Sen, and Daniel Smilek;
• Engineering: James Barby, Anne Bordeleau, Hector Budman, Eric Croiset, Kyle Daun, Monica Emelko, Paul Fieguth, Sebastian Fischmeister, Roydon Fraser, Sheshakamal Jayaram, Raymond Legge, Xianguo Li, Raafat Mansour, John McMinn, John McPhee, Mary Robinson, Manoj Sachdev, Mark Smucker, Shreyas Sundaram, Ehsan Toyserkani, and Wei-Chau Xie;
• Environment: Alexander Brenning, Claude Duguay, Bruce Frayne, Clare Mitchell, Markus Moos, and Stephen Murphy;
• Mathematics: Therese Biedl, Daniel Brown, Andrew Childs, Robin Cohen, Hans De Sterck, Kathryn Hare, Achim Kempf, Srinivasan Keshav, Christiane Lemieux, Ondrej Lhotak, Zoran Miskovic, James Munro, Wayne Oldford, Douglas Stinson, Changbao Wu, and Grace Yi;
• Science: Zheng-Yu Chen, Lisa Christian, Mario Coniglio, Jean Duhamel, Bernard Duncker, Andrea Edginton, John Flanagan, Steven Forsey, Stefan Idziak, Rohan Jayasundera, Jewen Liu, Josh Neufeld, Kevin Resch, and Barry Warner.

 

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Commuter Challenge coming next week

"As part of our commitment to being a community leader, the University of Waterloo will once again be participating in the National Commuter Challenge from June 2 to June 8, 2013," writes Commuter Challenge Coordinator Jennifer Collins of the biology department. "This challenge explores alternate forms of travel within communities, be it for work or recreation, and is a part of a greater effort among communities across Canada to reduce pollution and traffic congestion."

In support of this goal, please consider participating in the Commuter Challenge by:

• taking transit;
• biking;
• walking; or
• carpooling to work.

"By making the switch from driving alone to one of an active and sustainable mode of transportation during the Commuter Challenge, you will be making a contribution to cleaner air and a healthier region," Collins continues. "You will also personally benefit from a decrease in commuting costs and stress."

To register, visit the Commuter Challenge site and sign up as an individual.

"The Commuter Challenge is the perfect time to try new ways of commuting to work," Collins concludes. "Already do these actions? Great! You can still register and track your activities as part of the campus challenge."

 

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Quick thinking by staff and student saves day

On Monday, May 20, Leslie Eckel of the School of Public Health and Health Systems and Sandy van Solm, a PhD candidate in the Aging Health & Well-Being program were driving together on Highway 8 in Kitchener when disaster struck.

Ahead of them, a Volkswagen Beetle rolled over across the highway, winding up on its side in a ditch and catching fire.

What happened next was described in the Waterloo Region Record:

“Eckel dialed 911 as van Solm, a former platoon chief with the Amsterdam fire department in the Netherlands, ran to the car. Prying open the passenger door and propping it open with her elbow, she reached into the car, trying to coax the driver out.”

Van Solm pulled the driver from the car with the help of another motorist, who was, as it happens, also a firefighter.  The car was consumed by fire soon after.

Says Eckel, “as we returned to work after the incident, we were very mindful of making the most of our days as life can turn on a dime, that kindness matters, and to always know where your cell phone is!”

 

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Friday's notes

For those of us on the monthly payroll, there's a special hell for paydays that come on the final Friday of the month when said Friday is also the very last day of the month, but its sins are immediately absolved because, well, it's payday. Employees may also notice that their salary increases have taken effect (salary increase advice is available on myHRinfo). Brace yourselves, though: August 2013's payday comes on Friday the 30th, or in other words, almost the bitter end.

Pay dates, both biweekly and monthly, are located on the Human Resources website for easy reference.

Students Alison Carlyle and Melissa Haines are the latest recipients of Export Development Canada's International Business Scholarships. The awards, granted by Canada's export credit agency, are given to students preparing for careers in international business.

Looking ahead, Quest will be down, and thus unavailable, from Friday, June 7 at 4:30 p.m. to Monday June 10 at 8:30 a.m. for a scheduled upgrade.

Also, on Thursday, June 13, the 2013 J.W. Graham Medallist Jay Steele will be presenting a seminar entitled "Start-ups, Dreams, Venture Capital, Acquisitions, and Big Companies" at 2:00 p.m. in DC 1302. Register by emailing Math Alumni. A reception will follow.

 

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