Saturday was a Fantastic Day

by Alex Farley.

This past Saturday marked the 15^th annual Fantastic Alumni, Faculty, Staff and Retiree Day at the University of Waterloo. There was no denying a “fantastic” time was had by all who attended, with 575 spectators in the stands cheering on the Warriors women’s and men’s basketball teams as they played against the Western Mustangs.

Along with basketball games, the festivities included the alumni vs. staff Monster Hoops contest, won again this year by the staff team and the annual paper airplane toss, where over $225 of additional purchase proceeds went to the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.

Pictured above (l-r) are the members of the Alumni team, Doug Holmes (BMath '95), Julie Bundscho (BA '04), Laura Mammoliti (Ph.D. '01), and the staff team, Fred Bakker (Engineering), Wayne Gadsby (Finance), and John Garcia (Applied Health Sciences).

The YMCA also brought along “Y-Guy” their super hero mascot; he was an asset to the day taking pictures with fans and helping give out Warriors swag!

Airplane toss winners included:

• Aaron, Reiny (BSc '94), Lisa (BA '94) and Ben Packull who won a 50" Sony LED TV and Sony sound bar
• Alex Brown with dad Peter Brown (BA '96) who won the $1000 family weekend at Great Wolf Lodge
• Bryan Gray at game with staff member Jenny MacIntyre who won the Toronto date night package, including two tickets to Chicago the musical
• Melani Keller (BA '09) who won the $500 shopping spree for Cadillac Fairview shopping centers
• Don Ciparis (BES '77) who won the Warrior Gift Pack which included $100 for Boston Pizza and 4 tickets to Ripley’s aquarium of Canada.

Thank you to our sponsor Manulife Financial.

To see pictures of the day please visit the UWaterloo Alumni Facebook page. We hope to see you next year!

 

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Staffers win accolades at CASE conference

by Advancement Services.

The dedication and talent of several Waterloo staff members were recognized at the annual CASE District II conference held February 9 to 11 in Baltimore.

Linda Kieswetter (BSc ’75), pictured at left, retired at the end of 2012 after a 35-year career with Waterloo. Linda was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding commitment and leadership to the advancement profession. Among her peers, Linda is considered to be a pioneer in post-secondary advancement in Canada.

Also recognized for their creative talents were:  

• The Principal Gifts team, who won silver in the Proposal Writing Category for their “RBC Initiative for Building Water Expertise”;
• Our Alumni Relations team, who won silver in the Blogs Category for their Alumni Blog “Bringing Alumni Together Through Conversation”; and

• Our Student Success Office, who won silver in the category of Creativity on a Shoestring for their Goose Map.

CASE, which stands for Council for Advancement in Support of Education, is an international member organization which helps advancement professionals build stronger relationships with their alumni and donors, raise funds for campus projects, enhance their institution’s image, market their institution to prospective students, and promote public support of education.

Jude Doble, Student Success Office and Patricia Duguay, Alumni Relations, are pictured at right proudly accepting awards at Case District II in Baltimore on behalf of the University of Waterloo. (Not pictured: Lisa McAughey, Alumni Relations, who also attended.)

Ken McGillivray, Vice-President, Advancement, was thrilled to learn of the awards. “Our talented staff are leaders in the industry. It is gratifying to see their passion and dedication to Waterloo and to their profession being recognized on an international level. I’m very proud of all of them.”

 

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So, where do co-op students work, anyway?

by Caitlin Feehan.

Do you ever wonder where University of Waterloo co-op students find jobs or what industries they work in?

Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) took data from three recent years, and then created a couple of charts to answer those questions.

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of UWaterloo co-op students don’t work in the tech industry – students are actually employed in a wider variety of sectors. Another surprising conclusion is that the number of work terms in Canada outside of Ontario, the number of work terms in the United States and the number of international work terms were almost equal.

Check out the charts below for more information (click to enlarge):

 

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In the footsteps of Darwin and other notes

In honour of Darwin Day, Waterloo's Biology department is hosting a talk by Dr. Alan Morgan from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in RCH 301 entitled "In the footsteps of Darwin." Afterwards, audience members are encouraged to join Biology at the Bombshelter Pub in the Student Life Centre from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to celebrate the works and life of Charles Darwin, where you can experience evolution in real time, win prizes, and enjoy free food.

Speaking of survival of the fittest, in case you were looking for something to take your mind off the wintry weather, the Registrar's Office has helpfully obliged: the Winter 2014 examination schedule has now been posted.

Here be Dragons: The CBC's Dragon's Den will be hosting auditions at the Tannery building in Kitchener on Friday, February 14. The show's producers are will be "on the lookout for entrepreneurs brave enough to face the Dragons." So strap on your +1 shield of verbal abuse and join the fun.

Student organizers of the university's Stand Up To Stigma campaign are in the running for the Mental Health 2.0 People's Choice Award. The competition is being run by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) in partnership with the Government of Ontario, and aims to reward student efforts to use social media to promote positive changes in mental health on university campuses. Stand Up To Stigma is competing against campaigns and programs at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brock, Western, OCAD, Toronto, and beyond.

Individuals can vote once every 24 hours until the contest closes on March 18.

 

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