Celebrating San Fermin

by Justin MacDonald.

Waterloo International has teamed up with the new student service ICSN (International and Canadian Student Network) to celebrate the Spanish holiday of San Fermin. This was the inaugural launch of a set of cultural celebration festivals that will be put on in the future for the University and its students, faculty, and staff.

The San Fermin festival offered the campus community a taste of Spanish music and its flavored cuisine. The event also gave students an opportunity to meet with ICSN members to learn more about the service, as well as Waterloo International staff to ask questions about international mobility and research opportunities. 

Waterloo International is a central unit responsible for supporting the campus in their internationalization efforts and also to provide service in the areas of mobility, visa support, international research and the hosting of delegations from relevant universities and academic groups around the world.

Along with those functional areas within Waterloo International our role is to provide support and expertise to those on campus engaged in internationalization activities. Learn more about these services in person by visiting Needles Hall 1101 or online. 

ICSN helps connect domestic students with international students through activities including “Babel Café”.  This student club also enables students who travel internationally to connect and develop a network of relationships with other students. 

“Babel Café” gives students an opportunity to share their language skills with others, learn, and practice new languages.

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Remembering Wally Delahey

with files from the Department of Athletics.

Former athletics department director Wally Delahey died July 20.

Delahey spent 30 years in many capacities in the athletics department and was Director of Athletics from 1989 to 1994, succeeding Carl Totzke as the second person to hold the position of director.

An alumnus of Western University, he taught mathematics and phys ed and coached high school football in Toronto before moving to Kitchener in 1960, where he continued his phys ed teaching and coaching career at Kitchener Collegiate Institute (KCI). In 1964, he joined the University of Waterloo's athletics department as a lecturer in the newly-minted Physical and Health Education Department. He also served as assistant football coach and directed intramural athletics.

Delahey was the head coach of the Warriors football team from 1968 to 1981, and then served as coordinator of interuniversity athletics for several years before becoming director of the athletics department in 1989.

He was the recipient of the Phil Loosemore Award for administrative excellence, the highest available from OUA (Ontario University Athletics). He served two years as OUA president and four years as vice-president of CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport). He also represented Canada and the CIS as the assistant chef de mission to the World University Games in 1987 in Yugoslavia and as the chef de mission in 1991 games in Sheffield, England.

He retired in 1994, and Judy McCrae succeeded him as athletics director.

Delahey was 81.

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Alison Brooks speaks on "future heritage"

Waterloo alumna Alison Brooks will deliver a public lecture at the Perimeter Institute on Wednesday July 30 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the ongoing Building Waterloo Region festival.

Brooks was born in Welland, grew up in Guelph and got her education in architecture at the University of Waterloo. She moved to London, England after graduation and became a founding partner of Ron Arad Architects, later launching Alison Brooks Architect in 1996.

She was named the outstanding female architect in the world in 2013 by Architects’ Journal magazine.

Brooks's talk is entitled "News from London: ‘Future Heritage' and the Culture(s) of City-Building." Here's an excerpt from the lecture abstract:

"Britain, and London in particular, has served as one of the world's great testing grounds for urban design, architectural ideas, and cultural ideals. From the monastic settlements of the Middle Ages, to the 17th Century's Georgian squares, to 18th Century Regency planning followed by the spectacular urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution; to Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities and the utopian housing disasters of the post-war period; Britain is emerging with a newly energized, critical culture of city-building."

"Alison Brooks has spearheaded a current UK debate around new development and urban design that identifies quality, robustness, identity and character as significant generators of long-term social and economic value; the principle of future heritage. She will discuss this concept and how Britain's urban legacy has provided a fertile context for ABA's 'city-building' work in London, Bath and Oxford."

Tickets to the lecture are free, but registration is required in order to secure a space.

The event is sponsored by the Grand Valley Society of Architects, the regional chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects.

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A note of thanks from Canadian Blood Services

by Sharr Cairns, territory manager, Canadian Blood Services.

On behalf of Canadian Blood Services, I extend sincere thanks to all who attended the recent blood donor clinics in the Student Life Centre. Our goal for this three-day event was to collect 162 units. Thanks to your overwhelming support, we collected 198 units – exceeding our goal and saving many more lives than expected!

We cannot thank everyone enough. Summers are a challenging time for blood donations, with everyone taking a break from their regular routines and enjoying all that the season has to offer. Patients can’t take a break from receiving blood. That’s why your donations are so very important to us at this time. Special thanks also go out to SLC Operations Manager Scott Pearson and the Turnkey Desk Team, Federation of Students President Danielle Burt, VP Internal Maaz Yasin and especially, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, Feridun Hamdullahpur for your help and support. We couldn’t have done it without you!

This outstanding support also meant that the clinics were extremely busy, your donation may have taken longer than usual, or we were unable to accommodate you. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and hope that if you missed this opportunity to donate, you’ll consider donating at our Waterloo blood donor clinic located at 94 Bridgeport Rd. E at Weber. This clinic is open 6 days a week and we recommend booking an appointment if possible using our new GiveBlood app, online at www.blood.ca or calling us at 1 888 2DONATE (1 888 236.6283). The next clinics at the University of Waterloo are scheduled for October 1 to October 3 and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the SLC Multi-Purpose Room.

Once again, sincere thanks to all at the University of Waterloo, from all of us at Canadian Blood Services – and the patients we serve.

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