East Campus buildings named

The five buildings at the corner of Columbia and Phillip streets purchased from BlackBerry late last year have been given names that integrate them into the University of Waterloo’s East Campus.

A message from Vice-President, Academic & Provost Ian Orchard distributed yesterday introduces the University’s newest buildings – East Campus 1, East Campus 2, East Campus 3, East Campus 4, and East Campus 5.

“The University of Waterloo continues to grow,” the provost writes. “With the recent purchase of real estate on the northeast corner of campus, and as work continues on a number of construction projects on our main campus, we are growing into a larger and more complex institution, and clarity around navigation, building names and wayfinding is becoming increasingly important. Students, faculty, staff, returning alumni and visitors need to be able to easily find their way around campus as the University’s physical shape continues to change.”

The official abbreviations will be EC1 through EC5.

Waterloo’s East Campus began to take shape back in 1984, when the East Campus Hall lands and future parking lot B was purchased from Waterloo Manufacturing, Ltd. The fine arts department moved there in 1987, and East Campus Hall is also occupied by Finance, Procurement & Contract Services, Central Stores and the University of Waterloo Art Gallery.

More recent developments include Engineering 5 and Engineering 6, and the five buildings purchased from BlackBerry in late 2013.

The Campus Master Plan envisions further development of an East Campus gateway and the potential for an East Campus quad and pedestrian plaza.

“Academic support units, including the Office of Advancement, have already begun moving into the space available in three of those five buildings on the corner of Phillip and Columbia Streets, with Information Systems and Technology (IST) set to follow,” the provost’s memo continues. The Office of Advancement is now located in East Campus 1 (EC1).

The campus map will be updated to include EC1, EC 2, and EC3. The other two East Campus buildings remain occupied by BlackBerry as per the 2013 purchase agreement, and are not explicitly identified on the updated campus map.

“I will continue to keep you informed of developments on our East Campus as we take full advantage of this opportunity to make the best use of our new space,” the provost concludes.

 

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Report, referendum on Fall Break coming

Discussions around a Fall Break are entering a new phase as a University task force has prepared a report for the Vice-President, Academic & Provost this month and undergraduate students receive an opportunity to voice their opinion in a November referendum.

Currently, 14 of 20 Ontario universities currently have a fall break of some sort, in the neighbourhood of 2 to 5 days in length. Wilfrid Laurier University is launching the first of a three-year pilot break following the Thanksgiving long weekend this year. Discussions at Waterloo about such a break have been off and on since at least 2009.

A Fall Break Task Force, chaired by Associate Vice-President, Academic Mario Coniglio has finalized a report on the consideration of a fall break that has been presented to Vice-President, Academic & Provost Ian Orchard. Meanwhile, the Federation of Students’ Students’ Council voted in favour of putting a question of a fall break to students in a referendum scheduled to take place from November 4 to 6, 2014.

The task force includes representation from the Registrar’s Office, the Student Success Office, the Associate Provost, Students’ office, the Federation of Students, the Graduate Students Association, the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), and the Graduate Studies Office.

The report seeks to establish terms of reference for so-called term breaks (which include the winter Reading Week), examine the potential impact of the break on Orientation Week, residence move-in, pre-exam study period days and the December examination period, and provide the basis for a comprehensive consultation with stakeholder groups on campus including faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, administrative officers, faculty councils, and student support services.

On the student side of the discussion, Imprint reports that the referendum question reads as follows: “Should classes start on the first Thursday after Labour Day in order to allow for two additional days off in the fall term?”

The referendum question includes the preamble "It is currently unknown at what point of the fall term the break would be. This referendum is to help determine student opinion."

Students will vote online.

In accordance with the Feds’ referendum procedures, official Yes and No committees will be struck this week following a Fall Referendum Committee organizational meeting set for Thursday, October 9 at 5:00 p.m. in SLC 2105B. These committees will be responsible for the campaign and advertisement of each side of the question. A two-week campaign period will follow.

 

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Open Access Week approaches

International Open Access (OA) Week 2014 is fast approaching. This year's theme, "Generation Open," focuses on the impact that students and early career researchers can have in shaping the Open Access movement.

During the week of October 20-26, the University of Waterloo Library will be hosting events to highlight the challenges and opportunities that Open Access presents to researchers.

Topics to be discussed include:

• Emerging federal funding agency OA requirements for funded research;
  
• open data; and
  
• trends in research data management
  
  

"In addition we will discuss the local tools and services that the UWaterloo Library provides to assist the UWaterloo research community to understand and seize the opportunities of Open Access," writes Rose Koebel. "If you are interested in attending, visit our Open Access Week 2014 schedule for a listing of events."

If you have any questions about Open Access Week 2014, contact Courtney Matthews, digital repository librarian, at extension 30185 and Andrew McAlorum, head, Digital Initiatives, extension 39127.

 

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From blood donation to PlayStation and beyond

"On behalf of all of us at Canadian Blood Services, a BIG thank you to all at UW for your support last week at our blood donor clinics in The Student Life Centre Multi-Purpose Room," writes Sharr Cairns of Canadian Blood Services. "We ran a 3-day clinic from October 1 to 3 and collected 218 units in total!"

"Outstanding support as always from everyone at UW. We find ourselves in a critical situation with the national blood inventory – and your support will help change that!"

The Games Institute is hosting a public lecture by Colin Milburn from the University of California, Davis on Thursday, October 16 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. entitled "The PlayStation Network and Technogenic Life."

Launched in 2006, Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) is an online network platform that connects millions of video game consoles, handheld devices, and media servers around the world. Milburn's talk will "examine the various gamer narratives that spontaneously emerged to make sense of the network outage in 2011. This was when the PSN became a battleground between corporate IP policies and the global hacker community, resulting in a massive hacker attack on the Sony databases that compromised the personal data of many millions of PSN users. It also rendered the PSN inoperative for a month, triggering a surge of anger, anxiety, distress, and woe among gamers worldwide."

Colin Milburn is Gary Snyder Chair in Science and the Humanities and Professor of English, Science and Technology Studies, and Cinema and Technocultural Studies at UC Davis. His research focuses on the relations of literature, science, and technology.

Following the talk, which will be held in DC 1304, attendees are invited back to the Games Institute's new home in EC1 for refreshments. The event is free, but registration is recommended.

The Survey Research Centre has published its 2014 newsletter, which includes a review of studies fielded during 2014, as well as an article about programming accessible surveys.

The University Club will be offering its annual Thanksgiving Buffet on Thursday, October 9 and Friday, October 10 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Call extension 33801 to make your reservation.

The University of Waterloo Stratford Campus will be hosting a town hall meeting on Thursday, October 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Stratford Campus building. The meeting is billed as "an opportunity for residents and businesses in Stratford to hear an update on the latest work of the University's digital media satellite." Registration is not required.

 

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