Have you been in the Tatham Centre recently? If so, you may have noticed the new banners hanging by the employer reception desk at the front entrance. As most of you will know from travelling along University Avenue, these pieces are actually intended to be street banners. Co-operative Education & Career Action staff members have re-purposed them to ensure that employers and external visitors receive a sunny, Waterloo-branded greeting when they arrive on campus to interview students or to tour the Tatham Centre.

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Board approves $88M Engineering 7 building

The University of Waterloo’s Board of Governors approved the construction of the $88-million Engineering 7 (E7) building yesterday. The University’s Building and Properties Committee made the proposal for the 230,000-square-foot, seven-storey building to house Waterloo Engineering’s ongoing transformation of how it delivers education to students.

“As the University of Waterloo continues to emerge as one of the world’s top innovation universities, the construction of E7 will enable us to attract even more of the best and brightest students and faculty who will undertake their studies and research here,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur.. “Nearly 8,500 undergraduate engineering students will engage in experiential education opportunities in E7, which will also provide space for faculty and graduate students to engage in a research portfolio of disruptive technologies.”  

E7 will accommodate growth from the recently launched biomedical engineering program and the expansion of the Faculty of Engineering’s highly popular mechatronics engineering program. It will also house the Faculty’s new teaching innovation, the multidisciplinary Engineering Ideas Clinic™, where undergraduate students starting from first year integrate classroom theory with hands-on learning as they design, build, test and refine ideas. The Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre will relocate to E7, where faculty and mentors will offer a new entrepreneurship option. The building will have dedicated study and social spaces for students, lecture halls and entrepreneurial support areas, along with areas for student teams to prototype their Capstone Design projects.

“With the construction of E7, Waterloo Engineering will graduate even more highly sought-after engineers while catalyzing more innovations, inspiring more entrepreneurs and supporting the next wave of high-impact research,” said Pearl Sullivan. “E7 is not just a building, the entire design will enable engineering to take our unique educational experience to the next level and realize our vision for educating the engineer of the future.”  

E7 will have some of the best research facilities in the world, including an additive manufacturing—or 3D printing—laboratory, and an indoor flight arena for testing autonomous and robotic vehicles.   Many graduate students will likely work to advance technologies including the rapidly progressing Internet of Things, infrastructure and developing wearable biomedical devices to monitor human health. 

An atrium and elevated pedestrian bridges will link E7 to Engineering 5 and 6.  The target start date for construction is next fall.

Render by Perkins+Will.

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Lloyd Axworthy joins St. Paul's

by Eugenia Xenos Anderson.

Alumni, friends, staff, and students of St. Paul’s University College celebrated the installation of parliamentarian and humanitarian Lloyd Axworthy as first chancellor of the college last Friday. The evening was a formal but jovial affair and included an impromptu friendship round dance with all the guests participating while an Aboriginal drum group played. The rest of the evening included a sit-down dinner, the installation with Axworthy being robed in newly designed St. Paul’s academic robes with a unique wampum belt-style lapel, and greetings from other academic institutions and organizations, including Nello Angerilli, UWaterloo’s AVP International, and Paul Gooch from Victoria University at the University of Toronto. Axworthy and Principal Graham Brown also spoke briefly, and Six Nations Polytechnic gifted wampum belts to St. Paul’s and the University as a sign of friendship and collaboration.

Pictured above are St. Paul’s board member Brenda Laronde Simpson, Religious Studies chair Mavis Fenn, United Church representative Ted Smith, AVP International Nello Angerilli, principal Graham Brown, Six Nations Polytechnic president Rebecca Jamieson, Victoria University (at the University of Toronto) president Paul Gooch, Lloyd Axworthy, St. Jerome’s president Katherine Bergman, and St. Paul’s board chair Rod Barr. Also present were Rob Esselment, senior director of Government Relations, Jean Andrey, dean of Environment, Doug Peers, dean of Arts, and Neil Craik, director of SEED.

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A word about storm closings

With rain in the forecast threatening to give way to flurries later in the week, it's probably a good idea to dust off the university's weather/emergency closing guidelines and give them a review as we head into a season of unsettled weather.

Beginning in October 2009, the university ended its practice of following the lead of the local public school board in determining whether or not to open for business in the face of severe (or potentially severe) weather conditions. The decision is now made in most cases by the Vice-President Academic & Provost after consultation with the Director of Police and Parking Services, the Associate Vice-President, Marketing and Strategic Communications, and the Director of Custodial and Grounds Services.

The storm guidelines provide for a complete closing of the university “when normal operation would pose a significant danger to students, staff and faculty, or would prevent large numbers of them from coming to campus”. But they also say: "When UW does not close in inclement weather, faculty, staff and students are reminded that they are responsible for determining when weather conditions make their travel unsafe and should consider public transportation because it may well be the safest option and cleared parking spaces may be in short supply."

What does closed mean? According to the guidelines, "closed" means: classes are not held; meetings and other scheduled events are cancelled; scheduled examinations are cancelled, to be rescheduled; deadlines for assignments and other submissions are postponed until the same hour on the next business day on which UW is not "closed"; staff, other than those providing "essential services," are not expected to be at work, but are paid for a normal day."

When a decision about the university's opening or closing in the face of severe weather conditions, a notice will be posted to the university's homepage and audience pathway pages by 6:00 a.m. that working day, and a message will be sent out through the university's social media accounts. The university's info line (1-866-470-0910) will be updated to announce the closure. A storm closing call list exists to inform the members of the university's Executive Council, faculty and staff association presidents, federated and affiliated college administrators, and satellite campus contacts of the decision in the early morning. Beyond campus, local media including radio stations CKGL (570 AM), CKKW (1090 AM), CHYM (96.7 FM) and KOOL-FM (105.3 FM) will be notified. The Daily Bulletin will also be updated.

Such closures will, according to the guidelines, remain in effect until "6:00 a.m. or later the next day".

Regular updates of storm-related conditions on campus, including things like power or service outages, will be posted to the university's homepage, the Daily Bulletin, and through Twitter as needed.

As autumn gives way to winter, look for messages to appear at the top of the university's homepage that will inform you of the university's status when the storm clouds gather and let you know of precautions to take in the face of severe cold or the threat of lightning. For real-time updates, be sure to follow the University's Twitter account.

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Election results and other notes

The voters spoke on Monday, and here's what they said:

Region of Waterloo chair Ken Seiling was returned to office. Both Waterloo and Kitchener have new mayors - Dave Jaworsky, an alumnus, and Berry Vrbanovic. Familiar faces in other mayoral seats included Cambridge's Doug Craig and Stratford's Dan Mathieson, who were re-elected.

Tom Galloway of the plant operations department was re-elected as a Kitchener representative on Regional council. Jeff Henry of the student success office, was re-elected to a second term as Waterloo Ward 6 councillor.

At home and across the province, a number of candidates with ties to the University have been elected or re-elected. A quick snapshot:

• Sean Strickland, alumnus, re-elected to Regional Council representing Waterloo;
• Diane Freeman, alumna, re-elected as Waterloo Ward 4 councillor;
• Karen Redman, alumna and former MP, elected to Regional Council representing Kitchener (it's actually a re-election of sorts, as Redman served on the region's council in the late 1990s);
• Christian Provenzano, alumnus and former Feds student leader, was elected Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie;
• Matt Brown, alumnus, elected mayor of London;
• Jesse Helmer, alumnus, elected to London's city council;
• Peter Hopkins, retired associate provost (student affairs), elected Reeve of the Township of McKellar;
• Roger Watt, who retired from Information Systems & Technology (IST) in 2007, re-elected as Councillor, Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township (in Huron County);
• Dave Augustyn, St. Jerome's University alumnus, re-elected Mayor of Pelham in Niagara Region; and
• Chris Friel, alumnus, re-elected Mayor of Brantford.

This is only a partial list; I'm happy to add to it if other alumni, faculty and staff names surface.

Say cheese! Members of the University Relations team (right) were cooking for a cause on Monday at the United Way Grilled Cheese lunch held outside the Arts Lecture Hall.

The University of Waterloo Staff Association (UWSA) Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 30 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in DC 1302. the agenda, minutes, and reports can be found on the UWSA website.

Here are today's Get Up And Go Passport Challenge clues:

• Our faculty is tight with Bill Nye
• This department keeps your heart pumping watching the competition

Here's how to play: register your team, download your passport and head out to the two sites you think the clues match. Get a date/time/signature by someone from that area on your passport, and follow the same procedure each working day until the contest ends on October 31.

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