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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

 

 

  • President receives Diamond Jubilee medal
  • Convocation social media initiative wins award
  • CIGI announces award competition

 

  • Editor:
  • Brandon Sweet
  • Communications and Public Affairs
  • bulletin@uwaterloo.ca

 

Feridun Hamdullahpur shakes John Milloy's hand after receving the Diamond Jubilee medal.
President receives Diamond Jubilee medal

Feridun Hamdullahpur is one of the latest recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener Centre and Minister of Community and Social Services as well as Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities presented the award in a brief ceremony at yesterday's Senate meeting "in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the province and country."

Some background: to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s diamond anniversary as Queen of Canada, the Government of Canada joined other Commonwealth countries in striking Diamond Jubilee Medals to be awarded to citizens who have made significant contributions to their community and country.

"Since becoming president he has worked tirelessly to support and grow the university’s regional, national, and international reputation, Minister Milloy said before presenting Hamdullahpur with the award.


The province of Ontario is awarding over 2,000 citizens with the medal, which commemorates Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne. In total, 60,000 Canadians will be honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Queen Elizabeth's reign of 60 years is the second-longest for a British monarch. Only Queen Victoria, who died 112 years ago today, had a longer reign, at 64 years.

Photograph by Jonathan Bielaski, Light Imaging.


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Convocation social media initiative wins award

The project to make convocation a social media affair has received top marks from an international university advancement organization.

The "Join the Convo-sation" initiative organized by Alumni Affairs and unveiled at convocation in June 2012 won a gold medal in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II Accolades Awards program. The gold medal win was in the Social Media category.

Join the Convo-sation included the Twitter hashtag #uwgrad2012, live Twitter walls that added an element of personalization by displaying more than 2,000 tweets sent using the official hashtag, and photo opportunities with King Warrior, who held an erasable whiteboard displaying handwritten messages from new grads that were then posted on the Alumni Affairs Facebook page.

Alumni Affairs entered the campaign to the District II Accolades award this past fall, with the announcement of the win coming just last week. "District II" refers to the geographical peer group of 675 institutional members, including the University of Waterloo. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is an international association of educational institutions with more than 3,600 members in 76 countries.

Among the judges' comments:

"Very well planned and executed project. Good advertising, for example use of # was communicated very well. Live tweets from audience, very effective at connecting with those not present at event. Photos with mascot was good addition. Good use of board at event. Very good ROI, low cost and high return."

Alumni Affairs will be submitting their winning proposal into the CASE Circle of Excellence and the Canadian Council for the Advancement in Education (CCAE) Prix d'Excellence competitions after adapting it to include the October 2012 convocation ceremony.

"Alumni Affairs would like to thank everyone who tweeted about convocation or congratulated graduates for their success this past June and October," writes Alison Boyd, associate director of Alumni Affairs. "It was wonderful to see the collaboration from many campus departments' Twitter accounts and comments from many staff and faculty supporting our new alumni."

Director of Alumni Affairs Jason Coolman will be picking up the award on behalf of the university at the CASE conference in Pittsburgh, PA in March.

 

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CIGI announces award competition

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) has announced the second round of competition for its CIGI Collaborative Research Awards. These awards are available exclusively to tenure track faculty at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University who are interested in global governance.

For a proposal to be eligible for consideration by the CIGI Research Advisory Committee, it must demonstrate "a strong thematic link" to the mandate of the centre and a "contribution to policy-oriented research relevant to global governance" that addresses one or more of CIGI's program areas: the global economy, global security, the environment and energy, and global development.

There are three categories: the CIGI CRA Research Project, worth up to $30,000 over two years, the CIGI CRA Advanced Research Seminar, worth up to $15,000 over 12 months, and the CIGI CRA Strategic Research Initiative, worth a maximum of $450,000 over three years.

An information session will be held on Wednesday, January 30 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 1-23 of the Balsillie School of International Affairs, located in the CIGI Campus at the corner of Erb and Caroline in Uptown Waterloo. CIGI administrative assistant Alexandra Stephenson can be contacted for more information.

Applications will be accepted until February 23.


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Waterloo police seek witnesses after robbery

The Waterloo Regional Police Service is looking for assistance from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University student population in the investigation of a robbery in the area of both universities on January 9, 2013.

A full statement about the incident and contact information is available on the university police's website.

Link of the day

National Non-Smoking Week

When and where

Renison Annual Book Sale, Monday, January 21 to Friday, January 25, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., outside the Lusi Wong Library. Details.

Student Services Fair, Tuesday, January 22, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Student Life Centre Great Hall.

Student Design Team Open House Recruitment Fair, Tuesday, January 22, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., E5-1st floor.

Chemistry Department Seminar Series featuring Prof. Joe Gilroy, Department of Chemistry, Western University. "The Reactivity of Dicarba[2] metallocenophaneson," Wednesday, January 23, 2:30 p.m., C2-361.

OHD "Retirement 101" workshop, Wednesday, January 23 and three consecutive Wednesdays after, 7:00 p.m. Details.

CECA Volunteer and Internship Fair, Wednesday, January 23, 11:30 a.m., SLC Great Hall.

Noon Hour Concert Series, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, featuring Renee Kruisselbrink, solo piano, Danzas Argentinas—Ginastera, Wednesday, January 23, 12:30 p.m., Conrad Grebel chapel.

Research Matters - Life in 2030, Wednesday, January 23, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., The Tannery. Details.

WISE Lecture Series featuring Mr. Chris Holly, Branch Head, Research &Technology Resource Development, Policy Division, Alberta Energy, "Alberta's Strategic Research Directions In Energy Development," Thursday, January 24, 10:00 a.m., DC 1304. Details.

Observations and Free Inquiries seminar featuring Hamid Tizhoosh, Systems Design Engineering, "Philosophy of Mind - Serious investigations or intellectual games," Thursday, January 24, 5:30 p.m., E5 6004. Details.

Arriscraft Lecture featuring John van Nostrand, "Settlement/ reSettlement," Thursday, January 24, 6:45 p.m., University of Waterloo School of Architecture. Details.

Drop, no penalty period ends, Friday, January 25.

Chemistry Department Seminar Series featuring Prof. Michael Wolf, Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, "Photofunctional Conjugated Materials," Friday, January 25, 10:30 a.m., C2-361.

VeloCity presents Mike McCauley of BufferBox, "How to Go From 4th Year Design Project to Google in 18 Months," Friday, January 25, 12:30 p.m., Student Life Centre Great Hall. First 100 people get a free lunch.

Knowledge Integration seminar featuring Elissa Cressman, St. Jerome’s University, “Make the World Your Classroom with Beyond Borders”, Friday January 25, 2:30 p.m., Environment 3 room 1408. Details.

14th annual Fantastic Alumni, Faculty, Staff and Retiree Day, Saturday, January 26, 2:00 p.m., Physical Activities Complex. Details.

CIGI Collaborative Research Awards (CRA) information session, Wednesday, January 30, 2:00 p.m., Balsillie School of International Affairs room 1-23. Details.

Cheriton School of Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Renée Miller, University of Toronto, "Big Data Curation," Wednesday, January 30, 3:30 p.m., DC 1302.

 

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