First-year engineers at the Junkyard Wars event yesterday — photo by Michael Strickland.

Lectures, to football, to toga, to lectures

Today is JumpStart Friday for most of the first-year students involved in UW’s orientation program. According to the orientation web site, that’s “the event that will provide you with the information and resources necessary to make the transition into University academic life as smooth as possible. On this day, you will be exposed to a real university lecture given by some of the most engaging and interesting professors UW has to offer. The cool thing about these lectures is that you?ll get the 4-1-1 by the profs on how to take proper notes and effectively communicate with your profs!”

The scheduled speakers are Jean Andrey of geography and environmental management, Andrew Hunt of history, Ron McCarville of recreation and leisure studies, Gordon Stubley of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, Craig Kaplan of computer science, and Josh Neufeld of biology. They’ll all be speaking at 12:30, in various lecture halls.

Also part of JumpStart Friday, again from the web site: “Is money management stressing you out? Have you even thought about it? Well, come be a part of James Cunningham’s amazing presentation about money management. James will give a dynamic, interactive and entertaining program developed to teach students the fundamentals of personal finances and in a very hilarious fashion. But the lecture and the money management sessions are not the only ones. There are also 13 sessions that will be run by various members from different areas of UW. Most of these will run three times a day to ensure you can get all the information you need to Jumpstart your success! Some of these sessions include Coping with Co-op, and To Cheat or Not to Cheat.”

Such sessions start at 9:30, 2:00 and 3:30, and the day also includes lunch — on the Graduate House green for on-campus residents, at Federation Hall for students in the off-campus program.

Today also includes some special programming for students at the colleges, including an outing to the Elora Gorge for those at St. Paul’s University College. Tonight, there are several large-scale recreational events, including the arts Medieval Fair, engineering’s Murder Mystery Night and math’s Quest to Save Pinky.

And then comes tomorrow. Here’s what the orientation web site has to say about the two big Saturday events:

“Come to the newly renovated Warrior Field on Saturday morning to express your school spirit as our Waterloo Warriors battle against the Ottawa GeeGees! Along the way to the field, you will learn more about football and participate in a carnival and pep rally games. Stop by the V1 Green to make signs, paint your face, make noisemakers and more! Once you arrive at the Warrior Field, check out the full carnival including free pizza, snow kones, popcorn, and cotton candy! There will be games of chance, inflatable rides, and a dunk tank for FOC and your student government President!

“There are four main events on Saturday Night: Ever wanted to be part of the largest Toga party in the world? Well then, put on your fanciest bed sheet and head out to the BMH Green at 7:45 p.m. A local band will rock out as the opening event of the night before the lights and dance music start! Want to learn interesting facts about UW that make this school so unique? You can do this and have a night tour of the entire campus at the same time! Check out the Cross-Campus Night Walk booth at the Toga entrance near the MC. Want to stay inside and party the night away by challenging your friends to the latest and greatest video games? Head on over to the 3rd floor of the SLC for our video gaming event! Enjoy stand-up comedy and magicians? Head over to Federation Hall to watch an improv troupe perform their specially tailored UW comedy routine! Stick around afterwards for Shawnathan the Magician!”

And on the seventh day they rest. Classes begin Monday morning.

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Building 'research alliances' with community

An innovative graduate course being offered this fall encourages graduate students to use their research skills for the benefit of society, says the instructor, Kathleen Bloom of UW’s department of psychology.

Offered by the faculty of arts, the course is called Building Community University Research Alliances. It’s open to students from the faculties of arts, applied health sciences, environment, science and engineering and explores both research outreach and engagement with the community, governmental and commercial enterprises.

"Research alliances between the university and the community in which it thrives can be invaluable resources of intellectual and social energy," says Bloom. "These alliances also increase the likelihood that our research better serves society."

The course, offered Wednesday evenings, gives students the tools to engage in a socially responsive transfer of knowledge. Anyone interested in registering can get in touch with Bloom, e-mail kbloom@ uwaterloo.ca.

Funding for community service organizations has shifted from mission-based to results-based funding, Bloom points out. Academics can help organizations find and use research to support the effectiveness of community programs. At the same time, funding for university research is increasingly tied to the needs of society. Community leaders can help academics apply their research to issues of public interest and concern.

Students in the course will learn how to disseminate academic research, advance social innovation and build careers in new knowledge economies. Specifically, they study theories and methods of engaged scholarship, social factors affecting the impact of research, and leadership strategies for knowledge exchange.

The course also prepares students who want to participate in the UW Science Shop, a community outreach project that pairs skilled graduate students with community groups in need of knowledge and expertise.

The Science Shop is sponsoring a noontime session next Tuesday under the title “Making Your Graduate Experience More Relevant: Connecting Knowledge to the Needs of Society”. It runs from 12:00 to 1:30 in the courtyard of Environment I building.

“Many students go to graduate school because they want to learn skills that will make a difference to society — skills that can improve the lives of others,” organizers explain. “It turns out that, as graduate students, you already have skills that are needed and useful to society. Your fact-finding and literature review skills can serve the current informational needs of our community. In return you can gain the confidence needed to meet new standards of knowledge mobilisation that are being set by universities, funding agencies, and the public. You can also gain new ideas for your own research, and qualifications for both academic and non-academic jobs.

“Join us for lunch and learn how University of Waterloo students and faculty are changing graduate education through research outreach and engagement with our community.” More information: e-mail contact@ scienceshop.ca.

CAR

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