Bringing the world to Waterloo

by Beth Bohnert, Marketing & Undergraduate Recruitment

Each year, more and more students from around the world join the Waterloo community. Ever wondered how someone from the other side of the globe finds out about us?

For many of our international students, their first introduction to Waterloo comes at a high school liaison visit. In Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment (MUR), international liaison officers (including Mirjana Radulovic, shown here on a recent trip to India) visit high schools all over the world. Just this term, they travelled to countries in the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Turkey and India; a visit to Mauritius is planned for the end of November.

It takes guts to leave your homeland for school, especially if your first language isn’t that of your host country. However, studying at Waterloo just became a lot more accessible for otherwise qualified students whose English language test scores fall just short of the University’s requirement.

A new program called BASE (Bridge to Academic Success in English) gives these students the chance to improve their English while taking a university course. After they’ve successfully completed BASE, which also includes help in adjusting to life on campus and to Canadian culture, they can move to full-time studies. Once only available to Engineering and Math students, BASE is now offered in all six faculties.

Attracting international students to Waterloo and supporting them when they get here. Two vital ways we’re bringing new ideas to campus and enhancing our reputation as Canada’s most innovative university.

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On the edge with TEDxUW 2012

The second annual TEDxUW event is set to go off on Saturday, November 17, bringing the TEDx conference experience to the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre. TEDx events such as this one are local spin-offs of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, famous for its philosophy of sharing riveting ideas, for free, with the world. The local event is organized by a cross-disciplinary team of Waterloo students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

The theme of this year's event is "edge." The conference speakers are grouped into three sessions, with the first, "Discover Edge," held at 10:00 a.m., followed by "Investigate Edge" at 1:00 p.m. and "Spread Edge" at 4:00 p.m. The sessions are interspersed with musical acts, sponsor booths, meal breaks, and networking opportunities.

A dozen speakers, each with some connection to the university, will appear before an audience of 100 invitees. Another 250 people gathered in the Davis Centre will watch a video feed at the official TEDxUW Livestream Event. Others are registering to watch the proceedings live online.

Speakers include:

• TEDxUW host Denise Donlon, alumna, Gemini Award winner, broadcaster, journalist, and member of the Order of Canada;
• Bill Tatham, an alumnus whose name adorns the William M. Tatham Centre for Co-operative Education and Career Action and who founded Janna Systems and NexJ Systems, will be speaking on "A Model for Sustainable Innovation";
• Geoff Fong, professor in uWaterloo's psychology department, tobacco control researcher, founder and Chief Principal Investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project;
• Ami Richter, AHS alumna and founder of Lug;
• Heather Moyse, Olympic gold medallist, athletic ambassador and AHS alumna;
• Michael Litt, serial entrepreneur and Engineering alumnus;
• Naila Keleta-Mae, assistant professor in Drama and Speech Communication;
• Heather Dale, Celtic musician, Medievalist, and Environment alumna;
• Bill Thompson, mentor, coach, confidante, advisor, and bartender whose talk is entitled "Pick Yourself Up; Dust Yourself Off"; and
• Andrew Maxwell, chief innovation office at the Canadian Innovation Centre in Waterloo, who holds a PhD in management sciences from uWaterloo and is a lecturer in technology entrepreneurship.

The speaker's list also includes a number of current students:

• Andrew Wong, a Geography and Biology double major who received a scholarship to participate in an Arctic expedition organized by nonprofit organization Students on Ice;
• Richard Holmes, a student in Applied Health Science, who won the TEDxUW Speaker Contest held to fill a speaking slot and will share the story of his journey from growing up with a speech impediment to placing 3rd in his division in the Toastmasters International Public Speaking contest; and
• Cassandra Cole; a mechanical engineering student and team lead for the Formula SAE Team. Her talk is entitled "Choosing Crazy."

Additional entertainment will be provided by the Unaccompanied Minors, the Waterboys, and the Engineering Jazz Band.

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Amelie Limberger memorial tomorrow

Tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m., friends, classmates, and colleagues will gather at MacKirdy Hall located in St. Paul's University College to honour the memory of exchange student Amelie Limberger, who died in an accident in Uptown Waterloo on October 25.

"On behalf of the University of Waterloo, I extend our deepest condolences to Amelie’s family, friends and colleagues," said President Feridun Hamdullahpur in a statement posted online after the accident. "Our entire university community is shocked and profoundly saddened by this loss."

Amelie was studying at the University of Waterloo on exchange from the University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Karlsruhe Technik und Wirtschaft) in Karlsruhe Germany. She is survived by her parents Karin and Norbert, her two sisters, Anika and Kathrin and boyfriend Harry. She was 23.

"Though she was in Canada for only a short period of time, Amelie had quickly become a part of the University and the broader communities," writes Jeff Casello of the School of Planning, who helped coordinate Amelie's exchange at Waterloo. "When not studying, Amelie spent her time in Canada hiking and enjoying the beauty of Ontario's countryside."

All those who wish to celebrate Amelie’s memory are welcome to attend the ceremony, which will be live-streamed to Amelie’s friends and classmates in Karlsruhe, Germany. Light refreshments will be provided afterwards.

In accordance with university protocol, campus flags will be lowered to half-mast from sunrise to sunset on Saturday in Amelie's memory.

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