Business is booming, for crane installers anyway. Workers erected this crane at the site of the Science Teaching Complex yesterday as a new phase of construction begins.

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Connecting co-op employers and students

by Louise Buhlman, Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA).

Co-operative Education and Career Action (CECA) works with 4,500 organizations in over 63 countries to employ our co-op students. The Operations unit of the department is an integral part of the co-op process, and a lot of work goes into making sure our employers are happy. If they  have a positive experience hopefully they’ll continue to want to hire our students. The Employer Services team in CECA Operations is the most crucial link between employers and students, but many folks around campus aren’t aware of just how much work this team does.

Employment Services Representative Louise Buhlman shares what she and her colleagues (like Dianne Vezsenyi and Barb Redfearn, pictured above) are up to:

“The majority of what we do involves interviews between employers and students," says Buhlman. "We are, for the most part, the first line of communication that an employer has with our department. As the on-campus contact and often the first one to engage in an in-depth conversation with an employer, the relationship we establish can be a make or break situation. Communication is key to our role, as is the ability to multi-task and adapt to constant interruptions and changing priorities. From the moment an employer contacts our department and wants to hire a co-op student, a new grad or alumni, summer or part-time, we ensure their experience with CECA is positive and one that ensures they come back, term after term.”

Feedback from employers after working with Employer Services comes regularly. Josh Dunton from Kik Interactive Inc. appreciates the hard work being done: “It was my first time going through the process and I don't think I would have been able to do it without your help. You answered all my questions and even proactively helped me in areas that needed improvement. Thank you for everything!”

Four teams of some seventeen staff members, including three to four co-op students each term,  assist both CECA field teams and employers within specific geographical regions across the globe and postal code areas. Several of the team members have been with Waterloo and in CECA for more than 20 years so this vast knowledge and wealth of experience is put to good use to ensure that employers become familiar and comfortable dealing with their on-campus contacts.

The process can be confusing for employer hiring managers, but Buhlman proudly states that “our strength is communication, organization, and our ability to connect with people. At the end of the day, our goal is to help employers find the best students for their jobs and make it a pleasant and rewarding experience for all.”

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Centre for Mental Health Research hosts MPP

by Wendy Philpott, Arts Communications Manager. This story was original posted on the Faculty of Arts news page and can be read in its entirety here.

Dr. Christine Purdon, Professor in the Department of Psychology and Executive Director of uWaterloo’s Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) recently invited MPP John Milloy to tour the CMHR facilities and speak with faculty, graduate students and staff about their mental health research, service and training mandates, and about mental health care in Ontario and across the country.

“It was really his interest and concern with mental health care that resulted in the visit” said Dr. Purdon, pointing out that Mr. Milloy has served as Minister of Community and Social Services and brings considerable knowledge of mental health care needs and service provision in Ontario.

Mr. Milloy’s tour of the centre included a visit to the Cognitive Development Lab run by Dr. Elizabeth Nilsen as well as Dr. Purdon’s Anxiety Studies facility, which provided the opportunity to illustrate how the CMHR programs of research link directly with psychological service and clinical training.

With a goal to extend the reach of CMHR services and raise awareness of the role of psychology in understanding and treating mental health problems, Dr. Purdon was pleased with the outcome of the visit. “Mr. Milloy was engaged and interested in our work, and he gave us some excellent direction for how we could expand our role within the health care system and has already facilitated contact with relevant government organizations.”

Read the full story here.

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Wednesday's notes

The Department of Athletics has announced that Luke Snider (right) is taking the position of interim head coach of the women's volleyball program. Snider spent five seasons with the Laurier Golden Hawks volleyball program, and has coached Team Ontario for four seasons.

The full announcement is posted on the Athletics website.

The Waterloo Store has launched a collection of vintage merchandise, including mugs, t-shirts, and crew neck sweaters. According to the Retail Services newsletter (which you can sign up for here), the collection came about when an alumnus requested a replacement for his beloved crew neck. Using the original as a guide, Retail Services' designers recreated the shield and lettering and have now applied it to a number of products for that old school vibe.

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