The content of this article are my opinions only and do not represent the opinions of the Engineering Society or the opinions of the entire Engineering Student body.
I wanted to take a break on reporting about the Engineering Society for this issue, mostly because nothing of huge importance (other than the Vision 2015 forum) has happened since last week, but also because I wanted to take a second to write about our Dean, Dr. Adel Sedra.
I have had many formal and informal opportunities to talk and discuss issues with Dean Sedra in my position as Engineering Society President. I wouldn’t say that the average uninformed engineering student is displeased with the performance of our Dean; I would say this is far from the truth. I think that all the students here can agree that our Dean does a fantastic job of keeping the reputation of Waterloo Engineering at the top, and ensuring that we graduate only the best engineers in Canada. No, I don’t think anyone would ever say that our Dean does a bad job. However, I hear murmurs once in awhile that our Faculty does not care about our opinions as students, and that they don’t care about student life here on campus. I have to say that this is not true at all.
From my experiences with Dean Sedra, I can tell you that he is a very open-minded individual, but more importantly, he cares a tremendous amount about not only our opinions but also about our well-being as students. After you get past the big scary fact that he is our Dean, he is actually a very approachable person with a great sense of humour.
Now you may be thinking I am trying to earn brownie points with our faculty. Well that is also not true. I really have no ulterior motive to this article, since I am about to graduate. I just feel as though I have had the privilege to see a side of our Dean that many have not, and I felt as though I should share this with the student body.
I have come across certain events as a student leader in the 5 years I have been here at Waterloo, and these events have left a bitter taste in my mouth about the school as a whole. This has pushed me to want to graduate with thoughts of “Good riddance”. However, it is because of the attitude our Dean and our faculty has had towards me as a student that I feel appreciated as a leader and that I plan on graduating from this school with the thoughts “I’m proud to have graduated from Waterloo”.
So when you see our Dean in the hall give him a wave, or maybe a “Hi”: I’m sure he’ll give one right back.
On a related note:
The Dean is coming to the next Engsoc Meeting (Feb 16th @ 5:30pm CPH 3607). Please email me any questions you have for him prez_bsoc@engmail.uwaterloo.ca.
And congratulations to Alessia Danelon our new President who will be replacing me come April.
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