The Senate was established through the University of Waterloo Act, 1972 and is responsible for academic programs, educational policies, faculty appointments and tenure, qualifications for degrees and diplomas, conferring honorary degrees and appointing the Chancellor. The Senate also has the power, subject to the approval of the Board insofar as the expenditures of funds is concerned, to create, modify or remove schools, institutes, departments or chairs.
The composition of Senate is representative of the University community, with both elected and ex-officio membership. Senators include faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, governors and administrative staff. The Act requires that the Senate have a majority of elected faculty members.
The Senate conducts its business through committees that bring recommendations to the Senate at regularly scheduled meetings through the governance year. Meetings include open session, which guests are welcome to attend, and closed sessions reserved for Senators.
- The President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Vivek Goel, is the Chair of Senate.
- The Vice-President, Academic and Provost, Dr. Thomas Duever, is the Vice-Chair of Senate.
- The Secretary of Senate is Genevieve Gauthier-Chalifour, with Ashley Day designated as the Associate University Secretary for Senate.
Information for Visitors (non-Senators) interested in attending a meeting of Senate.
Membership 2025-2026
| Name |
Membership/Title |
End of Term |
|---|---|---|
| Ex-Officio | ||
| Jagdeep Singh Bachher | Chancellor | June 30, 2027 |
| Vivek Goel [Chair] |
President and Vice-Chancellor |
June 30, 2026 |
| Thomas Duever [Vice-Chair] | Interim Vice-President, Academic and Provost | June 30, 2027 |
| Jean Becker | Associate Vice-President, Indigenous Relations | |
| Charmaine Dean | Vice-President, Research & International | |
| David DeVidi | Associate Vice-President, Academic | |
| Paul Fieguth | Associate Vice-President, Academic Operations | |
| Bruce Frayne | Dean of Environment | June 30, 2027 |
| Murray Gamble | Chair Board of Governors | August 31, 2026 |
| Chris Houser | Dean of Science | June 30, 2028 |
| Marc Jerry | President, Renison University College | June 30, 2029 |
| Jochen Koenemann | Dean of Mathematics | June 30, 2030 |
| Lili Liu | Dean of Health | June 30, 2027 |
| Peter Meehan | President, St. Jerome’s University | |
| Damian Mikhail | Undergraduate Student Association President | |
| Richard Myers | Principal, United College | June 30, 2026 |
| Beth Sandore Namachchivaya | University Librarian | |
| Cathy Newell Kelly | Registrar | |
| David Porreca | FAUW President | |
| Jacinda Reitsma | Vice-President, Administration & Finance | April 30, 2027 |
| Meray Sadek | Graduate Student Association President | |
| Marcus Shantz | President, Conrad Grebel University College | December 30, 2027 |
| Christopher Taylor | Associate Vice-President, EDI-R | |
| Alexie Tcheuyap | Dean of Arts | June 30, 2029 |
| Justin Wan | Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs | |
| Mary Wells | Dean of Engineering | June 30, 2028 |
| Elected - Board Members | ||
| Aubrey Basdeo | Board of Governors, Community-at-Large | August 31, 2026 |
| Teresa Fortney | Board of Governors, Community-at-Large | August 31, 2027 |
| Vacant | Board of Governors, Community-at-Large | |
| Vacant | Board of Governors, Community-at-Large | |
| Elected - Faculty | ||
| John Abraham | AFIW Faculty, United | August 31, 2027 |
| Veronica Austen | AFIW Faculty, St. Jerome's | August 31, 2027 |
| Michael Barnett-Cowan | Faculty of Health | August 31, 2026 |
| Raouf Boutaba | Faculty of Mathematics | August 31, 2028 |
| Helen Chen | Faculty of Health | August 31, 2028 |
| David Clausi | Faculty of Engineering | August 31, 2028 |
| Cecilia Cotton | Faculty of Mathematics | August 31, 2027 |
| Laura Deakin | Faculty of Science | August 31, 2028 |
| Andrea Edginton | Faculty of Science | August 31, 2027 |
| Achim Kempf | Faculty of Mathematics | August 31, 2026 |
| Scott Kline | AFIW Faculty, St. Jerome's | August 31, 2028 |
| Shana MacDonald | Faculty of Arts | August 31, 2026 |
| Carol Ann MacGregor | AFIW Faculty, St. Jerome's | August 31, 2026 |
| Heather Mair | Faculty of Health | August 31, 2027 |
| Colleen Maxwell | Faculty of Science | August 31, 2026 |
| Christopher Nielsen | Faculty of Engineering | August 31, 2026 |
| Sharon Roberts | AFIW Faulty, Renison | August 31, 2028 |
| James Skidmore | Faculty of Arts | August 31, 2027 |
| Karen Sunabacka | AFIW Faculty, Conrad Grebel | August 31, 2028 |
| Bojana Videkanic | Faculty of Arts | August 31, 2028 |
| Johanna Wandel | Faculty of Environment | August 31, 2027 |
| Jeffrey Wilson | Faculty of Environment | August 31, 2028 |
| Clarence Woudsma | Faculty of Environment | August 31, 2028 |
| En-Hui Yang | Faculty of Engineering | August 31, 2027 |
| Elected - Faculty-at-Large | ||
| Nasser Abukhdeir | Faculty-At-Large (Engineering) | August 31, 2027 |
| Martin Cooke | Faculty-At-Large (Health) | August 31, 2027 |
| Hans De Sterck | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2027 |
| Michael Drescher | Faculty-At-Large (Environment) | August 31, 2028 |
| Mark Ferro | Faculty-At-Large (Health) | August 31, 2026 |
| Rob Gorbet | Faculty-At-Large (Environment) | August 31, 2028 |
| Peter Hall | Faculty-At-Large (Health) | August 31, 2026 |
| Kevin Hare | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2027 |
| Nadine Ibrahim | Faculty-At-Large (Engineering) | August 31, 2026 |
| Sachin Kotecha | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2027 |
| Christiane Lemieux | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2026 |
| Ondrej Lhotak | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2027 |
| Jun Liu | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2028 |
| Brad Lushman | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2028 |
| Blake Madill | Faculty-At-Large (Math) | August 31, 2026 |
| Pendar Mahmoudi | Faculty-At-Large (Engineering) | August 31, 2028 |
| Sushanta Mitra | Faculty-At-Large (Engineering) | August 31, 2028 |
| Carter Neal | Faculty-At-Large (Arts) | August 31, 2028 |
| James Nugent | Faculty-At-Large (Environment) | August 31, 2026 |
| Neil Randall | Faculty-At-Large (Arts) | August 31, 2027 |
| Mark Seasons | Faculty-At-Large (Environment) | August 31, 2027 |
| Su-Yin Tan | Faculty-At-Large (Environment) | August 31, 2028 |
| Stan Woo | Faculty-At-Large (Science) | August 31, 2026 |
| Elected - Undergraduate Students | ||
| Jordan Bauman | Undergraduate Student (Science) | August 31, 2026 |
| Andrew Chang | Undergraduate Student (Arts) | August 31, 2026 |
| Misha Khan | Undergraduate Student-at-large | August 31, 2026 |
| Christopher Lim | Undergraduate Student (Health) | August 31, 2027 |
| Alex Pawelko | Undergraduate Student (Mathematics) | August 31, 2027 |
| Arya Razmjoo | Undergraduate Student-at-large | August 31, 2027 |
| Rida Sayed | Undergraduate Student (Engineering) | August 31, 2027 |
| Katie Traynor | Undergraduate Student (Environment) | August 31, 2026 |
| Elected - Graduate Students | ||
| Laith Alkhawaldeh | Graduate Student | August 31, 2027 |
| Yasmeen Almomani | Graduate Student | August 31, 2027 |
| Nicholas Pellegrino | Graduate Student | August 31, 2026 |
| Jessica Rindlisbacher | Graduate Student | August 31, 2027 |
| Elected - Alumni | ||
| Vikas Gupta | Alumni | August 31, 2027 |
| Acey Kaspar | Alumni | August 31, 2026 |
| Sharon Tucker | Almuni | August 31, 2026 |
| Diana Vangelisti | Alumni | August 31, 2027 |
