Note: The Faculty of Arts reorganization is creating a stronger foundation for this pillar.
Current areas of focus:
Interdisciplinary research
- Hosted - Arts interdisciplinary research panels: The Practice of Interdisciplinary Research: Learning Through Successes and Challenges (summer 2024) and The Practical Side of Interdisciplinary Research: The Ins and Outs of Building Teams Across Faculties (Fall 2024)
- Applied - CFI infrastructure grant proposal submitted for Waterloo TechReg Hub for cross faculty health data integration and AI; collaboration between Arts, Health Engineering, Math
- Awarded - CFI infrastructure grant for Feminist Interdisciplinary Research Lab – Communication Arts, French Studies, Political Science – approved June 2025
- Leadership - Water Institute interdisciplinary research and education center has been led by Roy Brouwer (Economics) for nearly 10 years; Waterloo is ranked #1 in Canada (2025 Shanghai Ranking) in the water resources domain, and #24 in the world
- Leadership - TRuST network from co-founder/co-director Ashley Mehlenbacher (English), in collaboration with Engineering and Science
- Leadership - Antagonism and Intimidation in Academia speaker series from Suzan Ilcan (Sociology and Legal Studies) (fall and winter 2023/24; fall 2024) involving all six faculties, and in From Targeting in Academia to Promoting Trust and Understanding international conference (June 2024)
- Leadership - Critical Tech Talk series from Marcel O’Gorman (English), emphasizing interdisciplinary perspectives from Waterloo faculty, graduate students, as well as external guests; four events in 2024.
- Appointed - inaugural O'Donovan Chair in Communication Across the Disciplines, Shana MacDonald, Communication Arts
- Participated - Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIM Day) for Arts-Health (Nov. 2024); Arts and Office of Research used AIM day model to host gov’t and non-profits exploring health, tech regulation, data sovereignty, policy (June 2025)
- Awarded – Canada Excellence Research Chair to Sara Hart (Psychology), first Arts CERC at Waterloo, applying genomics in educational settings to specify how genes and contexts work together to result in a reading and mathematically competent individual
- Awarded - four Provost’s Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars affiliated with Arts through cross-faculty supervision – Communication Arts, English, Stratford School, Renison, Engineering, Math
- Awarded - Lupina Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellows working at intersection of health, technology and society, e.g. gaming/VR for seniors’ health and wellbeing, AI and healthcare, social media and mental health — Psychology, Sociology & Legal Studies, Stratford School (funded by the Lupina Foundation)
- Proposed/awarded - 25 Global Futures Fund submissions endorsed by Dean in spring 2025 (15 led by Arts people, 10 with Arts collaboration; Sept 2025- 1 Arts-led project awarded - Brianna Wiens, English - and four Arts-collaborated projects awarded)
- Advancing - Stratford School faculty researchers engaged interdisciplinary scholarship and design in gaming and VR to support health, aging well-being, accessibility, work/labour inequalities cyber security and privacy
- Co-established - online Seleukid Lecture Series bringing together scholars of the ancient world, including from Classical Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Archaeology, Numismatics, Art History, Assyriology, and Women’s Studies (Altay Coşkun, Classical Studies)
4
Provost’s Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars affiliated with Arts through cross-faculty supervision
A prototype of a switch designed to make gaming more accessible for disabled players.
Interdisciplinary/collaborative learning
- Collaborating with Engineering: 30 Arts and Business (ARBUS) students participated in Engineering-led I-Capstone course in Fall 2024 with planning underway to make this ongoing
- Revised Global Engagement Seminar for alignment with Global Futures in collaboration with Engineering, continuing with cross-faculty instructors, students, and external mentors; Fall 2025 enrollment ~110 students; supported by the Jarislowsky Foundation and the Desmarais Family
- Offering Collaborative aeronautics program (CAP) options in Psychology and Global Governance masters’ programs
- Contributed to development and delivery of Engineering’s new collaborative MEng in Health Technologies
- Redesigned BScFM program (formerly BioTech/CPA) offered by SAF in collaboration with Science (passed by Senate for launch in Fall 2026)
- Doubled the SAF Student Venture Fund with new contribution of $1M to invest in start-up ventures, enabling expansion and offering opportunities to students from other faculties
- Delivered Arts & Business 400 interdisciplinary "Future Cities" capstone course Fall 2024 which was co-developed/co-taught by Economics, Science, Environment faculty
- Developing undergraduate program in science communication in collaboration between Communication Arts, English and Faculty of Science
- Advanced teaching methods at Stratford School integrating emerging technologies and robust pedagogical approaches. E.g. Profs Harley, Mäkelä, MacArthur received a UW-LITE grant for "Examining Virtual Reality for Design Education in the Classroom”
- Developing linguistics minor in collaboration between German, Anthropology, English, Psychology, Philosophy, French, Classics, and Renison
- Expanding the disciplinarily scope of the Cultural Identities minor (German and Spanish) and building on the success of online CI 100 with more online course options
- Developing and delivering curriculum for digital arts certificate; Communication Arts, Fine Arts and Renison are participating in this revenue-generating WatSPEED partnership with PG Holding, Saudi Arabia
- Developing staged play using extended reality media (XR) for winter 2026 Theatre & Performance production directed by Provost’s Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar co-supervised by faculty in Communication Arts and Computer Science
$1 M
Additional funding through SAF Venture Fund
One of the winning teams from Fall 2025 Global Engagement Summit, which combined 8 capstone courses from across campus with 119 students presenting 24 interdisciplinary projects.
Professionalization
- Conducted review of academic, administrative, and staffing model under which the Arts & Business program operates with goal to strengthen the program and support for its approx. 1,600 students
- Collaboration between SAF with Science to merge scientific rigor with a unique business perspective to prepare graduates for careers across a variety of industries where science and business converge
- Partnership between Stratford School and Danina Kapetanovic (Chief Health Innovation Officer, CareNext Coalition) to explore opportunities for students to build competencies in design for health
- Developing professional master’s degree in AI, Data, and Decision Making led by Anindya Sen (Economics)
1600
students in Arts and Business program