Progress: Fostering student agency

Current areas of focus:

Flexible learning

  • Growing interest and enrolment in Honours Liberal Studies (incl Co-op stream), with support for student success with two advisors assisting students in navigating the many options
  • French Studies is advancing online education, including offering an online 3-Year General Degree in French, with faculty members publishing learning texts on  eCampusOntario in 2024 and 2025

Integrated learning

  • Arts Co-op participation has grown from 3,484 to 4,922 since 2019; currently, 62% of Arts students are in Co-op stream; in 2023, there were 66 graduate students in Co-op and in 2024 there were 57 graduate students in Co-op 
  • Focus on expanding Co-op for Social Good program as a priority for Arts fundraising and CEE employer engagement; supported by donors
  • Ongoing archaeological fieldwork and internship opportunities in Greece and Jordan facilitated by Anthropology and Classical Studies
  • History hosted High School History student conferences in 2023 and 2024, bringing together current students with more than 200 high school students
  • Stratford School is increasing the number of business courses (including entrepreneurship) in curriculum to better prepare students for employment, and offered three industry-focused events in 2024/25 to build connections
  • Numerous research labs in Psychology and the Stratford School regularly employ co-op students, research assistants, and interns (e.g. Mitacs)
  • Sustainability and Financial Management (SAF/EV) student consulting course SFM 328/329 partners students with organizations (usually not for profit) to work on real-world issues integrating sustainability with decision making
  • As part of fellowship program, SAF has started sending undergrad students to visit classrooms across southwestern Ontario to teach skills related to financial literacy
62% of Arts students are in co-op
200+ Students attended High School History

Student driven learning

  • Classical Studies’ student-led creative journal Epic Threads on the ancient world, published on the Library’s open-journal platform; it dares to reimagine the ancient world through fiction, poetry, drama, art, and experimental writing that centres the footnotes of history
  • Growth of student-led individually created courses, SLICC; Mariam Mufti (Political Science) is the Project Lead on UWaterloo’s “Teaching Innovation Incubator, Adapting Student Led Individually Created Courses (SLICCs) to Encourage Self-directed Learning at University of Waterloo”
  • GBDA (Stratford) students and Dr Karen Cochrane transformed a course project into a conference presentation and won the Social and Cultural Impact Award at Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI Play)
Journal cover featuing a cartoon of a Canada goose dangling the comedy and tragedy masks from its beak

Social justice

  • Student financial support for Indigenous, Black, (e.g. Arts Indigenous Student Entrance Award; Waterloo Black Brilliance Sankofa Award) and other students of colour
  • Arts and MUR presented at Black Brilliance: Pathways to Post-Secondary Education, hosted by the WRDSB in October 2024, spoke to 200-300 local Black students
  • New Director of Black Studies, Laura-Mae Lindo (Philosophy), is building closer connections to secondary system in Waterloo region
  • English redesigned a core literature course using a postcolonial and anti-racist framework, examining historical and contemporary issues of race, racism, and colonialism
  • History’s Anti-Racism Taskforce with students, staff, faculty engaged in anti-racism initiatives, e.g. student panels and other events for Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month, and Indigenous History Month.
  • Theatre and Performance (Comm Arts) staged TH;OWXIYA: The Hungry Feast Dish, the first play by an Indigenous playwright and first play for children to be performed at Waterloo, Fall 2024; total audience of 2,520
the cast in their animal costumes on stage inthe Theatre of the Arts

The full cast and crew of Th'owxiya. Photo: William Innes

Student health and well-being

  • Ongoing successful student engagement/well-being events organized by AUO (stress-buster, therapy dogs, crafts, majors’ showcase, etc.) In 2024, 12 events with1,746 students participating
  • SAF offers a tax tips website for UWaterloo students to help promote their financial well-being
  • History launched a mentorship program pairing upper year and first/second year undergrad students
  • Arts Instagram increased student engagement with top-performing content focused on community-building, student experience, and student takeover posts
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