Dean of Arts Office:
PAS building, room 2401
Tel 519 888-4567 ext. 48246
Arts Undergraduate Office:
PAS building, room 2439
Tel 519 888-4567 ext. 45870
Arts faculty and staff resources
Arts computing support for students, faculty, and staff
About | Flexible programming goal | Information literacy goal | Integrated learning goal | Problem solving goal | Social justice goal | Well-being goal | Glossary
An Arts degree remains the best way to acquire a diverse skill set that prepares students for a flexible and dynamic career. At Waterloo, our programs emphasize transferable skills, experiential learning, career-readiness, and interdisciplinary strength. We have made work-integrated learning open to all undergraduate and some graduate students, and provide our students with the ability to connect their learning experience with career readiness. The multiple opportunities we provide to Arts students encourage them to take charge of their own education, to exercise thoughtful choices, and to be agents in their own development.
Human development is not solely a matter of the acquisition of specific skills intended for employment readiness. Everything we do in Arts contributes to fundamentally human-centred learning and showcases the profound value of an Arts education at a deeper level. Our students are encouraged to pursue learning that sets them on a path to both wisdom and humility as they acquire knowledge and insight not only about the world, but about themselves. They gain an ability to problem-solve while also learning to cope with insoluble problems, the limits to knowledge, and the dangers of misinformation. They develop a cultural sensitivity and understanding that enables them to synthesize a global “big picture” view.
It is in part these broader aspects of an Arts education that result in the frequency with which Arts graduates appear in leading roles in the workplace. Regardless of the nature of the company or organization, whether it be software design, healthcare delivery, or biotechnology research and development, Arts graduates are often found across all sectors in leadership positions featuring management, strategic initiatives, and forward planning. Current planning at Waterloo recognizes and emphasizes the values of such an education for all students: “leveraging our strengths in integrating disciplines and working at the intersections,we can also be relied upon as innovators for social good.” (Waterloo @ 100).
None of us is able to predict the future, even in the short-term, let alone the long-term that is encompassed by the decades of the average career. We need to prepare students to be versatile, agile, and creative, “future leaders who leverage a Waterloo education that facilitates integrated knowledge and problem-solving within and at the intersections of our Global Futures.” (Waterloo @ 100). In keeping with aspirations identified at the institutional level, the Faculty of Arts will ensure that its students graduate with a broad set of future-ready skills: communication literacy, social and cultural literacy, information literacy, and digital literacy will all be critical. We will empower our students to realize their full potential and continue to improve their capacity to become socially-minded leaders.
We will continue to enhance the flexibility of our programming to provide students with the opportunity to design their own education.
We will develop greater opportunities for all our students to gain competency and skills in the critical use of information.
We will continue to expand the number, type, and flexibility of work- and volunteer-integrated learning opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students.
We will increase opportunities for student-driven project- and problem-based learning at both the undergraduate and the graduate level.
We will prioritize a campus culture centred on social justice in all its dimensions.
We commit to supporting student health and well-being in the Faculty of Arts.
Dean of Arts Office:
PAS building, room 2401
Tel 519 888-4567 ext. 48246
Arts Undergraduate Office:
PAS building, room 2439
Tel 519 888-4567 ext. 45870
Arts faculty and staff resources
Arts computing support for students, faculty, and staff
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.