News

Dr. Patrick Harrigan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former two-term chair in the Department of History, passed away on 13 May 2023.  Dr. Harrigan had a long and distinguished career at the University of Waterloo that began in 1969 and continued long after his regular retirement in 2007 as professor emeritus. 

It’s official. Arts has a new strategic plan: A Future for Humanity: Faculty of Arts Strategic Plan 2023–2030. After several years of development and pandemic disruptions, the final — and now, strongly endorsed — plan features three Priorities for Change: Building Connection through Interdisciplinarity; Effecting Social Impact; and Fostering Student Agency.

The Department of Political Science shares that Will Coleman, Professor Emeritus, passed away at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton on March 24, 2023. He will be remembered by friends, colleagues, and students as deeply ethical, academically innovative and fearless, a supportive and collaborative researcher, an exceptional teacher, and a very kind and generous friend.

The Office of the Vice-President, Academic & Provost announced this month that Dr. Christine McWebb has been appointed as Associate Vice-President, Faculty, Planning and Policy. Founding director of our Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, McWebb was instrumental in developing the School’s strategic vision and set the stage for its continued growth and success.

The National Killam Program announced that Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae (Communication Arts) has won a 2023 Dorothy Killam Fellowship that provides support for dedicated research time to scholars “whose superior, ground-breaking, best-in-class research stands to have significant impact on a national or global scale.”

The Theatre and Performance program presents Portia’s Julius Caesar by Kaitlyn Riordan in Theatre of the Arts, March 22 – 25. Co-directed by professors Sorouja Moll and Andy Houston, the play is a radical adaption of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and focuses on the voices and perspectives of its female characters.

Congratulations to Dr. Martin Cooke, our current Associate Dean, Undergraduate Students, on his appointment as the first Assistant Vice-President, Academic – Leadership and Strategic Initiatives.

Shortly after 34 students from Ukraine arrived at Waterloo last spring, they created a collection of photos to highlight the impacts of the war in their home country. “The main goal of this exhibition is to make people aware what's happening right now and show the spirit of Ukrainians,” says Halyna Padalko, a graduate student who travelled here from Kharkiv.

Dr. Effie Pereira has been announced as Waterloo’s 2022 Banting Postdoctoral Researcher by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the Tri-Council funding bodies. Pereira is a cognitive scientist whose current research examines changing states of attention and its relation to cognitive performance and functioning.

The Government of Canada announced the newest Canada Research Chairs (CRC) including Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae of the Department of Communication Arts. As CRC in Race, Gender, and Performance, she leads a research-creation program that examines existing art and scholarship and creates new artistic work that will contribute to Black studies and Black expressive culture in Canada and the world.