New Faculty

Essential links for new hires 

Employee Benefits Program: https://uwaterloo.ca/human-resources/employee-resources/employee-benefits

UW Faculty Association: https://uwaterloo.ca/faculty-association/about

All UW Policies: https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/policies-procedures-guidelines/policies-numerical-order

Specific policies of note:

For information about policies, roles, and other day-to-day resources, visit the  Engineering Faculty & Staff Resources website (Login required). The following information is focused on your immediate needs when joining the faculty.

New to Waterloo or Canada?

The city of Waterloo is a dynamic urban centre well known for its rich cultural diversity and high-tech savvy.

Often rated as one of the top 10 cities to live in Canada, Waterloo attracts top business talent and students from around the world advancing its reputation as one of the country’s smartest communities.

Waterloo, along with Kitchener and Cambridge, are known as the Tri-Cities. Over time, these three cities have grown so that their borders are no longer distinct and now share several services, such as bussing, through the larger Region of Waterloo.

You can find out more about the city of Waterloo on our Why Waterloo Page.

If you haven’t worked in Canada before, you’ll need to get a Social Insurance Number (SIN) and a bank to set up payment. You can find information about this along with other relocation services on the human resources site.

Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo

The Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW) is the official representative of all regular faculty members who hold definite term, probationary, tenured, or continuing appointments. FAUW negotiates working conditions, hosts events, and provides one-on-one support for faculty members. Learn more or become a voting member on the FAUW website.

Events for New Faculty

University-Wide New Faculty Welcome Event is hosted by the New Faculty Planning Committee. An email invitation to this event should be sent to you from the Provost's Office.

Engineering New Faculty Orientation is hosted in the fall. Hosted by the Dean and the Associate Deans, the goal of this session is to provide valuable information pertaining to Waterloo Engineering followed by dinner at the University Club. 

Faculty Training

Mandatory Training

Recommended Training

Other Training Resources

Essential Campus Resources and Services

WatIAM

Your WatIAM ID serves as your login to the majority of campus services, including HR, your workstation, and email. This process is automatically done by HR. You should have gotten an email from HR with your WatIAM ID and instructions on how to activate it and set a password.

NOTE: The steps in this email are time-sensitive. If you need the email to be resent, you will have to email hrhelp@uwaterloo.ca and request them to resend you the activation email. A WatIAM login is essential to be able to work at your full capacity.

Setting up e-mail and two-factor authentication

The university uses Office 365 to manage a variety of services, including email, SharePoint, and calendars. To set up these services, visit the IST site.

Waterloo requires the use of Two Factor Authentication(2FA) for many of these services and resources. You can view the IST site on how to set up 2FA

Important dates

Workday

Workday is the service used to manage training, payroll information and vacation requests. You will need to go through the instructions listed under onboarding found on the Workday user guide site in order to start receiving payment.

Online Profile Builder and personal web pages

Online Profile Builder is a faculty database that automatically generates online profiles for Waterloo Engineering faculty members. It integrates information from institutional sources like Human Resources, along with details manually entered by faculty members.

To ensure your profile accurately reflects your work, you’ll need to add key details not captured elsewhere—such as research interests, awards, and publications. Keeping your profile up to date strengthens your web presence, ensures consistency across Faculty and Departmental pages, and increases visibility in University-wide expert directories used by industry partners and media.

Please refer to the Online Profile Builder guide for step-by-step instructions on updating your profile.

For assistance with setting up or updating Online Profile Builder, please contact your departmental communications officer. For technical issues, submit a JIRA request form (select Update Online Profile Builder Profile).

To request a separate personal webpage, submit a JIRA request form (select New Site Request).

WatCard

WatCard is the campus identification card. This card can be used to access a variety of campus services, including the library and health activities. In addition, funds can be put on the card and used at campus food services locations (WatCard purchases receive a 5% discount). To sign up for a WatCard, visit the faculty and staff site. 

Parking and Getting Around Campus

Parking and getting to the main campus

Waterloo has several staff/faculty parking lots on campus. All parking is managed by Sustainable Transportation (formerly Parking Services). To obtain a parking pass, visit the staff and faculty parking information page. 

If you are interested in using the Grand River Transit to get to campus, please visit the corporate pass site for information about this service.

Finding your way around campus

The virtual campus map is a great resource for finding your way around the campus. The Waterloo Portal app also offers a handheld version of the map that works with your phone’s GPS to help you better navigate around campus.

Through the visitor center you can book a tour of the campus. In this tour you will see parts of the campus that you may normally not see. The faculty has prepared virtual tours videos of engineering for potential undergraduate students. While designed for a different audience, these videos still provide good general information about the faculty and departments.

Setting up your workspace

Campus office

Home office

People to assist you when starting in your new department

School of Architecture

Andri Efstathiou

Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business

Tracie Wilkinson

Chemical Engineering

Jennifer Peng

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Lorraine Quast

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Brenda McQuarrie

Management Science & Engineering

Heidi Janssen

Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering

Christina Lashbrook

Systems Design Engineering

Sarah Landy

Support Contact

Martin Scherer, Special Projects Officer
mscherer@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 40306