Waterloo has achieved great things
This is just the beginning. Take a step back in time with us and look at some historic moments at Waterloo.
2017 is a year of milestones
Thank you for joining us in celebrating how far we have come as an institution.
60 years for our founding Faculty of Engineering and Co-operative Education program; 50 years for North America’s only Faculty of Mathematics; since Waterloo became home to Canada’s only English-language School of Optometry; since we turned our attention to improving health with the world’s first Department of Kinesiology — the foundation of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences; and since our Federation of Students was formed; and 40 years since Waterloo founded its Hong Kong Alumni Association.
Take a moment to look back on our firsts, the progress we've made, and some of our key accomplishments over the years:
![exterior of the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering building](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_chemistry_and_chemical_engineering_building.jpg)
Waterloos first building, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, is completed in December 1958.
![student on co-op](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_co-op.png)
The first co-op program outside of engineering is established in the Department of Physics in 1962.
![Arts student shaking professor's hand](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_arts.jpg)
In 1975, the first Arts co-op stream begins for Economics students, demonstrating the value of co-operative education in all fields.
![man writing on a white board](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_yang.jpg)
In 2000, En-hui Yang, electrical and computer engineering, created a new compression algorithms that millions of people use to decompress file with no loss of data.
![exterior of School of Pharmacy](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_school_of_pharmacy.jpg)
Canadas only pharmacy co-op program the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Campus opens in downtown Kitchener in 2006.
![exterior of Tatham Centre](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/william_m_tatham_centre_0.jpg)
In 2003, the William M. Tatham Centre for Cooperative Education and Career Services opens, the largest building dedicated to co-operative services at a Canadian university.
![John Thompson](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_thompson_0.jpg)
In 2004, Biologist John Thompson discovered gene eIF5A a death switch in plants and animals that determines whether cells live or die which also enhances crop yields and combat cancer and other diseases.
![people in front of Innovation fund banner and Waterloo banner](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_foundation.jpg)
In 2007, the largest amount awarded to any Canadian university,the Canadian Foundation for Innovation announces a $33M grant to the University of Waterloo.
![students holding up a St. Paul's Greenhouse sign](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_greenhouse.jpeg)
The first and only live-in campus-linked accelerator in Canada St. Pauls GreenHouse Social Impact Incubator, established in 2013.
![Justin Trudeau walking down the stairs of the Science Teaching Complex](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_trudeau.jpg)
University of Waterloo has a $2.6 billion per year economic impact in Ontario according to a 2013 Economic Impact Report.
![students at Velocity Garage](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_startup.jpg)
Startups launched by Waterloo researchers, students and alumni: BlackBerry, Clearpath Robotics, D2L, Kik Interactive, Maplesoft, MappedIn, OpenText, Vidyard
![students at convocation](/innovation60/sites/default/files/uploads/images/cropped_convocation_2011_homepage_photo.jpg)
Today, Waterloo has 31,380 undergraduate, 5,290 graduate students compared to 74 students when the university opened in 1957.