Previous Deans of Mathematics

Name Years in service
   

Kevin Hare

Kevin Hare headshot

2020-2020

Kevin Hare is a Professional of Pure Mathematics and specializes in Number Theory and Fractal Geometry. He completed his undergraduate degree at Waterloo, along with his Masters and PhD at SFU, followed by postdocs at UC Berkeley and University of Edinburgh. Kevin served as the Interim Dean of Mathematics and led the Faculty of Math through tumultuous uncertainty during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Stephen Watt

2015 - 2020

Stephen M. Watt is a professor of Computer Science at University of Waterloo and a member of Board of Directors at DigitalEd. While Dean of Mathematics, he contributed to research in a range of fields including but not limited to cyber security, AI, and quantum computing. He has also served as a board member for several other organizations, like Descartes Systems Group and McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. 

Jim George

alangeorge

2001 - 2005

Jim Alan George received a B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Alberta in 1964 and 1966. He then went on to receive his PhD at Stanford University. From the years of 1980-1986 and then again from 2001-2005 he served as the Dean of Mathematics making notable contributions to the field of numerical algebra, specifically, computation with sparse matrices. 

Ian Goulden

Ian Goulden

2010 - 2015

Ian P. Goulden studied and completed his PhD at the University of Waterloo in 1979. He became the Dean of Mathematics just thirty-one years later between 2010-2015. While in the dean position at the university he was ultimately the CEO of the Mathematics Faculty and brought a lighter, ‘why-so-serious' outlook to the faculty.  

Thomas Coleman

tomcoleman

2005 - 2010

Thomas F. Coleman earned his PhD from University of Waterloo, after which he got a postdoctoral appointment at Argonne National Library in applied mathematics. He was a professor in Combinatorics and Optimization department, holding the Ophelia Lazaridis University Research Chair position. He was also the director of WatRISQ, an institution for quantitative and computational finance researchers. 

Mary Thompson

Mary Thompson headshot

2001 - 2001

Mary E. Thompson studied and received her B.Sc at the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois, where she received her PhD. Thompson was appointed as the Dean of Mathematics for the year of 2001. She is currently focussing on her research with survey methodology and sampling theory. More recently, she was named an honorary member of the Statistics Society of Canada (SSC) to honour her contributions to statistics in Canada. 

Jack Kalbfleisch

Jack Kalbfleisch

1990 - 1998

Jack Kalbfleisch received his PhD in statistics in 1969 from the University of Waterloo and served as the Dean of Mathematics for the years of 1990-1998. During his career he garnered many awards and honors, including elected Fellowships in the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the Royal Society of Canada. P. J. Schellenberg.  

Paul Schellenberg

Paul Schellenberg

1990 - 1990

Paul Schellenberg completed his bachelor's degree and PhD at UWaterloo before joining the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization in 1971. Throughout his career at UWaterloo, he published approximately 40 scholarly papers and was a fantastic morale-builder known for hearty genuine laugh and positive presence. He served for 14 years as a high-level academic administrator, including nine years as department chair, four-and-a-half years as associate dean, and six months as acting Dean of Mathematics.

James Kalbfleisch

jim kalbfleisch

1986 - 1990

James. G. Kalbfleisch completed his master's degree in 1964 and PhD in 1966 both in mathematics at the University of Waterloo.  From 1986-1989 he was appointed as the Dean of the Faculty of Math, later moving to the provost position where he drafted budgets and presented to staff and faculty about policies and work relationships. While not only playing a crucial role in the development and organization of mathematics at the University of Waterloo, he also was the author of the Springer-Verlag books Probability and Statistical Inference: Volume 1: Probability and Volume 2: Statistical Inference that were published in 1979 and republished in 1985. 

Jim George

alangeorge

1980 - 1986

Jim Alan George received a B.Sc and M.Sc from the University of Alberta in 1964 and 1966. He then went on to receive his PhD at Stanford University. From the years of 1980-1986 and then again from 2001-2005 he served as the Dean of Mathematics making notable contributions to the field of numerical algebra, specifically, computation with sparse matrices.  

William Forbes

william_forbes

1972 - 1980

William F. Forbes was well known for his work in Light Absorption, a field in which he had published countless papers, both independently and in collaboration. In order to honor him, there is an entrance scholarship award, called the W. F. Forbes Entrance Award, which is to be given to a student beginning a master’s program in Statistics with a Biostatistics specialization. 

David Sprott

David Sprott

1967 - 1972

David. A. Sprott completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Toronto between the years of 1952-1955. He then went on to become the first Dean of the newly founded Faculty of Mathematics for the years 1967-1972. During this time, he played a heavy role in developing the character of the faculty of math while also emphasizing the importance of the computer in statistical analysis. Throughout his time as Dean of Mathematics, he received several awards for his contributions to statistics including Fellow of the American Statistical Association, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.