The Waterloo Awards Committee (WAC) was established in 2009 with a mandate to promote and facilitate the submission of high-quality nominations of Waterloo scholars across all disciplines for prestigious awards, prizes and honorific titles, all through the lens of inclusivity, diversity and equity. Recognition for excellence in scholarship raises awareness of Waterloo as a world-leading scientific community and highlights the contributions of our researchers, as individuals and teams. We are proud of our commitment to excellence, and we work to recognize and celebrate our diverse research community at Waterloo.
The WAC is co-chaired by an Associate Vice-President from the Office of Research and a tenured faculty member from the ranks. It consists of representatives of each Faculty as well as the Office of Research.
WAC members
| Faculty/Unit | Members |
|---|---|
| Office of the Vice-President, Research and International |
Thomas Barber (Staff) Susan Elliott (Faculty & Co-Chair) Ian Milligan (AVP & Co-Chair) |
| Arts |
Myra Fernandes (Faculty) Randy Harris (Faculty) Heather Henderson (Faculty; on leave) Douglas Peers (Faculty) Selena Santi (Staff) |
| Engineering |
Page Burton (Staff) TBD (Faculty) Mustafa Yavuz (Faculty) |
| Environment |
Andrea Collins (Faculty) Jennifer Clapp (Faculty) Brenda Panasiak (Staff) Simron Singh (Faculty) |
| Health |
Robin Duncan (Faculty) Fiona McAlister (Staff) Steven Mock (Faculty) John Hirdes (Faculty) |
| Mathematics |
Brittany Reiche (Staff; on leave) Agata Antkiewicz (Staff) Tamer Özsu (Faculty) Nico Spronk (Faculty) Ruodu Wang (Faculty) |
| Science |
Kim Arnold (Staff) Donna Strickland (Faculty) Philippe Van Cappellan (Faculty) |
Inaugural WAC Emeritus Committee
| Faculty | Members |
|---|---|
| Arts | Colin MacLeod |
| Engineering | Keith Hipel |
| Environment | Jean Andrey |
| Health | Jim Frank |
| Math | TBD |
| Science | David Rose |
Duties
- Encouraging Faculties, Departments, and Schools to actively engage in identifying outstanding candidates for prestigious national and international awards, prizes and honorific titles
- Encourage Faculties, Departments and Schools to nominate candidates for discipline-specific awards, particularly for those early in their careers and those from the four designated underrepresented groups, not only in recognition of achievement and personal honour, but also for the value of such awards
- Ensuring Deans, Chairs, and Directors are aware of such awards and titles, the eligibility criteria, application procedures, and submission deadlines
- Nominating exceptional faculty members for prestigious national and international awards and honorific titles
- Working with Deans, Chairs, Directors, and Nominees to ensure that nominations/applications are of the highest possible quality and are submitted in accordance with specified deadlines
- Ensuring that nominations remain active for more than one year, they are updated annually
- Reporting to Deans, Chairs, Directors, and the Committee on the state of current and forthcoming nominations
- Participating in subcommittees to adjudicate nominations where the number of applications per institution for an award is limited
- Attendance at regular WAC meetings
- Attending, supporting, and promoting awards recognition events