Board of Governors - Staff Election

The Board of Governors is responsible for the governance of the University including control of is property and revenues, the conduct of its business and affairs, except such matters assigned by the University of Waterloo Act, 1972 to the Senate.

The Act prescribes that there are 36 voting Board members. Governors include community leaders, staff, faculty, students, and alumni. Governors also include a handful of citizens of Ontario, appointed by the provincial government. The Board conducts its business through committees that bring recommendations to the full Board at four regularly scheduled meetings. The composition of the Board of Governors consists of "two members of the full-time staff" of the University.

Staff elections for the Board of Governors vacancy will be held in March 2026, and all eligible staff are encouraged to consider nomination.

To appear on the ballot, nominees must provide a brief statement (100 words maximum) along with a completed nomination form. Those interested in becoming a Governor can find more information below within the Staff Election Guidelines.

The nomination period will open February 9, 2026 at 9:00am and remain open until February 20, 2026 at 4:30pm. The campaign period is to commence at the close of nominations on February 20^th and run until March 3, 2026.

Voting will begin as follows:

Online Voting (Regular Full-Time staff members): Wednesday March 4, 2026 at 9:00am and will close March 10 at 4:30pm.

Paper Ballots (Union staff members): Wednesday March 4, 2026 at 9:00am and will close March 17 at 4:30pm.

If you have any questions or want to learn more about being a Governor, please be in touch with the Secretariat. 

The composition of the Board of Governors consists of "two members of the full-time staff" of the University. The election guidelines are to be "determined and established by the Board of Governors" (The University of Waterloo Act, 1972, section 11.5).

Where used in these Guidelines, the phrase "full-time staff" has the meaning assigned to that phrase in The University of Waterloo Act, 1972 and Policy 54.

Candidate Eligibility: Candidates must be full-time staff members of the University.

Nominator Eligibility: Each nominator must be a full-time staff member of the University.

Voter Eligibility: All full-time staff members of the University are eligible to vote.

Term of Office:

• The term of office is three years.
• Member "shall be eligible for re-election . . . save that an elected . . . member shall serve for no more than two consecutive terms, provided that any such elected . . . members shall be again eligible for election . . . after the expiration of one year following the completion of two consecutive terms" (The University of Waterloo Act, section 23).

Nomination Process:

• The Secretariat will post a call for nominations to the Daily Bulletin and the Secretariat website.
• The call will stay open for 10 business days.
• Interested candidates will complete an online nomination form and submit it to the chief returning officer (CRO), Secretariat. At least five nominators are required in each case.
• Candidates may provide a brief campaign statement (100 words maximum) with their nomination form and will have the option of including their contact information with their campaign statements to facilitate voter questions during the campaign period.
• Where only one nomination is received, the candidate will be declared elected by acclamation.

Campaigning:

• Official announcement of the slate of candidates, with links to their 100-word campaign statements, will be posted to the Secretariat website and the Daily Bulletin the first day of the campaign period.
• The announcement will also provide notice of the campaign period (eight business days) and voting period (five business days for regular full-time staff – electronic ballot; 10 business days for union full-time staff – paper ballots), and information about who is eligible to vote.
• Candidates are not permitted to campaign or solicit votes through email including mass messages or group distribution emails. They are allowed to respond to individual voter questions through email during the campaign period.

Voting:

• All regular full-time staff members will receive an email prompt to vote on the first day of the voting period. The email will provide a link to the electronic ballot and voting instructions.
• Regular full-time staff will authenticate their vote with their WatIAM userid and password.
• All regular full-time union staff will receive a paper ballot to be returned to the CRO, Secretariat.

Candidate Behaviour:

• Any behaviour deemed inappropriate or in contradiction to the guidelines could result in candidates being removed from the candidate slate.
• Appeals concerning any act or decision made in implementing the guidelines for the election may be made by a candidate to the CRO, Secretariat. All appeals must be filed with the CRO within two business days of the voting results being released.

Approved by the Board of Governors, 7 April 2015
Revised by the Board of Governors, 2 February 2016