The Senate was established through the University of Waterloo Act, 1972 and is responsible for academic programs, educational policies, faculty appointments and tenure, qualifications for degrees and diplomas, conferring honorary degrees and appointing the Chancellor. The Senate also has the power, subject to the approval of the Board insofar as the expenditures of funds is concerned, to create, modify or remove schools, institutes, departments or chairs.
The composition of Senate is representative of the University community, with both elected and ex-officio membership. Senators include faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, governors and administrative staff. The Act requires that the Senate have a majority of elected faculty members.
The Senate conducts its business through committees that bring recommendations to the Senate at regularly scheduled meetings through the governance year. Meetings include open session, which guests are welcome to attend, and closed sessions reserved for Senators.
- The President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Vivek Goel, is the Chair of Senate.
- The Vice-President, Academic and Provost, Dr. James Rush, is the Vice-Chair of Senate.
- The Secretary of Senate is Genevieve Gauthier-Chalifour, with Mike Grivicic designated as the Associate University Secretary for Senate.
Information for Visitors (non-Senators) interested in attending a meeting of Senate is available here.
Members 2024-2025
| Name |
Position |
Start of Term | End of Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jagdeep Singh Bachher |
Member, Chancellor |
July 1, 2024 |
June 30, 2027 |
| Murray Gamble |
Member, Chair, Board of Governors |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Vivek Goel [Chair] |
Member, Ex-Officio, President |
July 1, 2021 |
June 30, 2026 |
| James Rush [Vice-Chair] |
Member, Ex-Officio, Vice-President, Academic and Provost |
||
| Jacinda Reitsma |
Member, Ex-Officio, Vice-President, Administration & Finance |
||
| Charmaine Dean |
Member, Ex-Officio, Vice-President, Research & International |
||
| Jean Becker |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Indigenous Relations |
||
| Christopher Taylor |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism |
||
| David DeVidi |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Academic |
||
| Clarence Woudsma [interim] |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs |
||
| Paul Fieguth |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Academic Operations |
||
| Lili Liu |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Health |
||
| Alexie Tcheuyap |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Arts |
||
| Mary Wells |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Engineering |
||
| Bruce Frayne |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Environment |
July 1, 2022 |
June 30, 2027 |
| Mark Giesbrecht |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean, of Mathematics |
||
| Chris Houser |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Science |
||
| Beth Sandore Namachchivaya |
Member, Ex-Officio, University Librarian |
||
| Cathy Newell Kelly |
Member, Ex-Officio, Registrar |
||
| Marcus Shantz |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Conrad Grebel |
||
| Marc Jerry |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Renison |
||
| Peter Meehan |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, St. Jerome’s University |
||
| Richard Myers |
Member, Ex-Officio, Principal, United College |
||
| David Porreca |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Faculty Association of |
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| Damian Mikhail |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Waterloo |
||
| Meray Sadek |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Graduate Student |
||
| Aubrey Basdeo |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
||
| John Saabas |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
||
| Teresa Fortney |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
||
| Vacancy | Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors | ||
| Veronica Kitchen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Shana MacDonald |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| James Skidmore |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Mary Robinson |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Christopher Nielsen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| En-Hui Yang |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Jennifer Lynes |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Johanna Wandel |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Ellen MacEachen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Vacancy | Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) | May 1, 2022 | August 31, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Achim Kempf |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Cecilia Cotton |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Laura Deakin |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Colleen Maxwell |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Kirsten Muller |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Troy Osborne |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (Conrad Grebel University College) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Kristiina Montero |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (Renison University College) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Scott Kline |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome's University) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Carol Ann MacGregor |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome’s University) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Veronica Austen |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome’s University) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| John Abraham |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (United College) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| David Ha |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Neil Randall |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Nasser Abukhdeir |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Marc Aucoin |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Siva Sivoththaman |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Nadine Ibrahim |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Rob Gorbet |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| James Nugent |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Mark Seasons |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Mark Ferro |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Peter Hall |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Martin Cooke |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Heatlh) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Brad Lushman |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Changbao Wu |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Christiane Lemieux |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Blake Madill |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Hans De Sterck |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 | August 31, 2027 |
| Kevin Hare |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 | August 31, 2027 |
| Sachin Kotecha |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Ondrej Lhotak |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Kim Cuddington |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Stan Woo |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Natalie Hutchings |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Andrew Chang |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Asher Scaini |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Katie Traynor |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Avery Akkerman |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Catherine Dong |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Jordan Bauman |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Bilal Ahmed |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Student-at-Large) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Rida Sayed |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Student-at-Large) |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Judy Castaneda |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Stephanie Maaz |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Nicholas Pellegrino |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Acey Kaspar |
Member, Alumni Representative |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Sharon Tucker |
Member, Alumni Representative |
May 1, 2023 |
August 31, 2026 |
| Vikas Gupta |
Member, Alumni Representative |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
| Diana Vangelisti |
Member, Alumni Representative |
May 1, 2024 |
August 31, 2027 |
