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 |
Chancellor |
July 1, 2024 |
June 30, 2027 |
| Murray Gamble |
Chair, Board of Governors |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 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 |
July 1, 2023 |
June 30, 2025 |
| Jacinda Reitsma |
Member, Ex-Officio, Vice-President, Administration & Finance |
December 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Charmaine Dean |
Member, Ex-Officio, Vice-President, Research & International |
July 1, 2022 |
June 30, 2027 |
| Jean Becker |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Indigenous Relations |
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| Christopher Taylor |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism |
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| David DeVidi |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Academic |
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| Clarence Woudsma [interim] |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs |
July 1, 2024 |
June 30, 2025 |
| Paul Fieguth |
Member, Ex-Officio, Associate Vice-President, Academic Operations |
March 27, 2023 |
March 26, 2024 |
| Lili Liu |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Health |
July 1, 2024 |
June 30, 2025 |
| Alexie Tcheuyap |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Arts |
July 1, 2024 |
June 30, 2029 |
| Mary Wells |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Engineering |
July 1, 2020 |
June 30, 2025 |
| Bruce Frayne |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Environment |
July 1, 2022 |
June 30, 2027 |
| Mark Giesbrecht |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean, of Mathematics |
July 1, 2020 |
June 30, 2025 |
| Chris Houser |
Member, Ex-Officio, Dean of Science |
July 1, 2023 |
June 30, 2028 |
| Beth Sandore Namachchivaya |
Member, Ex-Officio, University Librarian |
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| Cathy Newell Kelly |
Member, Ex-Officio, Registrar |
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| Marcus Shantz |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Conrad Grebel |
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| Marc Jerry |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Renison |
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| Peter Meehan |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, St. Jerome’s University |
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| Richard Myers |
Member, Ex-Officio, Principal, United College |
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| David Porreca |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Faculty Association of |
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| Nicholas Pfeifle |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Neela Hassan |
Member, Ex-Officio, President, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Aubrey Basdeo |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
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| John Saabas |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Teresa Fortney |
Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30,2027 |
| Vacancy | Member, Ex-Officio, Board of Governors | ||
| Veronica Kitchen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Shana MacDonald |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| James Skidmore |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Mary Robinson |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Christopher Nielsen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| En-Hui Yang |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Jennifer Lynes |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Johanna Wandel |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Ellen MacEachen |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Achim Kempf |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Cecilia Cotton |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Laura Deakin |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Colleen Maxwell |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Kirsten Muller |
Member, Faculty Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Troy Osborne |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (Conrad Grebel University College) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Kristiina Montero |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (Renison University College) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Scott Kline |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome's University) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Carol Ann MacGregor |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome’s University) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Veronica Austen |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (St. Jerome’s University) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| John Abraham |
Member, Faculty Representative AFIW (United College) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| David Ha |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Neil Randall |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Nasser Abukhdeir |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Marc Aucoin |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Siva Sivoththaman |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Nadine Ibrahim |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Rob Gorbet |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| James Nugent |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Mark Seasons |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Mark Ferro |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Peter Hall |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Martin Cooke |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Heatlh) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Brad Lushman |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Changbao Wu |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Christiane Lemieux |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Blake Madill |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Hans De Sterck |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 | April 30, 2027 |
| Kevin Hare |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 | April 30, 2027 |
| Sachin Kotecha |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Ondrej Lhotak |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2027 |
| Kim Cuddington |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Stan Woo |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Natalie Hutchings |
Member, Faculty-at-Large Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2022 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Andrew Chang |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Arts) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Asher Scaini |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Engineering) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Katie Traynor |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Environment) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Avery Akkerman |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Health) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Catherine Dong |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Mathematics) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Jordan Bauman |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Faculty of Science) |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Bilal Ahmed |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Student-at-Large) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Rida Sayed |
Member, Undergraduate Student Representative (Student-at-Large) |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Judy Castaneda |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Stephanie Maaz |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2023 |
April 30, 2025 |
| Vacancy |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Nicholas Pellegrino |
Member, Graduate Student |
May 1, 2024 |
April 30, 2026 |
| Acey Kaspar |
Member, Alumni Representative |
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| Sharon Tucker |
Member, Alumni Representative |
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| Vikas Gupta |
Member, Alumni Representative |
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| Diana Vangelisti |
Member, Alumni Representative |
