Each of Waterloo’s six Faculties make crucial contributions in all areas of Waterloo’s Strategic Plan. Strategic Plan initiatives led by theme leads are building opportunities for Faculties to achieve strategic goals in multiple areas, but most directly in the Transformational Research and Academic Programming themes.
Funding for strategic projects
Several Faculties reported funding for important multi-disciplinary and strategic projects in 2015/16, including:
- $4.2M funding to support the Advanced Aging Research Centre (ARCH) which spans three Faculties.
- The University of Waterloo, McMaster University and Western University received $35M over five years from the Government of Ontario to establish an Advanced Manufacturing Consortium.
- Faculty of Environment received $4.25M to launch the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (ICCA) to help homeowners, communities and businesses reduce risks associated with climate change and extreme weather events.
- The Games Institute (GI) has built a transdisciplinary research network across six Faculties, seven universities and six industry partners.
- The federal government and Manulife provided funding to support the Risk Management, Economic Stability, and Actuarial Science Development in Indonesia (READI) initiative. This project will increase the amount of actuarial talent in Indonesia with support from academic and industry partners.
- Waterloo scientists received funding to advance the Watershed Management and Monitoring Program.
Awards
Waterloo’s Office of Research (OR) works closely with Faculties and facilitated several significant national and international awards in 2015/16. In particular, two multi-million dollar Canada First Excellence Research Fund (CFREF) applications were approved in August 2016:
- A Waterloo-led application entitled "Transformative Quantum Technologies" with the University of Ottawa as a partner.
- A University of Saskatchewan-led application "World Water Futures; Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change" with Waterloo as a partner.
New courses and programs
Faculties are integral to advancing key initiatives within the Academic Programming theme. New courses and programs, and a focus on teaching excellence help our students achieve their ambitious academic goals. Faculty highlights from 2015/16 include:
- The School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) hosted the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research Student Forum, an initative focused on innovative approaches to tackling global health challenges.
- A new PhD in Applied Philosophy allows students do a research placement to apply philosophical knowledge and skills to practical problems.
- Dual doctoral degrees in engineering were introduced with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, one of the world’s top engineering schools.
- A new applied field studies course, Plants of Ontario, fulfills student demand for hands-on learning through plant identification and field work.
- New courseware from the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) won the 2015 Canadian Network for Innovation in Education award for Excellence and Innovation in the Integration of Technology in the K-12 Classroom.
- The School of Optometry and Vision Science has introduced two new residencies – Sports Vision and Vision Therapy as well as Ocular Disease.
Beyond the classroom
Faculties make other important contributions to achieving the Strategic Plan. In particular, Faculties continue to provide new and innovative ways for all students to become involved in international experiences, experiential, and entrepreneurship activities. Examples include:
- Kinesiology joined the University’s Living-Learning Community program to help support first-year students living in residence with the transition to university life.
- Arts has also collaborated with campus partners to offer more graduate professionalization workshops to build skills and knowledge mobilization for nonacademic career options.
- Waterloo Engineering and the University’s Cooperative Education and Career Action office received the 2015 Labour Award from the Creative Destruction Lab (part of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management) for their contribution to Canada’s economic development and leadership in developing talent in demand globally.
- The School of Pharmacy created a Community of Practice Learning model to provide clinical experiences for students in Ontario.
Improving the student experience
Initiatives through the Vibrant Student Experience, Robust Employer-Employee and Sound Values themes deepen and broaden our ability create a strong, diverse, and equitable community focused on delivering excellence. As examples,
- Opening of the new Science Teaching Complex which added 120K sq ft of student-centred space.
- The Faculty of Math achieved Excellence Canada's bronze certification in the Excellence, Innovation, and Wellness (EIW) standard for organizational performance.