The Tri-University Graduate Program in History combines the faculty and resources of three of Canada’s premier universities, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier University. With over seventy graduate faculty in the program, we are one of the largest History graduate programs in the country and able to provide courses and supervise research across the widest possible range of areas. At the same time, through small seminars, close student-professor relationships, and teaching assistantships and scholarships held at one of our three participating campuses, we provide the atmosphere and collegiality of a smaller, more intimate program.
News
Dr. Schreiber explores charity and relief in 16th Century England and Scotland
Grant Schreiber successfully defended his thesis entitled, “‘For ye haue the poore alwaies with you’: Experiments in Charity in post-Reformation Oxford and Aberdeen, 1560-1640,” on Monday, January 5, 2026 at the University of Guelph.
Congratulations, Dr. Schreiber!
Dr. Baer-Tsarfati examines ambition in early modern Scotland
Lisa Baer-Tsarfati successfully defended her thesis entitled, "Condemnation and Control: Ambition in Scotland, 1550–1625," on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. Her dissertation examines ambition as an historically contingent moral and political concept not a transhistorical psychological trait.
Congratulations Dr. Baer-Tsarfati!
Award-winning MA student from Laurier studied northern Canada realities
Elizabeth Spence graduated in September 2025 with an MA in History from Wilfrid Laurier University. She received a gold medal for academic excellence as one of the top Master's students in a research-intensive or professional master's program. To meet the reward requirements, Elizabeth surpassed the minimum GPA with an 11.75 (A+), a minimum of A- in any course, and her examination committee commended her research paper as outstanding.
Elizabeth's Major Research Paper examined the development of the Pine Point lead-zinc mine in the Northwest Territories as a case study in postwar northern expansion, infrastructure development, and Cold War–era Canadian nationalism.
Learn more about her research and her experience in the Tri-U History program.
Events
Military Lecture: Lives of Servitude and Service: British Home Children and the Making of Wartime Canada
Kelly Morrison, PhD candidate in history at Wilfrid Laurier University, specializing in War & Society studies will introduce Sir George Beardshaw, the last surviving veteran of the Second World War-era Queen’s Own Rifles and the only surviving British “Home Child” left in Canada. Morrison’s presentation introduces Beardshaw and a select group of Home Children, revealing how this marginalized group helped to define Canada’s national wartime and postwar identity.
The lecture premieres in-person at Guelph Civic Museum. The recorded conversation will be available on YouTube, and their Museum Everywhere Portal.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation starts at 7 p.m., followed by a question period.
The Military Lecture series is a partnership between Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada and Guelph Civic Museum.
Patrons and Politics in the Making of Scottish History
Join The Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Guelph, for The Frank Watson Book Prize in Scottish History Lecture presented by Dr. Catriona Macdonald from the University of Glasgow.
The lecture takes place online, Thursday, April 23, 1:00 pm
36th Canadian Military History Colloquium
The 36th Canadian Military History Colloquium by Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada will be held in-person in the Senate & Board Chambers and Paul Martin Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University on 8-9 May 2026.