University of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo traces its roots back to the Waterloo College School, founded in 1914.

The college school was the non-theological teaching arm of Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (now Martin Luther University College), itself founded in 1911.

In 1924, the college school began to offer a regular, three-year, liberal arts curriculum under the name of Waterloo College of Arts. The following year the school became officially associated with the University of Western Ontario, under the name of Waterloo College.

In 1957, a separate administrative entity was established within the structure of Waterloo College. It was called Waterloo College Associate Faculties (WCAF).

Two years later, in 1959, WCAF split away from both Waterloo College and the University of Western Ontario, becoming an independent institution of higher learning under the name of the University of Waterloo. Several other Waterloo College academic units—the Mathematics, Economics, German, and Russian Departments, among others—chose to transfer to the new University of Waterloo.

Today, Waterloo’s academic structure comprises 13 schools spread among six faculties. The student body numbers more than 36,000 souls.

In 1999, the cutting-edge Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) opened in the city of Waterloo. The PI engages in cooperative partnership with the University of Waterloo, among other universities and institutions.

Noted individuals associated with the University of Waterloo include:

• Mathematicians, Jonathan Borwein, David M. Jackson, Jack Edmonds, Hiroshi Haruki, Ronald C. Read, Doug Stinson, Neil Koblitz & Carsten Thomassen
• Computer scientists, Gordon Bell, Michele Mosca, Václav Chvátal, Jeffrey Shallit, Gordon Cormack, Rik Holt, David Cheriton, Ian Goldberg, Rasmus Lerdorf & Mike Lazaridis
• Philosophers, Jan Narveson, Paul Thagard & Justin K.A. Smith
• Poet, George Elliott Clarke
• Novelists, James Alan Gardner & Anne Fleming
• Children’s author, Tim Wynne-Jones
• Animator, Bill Reeves
• Actors, Brad Goddard, Steve Smith & Rick Green
• Astronomers, Clifford Cunningham & Michael Balogh
• Astrophysicist, Will Percival
• Cosmologists, Lee Smolin & Michael Hudson
• Physicists, Donna Strickland (Nobel laureate), Anthony Leggett, Paul S. Wesson, Robert Mann, Michael Gingras, Jeff Z.Y. Chen, Stefan Idziak & James J. Kay
• Electrical engineers, Vijay Bhargava & Prem Saran Satsangi
• Electrical engineer and hybrid systems pioneer, Claire J. Tomlin
• Chemists, Giacinto Scoles & Moustafa Aly Soliman
• Biophysicists, Zoya Leonenko & Bae-Yeun Ha
• Theoretical neuroscientist, Chris Eliasmith
• Psychologist, Lisa Feldman Barrett
• Social psychologists, Ziva Kunda & Melvin Lerner
• Anthropologist, Anne Zeller
• Religious studies scholars Douglas E. Cowan & A. James Reimer
• Judaica scholar, Paul G. Socken
• Historians, Ken Coates & W.G. Godfrey
• Economists, Robert Mundell (Nobel laureate), Maurice Kugler & David X. Li
• Former Canadian Governor, General David Johnston