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University of Waterloo
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The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff. The school is notable for being the first accredited university in North America to create a Faculty of Mathematics, and for having the largest co-op program in the world. The school is also known for having more company spin-offs than any other Canadian university, and as such, the university has been called the "Silicon Valley of the North".
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Encyclopedia
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff. The school is notable for being the first accredited university in North America to create a Faculty of Mathematics, and for having the largest co-op program in the world. The school is also known for having more company spin-offs than any other Canadian university, and as such, the university has been called the "Silicon Valley of the North". The enrollment for 2006 was 23,729 undergraduate and 3,013 graduate students, with 963 full-time faculty members and 2,167 staff. The school has approximately 130,000 alumni in 141 countries. The university press, @UW and The Boar are members of CUP.
History
The University of Waterloo was originally conceived in 1955 as the Waterloo College Associate Faculties (WCAF), a semi-autonomous entity within Waterloo College (now Wilfrid Laurier University, formerly known as Waterloo Lutheran University). The non-denominational school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles in Waterloo, Ontario.
The Waterloo College of Arts became affiliated with the University of Western Ontario in 1925. Today Wilfrid Laurier University emphasizes liberal arts and University of Waterloo, emphasizes engineering and science. The university's first president, Gerry Hagey, gathered teachers of engineering and basic sciences, and also obtained an initial grant of $625,000 from the government. The first 74 students began classes on July 1, 1957, in makeshift temporary buildings on the Waterloo College campus. In 1958, the University of Waterloo established an extension department.
In January 1958, Hagey and colleagues purchased 74 hectares (184 acres) of farmland a kilometre west of Waterloo College's main campus in order to meet the growing expansion needs. Soon, construction began of the first academic building on the new site, known as the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Building, later renamed Engineering 1 and now named after Douglas Wright, UW's first Dean of Engineering.
Through a series of delicate negotiations which turned into bitter hostilities, the "Faculty of Science and Engineering" broke free from Waterloo College, partly due to the fact that the two campuses were now disjoint. Hagey himself was opposed to the break, as his dream had been to establish a world-class university built on the strengths of Waterloo College's liberal arts strengths and the applied science education of WCAF.
The University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario was incorporated and granted a university charter in 1959. In early 1959, the government established three universities: Waterloo Lutheran University, University of St. Jerome's College, and the University of Waterloo.
The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society. The governance was modelled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906 which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty), responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the 2 bodies and to perform institutional leadership.
Initially, St. Jerome's and Waterloo Lutheran were both expected to federate with the new UW, but in the end Waterloo Lutheran chose to remain independent. Waterloo Lutheran Seminary is currently an affiliate of the nondenominational Waterloo University and offers several programs at the master's level and a Doctor of Ministry in pastoral counselling and marriage and family therapy. The Waterloo Lutheran seminary established the Institute for Christian Ethics in 1986.
UW then quickly created a faculty of arts in order to gain respect as a university. In the same year, arts students joined the science and engineering students in the new campus.
Three more church colleges ended up joining the university. These carried the name of "College" for many years, but this was later changed to the somewhat cumbersome "University College" designation in order to reflect the degree-granting nature of these affiliated institutions. These colleges are: Renison, Conrad Grebel, and St. Paul's. Waterloo created the first Faculty of Mathematics in North America, and the first co-op programs outside of engineering soon followed. The co-op system then was revised in involving four-month terms rather than the initial three-month terms. In 1967, the College of Optometry of Ontario, at the moment an independent institution in Toronto, moved to Waterloo and became affiliated with the university as the School of Optometry. In 1967 the world's first Department of Kinesiology was created, which later grew into the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. The Faculty of Environmental Studies was created soon after. It was renamed the Faculty of Environment in 2008.
The University of Waterloo launched its program in architecture in 1967.
More recently, in 2004, the School of Architecture was relocated to downtown Cambridge in an effort to enhance the school's facilities and strengthen its community ties. The School, located in a former industrial building on the Grand River, is an important part of plans to bolster the economy of Cambridge's downtown area. Additionally, Architecture is now part of the Faculty of Engineering. It formerly fell under Environmental Studies.
In 2001, the University of Waterloo announced its intentions to develop a Research and Technology Park on the university's north campus. The RT Park intends to house many of the high-tech industries in the area and maintain the partnership between university and private-sector innovation. Sybase/iAnywhere Solutions and Open Text Corporation were the first two tenants, and the multi-tenant Accelerator Centre building opened in April 2006. Google has since established an office in the RT Park. The RT Park continues to grow with 2- and 3- storey multi-tenant buildings, again surrounded by ample parking lots. Earlier suggestions to include medium- and high-density residential facilities, with the hope of enabling employees in the RT Park to have the option of not having to commute to suburban detached houses, have so far not come to fruition.
Campus
The main campus is located along University Avenue in Waterloo, Ontario on what was, until the 1960s, farmland. Since its creation, a considerable level of commercial and residential development has built up around the Waterloo campus, notably with many offices of high-tech firms. This has resulted in a major urban expansion into the surrounding rural areas, with a consequent loss of prime farmland and degradation of natural areas.
The past five years (2003-2008) have seen the University's second largest building boom since the 1960s. New buildings completed include the Tatham Building (Co-op Education), the Environmental and Information Technologies Building (chiefly Earth Sciences and Electrical Engineering), expansions to Burt Matthews Hall (Applied Health Sciences), a new Solar Technologies Building, a major addition to the School of Optometry Building, and sundry additions to several Engineering buildings. Currently (2008) under construction are a Quantum Nanotechnology Building, an Engineering 5 Building, and a building for the School of Accountancy.
To commemorate individuals who have made major contributions to the University of Waterloo, some buildings, most notably in the Engineering realm, have been renamed. Three examples include Engineering 4 becoming Carl Pollock Hall, Engineering Lecture Hall becoming Rod Coutts Hall, and the aforementioned Engineering 1 becoming the Doug Wright Engineering Building. Some buildings, such as the Davis Centre (William G. Davis Computer Research Centre), the J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities, and Ira G. Needles Hall (Administration) were named after people at their time of inception.
The geographical coordinates of the main UW campus, using the NAD 83 datum, are .
The School of Architecture was relocated to a former mill in Cambridge, Ontario, in 2004.
A new campus for the health sciences program is being built in Kitchener, Ontario and will include a satellite of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. Completion was originally scheduled for January 2008, although extensive construction delays have occurred. The new building will also house the School of Pharmacy.
Faculties
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Arts
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Environment
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics
- University of Waterloo Faculty of Science
Rankings and reputation
More Canadian high-tech and knowledge-based spin-off companies trace their roots to the University of Waterloo than to any other school, and as such, the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo region has been called the "Silicon Valley of the North".
Great emphasis is placed on furthering the growth of research by quick and steady expansion of resources. The Institute for Quantum Computing, established in 2002, is one of a number of institutes and centres for research established, and has already begun to attract international scientists and a Nobel laureate to the university.
School of Accounting and Finance
The University of Waterloo School of Accounting and Finance offers undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs. Its Masters of Accounting graduates are well prepared for the UFE exam for Chartered Accountants. Its Honours Mathematics/Chartered Accountancy and Biotechnology/Chartered Accountancy are one of the two most competitive programs in Canada.
Computer science and mathematics
The international reputation of Waterloo in mathematics and computer science is reflected in the performance of its students in academic competitions such as the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. In the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, Waterloo students have won gold medals in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Since the ACM contest began in 1977, Waterloo teams have accumulated the second most ACM first-place finishes (tied with six other schools). Since the inaugural Putnam competition in 1938, Waterloo teams have accumulated the sixth most top-five finishes ahead of Duke, Chicago, WUSL, Yale, Berkeley, Cornell, Stanford, Columbia and Carnegie Mellon among others.
Engineering
As one of the most competitive engineering schools in the country, and with students and alumni consistently placing in the top tier of international competitions such as ChallengeX, the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering is widely considered by industry and academics to be the foremost engineering school in Canada. The school also holds the world record for the longest distance travelled by a solar car. Out of 24 participants in the 2008 North American Solar Car Challenge from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany, the University of Waterloo finished 4th overall and was the top Canadian team in the competition.
Students can choose to study in the following disciplines: Architecture, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geological Engineering, Management Engineering, Management Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Nanotechnology Engineering, Software Engineering and Systems Design Engineering.
International rankings
According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2008, the University of Waterloo was ranked 129th overall, 30th in the world for technology, 42nd in the world for the natural sciences, and 108th in the world in social sciences.
Maclean's rankings
Waterloo prides itself on its high performance in Maclean's magazine's Canadian university rankings - the Canadian counterpart to the American US News annual ranking of universities. The university routinely places in the top three in the numerical Comprehensive ranking, and in the reputation survey it placed first as best overall 13 out of 15 times that the ranking was published. Maclean's describes the university as "strong in math, engineering and computer science," as well as being "internationally recognized for the unparalleled success of its more than 100 undergraduate and graduate co-op programs."
Co-operative education
Waterloo is famous for being a groundbreaking proponent of co-operative education in Canada and currently maintains the largest co-op program in the world with over 10 000 co-op students per year. In the official annual national university report by Maclean's, the University of Waterloo has placed best overall out of 47 universities in Canada for the past 13 of 15 years since the survey began.
Ties with industry
Through its large co-op program (the largest in the world) and many spin-off companies, the University of Waterloo maintains close ties with the high-tech industry.
UW has a long-standing intellectual property policy that leaves ownership rights with the inventor, rather than the university, which has helped create many spin-off companies that maintain a good relationship with UW. In particular, it has a strong connection with Research In Motion, the makers of the Blackberry, that goes beyond its close physical proximity. Co-founder and CEO Mike Lazaridis was a UW student before he started RIM, and is currently the chancellor of the university. RIM hires hundreds of UW co-op students each term and a large proportion of its employees are UW alumni.
During his visit to Waterloo in October 2005, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates stated, "Most years, we hire more students out of Waterloo than any university in the world, typically 50 or even more."
Agreement with Microsoft
The university announced a controversial agreement with Microsoft in 2002.
As part of this agreement, the University of Waterloo was to receive $2.3 million in funding from the Microsoft Canada Academic Innovation Alliance and would introduce Microsoft's C# programming language in its Electrical and Computer Engineering programs (also known as ECE.) The university came under harsh criticism for this agreement to develop Engineering courses using Microsoft's .NET Framework. The university administration asserted that this agreement would not jeopardize academic integrity at the institution, although the university president acknowledged making mistakes in announcing the deal.
The School of Computer Science was not part of this agreement, and currently offers Scheme and a choice of C or Python in its introductory courses.
Spin-offs
Several companies have roots in, or have been spun off from the university. (The large number of spin-offs from UW is in part due to the University's long-standing policy of allowing creators to retain all the rights to their inventions.) Some of the most notable spin-offs include:
- Certicom - founded by two Waterloo professors, Scott Vanstone and Gordon Agnew
- Intelligent Mechatronics Systems Inc. - founded by a Waterloo professor, Otman Basir
- Dalsa - founded by Waterloo electrical engineering professor Savvas Chamberlain
- Maplesoft - founded by two Waterloo professors, Keith Geddes and Gaston Gonnet
- Open Text Corporation - originated from the university's Oxford English Dictionary project
- SlipStream Data - founded by two Waterloo professors, En-hui Yang and Ajit Singh
- Watcom - founded by F.W. Crigger, K.I. McPhee and J.B. Schueler of the university's Computer Systems Group
- Northern Digital Inc. (NDI) - founded by Jerry Krist, also from the Computer Systems Group
- Volker-Craig - founded by M.C. Volker and R.G. Craig, Waterloo graduates in 1973
Notable companies founded by alumni
Future plans
The Faculty of Engineering, citing a shortage of space compared to the undergraduate and graduate enrollment and number of faculty members, is planning a $150M expansion between 2008 and 2012 in the form of three new buildings. Two are to be located outside Ring Road and linked back to the main campus by a walkway, while one will be built inside Ring Road in proximity to the current Engineering side of campus. The Iron Warrior reports that the Faculty has secured funding and received approval for the first of these three buildings, to be called Engineering 5, which will house a Student Design Centre showcasing the Waterloo Engineering student teams, along with space for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, and the Department of Systems Design Engineering. The latter's original hopes for an exclusive building just for Systems are now dead according to Dean of Engineering Adel Sedra, as they were not able to locate the sufficient funds.
The university and the City of Kitchener are constructing a health sciences campus, including a School of Pharmacy, in the central Kitchener warehouse district. The project will cost $34 million for the first phase. The Honours co-operative Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy program began in January of 2008. Preliminary operations, including staffed medical and optometry clinics, are based out of the former Victoria Public School in Kitchener's downtown.
The Kitchener site will also host a satellite campus of McMaster University's medical school, bringing 21 first-year medical students to Waterloo Region each year to study. They will remain until the end of the three-year McMaster program, and have the option of continuing as a resident in the area.
On October 16, 2006, President Johnston announced that the university has entered discussions with the City of Stratford and the Stratford Festival of Canada exploring the possibility of establishing a satellite campus in Stratford. On the same day, Stratford City Council unanimously endorsed a memorandum of understanding to continue exploration of the issue. This was clarified further on March 26, 2008, following a funding commitment in the previous day's provincial budget; the campus is to specialize in digital media and global business, and also has a funding commitment from Open Text corp.
With donations by alumni and matching contributions from government, the university announced in April 2004 the founding of the Institute for Quantum Computing.
Construction began in September 2008 for the Quantum-Nano Centre, a massive building which will house the Institute for Quantum Computing as well as the new Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. The building will be located in the centre of campus and its cost will exceed $100M. It is planned to be opened in September 2010.
The university is also planning a new building to house the School of Accountancy. The building is expected to be completed in late August 2008, ready for the beginning of the fall term. The School of Accountancy's expanded space will be constructed between the Arts Lecture Hall, Tatham Centre, and Hagey Hall. It includes state of the art classrooms, lecture halls and office space for the School of Accountancy and Finance.
Though in preliminary discussion there also has been talks for the initiation of a law program.
The university is currently planning for its sixth decade (2007 - 2017) with an "ambitious plan". According to the plan's documentation, some objectives are benchmarked by the following targets:
- By 2017, at least 12 UW academic programs will be the best in North America
- By 2017, at least 12 out of 44 departments/schools will be ranked top 12 in North America
- By 2017, at least 20 UW departments/schools will be ranked top three in Canada
- Each department/school will participate in a doctoral program
- All departments/schools will be ranked top 25% in Canada
UW has announced plans to open, in partnership, a satellite campus in Dubai. The plan has come under scrutiny for its perceived lack of transparency in the planning stages, as well as issues regarding the labour used, as well as UAE laws restricting the conventional Canadian freedoms of female and homosexual members of staff. In particular, debate has come up in both the student Senate, the university's Board of Governors over possible violations of policy 33, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Mascots
 - The University's athletics mascot is a lion named King Warrior. The Warriors are the University's sports team and King Warrior's initials, K-W, reflect a common nickname for the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo.
- The mascot for the undergraduate students' Mathematics Society (MathSoc) is the Natural Log (see natural log), which is a wooden log about 60 cm (two ft) long, often mistaken as the Faculty's mascot.
- The mascot for the Faculty of Mathematics is a 12.2 m (40 ft) long and 3.4 m (11 ft) wide pink tie, often mistaken as MathSoc's mascot.
- The mascot for the Faculty of Engineering is a 60" (1.5 m) pipe wrench called The TOOL, formerly the RIDGID Tool, because it was donated by the in 1968. This mascot was stolen by another University in 1982 and returned encased in a 45 gallon drum of concrete. Engineering students worked tirelessly for 6 hours using sledgehammers to free it.
- The mascot for the Faculty of Arts is a statue of a boar which was donated to the University of Waterloo Math Faculty in 1978, and in turn donated to the Arts Faculty. It is one of several copies of Italian sculptor Pietro Tacca's (1577-1640) "Il Porcellino" statue. Some students claim that rubbing the Boar's nose brings luck.
- The mascot for the Faculty of Environmental Studies Orientation Week is The Big Banana, which is actually a designated orientation leader dressed in a banana costume.
- The mascot for the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences is a Kangaroo.
- The mascot for the Science Society (SciSoc) is Arriba the Amoeba, a giant human-sized amoeba dressed in a lab coat.
Fight song
Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement, convocation, and athletic games are: University of Waterloo Seagrams! Seagrams! Vat 69. Warriors, Warriors, Hold that Line! and 'The Black and White and Gold,' with words by K.D. Fryer and H.F. Davis and music by Alfred Kunz.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the University of Waterloo was granted in 1987. The shield's blazon is as follows:
Or, on a chevron Sable between three lions rampant Gules a chevronel Argent.
The full blazon of the arms (rarely used) continues:
Above the Shield is placed an Helm suitable to an Incorporation (a Salade proper lined Gules) with a Mantling Sable doubled Or, and on a Wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest between two maple branches in saltire a trillium displayed and leaved all Proper, and in an Escrol over the same this Motto "CONCORDIA CUM VERITATE".
Representing Waterloo's location in the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, the double-chevron is taken from the coat of arms of Earl Kitchener, and the red lions are taken from the symbol of Arthur, Duke of Wellington, the victor at the Battle of Waterloo.
Administration
See also
Histories of the university
- James Scott 'Of Mud and Dreams: University of Waterloo 1957-1967' (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1967)
- Paul Axelrod 'Scholars and Dollars: Politics, Economics, and the Universities of Ontario 1945-1980' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, September 1, 1982)
- Professor Brian McKillop, 'Matters of Mind: The University in Ontario, 1791-1951' (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press © 1951)
- Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin 'Enthusiasm for the Truth: An Illustrated History of Saint Jerome's University', (Waterloo: University of Waterloo Press © 2002)
- Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin 'Waterloo: The Unconventional Founding of an Unconventional University' (Waterloo: University of Waterloo Press © 1997)
- Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin 'Out of the Shadow of Orthodoxy: Waterloo @ 50' (Waterloo: University of Waterloo Press © 2007)
- Flora Roy 'Recollections of Waterloo Lutheran University 1960-1973' (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, September 25, 2006)
External links
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