Meet the 2021-22 Board of Directors

brad dunbar aJoa mintah adam smith shelley Forwell ian mclean

gina hudel nick heFFner allison bourke kris ronan scott gilFillan

sean sullivan wendi camPbell richard Jaques carleen carroll glenn thorPe

Our Communities are United in Optimism and Unconventional Transformations

I am inspired by the history of the University of Waterloo and its unconventional founding. This is an institution built to serve the needs of the community and to challenge conventions in university education. It has been equally inspiring to meet so many leaders across Waterloo Region and Stratford.

In my learning journey as president, I hear many of the same themes I read about in history books about the University and this community: this community recognizes the importance of new ideas driven by academic excellence, entrepreneurial spirit and the belief that problem-solving must be infused with imagination.

Frustrated by the pace of change in Canada in the 1950s, the University’s founders Gerald Hagey and Ira Needles took their experience in industry and went against centuries of university tradition by establishing an innovative institution that integrated work experience with academic excellence.

That decision took courage. It also required a deep connection with local business, government and community leaders. Hagey and Needles knew an unconventional university could only thrive with the support of the local community.

Today, Waterloo’s co-operative education program has more co-op students than the next four top institutions in the world combined. Our students, faculty and alumni contribute to the economy and vitality of Waterloo Region and the community has reciprocated in immeasurable ways.

An opportunity to reimagine the future

As we emerge from the pandemic, we find ourselves at a crossroad, just as the University of Waterloo’s founders did in the postwar era. Our communities and our planet are divided with new geopolitical tensions in many places, the rise of nationalism, populism and authoritarian governments. Decades of globalization have resulted in fragile supply chains. And as recent weather events across the country demonstate, we face an existential threat to the very existence of the human race as we know it.

So, it is tempting to think we are getting “back to normal.” But a complete return to “normal” would constitute a missed opportunity. What many are imagining as a “great reset,” is a chance for universities to rethink how we support our local community and how we impact our society and economy.

As a society, we have become rather short-term in our thinking. When we don’t experience disease outbreaks for a period of time, public health funding gets cut. The same applies to areas such as the environment and cybersecurity. As an institution of higher learning, it is our job to help the next generation to think about the longer term. To be good citizens in a democratic society.

When we think about COVID-19 vaccines, our progress to date is remarkable. At the start of the pandemic, many experts were predicting four to seven years before a vaccine would be available. In less than two years, almost 90 per cent of eligible Canadians received at least one dose.

The speed of our response is built on decades of research—of fundamental science. We must continue to value and invest in such research. Research with no immediate applications, driven simply by the curiosity of individuals who want to better understand the universe and everything in it.

Reflecting on the lessons learned, we know the pandemic accelerated the digital transition that was already underway. It made clear that there are many ways in which we can be innovative and flexible in our teaching and learning. The pandemic has also transformed industries and changed the future of work. No industry or career pathway will be immune to change.

Working with partners like the Chambers and Communitech, our co-op students helped small businesses make their own pandemic-driven digital transformations.

The pandemic also laid bare deep structural issues in society that give way to many inequities. The impact of COVID-19 has not been evenly shared by our community; we only have to consider the challenges of people experiencing homelessness in mid-sized communities like ours.

Like the opportunity that our founders saw in the middle of the last century, now is the time to reimagine our partnerships, postsecondary education and research to cement a foundation upon which each segment of our society and economy can build for generations to come.