Wilfrid Laurier University | Office of the President
Celebrating Our SuccessesPresident's Report 2023–2024
The 2023-2024 President's Report highlights the university's achievements in support of the Laurier Strategy.
The 2023-2024 Wilfrid Laurier University President’s Report showcases the outstanding accomplishments and progress our university has made, not only in the last year in support of the Laurier Strategy 2019-2024, but over the course of the five-year strategic plan.
In the last half decade, Laurier has faced significant disruption: the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a global health emergency that changed the way we work and learn; the Ontario postsecondary sector is facing challenges related to financial sustainability with shifts in public policy; and regional, national, and global economic, social, and political changes have affected our communities.
Throughout these disruptions, we have remained focused on the mission of the Laurier Strategy: to create a thriving community that excels at preparing people for whatever challenges and opportunities the future may bring. I am immensely appreciative of the ways in which our full-time faculty, contract teaching faculty, staff, and students have come together to achieve this mission.
The great work that happens at Laurier would not be possible without the support and partnership of the Board of Governors, the University Senate, student organizations, alumni, industry partners, government, donors, and friends of the university. When we say, “it takes a village” at Laurier, we are reflecting on the engagement of members of the Laurier community inside and outside the institution, who together are instrumental in navigating the challenges and seizing the opportunities presented to us.
The following pages highlight our achievements in 2023-2024 and reflect on the cumulative achievements from 2019-2024. What we have accomplished over the last five years has built the foundation for the Laurier Strategic Action Plan: 2024-2028, which we launched in June 2024.
The 2024-2025 academic year is an exciting time for Laurier. We are welcoming our inaugural class to our Milton campus, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Brantford campus, and opening our new sports field, the first phase of a multi-year athletics and recreation plan at the Waterloo campus. In the years to come, I am confident that Laurier will continue to deliver on our vision and mission and contribute to thriving communities across southwestern Ontario.
Deb MacLatchy, PhD
President and Vice-Chancellor
Laurier facilitates mutually-supportive relationships with alumni, other educational institutions, government, Indigenous communities, industry, and the not-for-profit sector.
The Province of Ontario approved Laurier’s Milton campus in 2021. Laurier welcomes its inaugural class to Milton in the fall of 2024.
The university has increased annual fundraising revenue by 53 per cent.
Almost 10,000 students supported through donor-funded scholarships, awards and bursaries.
In fall 2023, Dan Einwechter (BBA '77) donated $1 million to support Supply Chain Management research through the Einwechter Centre for Supply Chain Management in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.
In June 2024, Laurier Chancellor Eileen Mercier (Hons BA '68, LLD '13) donated $1.4 million to establish an endowed professorship in Voice and Choral Music Education in the Faculty of Music.
The Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation gifted an additional $1 million to Laurier’s Making Space for Music campaign in 2024, in addition to the original $4 million donation to the campaign. The foundation is led by former Board of Governors member Savvas Chamberlain and Christine Chamberlain (Hons BMus '80).
The Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Association (WLUAA) donated $894,000 to support a number of initiatives in 2023-2024, including the Making Space for Music campaign, the Indigenous Student Centre renovations, and scholarships.
In September 2023, Jim Balsillie, through the Balsillie Family Fund, donated $5-million to the Balsillie School of International Affairs to establish the Technology Governance Initiative (TGI). The Balsillie School’s founding institutions – Wilfrid Laurier University, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and the University of Waterloo – will work together to educate future leaders responsible for technology creation, management and governance, and leverage expertise to address policy development for emerging technologies.
In February 2024, Laurier students voted overwhelmingly in favour of the "More Space, Better Space" referendum, a transformational long-term financial commitment to create a nominal student fee to support campus Athletics and Recreation facilities on Laurier’s Waterloo campus. Over the next ten years alone, the fee will provide more than $40 million to enhance fitness, sport and active extracurricular amenities for students in Waterloo.
Donors, including the Milton Chamber of Commerce, have come together to support entrance scholarships of $5,000 over four years to attract top student talent to Laurier’s new Milton campus. In fall 2024, the top Laurier Milton students will receive the Laurier Milton Founders’ Scholarship.
Laurier creates a culture of engagement that develops the whole person and builds reciprocal community relationships by fostering a highly personalized, equitable, diverse, and inclusive community in which all members can experience the powerful sense of belonging that has distinguished Laurier throughout its history.
The university launched the Inclusive Excellence cohort hiring initiative, hiring six new Black tenure track faculty, and five new Indigenous faculty members.
Laurier launched its first institutional strategic plan for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in 2022.
In winter 2024, Laurier welcomed over 400 local Black high school and elementary students to the Waterloo campus for the annual Beating the Odds (BTO) conference, hosted by Laurier’s Black Student Association, and the Black Brilliance conference, hosted by the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa and the Waterloo Region District School Board.
Both conferences inspire African, Caribbean and Black-identifying students to pursue higher education through workshops and breakout discussions with Black professionals and members of Laurier’s Black community.
In May 2024, Laurier and the University of Waterloo jointly hosted the 2024 Inter-Institutional Forum of the Scarborough Charter. The forum, originating from the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, welcomed faculty, staff and students from universities and colleges across Canada, as well as community guests and government representatives, to discuss strategies for combatting anti-Black racism and building Black inclusion within the sector. More than 300 individuals from over 60 Canadian institutions joined in dialogue for two days of panels, workshops, breakout discussion, music performances, and keynote speakers.
In May 2024, Laurier’s Centre for Women in Science (WinS), Conestoga College, and the Grand Valley Construction Association launched “Building Equitable Trades,” a photo-research exhibit to raise awareness of the gender disparity in the skilled trades and emphasize the need for greater representation and equity. The exhibit combined research with dynamic images to create interactive installations, inviting audiences to reflect on the experience of women in the skilled trades and take action toward creating a more representative and equitable field.
Laurier is pursuing enhanced and accelerated initiatives to integrate Indigenous knowledges and practices across the university.
21 per cent increase in Indigenous graduates.
In 2022, the university, in collaboration with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, launched an Indigenous Identity Verification Process to confirm eligibility for designated Indigenous staff, faculty and student opportunities at Laurier.
Laurier launched its first Indigenous Strategic Plan in 2023.
In spring 2024, Anishinaabeg student Oliver Manidoka graduated from Laurier with his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and was hired to work in the Indigenous Student Centre as an interim Indigenous Student Recruitment and Access Coordinator. In this position, he plays a crucial role in supporting prospective Indigenous students, providing one-on-one support, and guiding students through the undergraduate admissions process. Manidoka has been an engaged student throughout his time at Laurier, assisting in organizing an Office of Indigenous Initiatives lunch and learn event for staff, and leading work in the Indigenous Sovereignty Garden, a volunteer community project on the Waterloo campus.
In winter 2024, Justice Gethin Edward joined Laurier as a visiting Indigenous scholar as part of the Laurier Legacy Project. Renowned for his leadership in establishing Brantford’s first Indigenous Persons Court, Justice Edward hosted three public lectures that explored decolonization of the legal system in Canada. These lectures contributed to the Laurier Legacy Project’s goal of leading public engagement on institutional history within Laurier and broader communities.
In January 2024, Laurier’s User Experience Design program hosted a public lecture “Telling Stories that are not Ours,” by Jennifer Taback, co-founder of Design de Plume, a women-led Indigenous design firm. Taback, a Shawanaga First Nation member, spoke about her experience as an urban, Indigenous designer, and how she has learned to help underserved communities broadcast their messages in ways that are true to their stories. Supported by Laurier Brantford Grants Program and the Student Alumni Association, the event fostered dialogue on inclusive design practices and the power of cultural storytelling in design.
Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, Jessica Bomberry, has been named Laurier’s second Grundy Scholar. A member of the Cayuga nation, Bomberry’s research focuses on language and cultural preservation within the Six Nations of the Grand River territory and surrounding Haudenosaunee communities. As a Grundy Scholar, Bomberry will build and foster relationships with Indigenous communities, act as a role model for Indigenous students and researchers, and produce and share knowledge on issues that impact Indigenous communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
First established in 2022, the Grundy Scholar position is a four-year role aimed at furthering Indigeneity at Laurier by involving outstanding Indigenous educators in both undergraduate and graduate teaching.
Laurier facilitates the expression, testing, and challenging of a range of perspectives and ideas grounded in reason, evidence, and frameworks of knowledge and creativity.
Laurier has hosted more than 7,000 knowledge-sharing events for faculty, staff, students and community members across the university’s campuses and locations, including invited speakers, conferences, and colloquiums.
In January 2024, Laurier hosted multidisciplinary scholars from across Ontario for a virtual symposium titled "Institutional Histories: Reckoning with the Past – Reimagining the Future."
This event was part of the Laurier Legacy Project, a public history initiative, in which postdoctoral fellows Dr. Katelyn Arac and Dr. Tedla Desta researched Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s legacy and the university’s institutional history, respectively.
The symposium explored critical research into institutional histories, providing insight into how this scholarship can inform institutional change and foster equity and inclusion in academia.
Laurier welcomed experts Rhys Mendes, deputy governor at the Bank of Canada, and Lazaridis alumna Diana Petramala (BBA '07, MABE '08), director of research and economic consulting at the Altus Group, as panelists for the annual Economic Outlook forum in January 2024.
Presented by the Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis (LCERPA), the forum provided community members the opportunity to hear from experts on the rising cost of living, housing, and monetary policy.
In March 2024, Laurier celebrated International Women’s Day with its seventh annual International Women’s Day luncheon, in partnership with the Waterloo chapter of the International Women's Forum. The event featured a panel of Laurier women who are working to address the housing crisis and homelessness in local communities.
Among the panelists were assistant professor of Political Science, Laura Pin, Laurier alumna Sarah Gillies (MAP ’22), who works in the Waterloo Region in supportive housing, and Laurier political science student Jordan Prentice, who has been working with northern communities on affordable and sustainable housing solutions through her startup, Kuponya Innovations. The panel discussed strategies for tackling housing issues that affect many Canadians, including post-secondary students. A key theme of the discussion was the need for cross-sector collaboration to develop sustainable and effective solutions.
Laurier is increasing internationalization of the university to cultivate global citizens with strong international competence.
In partnership with Navitas, the university launched the Wilfrid Laurier International College to offer a customized program for international students to develop English, academic and study skills to support their academic success in a degree program at Laurier.
Expanded the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) pathway program with University of Sussex in the U.K. Now Laurier students can enter the LLB program at Sussex from multiple undergraduate programs in Brantford and Waterloo.
Laurier has introduced the Stay Golden international scholarship and housing guarantee to enhance support for undergraduate international students. The initiative ensures that international undergraduate students have guaranteed off-campus housing, and also introduces a scholarship valued at up to $20,000 over four years for high-achieving students.
Laurier has also increased funds for the Inspiring Lives Scholarship valued at $1,000 to $5,000. This scholarship recognizes international undergraduate students who inspire lives of leadership and purpose in their communities and through their extracurricular activities. Last year, 45 students were awarded this scholarship.
In the spring of 2024, students in the Bachelor of Education and the Bachelor of Arts in International Education Studies extended their learning in various national and international settings. Teacher candidates immersed themselves in classroom environments in locations including South Korea, Japan, Italy, Malaysia and Yellowknife, NWT as part of these programs’ placement experience. Offered each spring, these international experiential learning opportunities provide students practical experience in non-traditional settings, extend their teaching knowledge, and develop intercultural competencies.
In fall 2023, eight Laurier undergraduate students participated in a transformative 90-day internship experience in Accra, Ghana, as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Funding program (QES 2027). As interns, students were working with various non-profit organizations to advance sexual and reproductive health, empower women, and educate families and children in street situations across Accra. Among the participating organizations was Future of Africa, a mentorship program for African youth founded by Laurier alumna, TK Mawuli Azaglo (BA ’11). Laurier also welcomed three graduate students from the University of Ghana to take courses and conduct research.
Laurier connects research, scholarship and creative activity with communities and across disciplines to address the most pressing local and global challenges.
External research funding has increased 20%.
Established 200 new research partnerships with governments, NGOs, industry and Indigenous organizations, locally, nationally and internationally.
Three Laurier faculty members were named Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) in 2024, enhancing the university’s research profile. As participants in the CRC program, the researchers will receive funding over a five-year term to advance their research projects and support Laurier student researchers.
Dr. Salar Ghamat, associate professor at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, was appointed the Chair in Business Analytics in Supply Chain. As chair, he will explore how data analytics can be used to address problems within supply chain and health-care operations.
Dr. Lianne Leddy, associate professor in History, was named the Chair in Indigenous Histories and Historical Practice. Her work will re-examine the experiences of Indigenous women, from an Indigenous lens, in the Great Lakes watershed during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Dr. Andrew Spring, assistant professor in Geography and Environmental Studies, was awarded the Chair in Northern Sustainable Food Systems to continue his work in addressing food insecurity and developing sustainable food systems with Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories.
The UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability Studies at Laurier has been renewed until 2027. The UNESCO chairs program facilitates cooperation and international knowledge exchange between academics, policymakers and communities. This renewal will allow Chairholder and professor in Geography and Environmental Studies, Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer, to continue her work advancing regional sustainable food systems. Her research focus will remain on promoting biodiversity conservation, addressing climate change and reducing food insecurity.
Laurier Health Sciences assistant professors Dr. Nirosha Murugan and Dr. Nicolas Rouleau are working at the forefront of biological intelligence and biophysics to help cure disease, develop life-saving drugs, and understand how humans think and behave.
Dr. Murugan, an expert in tissue biophysics and cancer reprogramming, uses electromagnetic fields to halt the spread of cancer. Dr. Rouleau has been blending neuroscience with bioengineering and pairs robots with brain tissue to explore cognition. Together, they are exploring diagnostic tools to non-invasively record human brain activity.
Two Laurier PhD students, Arash Rafat and Laura Thibeault, have been named Vanier Canada Graduate Scholars. This prestigious scholarship recognizes leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement and awards $150,000 over three years to students to continue their studies.
Rafat, awarded the scholarship in 2023, is a Geography PhD student who focuses his research on understanding of how lake ice forms, grows and melts in a changing climate, and how this may impact safe transportation over lake ice in communities in the Northwest Territories. Rafat’s research is part of the Northwest Territories Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program, which is examining how uses of land and water, as well as the deposit of waste, impact the Northwest Territories environment now and in the future.
Thibeault, awarded the scholarship in 2024, is a Social Work PhD student who focuses her research on Indigenous women’s experiences with infertility, childlessness, and healing. Grounded in her ongoing personal journey through infertility as an Anishinaabe woman, she undertakes research on the preservation of Indigenous values, traditions, and health practices in the healthcare system.
In November 2023, City of Brantford director of bylaw compliance and security, Dave Wiedrick, attended the Brantford Community Safety Search Conference, hosted by Laurier. There, Assistant Professor of Criminology Dr. Tarah Hodgkinson shared her assessment of Brantford police activity, which found that 85 per cent of police calls were related to situations such as visible homelessness and well-being checks.
Wiedrick was able to take Dr. Hodgkinson’s research back to his colleagues in the City of Brantford Encampment Network to devise a new response model with the Brantford Police Service. Now, police dispatchers send housing and bylaw officers to connect people experiencing homelessness to social services, helping people find shelter and support.
Laurier is expanding the range of credentials to address the needs of people at all stages of life and career to enhance lifelong learning.
Laurier has introduced more than a dozen new for-credit certificates to equip learners with in-demand skills in areas such as generative artificial intelligence, data analytics, computer science, and digital media.
Laurier’s ASPIRE Professional Development Certificate is providing graduate students in master’s, PhD graduate diploma programs, and postdoctoral fellows with an opportunity to enhance their graduate studies and fill in skills gaps in areas such as career development, professionalization and communication, teaching development, research, and wellness. Students are able to tailor their learning experience to their specific interests and career goals.
In fall 2024, Laurier will welcome its first cohort of students in the new Master of Science in User Experience Design Program. The program will prepare students for in-demand careers in fields such as user experience, user research and product design through a focus on practical, professional learning. Students can choose between a 16-month project stream or a 20-month co-op work stream.
Starting in fall 2024, Laurier will launch a new undergraduate certificate program in Applied Artificial Intelligence, designed to be completed concurrently with an Honours undergraduate degree. Students will take four courses in the program to give them a comprehensive understanding of generative AI technologies and their application to real-world problems. This is one of the first degree-affiliated programs in Canada in this area.
Laurier helps individuals develop a range of competencies (knowledge, skills, and attributes) that lead to innovative and creative thinking, collaboration, adaptability, good judgement, ethical action and leadership.
Laurier students have won three national championships at the Enactus Canada competition, representing Canada at the Enactus World Cup. Enactus is a worldwide entrepreneurial competition that has students apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to creating business ventures that do social and environmental good.
Laurier faculty members are finding ways to integrate generative AI in the classroom, encouraging students to ethically and responsibly leverage its capabilities to enhance their learning experience.
Following Laurier’s Generative AI principles of use, faculty members such as history professor Dr. Mark Humphries and assistant professor of strategic management, Brandon Mattalo, design assignments for students to work with generative AI so that they will know how to use the technology to enhance their learning.
“Gen AI is going to require of all of us to use higher-order thinking,” says Mattalo. “It will become increasingly important for students to learn how to strategize, rather than complete tasks.”
Laurier Environmental Studies undergraduate student Linnea Azzolini returned to her hometown of Yellowknife, NWT in summer 2023, after completing her first year at Laurier, to work with Laurier research partner Ecology North to promote local food security initiatives. Azzolini helped care for community gardens, educated kids at day camps and coordinated the sustainability plan for the Northwest Territories Culinary Festival. “It felt great to be able to start exploring different realms of work in the environmental field,” she said. “I feel more confident in myself and my decision-making capabilities.”
In May, the Laurier Hub for Community Solutions held its inaugural Summit for Creative Community Solutions in Brantford, hosted in partnership with the City of Brantford, Laurier’s Sustainability Office, Belonging Brant, the Chamber of Commerce Brantford-Brant, and Enterprise Brant. The event featured ideas, projects and stories from community members and students that connected to the themes of innovation, sustainability, and inclusion. The summit aimed to celebrate creative community solutions and honour Brantford’s community leaders and changemakers. The Laurier Hub for Community Solutions launched in 2022 in Brantford under the leadership of Dr. Christina Han, associate professor of History. The hub has undertaken over 90 projects and engaged 230,000 community members, 85 partner organizations, 1,500 students and 200 faculty and staff.
Laurier augments experiential learning opportunities that encourage reflection, expand knowledge, develop skills, clarify values and heighten self-awareness for all students.
Laurier’s Community and Workplace Partnerships program has experienced significant growth, working with faculty to embed experiential learning into classes across the university. In 2024, 107 courses featured CWP opportunities, compared to 76 in 2019, marking a 41% increase.
Through the Laurier-City Hub initiative in the Faculty of Arts, student take part in paid internships, working with cities and municipalities on social and environmental challenges. Through the internship program, student Xuan Nguyen worked at the City of Waterloo, investigating ways postsecondary students in Waterloo can embrace environmentally sustainable practices into their lifestyles. Nguyen conducted field research, interviewing city and university administrators and sustainability experts, and surveyed postsecondary students. She developed a report and presented her findings and recommendations to the city in the fall of 2023.
In 2024, Laurier and Fairview Parkwood Communities concluded a three-year collaboration to address social isolation among older adults in long-term care. The pilot project, called Virtual Village, received $375,000 in funding over three years from the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. It offered students across programs unique way to use their skills and knowledge to support older adults in Waterloo. The programs ranged from kinesiology students supporting physical activity programs, to music students leading sing-along groups, to languages and literature students meeting with older adults to practice their foreign language skills. In total, 194 students in nine different courses participated in the Virtual Villages project.
Chantal Vaillancourt, a fourth-year User Experience Design student, earned Laurier’s 2023 Co-op Student of the Year for her 16-month term at Simplii Financial, a division of CIBC. During her term, she enhanced online services by redesigning the mortgage application process with new brand elements, boosting user experience and intranet accessibility. Vaillancourt’s outstanding performance earned her the distinction of receiving CIBC’s Exceptional Student Award twice. Beyond her impactful work at Simplii Financial, she actively engages in the Laurier community as a residence don, campus ambassador, and member of various student associations.
Laurier leads the sector in environmental sustainability of our campuses and inspiring the incorporation of sustainable practices in society and the economy.
Laurier has achieved more than 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its campuses and locations.
14 electric vehicle charging stations installed on Laurier campuses.
44 projects supported through the Sustainable Hawk Fund, a fund to support student, faculty and staff projects that support sustainability projects that benefit the Laurier community.
Following consultations within the Laurier community and with external stakeholder partners of the Sustainability Office, Laurier launched the Sustainability Action Plan: 2023-2028. The focus of the Plan is to establish a culture of sustainability by integrating academics, research, physical operations, outreach, and community partnerships to meet critical sustainability goals. The Plan’s primary themes include human and ecosystem health and well-being, climate action, and social sustainability. It outlines 12 goals, 38 actions, and 56 opportunities for Laurier students, staff, faculty, alumni, and Laurier community partners to achieve in pursuit of these goals.
Laurier has ranked in the top 15 percent of universities globally in Times Higher Education's (THE) 2024 University Impact Ranking. The rankings assess more than 2,000 universities across 125 countries that are working toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Laurier achieved high rankings in specific SDG categories related to the environment, including in the top 25 percent for SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). These rankings highlight Laurier’s commitment to global sustainable development through research, stewardship, outreach, and teaching.
In summer 2024, the City of Brantford recognized Laurier with a Green Business Award in recognition of campus initiatives that are benefiting the wider community. These initiatives include: the Laurier Honey Bee Project, which installed apiaries with 20,000 bees on the roof of One Market; the Brantford campus Laurier freestore, a store where students can obtain gently used household items for free, diverting thousands of pounds of items from the landfill; and capital projects and sustainable practices that have reduced the university’s greenhouse gas emissions by 24 per cent since 2009.