is a public
University located in
Waterloo, Ontario ,
Canada . It is named in honour of
Sir Wilfrid Laurier , the seventh
Prime Minister Of Canada .
Laurier offers a full range of
Undergraduate and
Graduate programs in a variety of fields. The university is especially well-known for its School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Music, and graduate School of Social Work. Although Laurier is one of the fastest-growing universities in Canada (enrolment more than doubled fom 1997 to 2006) the university has a compact main Waterloo campus, a campus in Brantford clustered around a central core area, and retains a strong sense of friendliness and community.
The City of Waterloo (population about 110,000) is home to both Laurier and the
University Of Waterloo .
Wilfrid Laurier University's history dates from 1911, when the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada
{Link without Title} opened its doors to students. Waterloo was selected as the location of the seminary for two main reasons, the first being that land was offered by the citizens of Waterloo on the edge of town, and the second being that most of the Lutherans in Canada at the time resided in the Waterloo and Berlin (now known as
Kitchener ) area.
In 1914 the Seminary developed non-theological courses under the name of the Waterloo College School. In 1924 the
Waterloo College Of Arts was established, offering post-secondary three-year programs. In 1925 the
Faculty Of Arts , under the name of Waterloo College, affiliated with the
University Of Western Ontario . Laurier's school colours of purple and gold originated in 1927: maroon and gold were the colours of Waterloo College, but to honour the link with Western, whose colours were purple and white, maroon was discarded in favour of purple.
In 1960, Waterloo College ended its affiliation with Western and became a university in its own right: Waterloo Lutheran University.
As a church-affiliated institution, Waterloo Lutheran was ineligible for capital funding from the province, and the Lutheran church was in no position to invest heavily in the university.
On November 1, 1973, Waterloo Lutheran University dropped its church affiliation and became a public institution, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Laurier opened a second campus, in Brantford, Ontario, in 1999, and in 2006 the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work moved from the Waterloo campus to a campus in downtown Kitchener. The Brantford campus is centred on a number of historic properties in the downtown area which have been restored for university use. They include a former Carnegie library, Brantford's 1880 post office, and 1870 mansion, and a 1950 Odeon Theatre. ]].
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary continues to operate in affiliation with the University and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada .
It is widely believed that when Waterloo Lutheran University needed a new name when it became a public university it chose Wilfrid Laurier University because the initials - WLU - would remain the same. There is truth in the charge. While it is true that Sir Wilfrid Laurier was one of Canada's most eminent statesmen and well worthy of such recognition, it is also true that there was a strong feeling that the WLU "brand" should be kept, if at all possible.
Wilfrid Laurier University is headed by a
Chancellor . The role of chancellor is largely ceremonial, and the chancellor has little participation in the day-to-day operations of the university. The current chancellor is
The Hon. Bob Rae , a former Ontario premier, who has held the post since 2003.
The university's President and Vice-Chancellor is
Dr. Max Blouw .http://www.wlu.ca/news_detail.php?grp_id=28&nws_id=2775&filter_type=release
Presidents and Chancellors
Chancellors
Presidents
Laurier has faculties of the Arts, Science, Education, Music, and Social Work, and a School of Business & Economics. Although comparatively small, the university has consistently ranked among Canada's top schools in its category, an honour which is regularly confirmed by
Maclean's magazine's annual rankings.
Laurier is probably best known for its business and economics programs, particularly the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration program (
BBA ) with its co-op option, and the Honours Bachelor of
Economics program. The university began offering a part-time MBA program in 1976, and recently launched Canada's first fully integrated MBA, which offers both the an MBA degree and an accounting designation. An MBA stream with a co-op option was launched in 2006.
Laurier's graduates from the School of Business and Economics can be found in large numbers on
Bay Street , Canada's financial heart, where they work for major companies, banks,
Investment Banking firms, and insurance companies.
The Faculty of Music at Laurier is considered one of the best in the country, with programs in performance, music education, composition, music history, church music, theory and music therapy. In addition, Laurier is home to the Penderecki String Quartet - an internationally recognised group playing largely new compositions. The music faculty boasts two performance spaces - the Theatre Auditorium and the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall (named after the famous contralto and former chancellor of WLU ).
The university is home to the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy, the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and several other research centres.
Laurier is also the current headquarters of the
Academic Council Of The United Nations System (ACUNS) which was previously hosted by Yale, Brown and Dartmouth. The ACUNS goal is to strengthen the study of international organizations and to create strong ties between the academic community and diplomats within international organizations.
The Laurier Library holds nearly 1.8 million books and journals in hard copy or microform, and provides access to over 6,000 electronic reference tools and full text electronic journals. In addition, the library is a member of the
TriUniversity Group of Libraries (
University Of Waterloo ,
University Of Guelph , Wilfrid Laurier University), through which access to a combined information collection in excess of 6 million print items is available.
The university is represented in
Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks .
The history of the team name (Golden Hawks) dates back to the 1961. For many years, the Waterloo College teams were called just that: the Waterloo College teams, although sometimes they were called the Purple and Gold and other times the Waterloons.
In 1950, the college's newspaper mused that a name was needed, and in December 1951 a new name was tested: the Mules. The name reflected the nature of mules: "We were just a little college with not too much to work with and we had to fight our heads off," newspaper editor Ken Coker recalled. "We had some really good players, but for the most part it was just stubbornness on our part."
Subsequently, the hockey team became the Ice Mules and the women's basketball and volleyball teams were known as the Mulettes.
In 1960, with the shift from college to university status, the university student newspaper again lobbied for change.
At a meeting that year, somebody suggested Golden Hawks and that was the name adopted. "From 'Jackass' to 'Bird of Prey'," said the headline in the January 16, 1961 issue of the newspaper.
Whether called the Golden Hawks or just the Hawks, Laurier's sports teams have consistently punched above their weight.
In October 2006 the women's lacrosse team achieved a dynasty status by winning their fourth OUA
Ontario University Athletics gold medal in a row. Subsequently, on March 11th, 2007 the women's hockey team defeated the Queen's University Golden Gaels to claim their 4th Gold medal in as many years and 6th since 1998. The women's hockey team also won their first CIS national championship in program history on March 13th, 2005 with a 4-1 defeat of the Alberta Pandas.
On
November 13 ,
2004 , the Golden Hawks football team won the
Yates Cup against the
McMaster Marauders at University Stadium in front of a record crowd of 8,175. It was the sixth Yates Cup victory for Laurier in its history. The game also ended McMaster's four-year Ontario championship winning streak. The men's football team scored a second successive Yates Cup victory in November, 2005, followed by a victory in the
Uteck Bowl against
Acadia . They then defeated the
University Of Saskatchewan Huskies 24-23 to win the 2005
Vanier Cup , their first since 1991.
The original Wilfrid Laurier University
Fight Song was composed by M.A. Magee (BA 1938), with words by W.H. Johns, as "Waterloo We'll Praise Thee Ever" - in reference to Laurier's origins as Waterloo College. It was re-released in 2005 with "Laurier" replacing "Waterloo" in the lyics to avoid confusion with neighbouring
University Of Waterloo . The modern lyics are as follows:
:Laurier we'll praise thee ever
:as in the days of old,
:We will always keep on high,
:The purple and the gold, the gold
:Ever will thy sons and daughters
:praise thee day by day
:We will always hold thy name in rev'rence
:Lau-ri-er!
:We will battle on to victory
:As the years roll by,
:Carrying thy standard bravely
:Holding it on high,
:Ever will we sing thy praises
:Praise thee every day
:No one e'er shall bring thy name dishonour
:Lau-ri-er!
:OP!
- Sean Conway , former MPP
- Paul Heinbecker , former Canadian ambassador to United Nations
- Cheryl Pounder , Olympic gold medalist
- Matte Babel , MuchMusic VJ
- Noel Edison, conductor, Elora Festival Singers
- William Downe , president and CEO, BMO Financial Group
- Lindsay Duffield , president and CEO, BMW Group Canada
- Dennis Kavelman , COO, Research In Motion ( RIM )
- Craig Wright , chief economist, RBC Financial Group
- Alex Mustakas, artistic director, Drayton Entertainment
- Cam Heaps, co-founder and president, Steam Whistle Brewing
- Heather Munroe-Blum , principal, McGill University
- Howard Moscoe , Toronto politician
- Ray Tanguay, president, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada
- Lynda Kitamura, vice-president, finance and administration, and CFO, Hewlett-Packard Canada
- Tim Penner, president, Procter & Gamble Canada
- Ken Evraire- Sports Anchor/ Reporter, A-Channel Ottawa
