Senate Membership

The membership of Senate is broadly representative of the university community. A majority of senators are faculty members and academic librarians. Faculty members are elected to represent all faculties and departments across the university, as well as affiliated and federated colleges. Senate also includes: eight students (including one graduate student and at least one student from Brantford), three alumni, one staff member and two representatives of the secondary school system of Ontario.

Senate also has several ex-officio members. In addition to the president and vice-chancellor of the university, who chairs Senate, each vice-president, dean of a Faculty, the chancellor, university librarian, registrar and head of each federated or affiliated college are ex-officio members.

The officers of Senate include the chair, vice-chair and secretary. The chair is the president and vice-chancellor per the Wilfrid Laurier University Act, while the vice-chair and secretary are elected by Senate in accordance with the governing documents.

Officers

• Senate Chair: Deborah MacLatchy, President and Vice-Chancellor
• Senate Vice-Chair: John Schwieter
• Senate Secretary: Scott Ramsay

Ex-Officio Members

• Chancellor: Eileen Mercier
• President and Vice-Chancellor: Deborah MacLatchy
• Chair, Board of Governors: Paul Elliott
• Principal-Dean, Martin Luther University College (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary): Kristine Lund
• Provost and Vice-President: Academic: Heidi Northwood
• Vice-President: Advancement and External Relations: Jason Coolman
• Vice-President: Finance and Administration: Lloyd Noronha
• Interim Vice-President: Student Affairs: David McMurray
• Vice-President: Research: Jonathan Newman
• Vice-Provost: Teaching and Learning: Vacant
• Associate Vice-President: Academic: Patricia McLaren 
• Interim Associate Vice-President: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Vanessa Oliver
• Associate Vice-President: Indigenous Initiatives: Darren Thomas
• Dean, Faculty of Arts: Sofie Lachapelle
• Interim Dean, Faculty of Social Work: Robert Basso
• Dean, Faculty of Education: Maria Cantalini-Williams
• Dean, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies: Brent Wolfe
• Dean, Faculty of Music: Cynthia Johnston Turner
• Interim Dean, Lazaridis School of Business and Economics: Lisa Keeping
• Dean, Faculty of Science: Anthony Clarke
• University Librarian: Scott Gillies 
• Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts: Janny Leung
• Dean, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences: Bruce McKay
• Interim Registrar: Shelagh Pepper

Elected/Appointed Members

• Three appointed by the Board of Governors:
  
  • Catherine Dutt
  • Janis Monture 
  • Michael Ras 

• One elected by administrative staff: Maureen Coulter

• One elected by academic librarians: Mona Elayyan

• Seven elected by undergraduate students (two-year terms):
  
  • Mohammad Abu-Rshaid
  • Mitchell Baldwin 
  • Noah Espiritu
  • Elisha Felician
  • Sophia Guardado
  • Haley Richards 
  • Leia Felice

• One elected by graduate students (two-year term): William Gillam

• Three appointed by the Alumni Association:
  • Anita Hansra
  • Chris McAdam
  • Caitlin Smith 

• Two appointed by Senate to represent the Ontario Secondary School System:
  
  • Tyrone Dowling
  • Vacant

• Two members of faculty from Martin Luther University College (Waterloo Lutheran Seminary):
  • Ara Parker
  • Daniel Maoz 

• Eight from the Faculty of Arts:
  • Erich Fox Tree
  • Andrew Herman
  • Vacant
  • Loren King
  • John Schwieter
  • David Smith 
  • Peter Urquhart 
  • Ali Zaidi

• Eleven from the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics:
  
  • Abijith Acharya 
  • Ling Chu
  • Anne Domurath
  • Azim Essaji
  • Sapna Isotupa
  • M. Fabricio Perez
  • Tracy Snoddon
  • Fang Wang 
  • Jin Wang 
  • David Wheatley
  • Jessie Zhan

• Two from the Faculty of Education:
  
  • Avis Beek
  • Kathleen Clarke

• Two from the Faculty of Liberal Arts:
  
  • James Cairns 
  • Kenneth Werbin

• Three from the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences:
  
  • Dan Antonowicz
  • Rosemary McGowan
  • James Popham

• Two from the Faculty of Music:
  
  • Deanna Yerichuk
  • Gerard Yun

• Nine from the Faculty of Science:
  
  • Roger Buehler
  • Mary-Louise Byrne
  • Louise Dawe
  • Chinh Hoang
  • Roman Makarov
  • Stephen Perry 
  • Scott Ramsay
  • Ketan Shankardass
  • Vacant

• Two from the Faculty of Social Work:
  • Maryam Khan
  • Michelle Skop

Updated as of March 2024