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Laurier’s Faculty of Science has grown rapidly since its inception in 2000, and is now home to over 3800 undergraduate students and over 100 faculty across seven departments. As Laurier has made the transition from a primarily undergraduate to comprehensive institution, we have maintained a commitment to high quality undergraduate student teaching, while our research activities and graduate programs have grown. There is an incredible breadth of disciplines both in terms of research and programs, ranging from the social sciences to the natural sciences and mathematics. We view this breadth of activity as an important distinguishing feature of our faculty.
The strategic plan for the Faculty of Science comes at a time of considerable change at both the institutional and provincial levels. The provincial government will be changing its funding of universities, and this shift will emphasize its priorities of institutional differentiation as well as student skills development. At the institutional level we are in the transition to a responsibility-centred management budget, one where decisions and financial accountability are shifted to the Faculty level. In addition, the university recently released an institutional Strategic Academic Plan (SAP), and our plan for the faculty needs to align itself with the institutional directions.
The three central pillars of Laurier’s SAP are:
Several of the components of the Science Strategic Plan align directly with the priorities established in Laurier’s SAP.
The plan that follows outlines our overarching priorities and objectives for the next five years. Within each objective outlined in the plan, we have articulated specific short term goals for the 2017/18 academic year and included some potential goals to be addressed in the future. These goals will be reviewed on a yearly basis to track progress and to establish new goals in future years. While the specific goals that are articulated span the Faculty of Science, the intent for this plan is to guide activities at the departmental level as well. It is expected that individual departments will develop their own goals that align with the Science Strategic Plan. It should be noted that the pillars, objectives and goals are not set out in order of priority. Rather, they start with undergraduate and graduate education and extend to research and the community beyond. It is also noteworthy that the pillars are fundamentally interconnected and as such some of the goals, while placed within one pillar, also serve to advance the other pillars.
Mission Statement
Using scientific processes, we aspire to generate new ideas and discover the world in all its complexities, and to integrate research with teaching to advance knowledge and ultimately benefit society.
Research is a core activity of the Faculty of Science and is a high priority for our faculty members. We have a breadth of research activity in science, including traditional discipline-based research and emerging interdisciplinary research. As a smaller university with less research capacity than some of our neighbouring institutions, collaborative and interdisciplinary research are important ways to enable innovative research. We aim to foster a culture of collaboration that cuts across disciplines, while acknowledging the value of discipline-based research.
Providing students with research opportunities with faculty members can not only help advance the faculty research programs, but also provide students with a valuable experiential learning opportunity. As we have made the transition to a comprehensive university, our research-based graduate programs have proliferated. We aim to ensure that graduate research is supported and enhanced without sacrificing undergraduate student research opportunities.
While faculty within science are actively engaged in excellent research, our smaller size means that our contributions are not widely recognized, both within the Laurier community and outside. We aim to raise our profile as a faculty to better highlight the research activities within science both to the wider community and to our students.
Experiential learning is increasingly a priority among universities, in part due to the priorities of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development. As such, experiential learning is one of the pillars of Laurier’s SAP. Among the most prominent forms of experiential learning are co-op work terms and community service learning. Within the Faculty of Science, there are numerous other types of experiential learning, including laboratory work and research positions. This objective focuses on articulating experiential learning opportunities for students, and to ensure that students have the opportunity to engage in meaningful experiential learning within the Faculty of Science.
As researchers, we rely on evidence to support our scholarly work; the same should apply to our teaching methods. Within the Faculty of Science we have a strong reputation for excellence in teaching. We have a responsibility to our students to make sure that our teaching reflects current practices and methodologies that meet the needs of the learners. Our faculty should be encouraged and supported in the use evidence-based teaching practices to ensure we are providing a high quality learning environment.
Student success, both in our programs and once they graduate, is a priority. For many students, the transition to university is a challenge, and some students struggle academically within their programs. To implement the appropriate supports to help students progress within their programs and graduate, we need to identify the barriers to student success and address them in ways that maintain the academic quality of our programs. Equally, we need to ensure that our strong students are provided with a learning environment in which they can thrive and excel to meet their long term goals.
Fundamental to our mission is the generation of new ideas and the dissemination of this knowledge to our students and to the outside community. Our responsibility to educate extends beyond our own students to those outside Laurier. By conducting outreach with youth we have the opportunity to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists. While many faculty, staff, and students do engage in outreach activities, we need to acknowledge the importance of these contributions and help facilitate and support individuals who want to engage in outreach activities.
Ultimately, our research serves to benefit society as a whole and the education of students serves to help them lead fulfilling lives after they graduate. Given the important connections between our core activities of research and education with the outside community, it is important to develop and reinforce connections with those who are impacted by our work as well as those who can help enhance our research and teaching.
Recruitment of strong students into our undergraduate programs is critical to our educational mission as well as the long term sustainability of our programs. We need to ensure that our programs are designed to meet the needs of students, and to effectively promote these programs to prospective students.
While building the foundation of the strategic plan has occurred, the work has just begun to ensure that the document stays relevant to the goals and aspirations of all individuals within the Faculty of Science. Over the next year, as we continue to work on the immediate goals outlined above, we will continue to develop and modify future goals and objectives that will underscore our mission statement. Departments will be asked to identify champions to ensure that our ambitions are being met.
Future goals will need to be identified and clarified to ensure that they align with the needs of our students as well as promoting of the Faculty of Science through teaching, learning, research and service. Listed below are items for future consideration. As this is a living document, these objectives will be reviewed annually and may change based on new priorities and challenges within the Faculty of Science. Individuals are asked to bring forward ideas for discussion as only through the collaboration of many viewpoints will we move forward as a faculty.
For a print copy of the Faculty of Science Strategic Plan, contact the Faculty of Science at scienceinquiries@wlu.ca.
Contact Us:
E: ScienceAdmin@wlu.ca
T: 519.884.0710 x2129
F: 519.884.0464
Office Location:
Science Building main floor, N1048, Waterloo campus
Science Building Hours
Monday–Thursday: 6 a.m.–11 p.m.
Friday: 6 a.m.–9 p.m.
Weekends/Holidays: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
Dean of Science Office Hours
Monday–Friday: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.