Laurier Education dean Maria Cantalini-Williams receives global award for educational leadership

July 17, 2026

Maria Cantalini-Williams, dean of the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University, has received a 2026 Leaders & Legends Award from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto.

The global awards program recognizes outstanding contributions by OISE alumni and colleagues in six categories. With multiple degrees from the University of Toronto, Cantalini-Williams received the Excellence Award, which recognizes educational leadership and a commitment to excellence in professional practice. She accepted the award during a ceremony on June 16 in Toronto.

“I am humbled and honoured to receive a Leaders & Legends Award from the institution that helped foster my love of learning and education,” says Cantalini-Williams. “Receiving this award near the end of my career completes my cycle of learning, teaching and leading in my various roles.”

Cantalini-Williams joined Laurier as dean of the Faculty of Education in 2019. Under her leadership, Laurier’s Education programs and initiatives have grown. In 2022, the Bachelor of Education program expanded to the Brantford campus and enrolment has nearly doubled each year since the program’s first offering. In September, the Faculty of Education will welcome the first cohort of students in its new doctoral program in Educational Studies.

Additional education initiatives have also flourished with support from Cantalini-Williams, including those aimed at increasing diversity in teaching, enhancing STEM education, embedding innovation into teaching and research, and supporting French as a second language teacher education in Ontario.

Before becoming dean, Cantalini-Williams served for six years as director and associate dean of the former Laurier-Nipissing Concurrent Education program in Brantford. She was also a faculty member in the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University, where she was named professor emerita. In 2022 and 2023, she served as acting dean of Laurier’s Faculty of Social Work in addition to her role with the Faculty of Education.

“Dr. Cantalini-Williams' leadership during the growth and expansion of Laurier’s Faculty of Education has been consistently informed by an unwavering commitment to educational excellence, community engagement and a strong and collegial faculty,” says Heidi Northwood, Laurier’s provost and vice-president: academic. “I am delighted to see her outstanding work recognized publicly and from the institution of her degrees.”

Cantalini-Williams has also held leadership roles with school boards, provincial committees and national associations and earned provincial recognition for her role in implementing Ontario’s junior kindergarten program. She began her career as a teacher in Sarnia, Ontario and worked for 15 years as a program consultant with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

In addition to her work at Laurier, Cantalini-Williams has contributed her expertise to several community and education organizations. She has served on the boards of Our Place Family Resource and Early Years Centre, TheMuseum, the Waterloo Region Catholic Schools Foundation, and the YMCA, as well as a member of Conestoga College’s advisory committee.

Cantalini-Williams earned her doctorate in education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research include innovation in education, collaborative inquiry, early childhood and work-integrated learning models. Cantalini-Williams has authored and co-authored several books, book chapters and articles, including widely used resources for educators.

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