Wilfrid Laurier University

Overview

Established in 1911, Wilfrid Laurier University (often known as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada. It bears Sir Wilfrid Laurier's name, Canada's seventh prime minister. The institution refers to itself as a "multi-campus multi-community university" rather than considering the more recent campuses in Brantford and Milton to be satellite campuses of the original Waterloo site. The university also has locations in Toronto, Yellowknife, and Kitchener. As of fall 2019, the university had over 17,000 full-time undergraduate students, over 1000 full-time graduate students, and close to 4,000 part-time students. It provides undergraduate and graduate degrees in a range of subjects. According to the Registrar's Report for Winter 2016, business, communications studies, psychology, criminology, economics, and biology were Laurier's six most popular degrees overall. 

Laurier Waterloo operates one all male residence (Euler Residence) and one all female residence (Leupold Residence).There are several co-ed student houses, including Bouckaert Hall, Bricker Residence, Clara Conrad Hall, Hickory St. Apartments, King's Court Residence, King Street Residence, CH Little House, Macdonald House, Marshall Street Apartments, Regina Residence, Regina Towers, Spruce Street Apartments, University Place Residence, Waterloo College Hall, and Willison Hall. Around 2,780 men and women live in these homes collectively, with 2,664 beds set aside for first-year undergraduate students.

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, the varsity teams for Laurier, compete in the West Conference of the Ontario University Athletics, a division of U Sports. Sporting Complex, Football Stadium, and Outdoor Multi-Purpose Field Turf are all part of Wilfrid Laurier University's athletic infrastructure. In addition to three gyms, two squash courts, an Olympic-sized pool, a rock climbing wall, and aerobics/weight rooms, the athletic complex has two squash courts. There is a field turf football pitch and a sizable indoor gymnasium at University Stadium.

More than 100,000 alumni from 85 different nations attended Laurier. Carolyn A. Wilkins, the first woman to hold the position of Senior Deputy Governor at the Bank of Canada, Paul Heinbecker, Canada's ambassador to the UN from 2000 to 2004, Bill Downe, CEO of Bank of Montreal from 2007 to 2017, and Brad Katsuyama, the creator of the stock exchange and the main character of Michael Lewis's Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, are among the notable alumni.