威爾弗里德·勞雷爾大學

歷史

威爾弗里德·勞雷爾大學的歷史溯源於1911的Waterloo Lutheran Seminary of Canada（加拿大滑鐵盧路德宗學院），  
1914年，該學院發展了很多非神學領域的課程被更名為 the Waterloo College School， 1924年更名為Waterloo College of Arts，並提供三年制的學士學位課程。  1925年，Waterloo College of Arts 成為西安大略大學的附屬學院。 
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 the University of Western Ontario, whose colours were purple and white, maroon was discarded in favour of purple.
 
The Waterloo College Chapel features several stained glass windows including `Light of the world` (1941) and `Christ in the garden` (1940) by Robert McCausland Limited. 
滑鐵盧大學的歷史可追溯到1957年7月1日成立的滑鐵盧專科聯合學院(Waterloo College Associate Faculties)，是當時的滑鐵盧學院（即現在的威爾弗里德·勞雷爾大學）的一個半自治部門機構。該機構於1959年正式脫離滑鐵盧學院並升格為大學。
1960年加拿大路德宗教會結束了對滑鐵盧學院（Waterloo College）的資助，同時更名為Waterloo Lutheran University，同時該學院也不再是西安大略大學的附屬學院。 
Wilfrid Laurier University was established by Wilfrid Laurier University Act 1973, which was amended in 2001. 
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. The Kitchener campus is located in the historic and fully renovated former St. Jerome's high school building.
In October 2008, the University was named one of Waterloo Area's Top Employers and featured in the Waterloo Region Record and Guelph Mercury newspapers.
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary continues to operate in affiliation with the University and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

校名

滑鐵盧路德宗大學（Waterloo Lutheran University）在轉型為公立大學之時需要去除原校名中的宗教涵義。包括Beaver University、Riel University、the Iroquois University of Waterloo在內，一共有多達94個候選名稱。新校名最終於1973年被確定為威爾弗里德·勞雷爾大學（Wilfrid Laurier University）。有爭議的是彼時一些學生抗議稱Wilfrid Laurier實為一值得商榷的政治人物，且無論與學校還是滑鐵盧地區皆無任何聯繫。有猜測稱之所以命名為Wilfrid Laurier University是為了保留學校原有的首字母WLU，以減少更改檔案的麻煩。

Book publishing

The Wilfrid Laurier University Press, which was founded in 1974, deals with archaeology, military history and sociology/anthropology. Wilfrid Laurier University Press is one of only 8 university publishers found in Canada.

學術

The University is home to 14,116 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 781 full-time and part-time graduate students and over 500 in faculty and staff, 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. The 2008 Macleans rankings placed Laurier fifth overall (first in Ontario) of the 21 Canadian universities in the category of "Primarily Undergraduate" universities.
 
In 2008, for undergrad programs, the minimum entering average was 80.3% for the arts, 80.8% for science, and 86.3% for business.
The internationally renowned 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 faculty also attracts a greater percentage of students from outside Ontario than any other faculty at Laurier.  Laurier's Music program boasts the only Masters Degree in Music Therapy. Laurier's strength in "music and business education" is touted as one of the reasons that Waterloo Region is a "powerful educational hub" by former University of Waterloo president, and now Governor-General of Canada, David Johnston.
The university is also home to the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy, the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies, the Cold Regions Research Centre, and several other research centres. 
Laurier is 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.
Laurier is also a prominent partner in the new Balsillie School of International Affairs, opened in Uptown Waterloo in 2008. The school offers three programs: a masters in arts in global governance, a masters in international public policy and a PHD program in global governance.

Laurier圖書館

勞雷爾大學圖書館藏有九十六萬多本印刷書籍、二十四萬多件電子書籍、兩萬五千多份全文電子雜誌和資料庫、以及千餘份多媒體資料。另外，該圖書館為TriUniversity Group of Libraries成員之一（包括滑鐵盧大學、圭爾夫大學和威爾弗里德·勞雷爾大學），通過該系統可共享三所大學的超過七百萬份資料。
勞雷爾大學圖書館也與勞雷爾大學出版社協力創建Scholars Commons @ Laurier。該資料存儲機構旨在支持公開性的學術交流與合作，並保存勞雷爾大學學術成果。該機構中存放有教職員工學術成果、論文、專著、在線期刊以及可追索至1926年的The Cord Weekly的檔案集。

院系

Laurier offers a variety of different programs through its 6 faculties: Arts, Science, Education, Music, Social Work, and Laurier School of Business & Economics.

班福校區

勞雷爾大學的第二個校區坐落於安大略省班福市，位於主校區所在的滑鐵盧市以南約五十公里。該校區於1999年正式啟用，草創之初僅有39名學生。截止2010年已發展到三千六百名在讀學生。

基秦拿校區

In the Fall of 2006 the Faculty of Social Work (previously on the Waterloo campus) moved to downtown Kitchener.  Located on Duke St. it moved into the old St. Jerome's High School which was designated a heritage site by the City of Kitchener.  This move allowed the students to be closer to the community and social service agencies with which they are partnered.  Also in an effort to partner better with the community and make the building more welcoming, faculty and staff held such events as the Political Coffee House Series, several all-candidates debates and the Expressions of Social Justice Festival

體育

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 simply 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.
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. A headline in the January 16, 1961 issue of the newspaper read "From 'Jackass' to 'Bird of Prey'".
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. The Hawks then defeated the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 24-23 to win the 2005 Vanier Cup, their first since 1991.
Laurier's first female national championship was won in 1992 by the women's soccer team, which followed that up with their second CIS title in 1995. The men's soccer team claimed back-to-back national championships in 2000 & 2001. 
In 2007 the women's lacrosse team achieved a dynasty status by winning their fifth OUA Ontario University Athletics gold medal in a row. In February 2008, the women's hockey team claimed its fifth gold medal in as many years and seventh since 1998. The women's hockey team won its first CIS national championship in 2005. Both teams have since won sixth consecutive championships in their respective sports, furthering their dynasties.
In 2008 both the men's and women's curling teams won the inaugural CIS Championships and represented Canada in China at the 2009 World University Games. The women's team repeated as CIS Champion's in 2009 in Montreal and went on to represent Canada in the Karuizawa International Curling championships where they claimed first place.

Facilities

The athletic facilities at Wilfrid Laurier University include an Athletic Complex, a Football Stadium and an outdoor multi-purpose fieldturf field.  The Athletic Complex houses 3 Gyms, 2 Squash Courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a Rock Climbing Wall, and Aerobics/Weight Rooms.  University Stadium includes a fieldturf football field and a large indoor gymnasium.  The swimming pool underwent a $2 million renovation in 2009/2010.  In 2007, University Stadium underwent a $5 Million renovation.

學生社團組織

The Students' Union is funded by undergraduate student fees, and all students are automatically members of the Students' Union.  Their mission is to enhance the holistic student experience at Wilfrid University by providing innovative resources and effective representation within a safe and empowering campus community.  The Students' Union provides a number of services for students, including bus passes, Direct2U Prescription, emergency response team, food bank, foot patrol, health and dental insurance coverage, the member card, peer help line, student life line, and tech share.  The Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union Clubs and Associations department supports over 130 clubs and associations involving over 3,000 students.  Clubs and Associations supports all clubs by offering resources and financial support as well as acting as a liaison to the Students' Union and University administration.