University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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As my predecessor, Doug Wright, has noted about Waterloo's beginnings as Canada's first, pioneering co-op institution: "UW was held in no esteem and therefore had nothing to lose, so we could try anything. It gave us licence to be radical."
In four decades the University of Waterloo has evolved from a dissenting gleam in the eye of a handful of local founders to one of the most widely respected universities in Canada, celebrated for the vitality and originality of its rendezvous with academic tradition and social relevance.
Few institutions anywhere have more reason to celebrate, and with due regard to our constrained fiscal circumstances we shall mark our 40th anniversary with some academic and social events that will accentuate the people and forces that shaped Waterloo's character. Not so much to venerate the past as to help us chart the future.
James Downey
President, University of Waterloo
