Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who entertained University of Waterloo students during a visit here in 2005, is coming to campus again.
UW is Gates' only Canadian stop on a tour of five North American campuses.
He will speak to students Feb. 21 on the UW campus, confirmed Stephanie Bell, a senior consultant with Media Profile, which is handling the visit.
"We're thrilled," said UW president David Johnston. "This is his farewell tour.
"He has now stepped down as (Microsoft) chief executive officer, so I suspect this is the last time that he will be doing a tour of university campuses."
Gates first visited in 2005 when he made UW the only Canadian school on his tour of six universities then as well.
"We're a mecca of computer science and math work in Canada for sure, but also . . . we produce a lot of really good students, and many have gone to work at Microsoft over the years," said Thomas Coleman, UW's math dean.
"So I think Waterloo is very much on the radar map for Microsoft."
During the 2005 visit, at which he got a rock-star welcome, Gates urged UW students to pursue careers in software development.
He also entertained them with a demonstration of the then-new Xbox 360, and a video fashioned after the movie Napoleon Dynamite featuring Gates and the movie's geeky red-headed star.
This time around, Gates' message will be different, Coleman said.
"It's more on the social importance of technology and IT (information technology)," Coleman said.
"He wants to emphasize that some of the world's problems can be solved with the aid of work in IT and computer science."
In addition to university students, about 150 high school students from Waterloo Region and Toronto will hear Gates speak.
"He's trying to reach young people," Coleman said.
Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave UW $12.5 million to expand its outreach program in math and computer science for young people.
It's significant that while other schools in North America are getting fewer computer science applications, UW has received 50 per cent more this year in math and computer science, Coleman said.
"I can tell you anecdotally, that his visit did create interest in high schools. . . . It absolutely helped."
Natalie Owen, president of UW's Math Society, said there will be a rush for tickets when UW students discover one of the world's richest people is coming here.
"A lot of people are excited about it and they're looking forward to seeing what he has to say."
Coleman said Gates will be at UW from about 8 a.m. to noon, after which he will head to the last school on his tour, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
In the U.S., Gates is visiting Stanford University, University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon and University of Texas at Austin.
Johnston said he saw a video yesterday of Gates's last day at the office in his chief executive officer role. Gates was preparing for a new career, playing rock 'n' roll guitar and singing.
"It was absolutely hilarious," he said. "This man has a capacity to make fun of himself. That's a quality that people haven't often associated with the richest man in the world with this powerful company."