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University of Saskatchewan

*** Shopping-Tip: University of Saskatchewan
{| class="toccolours" border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 width=300px align=right style="margin-left:0.5em" |- ! colspan=2 align=center|University of Saskatchewan |- | colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="ffffff"| |- align=left |Seal|| |- | Motto || "Deo et Patriae" ("For God and Country") |- |Founded||1907 |- |School type||Public |- |Chancellor||W. Thomas Molloy |- |President||R. Peter MacKinnon |- |Location||Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |- |Enrollment||15,228 full-time and 3,854 part-time |- |Sports teams||Saskatchewan Huskies |- |Student newspaper||[http://www.thesheaf.com/ The Sheaf] |} The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) is the largest education institution in the Canadian Provinces of Canada of Provinces of Canada of Saskatchewan._It_is located in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan|Saskatoon. A satellite view of the campus can be seen on Google maps.

History

Beginnings

The University was created on April 3, 1907 by a provincial statute known as the University Act. It provided for a publicly funded, yet independent institution to be created for the citizens of the whole province. J.A. Calder became the first university official when he was appointed registrar. Chief Justice Edward L. Wetmore was elected the first university Chancellor (education). Following the formation of the senate and board of governors, Walter Charles Murray was selected as President of the University. The scope of the new institution was to include colleges of Arts and Science including art, music and commerce, Agriculture with forestry, Domestic Science, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Science and Dentistry. Battleford, Saskatchewan|Battleford, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan|Saskatoon all lobbied to be the location of the new university. Walter Murray preferred the provincial capital, Regina. In a politically influenced vote, Saskatoon was chosen on April 7, 1909. A location next to the South Saskatchewan River, across from the city centre of Saskatoon, was selected for the campus. Prime Minister of Canada Wilfrid Laurier laid the cornerstone of the first building on campus, the College Building, on July 29, 1910. The original buildings were built using native limestone - greystone - which was just north of campus. Over the years, the greystone was to become one of the most recognizable campus signatures. When the local supply of limestone was exhausted, the University turned to Tyndall Stone, so called because it is quarried at Tyndall, Manitoba. The first building on the new campus, the College Building, opened in 1913; in 2001, it was declared a National Historic Site of Canada.

First Students

The University Act provided that the University should provide "facilities for higher education in all its branches and enabling all persons without regard to race, creed or religion to take the fullest advantage". It further stated that "no woman shall by reason of her sex be deprived of any advantage or privilege accorded to the male students of the university." Seventy students began the first classes on September 28, 1909. The first class graduated on May 1, 1912. Of the three students who earned graduation honours, two were women. 342 students, faculty, and staff enlisted for World War I. Of these, 67 were killed, 100 were wounded, and 33 were awarded medals of valour.

Establishment of Colleges

Roughly adhering to the original plan of 1909, numerous colleges were established: Arts and Science (1909), Agriculture (1912), Engineering (1912), Law (1913), Pharmacy (1914), Commerce (1917), Faculty of Medicine - University of Saskatchewan (1926), Education (1927), Home Economics (1928), Nursing (1938), Graduate Studies (1946), Physical Education (1958), Veternary Medicine - University of Saskatchewan (1964), Dentistry (1965), and Physical Therapy (1976). Theological Colleges, affiliated with the University, were also established: Emmanuel College - Anglican (1909), St. Andrew's College - United Church of Canada (1913), Lutheran Theological Seminary (1920), St Thomas More College (1936), and Central Pentecostal College (1983). Regina College was saved from bankruptcy and became part of the University in 1934, and was given degree-granting privileges in 1959, making it a second University of Saskatchewan campus. By another act of legislation in 1974, it was made an independent institution known as the University of Regina. Correspondence courses were established in 1929.

Later development

In the late 1990s, the U of S launched a major revitalization program that has and will include new capital projects such as an expansion to the Faculty of Medicine - University of Saskatchewan|Western College of Veterinary Medicine, the building of a new parkade, and a revision of its internal road layout (which has already seen the East Road access being realigned).[http://www.usask.ca/uofs/annual-report2000/bricks.html]

Distinguished Research

Over the years, some of the most prominent projects at the University have been associated with the Department of Physics. In 1948, the University built the first betatron facility in Canada. Three years later, the world's first non-commercial cobalt-60 (isotope)|cobalt-60 therapy unit was constructed. (The first female Chancellor of the University, Sylvia Fedoruk, was a member of the Cobalt-60 research team. She also served as Saskatchewan's Lieutenant-Governor from 1988-1994.) The success of these facilities led to the construction of a linear accelerator in 1964 and placed university scientists at the forefront of nuclear physics in Canada. Experience gained from years of research and collaboration with global researchers led to the University of Saskatchewan being selected as the site of Canada's national facility for synchrotron light research, the Canadian Light Source. This facility opened Oct. 22, 2004 and is the size of a football field.

Campus Life

The Sheaf, a student publication, was first published on 1912, either monthly or less frequently. By 1920, it was published weekly with the aim of becoming a more unifying influence on student life. It was continued to publish continually through to the present time (as of 2004). In March 2006, The Sheaf printed a cartoon drawn by Jeff MacDonald depicting Jesus giving oral sex to a pig titled "The Capitalist Piglet". At the time it was run, recent months had seen violent protests in the Muslim world in reaction to Danish cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammed; The Sheaf committed not to reprint these cartoons out of respect and warned that freedom should never comes without responsibility. After "The Capitalist Piglet" was printed, University President Peter MacKinnon sent an email to the entire student body asking for The Sheaf's editors to apologize immediately. The local media, headed up primarily by John Gormley and other radio personalities, brought attention to the story until the Saskatoon StarPhoenix covered it on its front page. Eventually, the Globe and Mail would run the story on its front page, too. In response to the mounting controversy, The Sheaf's editor-in-chief, Will Robbins, stepped down and apologized on radio and print for the cartoon slipping into the paper despite it not receiving his approval; short staffing was cited as the problem. Jeff MacDonald offered no apologies, and The Sheaf asserts it will consider accepting MacDonald's future cartoons on a case-by-case basis. During this controversy, many groups, including The Saskatoon Christian Centre, called for The Sheaf to be shut down entirely 1. Others called for a mass-resignation of the editors. Others, using blogs plugged by radio personalities, called for people to phone The Sheaf's advertisers and ask them to stop their support 2. It is unlikely, at this point, The Sheaf will cease publication or experience a mass-culling of editors. In 1965, a student-run campus radio station, CJUS-FM began broadcasting on a non-commercial basis. In 1983, the station became a limited commercial station. By 1985, however, funding was no longer provided, and the campus radio presence died. In early 2005, CJUS was revived in an internet radio form and continues to broadcast today. Place Riel Theatre, a campus theatre, was opened in 1975, as was Louis, a campus pub. Place Riel, the existing campus student centre, opened in 1980, and now holds retail outlets, games area, lounge space, student group meeting areas, and a food court. These facilities were named after Louis Riel. In the late nineties, Place Riel Theater stopped public showings and is now used for campus movie features and lectures. The official motto of the University is Deo et Patriae (Latin) which translates to God and Country. Campus sports teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport use the name Saskatchewan Huskies. There are also two (main) residences available to students: McEown Park and Voyageur Place.

Alumni

Notable Faculty and Researchers

- Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1970 - Offered a position in 1935 to flee Nazi Germany, and remained at the university for ten years.

- Professor William Sarjeant, geologist and novelist.

- Dr. Thorbergur Thorvaldson, internationally known scientist and first dean of graduate studies at the U of S.

Notable Students

- John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada

Diefenbaker was also the university's chancellor. After he died, he and his wife were buried at the university, near the Diefenbaker Centre.

- Henry Taube, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1983

- Dr John Hewson, Australian politician

University Administration

University Presidents

- Walter Charles Murray (1908-37)