Elvins Yuill Spencer was born in Edmonton in 1914. He was granted both a BSc (1936) and MSc (1938) from the University of Alberta, and a PhD (1941) from the University of Toronto. Spencer joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1946 as Assistant Professor of Cereal Chemistry. From 1949 to 1951, he held the half-time position of Co-ordinator of Research at the Saskatchewan Research Council. Spencer resigned from the University in 1951. Spencer died on March 3, 2012 in London, Ontario.

Pitirim A. Sorokin was born in 1889 in Komi (province in Northern Russia) into a peasant family. During his early childhood he traveled with his father and two brothers earning their living by remodeling and painting rural churches. His strong interest in education, combined with a natural talent and work ethic, soon transformed him into a leading Russian social scientist and famous politician who was at the center of the Russian Revolution in 1917. In 1923, after his banishment by the Bolsheviks, Pitirim Sorokin started a new life in the United States. In less than 10 years the Russian émigré became a world-renowned sociologist and the founder of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Over 30 major books were published over a period of 50 years of active intellectual life. His ideas attracted the attention of Albert Einstein and Albert Schweitzer, Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy, political activists and yoga followers, military and peace proponents. At the time of his death in 1968 Pitirim Sorokin was one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century. (Biographical sketch provided by Pavel Krotov.)

Gordon Snelgrove was a painter and teacher of Art and Art History at the University of Saskatchewan. He was born in 1867, and was appointed as a teacher of Art History at the University of Saskatchewan Regina Campus in 1936. A few years later he moved to the Saskatoon campus as the head of the Art Department, and he continued teaching there until his retirement in 1962. He passed away four years later in 1966. He is acknowledged as being perhaps the first Art Historian in Canada to receive a PhD in his discipline, and the Snelgrove Gallery on the U of S campus, which plays a role in providing learning and professional opportunities for students, still bears his name.

Tom R. Smith is a graduate of the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan; he received his B.E. in 1945. His varied career has included being part of the team that built the Alaska Highway, service during World War Two, farming, and teaching in the College of Engineering. His research has had a strong focus on archaeology and local history, especially through years of involvement in the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society. He was married to Laura Carpenter, who died in 2008.

Steven Ross Smith (also published as Steven Smith) was born and educated in Toronto, receiving a Diploma (degree equivalent) in 1968 in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University). First published in 1972, he is a writer of innovative fiction and poetry, a sound poet and performance artist, an editor and media writer. In addition to his literary works published in books, anthologies and periodicals, Smith has several improvisatory sound music ensemble recordings to his credit. He has been published and given performances and readings in England, Holland, the United States, and Canada. Smith was a founding member of the sound/performance ensembles "Owen Sound" and "DUCT". In 1987-1988, he was Writer-In-Residence in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and, in 1996-1997, he was Writer-In-Residence with the Saskatoon Public Library. Smith was also the founding editor of Underwhich Editions and has been the Executive Director of the Sage Hill Writing Experience from 1990 to 2008. His book "fluttertongue 3: disarray" won the 2005 Book of the Year award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. He was Director of Literary Arts at The Banff Centre from 2008 to 2014.

Born in 1889 at Ridgeway, Iowa, to Norwegian pioneers (Ole and Henrietta Sherven), the fifth daughter of seven with a younger brother and four sisters, Olena came to a homestead 30 miles north of Watson, Saskatchewan in 1911. Olena’s interest in sketching animals at a young age led to her being enrolled in a Lutheran college in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1907, where she learned oil painting. She had previously taken a mail course doing a pen and ink perspective exercise. Her father encouraged further schooling, so she went to the Winnipeg School of Art during 1914-15 where pencil studies of the human form were taught using plaster models. She married Rutherford W. Smith sometime around 1920. In 1938, she went to the Winnipeg School of Art for a brief time; LeMoine FitzGerald, a member of the Group of Seven, was Head. Boarding with her sister on the U of S campus, she was able to get lessons from Gus Kenderdine who had been appointed the university’s first art instructor. Two copies of Kenderdine oil paintings survive from these lessons. Her first showing was held in Saskatoon. She exhibited oils “Winter” and “Autumn,” scenes from the farm. She attended the Emma Lake summer school for three seasons. Instructors included Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McCay, Reta Cowley, H.W. Wickenden, and Winona Mulcaster. In later winters at Edinburgh, Texas, Olena enjoyed doing street scenes in Mexico and some portraits in pencil. Retiring to Melfort, she continued to sketch, making notes on colours for future paintings. She died in Melfort in 1972 at the age of 83.

Donald B. Smith has co-edited such books as The New Provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1905-1980 (with the late Howard Palmer), and Centennial City: Calgary 1894-1994. His popular articles have appeared in a variety of local and national publications including Alberta History, The Beaver, the Globe and Mail, and the Calgary Herald. With Douglas Francis and Richard Jones, he published the popular two volume history text, Origins, and Destinies, and the single-volume history of Canada, titled Journeys. He has also published Calgary's Grand Story, a history of twentieth century Calgary from the vantage point of two heritage buildings in the city, the Lougheed Building and Grand Theatre, both constructed in 1911/1912.
Born in Toronto in 1946, Dr. Smith was raised in Oakville, Ontario. He obtained his BA and PhD at the University of Toronto, and his M.A. at the Université Laval. He taught Canadian History at the University of Calgary from 1974 to 2009, focusing on
Canadian history in general, and on Aboriginal History, Quebec, and the Canadian North in particular. His research has primarily been in the field of Aboriginal History, combined with a strong interest in Alberta history.

Orville Ray Skinner was born in Oshawa, Ontario on 25 October 1927. He received a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto in 1950, and continued with postgraduate work at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning an MSc. in mathematics and Ph.D. in physics, in June and September of 1952 respectively. He taught briefly at the University of New York and worked at the National Research Council in Ottawa prior to joining the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1954 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1956 and by 1968, had risen to the rank of Full Professor. Dr. Skinner's special fields of research were gravitation and relativity. He published many articles and wrote two standard texts, "Mechanics" and "Relativity." Perhaps his greatest contribution to the University and Physics was his outstanding ability as a teacher. He was recognized by the U of S in 1987 with the Master Teacher Award. Dr. Skinner died on 2 December 1988.

Conway James Skelly was born in Ontario in 1922. He graduated from the School of Agriculture in 1947. Skelly died in 1949.

First wife of G.W. Simpson.

Born in Chatsworth, Ontario on 24 March 1893, George Wilfred Simpson received his early education in Owen Sound before taking up a homestead in southern Saskatchewan. In 1915 he entered the University of Saskatchewan and received a BA (1919) in English and History; in 1920 he received an MA from the University of Toronto. The first Saskatchewan recipient of the IODE overseas scholarship, Simpson was able to attend the University of London for postgraduate studies. He also did postgraduate work at the University of Berlin (1931-1932), and in 1947 received an honourary doctorate from the Free Ukrainian University in Munich, Germany. In 1959, Simpson was given an LL.D from the University of Saskatchewan. His teaching career at the University of Saskatchewan started in 1922, with an appointment as Instructor in History. By 1928 he had been promoted to full professor; in 1940, Simpson was appointed Head of the History Department, a position he held until his retirement in 1958. Upon retirement, Simpson was named Professor Emeritus. During his career at the University of Saskatchewan, Simpson initiated the department of Slavic studies, was the first Canadian historian to learn Ukrainian, and edited the first history of the Ukraine published in English: "Ukraine, An Atlas Of Its Geography and History." He helped shape the policy of the Saskatchewan Archives Act, was the first Provincial Archivist (1945-1948), and afterward served on the Archives Board. As chair of the Committee on Historic Sites and Publications, he made a major contribution to the success of Saskatchewan's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1955. Simpson died in Saskatoon on 6 March 1969, at the age of 75.

A native of Manchester, England, Edith C. Rowles Simpson was raised on a homestead on the Saskatchewan/Alberta border. She taught at a number of rural Saskatchewan schools prior to enrolling at the University of Saskatchewan where she won the Rutter prize for most distinguished graduate receiving her BHSc in 1932. She continued her education at the University of Wisconsin (MSc, 1939) and Columbia (EdD, 1956). Simpson joined the faculty of the Department of Women's Work, University of Saskatchewan, in 1932 serving in a number of positions throughout her career: supervisor of girls' work (1936); assistant professor in the College of Agriculture (1941); University Dean of Women (1944); assistant professor in the College of Home Economics (1950); and professor and Dean of Home Economics (1965-1972). In her extension work she conducted Farm Girls' Camps and Extension Short Courses. Her academic speciality was in food science, an area in which she taught, researched and published. In 1964 Simpson published the book Home Economics In Canada: Prologue To Change and also married historian and fellow professor G.W. Simpson. After spending her entire professional life at the U of S she retired in 1972, was named Dean Emeritus and was further honoured with the establishment of the Edith Rowles Simpson Lectureship. In 1993 the University of Saskatchewan honoured her again with a Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree. Dr. Simpson's professional affiliations included memberships in the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canadian and American Dietetic Associations and Canadian Home Economics Association where she served as President. Among her many awards and honours are inductions into the Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Order of Canada in 1987.