The Institute of Northern Studies was established in January 1960 as a multi-disciplinary unit dedicated to research on the Canadian North and other circumpolar regions, with a special emphasis on northern Saskatchewan. The Institute was to act as a focal point of northern research at the University, to encourage northern research by obtaining scholarship funds and grants, and to coordinate interdisciplinary research. In addition the Institute provided lecture series which promoted understanding of the Canadian north; training programs which taught northern peoples new skills; cross-cultural courses for people working in the north; and a northern information service. In 1981 it was announced that the Institute would be phased out over the next three years. Directors: J.B. Mawdsley (1960-1965); W.O. Kupsch (1965-1973); R.M. Bone (acting) (1973-1974); R.M. Bone (1974-1982).

With John Diefenbaker’s “Northern Vision Speech” in February 1958, Canadians turned their collective eyes north. It was now a Federal funding and policy priority. There was, however, a wide knowledge gap when compared to the Scandinavian countries and Russia. To fill this gap, the University of Saskatchewan established The Institute for Northern Studies in January 1960. Building on the decades of northern research, the U of S created a muli-disciplinary unit dedicated to research on the Subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. A special emphasis was placed on northern Saskatchewan. The Institute was to act as a focal point for northern research at the University, to encourage northern research by obtaining scholarship funds and grants, and to coordinate interdisciplinary research. In addition the Institute provided a lecture series which promoted understanding of the Canadian north; training programs which taught northern peoples new skills; cross-cultural courses for people working in the north; and a northern information service. A sample of the studies supported by the INS include political and social history of the Northwest Territories; biological investigations on forest vegetation, fungi, mammals, biting insects, birds; economic surveys of water transportation, mining, fishing, timber, furs; the geology of some mining camps, the geophysics of the earth's crust; engineering design of radio communication for remote areas. In 1981 it was announced that the Institute would be phased out over three years. The records of the INS can be found at the University of Saskatchewan Archives.

The University of Saskatchewan's Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies joined in 1965 with university scientists and researchers to form the Space Engineering Division (later known as SED Systems Incorporated). SED supplies both systems and services to the satellite industry. SED is located in the Innovation Place Research Park on the U of S campus.

The Virus Laboratory Building was constructed from 1947-1948, and was designed by the architectural firm of Webster and Gilbert. It was located on what is now a grassy area in front of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The construction of the building was financed with proceeds from the sale of the equine encephalomyelitis vaccine. The disease equine encephalomyelitis, more commonly known as "sleeping sickness," first appeared in Saskatchewan in 1935. It recurred in 1937 and 1938, when it killed an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 horses. The vaccine was developed by Dr. Fulton in the late 1930s while he was still head of the Veterinary Sciences Department, and was first sold by the University in 1939. While commercial production companies in the United States were selling a similar vaccine for $1.80 per dosage, the University undersold them at 75 cents – which accounted for all the funding available for construction. Dr. Fulton also demonstrated that a human disease previously diagnosed as non-paralytic poliomyelitis was in fact caused by the same virus, at which time he produced a vaccine for humans. Demolition of the J.S. Fulton Virus Laboratory was completed in 1989.

The Law Building was officially opened on September 22, 1967, and was first occupied in the Spring of 1968. At opening it included one 80-seat classroom, two 45-seat classrooms, one 30- seat classroom, four 15-seat seminar rooms and a library. Other space in the complex included the Dean’s office, a general office, 18 faculty offices, the librarian’s office, three graduate students’ offices, a Bar Review office and a Student Society office.

On opening, the Law Library contained stack space for 60,000 volumes and seating for 150 students. The Library consists of two floors, a full main floor and a balcony level which take up 16,000 square feet of space. An additional 6,400 square feet of book storage space, enough to house another 30,000 volumes, was left available in 1968 in the unfinished basement of the building, to be used when it was required.

In 1972 proposals were made to build additional classroom and lounge space in the unfinished basement of the building as part of greater renovations. Plans for the renovations were laid in 1977, and in 1980 the unfinished space in the basement of the Law Building was completed. An existing seminar room and a stack room in the main building were also converted into four new offices for faculty, and the existing lounge area as well as an adjacent classroom were renovated. The renovations were contracted to Tubby and Wilks for $120,800 and were designed by the architectural firm of Holliday-Scott Desmond Paine.

The Law/Commerce complex was completed in 1967 by Poole Construction for $2,627,250. It was designed by Holliday-Scott Desmond Paine, and provided 89,154 gross square feet of finished space for the two Colleges.

The building was adjoined to the north end of the existing Arts Building in order to economize building costs, as well as to provide a covered pedestrian passage between Arts, Commerce and Law. The decision to house both the College of Law and the College of Commerce under one roof was made principally in order to conserve land use while still providing both Colleges with almost complete independence in accommodation.

A sculpture by Bill Epp was commissioned in 1968 for the Law-Commerce Complex for $5000. The finished work stands approximately seven feet high by ten feet long and depicts a man and a woman reclining on a bench. The sculpture is composed of steel encased in bronze set on a steel frame. The sculpture rests at the north entrance of the Law Building.

The building of the Linear Accelerator (Linac) was not a random event but rather the result of a series of developments on campus. The Department of Physics had over the previous decades built a reputation for experimentation and innovation. The post-war period saw the University of Saskatchewan in the forefront of nuclear physics in Canada. In 1948, Canada’s first betatron (and the world’s first used in the treatment of cancer) was installed on campus. It was used for research programs in nuclear physics, radiation chemistry, cancer therapy and radiation biology. Next the world’s first non-commercial cobalt-60 therapy unit for the treatment of cancer was officially opened in 1951. With this unit research was undertaken in the areas of radiological physics, radiation chemistry and the effects of high energy radiation on plants and animals. When the construction of the Linear Accelerator was announced in the fall of 1961, it was portrayed as the next logical step on the University’s research path. Varian Associates, Palo Alto, California, designed and built the accelerator with Poole Construction of Saskatoon employed as the general contractor. The 80 foot electron accelerator tube was to create energy six times that of the betatron. The cost of the $1,750,000 facility was split between the National Research Council and the University of Saskatchewan with the NRC meeting the cost of the equipment and the University assuming the costs of the building. The official opening in early November of 1964 was more than just a few speeches and the cutting of a ribbon. It was a physics-fest, with 75 visiting scientist from around the world in attendance presenting papers and giving lectures over the period of several days. Three eminent physicists were granted honorary degrees at the fall convocation and hundreds of people showed up for the public open house. For three decades the Linac has served the campus research community and will continue to do so as it has become incorporated into the Canadian Light Source synchrotron.

One of the five original campus buildings, the Livestock Pavilion (or Stock Pavilion as it was more commonly known) was designed by Brown and Vallance and constructed between 1910-1912 at a cost of $20,000. Built of red brick, the roof was a combination of slate and translucent glass panels, some of which could be opened for ventilation. The Pavilion included a large show arena, with seating for up to 500; the floor in this area remained earth, covered with straw or shavings, as it was felt concrete “might make the exercise of horses more dangerous than it should be.”

Early short courses offered by the University included butchering; the Pavilion had both a slaughter room and cold storage area. It also housed the first laboratory for the department of animal science. One design feature certainly dated it: the only washroom facilities were for men.

By 1986 there were concerns that the north wall of the Pavilion was unstable, and the building was slated for demolition in December of that year. It proved more durable than expected: the contractor had to search for a wrecking ball heavy enough to demolish the Pavilion’s roof. The demolition cost $43,000.

These are they who went forth from this University to the Great War and gave their lives that we might live in freedom.” - Inscription on the Memorial Gates.

Sixty-seven University students and faculty lost their lives while on service during World War I. In August 1918, three months prior to the formal armistice, President Walter Murray began making inquiries regarding the cost of memorial plaques. Two years earlier, the Board of Governors had authorized an “Honor Roll” of names for all associated with the University who served, be added to the College Building. The impact of the war on the University was immense: 330 students and faculty served during the War, a number equivalent to nearly all students who had registered the year prior to the beginning of the conflict. In 1916-17 Engineering closed its doors as all students and faculty enlisted.

Architect David R. Brown estimated the Gates would cost $30,000, with an additional $10,000 required for the memorial. Students and alumni fund-raising helped with a portion of the costs. The gates were made of solid bronze, imported from England; the remainder, made of local greystone.

The Memorial Gates were unveiled by President Murray and dedicated by the Bishop of Saskatchewan on 3 May 1928; and for many years thereafter the site was used for the University’s Remembrance Day services. Wreaths are still laid at the site every November 11th.

The location of the Gates was on the spot envisioned in the original campus plan as the main entrance to the University. It became the primary roadway to the Royal University Hospital, and in the late 1980s various plans were considered to help ease the flow of traffic through the area, including moving the Gates to another area of campus. The design finally accepted left the Gates in their original location as a pedestrian entrance way, with traffic re-routed to the west.

Though the first recorded withdrawal from the University Library occurred in October 1909, nearly five decades passed before the Library had its own building. The early collection was housed either on the second floor of the College Building, later known as the Administration Building, or was scattered among a number of small departmental libraries. Plans for a new library building in the late 1920s were ended by the start of the Great Depression; but a dramatically reduced acquisitions budget was offset by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation in 1933. In 1943 the University hired its first professional Librarian.

A combination of provincial grants and University fundraising financed the construction of the Murray Memorial Library. Named after the University’s first President, the H. K. Black design marked a change in campus architecture away from the more angular and elaborate Collegiate Gothic style to that of the less expensive cube. Building materials included granite at the entrance and Tyndall stone (the material greystone replaced in 1911) as a wall cladding and window trim. In addition to the library, the building housed the College of Law, an office of the Provincial Archives and a 105 seat lecture theatre equipped with the latest in audio visual teaching aids.

Over the next two decades the University Library System mirrored the expansion of the University in general. Branches were opened in Education, Health Sciences, Law, Engineering, Geography/Physics, Thorvaldson, and Veterinary Medicine. The most dramatic transformation took place between 1970 and 1976 when a six floor south wing was added along with an extensive renovation of the 1956 structure. Designed by BLM, Regina, the south wing was unlike any other building on campus. Clad in Tyndall stone panels made to look like concrete (through a "bush hammered" finish), the grey almost windowless building is industrial and utilitarian in appearance. The University's master plan required buildings in the core of campus to be clad in stone. However, the "bush hammered" finish was used since the Library addition was built during a period that saw the flowering of "Brutalist" Architecture, so called because of the wide use of exposed concrete. The new (south) wing, originally called the Main Library, was officially opened on 17 May 1974, and also became the home of the Department of Art and Art History, the College of Graduate Studies and the University Archives.

The Native Law Centre was established in 1975 to support undergraduate and graduate study, teaching and research in areas of law directly or indirectly involving native persons. The Centre offers library services, a seminar series and acts as a community resource centre. Through publications such as the "Canadian Native Law Reporter" and the "Legal Information Service", it has become Canada's largest publisher in the native law field. The Program of Legal Studies for Native Peoples, an eight-week summer orientation course in legal studies for native people, is also administered by the Centre. The following have served as Director of the Centre: R.C. Carter (1975-1981); D.J. Purich (1981-1994); J.Y. Henderson (1994- ).

The Observatory was designed by Gentil J.K. Verbeke and constructed in two phases using local limestone from 1928-1930 for about $23,000. The R. J. Arrand Contracting Co. was contracted to build the Observatory Tower in 1928 for a cost of $6625. The firm completed the tower $353 under budget on 14 April 1929, for $6,272. On 20 June 1929 R. J. Arrand was again awarded a contract by the University, this time to build the small classroom wing of the Observatory for $15,640. Work on the classroom wing was completed on 23 January 1930 for $15,034.50. University funding for the construction of the building was supplemented by private donations. Along with the Field Husbandry Building, the Observatory would be among the last free-standing buildings constructed on campus until after World War II. A plaque with the names of many donors still hangs inside the dome of the observatory. Saskatoon residents will find many of the names highly recognizable even today. A sundial was added to the exterior of the Observatory during the 1940s. It reads:
I am a Shadow
So art thou
The observatory facilities are available for use by both university students and visitors to the campus. The telescopes and other scientific equipment are used by students during the laboratory component of their courses. University personnel regularly offer tours of the observatory to elementary and high school classes, youth groups and other community associations. The Observatory is staffed year-round on Saturday nights so that any visitor may view celestial objects through the telescope.

Initially two directors conducted an athletic and physical education program for female and male students and staff. Classes were designed to prepare some students as physical education instructors for elementary and secondary schools. As early as 1940 all freshmen students were required to enroll in a one-year physical activities class. The Physical Education Building was constructed from 1948-1949 as part of the $2.5 million Varsity Expansion Program. Built at a cost of $235,000, the centre was designed by F.J. Martin and built by Shannon Brothers Construction. The frame of the building was constructed from a double RCAF hangar erected at Dafoe, probably in 1940, and subsequently moved to Saskatoon in 1948. In 1950 a Department of Physical Education was established to carry on a service program for all students and to provide for physical education classes as electives in the Colleges of Arts and Science and Education. The Physical Education Building was officially opened on 10 February 1950 for the annual basketball game against the University of Alberta, which the Huskies lost 27-36. The completion of the building meant that the University of Saskatchewan finally possessed a real physical education and athletics centre after decades of makeshift facilities. The Main Gym floor consisted of three basketball courts and six badminton courts. The main basketball floor was the only regulation-size basketball floor in Saskatchewan at the time. The building also contained dressing rooms, lockers, showers, drying rooms, boxing and wrestling rooms, and space for offices. The Department became a School within Arts and Science in 1958, offering a 4-year course leading to the Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education. In 1959 a dance studio was added to the building. The graduate program and scientific research expanded in the 1960s. In April of 1960 Black, Larson, McMillan and Associates performed an architectural and structural appraisal of the building in preparation for expansion plans on the building. They advised that with proper maintenance the current building could be structurally sound for another 20 to 40 years. However, they warned that major renovations towards the end of this period would likely be required. Their recommendation at that time was that an entirely new complex be constructed at a cost of $2,180,000. The advantages of such a proposal were said to be obvious, as “the building would be planned from construction in stages, to meet ultimate requirements. Proper segregation and flow would be incorporated into the building. Outside activities could be located conveniently to the building.” In short, the building could be built and designed to accommodate for the changing needs of the department over time. However, these recommendations were ignored in favour of extending the existing building, which was less expensive. A pool addition was built by Shoquist Construction from 1963-1964 for $898,254. The Pool addition was designed by Black, Larson and McMillan. During the 1969-70 academic year major renovations and alterations were made to the building. In 1972 the School achieved College status. In 1998 the College was renamed the College of Kinesiology. An office addition was completed in 1988 by Dunmac General Contractors for $136,952, and was designed by Bergerman Solodre. On 7 December 1997 the University, acting on consulting Engineer's reports, determined that the Physical Education Centre was no longer structurally sound. Offices were moved from the building within hours and relocated to the Williams Building on Cumberland Avenue, and the building was partially demolished in 1998. Completed demolition occurred by 2000. The Physical Activity Complex (PAC) was officially opened on 28 Nov. 2003 for the College of Kinesiology, community activity programs, and Huskie Athletics. Griffiths Stadium (offering playing field with artificial turf, running track and grandstand seating) was upgraded in 2006 for the Huskie football Vanier Cup playoffs. Merlis Belsher Place, a multi-use ice facility, opened in 2018, replacing the nearly 90-year-old Rutherford Rink.

The Physical Education Building was constructed from 1948 to 1949 as part of the $2.5 million Varsity Expansion Program. Built at a cost of $235,000, the centre was designed by F. J. Martin and built by Shannon Brothers Construction. The frame of the building was constructed from a double RCAF hangar erected at Dafoe, probably in 1940, and subsequently moved to Saskatoon in 1948. The Physical Education Building was unofficially opened on 10 February, 1950 for the annual basketball game against the University of Alberta, which the Huskies lost 27-36.

The completion of the building meant that the University of Saskatchewan finally possessed a real physical education and athletics centre after decades of makeshift facilities. The Main Gym floor consisted of three basketball courts and six badminton courts. The main basketball floor was the only regulation size basketball floor in Saskatchewan at the time. The building also contained dressing rooms, lockers, showers, drying rooms, boxing and wrestling rooms, and space for offices. In 1959 a dance studio was added to the building.

A pool addition was built by Shoquist Construction from 1963 to 1964 for $898,254. The Pool Addition was designed by Black, Larson and McMillan. During the 1969-70 academic year major renovations and alterations were made to the building; an Office Addition was completed in 1988 by Dunmac General Contractors for $136,952. This addition was designed by Bergerman Solodre.

In April of 1960 Black, Larson, McMillan and Associates performed an architectural and structural appraisal of the building in preparation for expansion plans on the building. They advised that with proper maintenance the current building could be structurally sound for another 20 to 40 years. However, they warned that major renovations towards the end of this period would likely be required. Their recommendation at that time was that an entirely new complex be constructed at a cost of $2,180,000. The advantages of such a proposal were said to be obvious, as “ the building would be planned from construction in stages, to meet ultimate requirements. Proper segregation and flow would be incorporated into the building. Outside activities could be located conveniently to the building.”[1] In short, the building could be built and designed to accommodate for the changing needs of the department over time. However, these recommendations were ignored in favour of extending the existing building, which was less expensive.

On 7 December, 1997 the University, acting on consulting Engineer's reports, determined that the Physical Education Centre was no longer structurally sound. Offices were moved from the building within hours and relocated to the Williams Building on Cumberland Avenue, and the building was partially demolished in 1998.