The first ski jump on the east bank of the South Saskatchewan River was built in 1929-1930 by the Saskatoon Ski Club with permission of the university. It was located at "Devil's Dip" and inaugurated on 18 Jan.1930. However, during the same season a jumper broke his leg and the ski jump had to be closed since the university withdrew its permission. Already in the following winter a new, larger ski jumping hill with an approximately 18-meter high tower was erected a few hundred meters north at "Varsity Site". The first record there was 97 feet (29.5 m) by Dave Wood. In 1933 a clubhouse was added and in 1936 the hill, which was also called "Ski Jump Coulee", was reconstructed and enlarged with a 25 meter high tower. The hill was then used for a few decades and competitions there even attracted up to 2,500 spectators. Furthermore, alpine slopes, a ski lift and a toboggan run were added at the site. Though interest in ski jumping had already been decreasing, the ski jump was reconstructed in 1963, reorienting the outrun from the river onto the bank and thus making the hill smaller. However, in 1974 ski jumping operations stopped and in 1978 it was torn down. In 1971 the Jeux Canada Winter Games were held at Saskatoon and for that purpose a new winter sports facility was opened at Mount Blackstrap, which made the other facilities at Varsity Site unnecessary as well. Off the trail are the remnants of the jump’s footings and tow lift.

The Place Riel Student Centre was constructed in three phases from 1976 to 1980 for a combined cost of $5,794,315. The original concept for the project had been the construction of a large freestanding building which incorporated all of the needs of the Student Centre. This plan was eventually adapted to include the use of space in the Arts Building and the Memorial Union Building (MUB) for student facilities primarily to offset construction costs. The Centre officially opened in September, 1980.

The first phase of the project involved the renovation of the Theatre Wing of the Arts Building. This was completed in 1976 for $178,080 by Smith Bros. and Wilson. It was designed by D. H. Stock and Partners. The second phase of construction involved the building of Place Riel itself. Place Riel was completed in 1979 for $3,916,235. It was designed by the architectural firm of Ferguson Folstad Friggstad and was built by Ellis Don Construction.

The final phase of construction involved the renovation of the MUB, which was again designed by Ferguson Folstad Friggstad. The renovations were completed by Bennett and White Construction in 1980. They included the demolition and removal of portions of the building, structural alterations, interior renovations, improvements to the elevator, and alterations and renovations to the Tunnel. Originally estimated at $902,688, this final phase of the project would eventually cost $1.7 million.

The completed building provided space for the Students’ Union Business Office, Sheaf Offices, commercial space for kiosks, meeting and seminar rooms, several general lounge areas, a theatre in the Arts Building, a discotheque (Louis’ Pub) in the MUB, a music listening room, a television lounge, a grad student lounge and a billiard and arcade room. Space in the building was also leased to campus radio station CJUS-FM, the Alumni Office, Student Counselling Services, a Canada Manpower Centre, the campus bookstore and food and vending services.

While construction on the complex was not begun until well into the 1970's planning for the structure actually began a decade earlier. During the 1964-65 academic year the Students’ Union recognized the need for facilities much more extensive than could be offered in the MUB. While the MUB had only been completed in 1955 an expanding student population had already made it obsolete as a central location for student activities and leisure on campus.

A Commission was established to investigate the matter and in 1964 student questionnaires and several studies were carried out. In a referendum in February, 1966 69.4% of students voted to increase a mandatory building tuition fee to $12. In 1967 the University and the Students’ Union jointly established a Project Building Committee to plan the required facilities. The University recognized its financial commitment to the project in late 1967 and included its anticipated share in the capital program request for 1968/69 and subsequent years. During the 1973-74 academic year the student body voted in favour of another increase in the annual building fee to $20.

Georgina Esther King was the first female student registered in the University of Saskatchewan. She graduated with a degree in English in 1913, the first year for students who completed their entire time at the U of S. The April 1913 Convocation issue of The Sheaf indicates Georgina was a member of the Glee Club, a councillor in the Arts and Science Literary Society Executive, and president of the Pente Kai Deka Society. The class prophecy: “Miss G.E. King, teacher of art, will give lessons in china painting at her studio on Tor Hill.” Georgina King was born 28 April 1887 near Regina, Northwest Territories on Tor Hill, the family farm on Boggy Creek. Georgina married Edmund Sears Mandeville (1887-1962) in 1916. Jean Gordon Bayer, assistant professor of English at the U of S, was a bridesmaid. Georgina met her husband who worked with the Regina Water System facilities located on the King property. Janet Frances Mandeville was born in 1917 and her siblings Esther Ridley Mandeville Hickey (1918-2008) and Malcolm King Mandeville (1920-1926) soon followed. The young family relocated to Florida in 1925 after Malcolm suffered a stroke and a physician recommended he find a milder climate. He visited British Columbia but found it too cold, and after eleven trips by train they moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. In January 1926, Georgina and her three children went down to Coffee Pot Bayou and while wading got caught in the water. Janet and Esther were able to get out, but Georgina and Malcolm were pulled under and drowned. Janet almost went under going back into the water to retrieve her doll. The two sisters, age eight and seven, were found wandering in the area by workmen and taken home. The girls were reared by Georgina’s older sister, Janet Catherine King Estrich (1917-2001), and their father. Georgina and Malcolm are buried at Royal Palm South Cemetery, Saint Petersburg, Florida.

From the Greek for ‘five and ten,’ Pente Kai Deka was created on 8 April 1911 with the first 15 women students on campus – five “big sisters” and ten “little sisters.” Every woman entering the University automatically became a member. Eventually the group became its own directorate within the Student Representative Council, and the PKD president, the vice-president of the SRC. Activities of the group included a Big Sister-Little Sister Dance, June in January, Jeanboree, a Spring Tea and a Frosh Week fashion show. As the sexual revolution loomed large in the late 1960s women on campus grew increasingly ambivalent toward the group, which had been seen by many female students as irrelevant and antiquated since midway through the decade. It was this attitude, as well as the sheer increase in the number of women and students in general at the University by the late 1960s that led to the group’s demise after the 1968-1969 academic year.

The "Partners in Growth" Campaign raised over $12 million toward the cost of the Agriculture Building. Donors included faculty, alumni, students, individuals and corporations. The campaign, begun in 1986, was organized by Ketchum Canada Inc. and directed by Scott Smardon.

Robert William Begg was born on December 27, 1914 in Florenceville, New Brunswick and received his early education in the Maritimes, earning a B.Sc. from King's College, Halifax (1936) and both an M.Sc. (1938) and MD (1942) from Dalhousie University. After wartime service in North America and Europe with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Dr. Begg attended Oxford University and earned a PhD. In 1946, he returned to Dalhousie and took posts first in Biochemistry and then in Medical Research. He was at the University of Western Ontario from 1950 until 1957, when he came to Saskatoon as head of the Saskatchewan Research Unit of the National Cancer Institute of Canada, head of the cancer research department at the U of S and lecturer in Pathology. He was appointed Dean of the College of Medicine in 1962 and Principal of the Saskatoon Campus in 1967. In 1975, Begg was appointed the University of Saskatchewan's fifth President, a post he held until 1980. During his long career, Dr. Begg received many honours, including Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, honorary physician to the Queen, several honorary degrees and the Order of Canada. He also had a long career in the Canadian militia beginning in 1929 when he enlisted in the Prince Edward Island Highlanders. He eventually rose to the rank of full Colonel. During World War Two, he served in a parachute regiment. In 1961, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services (militia) Saskatchewan Area and in 1963 he became Commander, 21 Militia Group. Dr. Begg died in Saskatoon on March 2, 1982 after a lengthy illness.

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.

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- ).

John Cameron was born in 1889 at Greenock, Scotland, and was educated at local schools. His family arrived in Saskatchewan in 1903 and homesteaded near Saskatoon. Cameron enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan by 1912. With war breaking out, he joined the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, University Unit, in 1915. He went overseas (France) in May 1915. Sergeant Cameron was wounded in April 1916. He rejoined his unit in June 1916, and was again wounded five months later. Cameron was Invalided to Canada and discharged in April 1917. He returned to the U of S and graduated with a BSA in 1918. Cameron was manager of the Saskatchewan Farmers' Mutual Fire Association in Saskatoon for many years.

Ellis Hall was designed and built as part of the University’s Medical Complex that included the Medical College Building and the University Hospital. As with the other two buildings, it was clad in locally quarried greystone. Opened in January of 1956, the Hall was designed by Webster & Gilbert to meet the needs of the 275 students in the School of Nursing who would study on campus, work in the hospital and live in residence. With the opening of the University Hospital in 1954, a basic 3-year diploma program was established aimed at producing bedside nurses. Board and room, laundry and uniforms were provided without charge. In addition an allowance of six, eight and ten dollars per month for first, second and third years respectively was granted. The Hall was named after Kathleen Ellis, who served from 1938 to 1950 as the School of Nursing's first director. It has the distinction of being the only building on campus named in honour of a woman. Today Ellis Hall is linked by a walkway to the 1979 Hospital Addition and is still home to the College of Nursing.

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.

Marilyn Ruth (Truscott) Walter, a graduate of Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon, enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan (BEd 1974; BSPE 1976) in 1971. She led the Huskiettes volleyball team to several firsts, including a Canada West championship and its first appearance at the CIAU championship where Saskatchewan won silver; four successive provincial senior championships and two bronze medal finishes at the Canadian Open. In 1973 Walter was the first Saskatchewan athlete invited to a national volleyball team tryout. She attended a camp to select Canada's team for the 1973 World Student Games in Moscow. Walter was awarded the Bob Stayner Trophy as female athlete of the year in a tournament sport at the U of S in 1975-76. Walter was a teacher with the Saskatoon Public School Division for 36 years. She taught physical education, humanities and social sciences, along with coaching a variety of sports including volleyball, basketball and badminton. Walter died on 10 November 2020 in Saskatoon.