In the spring of 1910, when the sod was turned on the site of the present College Building, there was on the prairie but one clump of half a dozen poplars. The university of today, large, complex, handsome, is the result of human imagination – and money and work and the will to make it happen. To remember the prairie before the building began is a good way to recognize the importance of human agency in remaking our world. This essay is a brief account of the decisions that led to the building of the university of today.

Originally known as the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization, VIDO was established at the University of Saskatchewan in 1975. VIDO is a research organization of the University of Saskatchewan that operates with financial support from the Government of Canada, the government of Saskatchewan, livestock industry councils and agencies, foundations and human and animal health companies. VIDO worked to find cures for common infectious diseases in cattle, swine and poultry. VIDO scientists carved out an international reputation for their pioneering work in the 1980's on vaccines aimed at combating shipping fever and a disease which produces pneumonia and arthritis in cattle. In addition to the 2,500,000 sq ft facility on campus, VIDO-InterVac also operates a 160-acre research station. The laboratory took on its current name, International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), in March 2003. In October 2003 a large expansion was completed. In March 2004, VIDO received funding for the construction one of the world's largest and most advanced biosafety level 3 facilities, the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), for research into emerging and reemerging human and animal diseases. In 2020, VIDO-InterVac began developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was established with a grant provided by the Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations of Calgary, and with supplementary funding from the provincial governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the University, and subsequently a great many livestock and poultry organizations. VIDO represented a new and unique model for funding practical goal-oriented research, and established an international reputation by developing several new vaccines to prevent neonatal diarrhea, or scours, in newborn calves (Vicogen, Ecostar, Ecostar 2RC); Haemophilus somnus infection of cattle (Somnu-Star and Somu-Star Ph); shipping fever pneumonia in cattle (Pneumo-Star); pneumonia in pigs (Pleuro-Star); and adenovirus infection in turkeys (Hevlan-TC). It also developed new management and disease prevention programs for cattle and swine. In 2003, VIDO changed its name and opened an expansion to its building that now provides 80,000 square feet of ultramodern laboratory space for a staff of 145 researchers. It uses the most modern research tools of genomics and bioinformatics to develop new vaccines and vaccine delivery technology.

Stephen Acres

The original Victoria School, now known as the Little Stone Schoolhouse (LSS), was built in 1887 by Alexander Marr, known for owning the Marr residence, currently the oldest residential building in Saskatoon. The LSS building was not only Saskatoon’s first school and library, it was also its first public building. In the evenings, various community events were held here, such as dances, meetings and various religious events. The one-room school house was used until a two room school house was constructed in 1905, followed by an even larger Victoria School in 1909, officially assuming the role of the original Victoria School. In 1911 the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire raised funds to preserve and relocate the building to the University of Saskatchewan campus. The school was carefully dismantled and moved. Almost 50 years later, in 1967, the Saskatoon Council of Women raised money to renovate the building and officially opened the LSS as a museum. Later that year the LSS was declared a Municipal Heritage Site and eventually Provincial Heritage Property in 1982. The Little Stone Schoolhouse continues to play an important role in the Saskatoon community and on the University of Saskatchewan campus. The U of S took over the operation of the building in 1981 and the Diefenbaker Canada Centre has ensured the continued appreciation of this historical landmark. The main Little Stone Schoolhouse program focuses on a historical introduction and the docent roleplaying as a school teacher.

Merville O. Vincent was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on 21 November 1930. He earned a BA from Acadia University in 1950 and his medical degree from Dalhousie University in 1955; and later received his certificate in internal medicine (1960), fellowship in psychiatry (1962), and diploma in community mental health (1972). Between 1954 and 1959 he held internships or residencies in both psychiatry and internal medicine, and was clinical instructor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan from 1959-1960. In 1960, he returned to Canada, having accepted a position as staff psychiatrist at the Homewood Sanitarium in Guelph, Ontario - the largest private psychiatric hospital in the country. By 1972 he had been named executive director of Homewood, remaining in that office until he resigned from Homewood to take up private practice in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, in 1986. In addition to his own practice Vincent served as staff psychiatrist for the Shuswap Lake General Hospital (1986-1997), president of their medical staff (1988-1991), and took locams as a consultant psychiatrist in Australia and New Zealand. He retired from his medical practice in 1998. During his career Vincent published a book, God, Sex and You, and over 120 articles, chapters and essays in both medical and religious publications. In addition to other various honours, Dr. Vincent was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal and was a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Born in August 1915 in Zheleznovodsk. Russia, Dr. Vasilii Vasilevich Vladimirskii graduated from Moscow University in 1938. Since 1946, he has been deputy director of the Theoretical and Experimental Physics Institute in Moscow. His works have been in optics, propagation of ultrasound and electromagnetic waves as well as in the theory of linear accelerators and neutron spectroscopy. He participated in the creation of the Serpukhov accelerator whose energy level is 70 giga-electron-volts. He was awarded the State Prize in 1953 and the Lenin Prize in 1970. He served as an advisor to the Theoretical and Experimental Physics Institute (ITEP) in Moscow.

Arthur Gordon Wacker was born on October 10, 1933 in Jansen, Saskatchewan. He received his early education in Regina and won a scholarship to Queen's University, where he earned his B.Sc. (1955) in Electrical Engineering. He also earned a PhD from Purdue University. He worked briefly for both Northern Electric Co. Ltd. and the Schlumberger Well Survey Corporation, prior to being appointed Special Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in 1957. He earned his M.Sc. in 1962. Wacker was promoted to full Professor in 1975. His research activities have included working with the Institute for Northern Studies to improve radio communications in the North; "ground truthing," or collecting agronomic data from microwave radars; and monitoring soil and crop conditions using satellites. He died on July 25, 1989 in Saskatoon.

William (Bill) Andrew Waiser was born in Toronto on 6 June 1953. He earned a B.A. Honours in History from Trent University in 1975 and went on to complete an M.A. (1976) and a Ph.D. (1983) in History at the University of Saskatchewan. Prior to joining the faculty of the U of S Department of History in 1983, Dr. Waiser was employed as a Lecturer in History at the U of S 1980-1983 and as Yukon historian, Parks Canada, Prairie and Northern Regional Office in 1983. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate students, he has served as graduate director (1987-1990) and department head (1995-98). A specialist in western and northern Canadian history, Waiser has authored, co-authored, or co-editor several books, including All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On to Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot, Park Prisoners: the Untold Story of Western Canada's National Parks, Loyal Till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion, Saskatchewan's Playground - A History of Prince Albert National Park, The Field Naturalist - John Macoun, the Geological Survey and Natural Science and Saskatchewan: A New History. Between 1998-2002, Waiser hosted "Looking Back," a weekly Saskatchewan History column on of CBC Saskatchewan television. Dr. Waiser has served on the council of the Canadian Historical Association (1997-2000), chaired the Advisory Board of the Canadian Historical Review (2000-2003), and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Canada's National History Society (2001-2004), publisher of The Beaver magazine. His many honours include the Queen's Fellowship (The Canada Council), Doctoral Fellowship (Social Sciences and Humanities and Research Council of Canada), the College of Arts and Science Teaching Excellence Award for the Humanities and Fine Arts and the University of Saskatchewan Distinguished Researcher. In 2006 Dr. Waiser was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.

Henry Thomas Wake was born in Whittlebury, England in 1831. He was an antiquarian bookseller and later ran a school for the young members of the Society of Friends. He had eight children with his first wife, Lydia. His second marriage was to Hannah Sadler, also a widow with children (One of whom, Joseph Sadler Wake, was the donor’s grandfather). The Wakes were related to the Hindes through the marriage of daughter Martha “Pattie” Wake to Joseph Hinde. Martha Wake was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England in 1869.

Frederic Walker was born at Poucecoupe, British Columbia on September 4, 1933. He was raised in Pincher Creek, Alberta. He received a degree in Education from the University of Alberta and a BA in History from the University of Saskatchewan. He taught at Grand Prairie, AB; Falher, AB; Fort McMurray, AB; Inuvik, NWT and Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Walker also spent a year working in Paulatuk, Northwest Territories. Walker died at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon on January 24, 2012.

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.

Dr. Avra G. Watson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922. She earned a B.A. (1945) and an M.A. (1949) from Boston University. In 1976, she completed her PhD. in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh when she submitted the thesis “Melanesian Cargo Movements: A Developmental Analysis.” Her first appointment at the University of Saskatchewan was in 1966 as a Research Associate with the College of Commerce’s Canadian Centre for Community Studies. From 1967 until 1970, she was an Assistant Professor (hired as a Cultural Anthropologist) in the Department of Educational Foundations. In the mid 1980s, she was a sessional lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology. Dr. Avra G. Watson’s academic interests included social change and movements, anthropology and education, women’s studies, Latin America, urban anthropology and Canadian society and culture.

Linvill F. and Avra G. Watson were a husband and wife team of anthropologists whose research and academic interests often overlapped. Dr. Linvill F. Watson was born in Philadelphia in 1918. He attended the University of Pennsylvania earning an A.B. in 1938 and a PhD. in 1953 (dissertation: "Northern Ibo Social Stratification and Acculturation"). Dr. L.F. Watson held several academic positions before joining the University of Saskatchewan in 1966, including several years with both the University of Maryland Overseas Program and Lafayette College. At the University of Saskatchewan, he started in the Department of Sociology in 1966; was cross-appointed to the Department of Sociology and the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology from 1970 to 1980 (continuing as an Associate Member in Sociology until 1982); and remained in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology until his retirement as a full professor in 1986. His fields of expertise included African culture and the Canadian North. He died in Saskatoon in 1996.

After graduating from the College of Engineering, Peter Weber began a career with the Canadian National Railway, interrupted only by service in the Army in 1943-1944. Mr. Weber retired in 1977.

Born on a farm near Viceroy, Saskatchewan in 1928, Margaret (Kesslering) Weiers graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BA (English) in 1949. As an early feminist, social reformer and fierce nationalist, she embarked on a 40-year career in journalism that began with the Regina Leader-Post and ended with the Toronto Star. In 1969, she won the Canadian Women’s Press Club Memorial Award for best news story. Weiers was the first journalist to receive a special award from the American Association on Mental Deficiency. She left the Leader Post in 1955 and joined the Canadian foreign service, serving as vice-consul for the Canadian Consulate General in New York City and a press officer for the Canadian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In 1957, she married Robert Weiers (U of S BA’47, BEd’48, BComm’52). Marriage marked the end of her foreign service career, as the Department of External Affairs required women officers to resign after they married. In 1960, the Weiers went to Ghana on a 15-month foreign aid assignment. While her husband helped set up a school of business at the University of Accra, Margaret Weiers worked as a freelance writer for radio and television. They returned to Canada and in 1963 she joined the staff of the Toronto Star. For the next three decades Weiers worked as a reporter, a feature writer and most notably a member of the Star’s editorial board. Weiers retired from the Star in 1991. She went on to write a book about women in the Canadian foreign service. Published in 1995, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign Service chronicles the experiences of 22 female career officers struggling to succeed in a predominantly male world. Among her many honours was an Honourary Doctor of Letters at 2010 University of Saskatchewan spring convocation.

Jim Westcott was an undergraduate student in psychology at the University of Saskatchewan when he met Robert Hurley in 1949. It was the beginning of a friendship which continued until Hurley’s death in 1980. Wescott moved to Montreal where he earned an MA in psychology; and after briefly beginning studies for his PhD, switched disciplines and earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked in human relations throughout his career, eventually settling in Toronto. There, Westcott became active in promoting and selling Hurley’s artwork and came to own many pieces himself. He described himself as “an art collector, go between and the keeper of the Hurley Archives” (Novum in Libris, University of Saskatchewan Library, Spring 2009).