Bill Heselton was born and raised in Moose Jaw. He worked for thirty years as a teacher and school administrator in Moose Jaw. Ann was born in The Hague, Holland and in 1952 her family moved to Moose Jaw. She managed a desktop publishing business. The Heseltons share a passion for history, and particularly collecting railway memorabilia. This led to the publication of a historical account of the electric railway in Moose Jaw, entitled “Not to exceed 10 miles per hour”: The story of the Moose Jaw Electric Railway 1910-1932 and Public Transportation in Moose Jaw to 2003. They have also published a book entitled Windows to the past: historical notes: Moose Jaw Brewing & Malting Co. Ltd. & building at 960 Home Street West, 1906 to 2010.

Although the Sociology Department was formally established in 1958, classes in Sociology had been offered since 1940 through the Department of Economics. The merger of Economics and Political Science in 1947 resulted in the creation of a sub-department of Sociology. Within a year of its creation the Department of Sociology was offering graduate level classes and was developing a research program that would focus on ethnic relations, medical sociology, family studies and community development. In an effort to further facilitate excellence in research and scholarly work, the social research unit was created in 1983. The following have served as head of the department: R.E. DuWors (1957-1968); J.E. Abramson (1968-1972); D.R. Cherry (1972-1974); G.S. Basran (1974-1978); B.S. Bolaria (9178-1990); K. Storrie (1990-1993); T. Wotherspoon (1993-).