Dr. R.T. Coupland, director, Matador Project (1966-1976), sitting in office.

Bio/Historical Note: From 1967 to 1972, plant ecologists at the University of Saskatchewan participated in the International Biological Program. As part of this worldwide study of agricultural productivity, ecologists established the Matador field station for grassland research carried out by scientists from thirty-four countries. The field station was located near Kyle, thirty miles north of Swift Current, in an area of natural grassland that was potentially the best wheat growing soil in the brown soil zone of Saskatchewan. The land (three square miles) was originally leased for 21 years from the Government of Saskatchewan; the lease (for $1/year) has since been renewed and currently expires in 2009. The Matador Project involved the study of the total grasslands ecosystem, including the interaction of animals, plants, microorganisms, soils and the atmosphere. Robert T. Coupland, Head of the Department of Plant Ecology, served as Director of the Matador Project.

Large crowd of people watching a speaker during the Linear Accelerator Building official opening. View from behind crowd looking towards speaker.

Bio/Historical Note: 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.

Darrel V. Heald, Attorney General of Saskatchewan, speaking in the Library during the opening of the Law Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The Law and Commerce Buildings were designed and constructed as part of a single project between 1965 and 1967. The architect was John Holliday-Scott of the Saskatoon firm Holliday-Scott & Associates.

Dr. Lucy D. Willis, Associate Professor of Nursing, gives address at Nurses' Graduation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

Bio/Historical Note: Lucy Dorothea Willis (1918-2018) was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Her initial training at Toronto Western Hospital as a nurse stimulated a lifelong dedication to nursing education. After a post-RN Certificate in Teaching at UBC and six years of nursing and education work at Saskatoon's City Hospital, she joined the faculty of the School of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan, where she remained until her retirement in 1984. In the 1950s she spent two scholarship years at Columbia University in New York City before earning a prestigious Ph.D. in Education at UC Berkeley in 1967. She was the first Saskatchewan nurse to obtain a doctorate, and only the second in all of Canada. In 1969 she became the School's third Director, and was largely responsible for its 1973 conversion to the College of Nursing and for the development of its post-RN education programs. She remained active in retirement, and in 1988 she published Fifty Years: Just the Beginning, a history of nursing education in Saskatchewan. Willis died at Saskatoon in 2018 at age 99.

Prof. Wiebe (left) makes a presentation to W.R. Staples, Engineering.

From back of photo: "Mrs. Marilyn Nielson uses a radiochromatogram scanner to identify break-down product of radioactively labelled pesticides."

Bio/Historical Note: Marilyn Wilson Nielsen, born in 1933, grew up in Amherstburg, Nova Scotia, and went on to be a homemaker and food scientist. She received a BSc degree in Home Economics from the University of Toronto through the Macdonald Institute in Guelph and subsequently an MSc degree in food science at the University of Saskatchewan, where she was employed in research in the College of Home Economics. Nielsen died in Edmonton, Alberta, in 2019 at age 86.

From back of photo: "The public service of dial access telephone information depot is now in service. Elaine Maksymiuk (project assistant) and Ken Forsyth (manager of Forsyth's Answering Service)". Elaine Maksymiuk talks on the phone beside a wall of equipment.

Image of second prize-winning Commerce float with banner that reads: "Commerce Leads The Nation".

Elevated view of members of the Senate sitting at tables set up in Convocation Hall.

Construction site - a workman's shed and a truck sit by a large pile of dirt, a crane can be seen in the background beside Saskatchewan Hall.

Aerial photo of Griffiths Stadium with spectators in the stands.

Nursing graduates in uniforms receiving their degrees on stage at the Nurses' Graduation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

Eight male students sitting in the lounge of Qu'Appelle Hall. Some playing cards while others are reading magazines and newspapers.

Exterior of St. Andrews College with Health Sciences building in background.

[R.D. MacLaurin] standing (left) in front of a vehicle with a large tank attached on top which reads "Straw Gas"; [F.H. Edmunds] sitting inside. Two unidentified men walking away at right. Sign on running board reads: "McLaughlin Motor Car Model D45". Engineering Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: Prof. R.D. MacLaurin, head, Department of Chemistry, was interested in the production of gas from straw as a fuel for heating and for engines. Though he was not alone in the research field, MacLaurin built a small extraction plant in the late 1910s and operate a McLaughlin Motor Car using straw gas. The research was promising but far from a breakthrough. The volume of gas produced was small and the mileage between fill-ups low. The most significant aspect of the research was not scientific but financial. MacLaurin felt cheated when Walter C. Murray, University President, distributed provincial research funds to several campus projects. Though he had the largest share of the grant, MacLaurin felt he deserved it all. He alleged Murray had misappropriated funds. A battle ensued for the control of the University administration. Murray was able to maintain the confidence of the Board of Governors and MacLaurin and three of his supporters - Samuel Greenway, Extension director; Ira MacKay, professor of Law; and John L. Hogg, head, Physics - were dismissed. Research into straw gas was discontinued.