Joanne McTaggart, second-year Physical Education student and Huskie track and field sprinter, presented with flowers after breaking the world indoor record for the women's 300 meters at a CWUAA (CIS) meet in Edmonton, Alberta. At far left is R.W. Begg, University President; second from left is Lyle Sanderson, Huskie track and field coach. Winter scene; taken in front of Physical Education Building.

Bio/Historical Note: Joanne McTaggart, indisputably one of Canada’s premier runners of the 1970s, was born in Regina in 1954. She moved to Saskatoon for Grade XI and graduated from Walter Murray Collegiate, where she once won five events at the school meet. McTaggart also started to compete on behalf of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club. She was named to Canada’s national track team in 1972 while in Grade XI. She qualified for the relay team at the 1972 Munich Olympics but Canada didn't send a team. McTaggart enrolled at University of Saskatchewan (B.Ed. 1977) in 1974. In her rookie year with the Huskies, she won conference championships in the 40 yards and 300 metres. That same year she was Western Canadian Junior Champion in the 50 and 200 metres and the Canadian senior indoor 200 champion. McTaggart won 10 conference titles in her four years with the Huskies, highlighted by a world record performance of 38.2 seconds in the 300 metres at the 1975 indoor CWUAA (CIS) meet in Edmonton, Alberta. McTaggart qualified for the Canadian team at the 1975 Pan-American Games, won a bronze medal in the 4x100-metre relay and half an hour later, was invited to run the 4x400-metre relay where Canada held off the Americans and the Cubans to win the gold medal. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Joanne competed in the 200 metres and finished fourth in the 4X100-metre relay. McTaggart was inducted into the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame in 1984; the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1996.

Student working in the Soil Science Lab at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Marilyn Truscott of Glidden, Saskatchewan, a PhD candidate in geological sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, makes use of an electron probe x-ray microanalyzer. Mrs. Truscott uses the machine to analyze samples of volcanic rock from the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. She is obtaining information that will help provide a more complete picture of the geological history of the Western Plains.

Exterior view of St. Andrew's College on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

Looking northeast at the J.S. Fulton Lab.

Bio/Historical Note: 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.

Looking northeast at St. Thomas More College building; taken from across College Drive.

Bio/Historical Note: Saint Thomas More College (STM) has the distinction of being the first and only federated college at the University of Saskatchewan. It was established as a Catholic college in 1936 following negotiations between Fr. Henry Carr of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and President Walter Murray of the University of Saskatchewan, and was named for Thomas More, who had been canonized in 1935. Yet the pre-history of the college and its buildings goes back more than a decade earlier. For several years, Saskatoon Catholics had been asking for a Catholic college at the newly established University of Saskatchewan. The first step was taken in 1926, when a group of Catholic laymen established the Newman Society, with the long term goal of establishing a Catholic college at the university. By September of that year, "arrangements were in place for Fr. Dr. Basil Markle from the Archdiocese of Toronto to teach Scholastic Philosophy at the University of Saskatchewan and to serve as chaplain for the Catholic students." The first facility for the Catholic chaplain, with chapel and clubrooms for the use of the Catholic students, was Newman Hall (usually called "the white house"), built in 1927 on land on the south side of the campus at the corner of College Drive and Bottomley Avenue. This building later became St. Thomas More College in 1936 and in 1943 it was enlarged in anticipation of an expected large influx of students when the war would end. The first section of the present greystone building was constructed in 1954-1956 at a cost of $600,000; it was designed by architects Webster and Gilbert and built by Shannon Brothers of Saskatoon, for whom the college's Shannon Library is named. The new building was officially opened on 7 February 1957. Subsequent additions to the college building were completed in two phases, one in 1963 and another in 1969. This three-stage period of construction on the building translated into well over a decade of constant construction between 1954 and 1969, and included a chapel, library, cafeteria, auditorium, faculty offices, classrooms, and an art gallery. Living quarters on the third and fourth floors, used by the Basilian Fathers for many years, have been converted to offices and classroom space in recent years. Renovations since 2000 have involved changes to the auditorium, cafeteria, student and faculty lounges, library, art gallery and the rededication of some areas to use as classrooms.

Looking east at Arts Building; Thorvaldson Building in background.

The original veterinary laboratory, the Veterinary Hygiene Building shortly after its construction; it was in use until its demolition in 1969.

Head and shoulders image of Gordon A. Saunders, Director, Alumni Affairs.

Head and shoulders image of Takuji Tanaka, Associate Professor, Food & Bioproduct Sciences, College of Agriculture & Bioresources.

Looking north at Observatory.

Bio/Historical Note: 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.

J.C. McConnell, instructor in Geography and Librarian for the Land Use Mapping Project, checks the accuracy of maps made from air photo interpretations.

Image of the Norman Ferrier Memorial Curling Trophy of the University Curling Club shot on a black background.

Bio/Historical Note: Norman Ferrier was a chief biological technician in the Biology Department.

Bio/Historical Note: Donations were solicited towards a curling trophy in the memory of Norman Ferrier (died 1965), with the trophy being awarded each spring to the winning team of the University Faculty and Staff Curling Club.

Head and shoulders image of Victor and Letha Colleaux.

Bio/Historical Note: The Victor and Letha Colleaux Bursary annually awards $2,000 to 22 students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources.

Exterior view of the Linear Accelerator Building.

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.