Showing 289 results

William Robert Nelson "Buck" Blair, ?-1990, was Head of the Department of Psychology at The University of Calgary from 1966 to 1974. He was Associate Vice-President (Academic) from 1974 to 1978, and retired in 1980. He received his BA and MA from the University of Alberta, and a PhD from the University of Ottawa in 1956. During World War II, he served as a gunner lieutenant and as an army examiner in the army's Directorate of Personnel Selection. In the 1950s, he was a senior officer in the Canadian Army Personnel System. Blair was an early member of the Canadian Psychological Association and served in various executive positions for the Association. He chaired the Alberta Mental Health Study, which produced the Blair Report, and chaired the Provincial Mental Health Advisory Commission, for which he was awarded the Alberta Achievement Award in 1974. He was also involved in The University of Calgary Status of Women Committee. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Military Science at a ceremony at Royal Roads [military academy] in 1989.

The Western Universities Telecourse Consortium (WUTC) was initiated by President Murray Fraser and several other western university Presidents in 1992. Don Detomasi was appointed by President Fraser as the University of Calgary's representative on WUTC; the position was later taken over by Tom Keenan. WUTC was initially funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour, but later received funding from the four provincial governments and membership fees. The Consortium was a collaboration between post-secondary educational institutions and educational broadcasters. The mandate of the Consortium was to develop and deliver first and second-year university courses through accessible telecourses in order to increase university access for students in Western Canada. The Consortium was administered by an Executive Director, a Board of Directors and a Program Development Committee. WUTC appears to have been disbanded in 1996.

University Counselling Services offers confidential counselling services for University of Calgary student, faculty and staff. Individual counselling, groups, and educational workshops are available to students and fee-for-service career counselling is offered to prospective students and alumni. UCS is accredited by the International Association of Counselling Services. Services are provided by psychologists and a wide variety of trainees under the supervision of qualified staff members. In 1999 University Counselling Services became the Counselling and Student Development Centre. The unit is still popularly known by its original name.

The increase in attendance of married students with children in the early 1970's made it apparent that a full-time day care facility was needed at the University of Calgary. A Committee comprised of faculty and community members began negotiations with University officials, the Provinical Government and the City of Calgary for a day care centre in 1975. The University Day Care Society was officially established in December, 1975 to provide optimum quality day care services for the children of students, faculty and staff and from the community at large. The Society was also established to make a setting available whereby research in day care services could be carried out with accepted research methodology. A 14 member Board of Directors, comprised of students, parents, faculty, staff, governors and the community was given authority to manage the affairs of the Society. The University Day Care Centre opened its doors in 1976 to 60 children. They were housed in temporary facilities on the lower level of MacEwan Hall with funding from the Department of Social Services, City of Calgary. A program for children with special needs was added in 1977 and 6 additional spaces approved in 1979. In September of 1993, the Imperial Oil Child Care Building was opened with room for 80 children, a fenced-in playground adjacent to the building and large indoor play areas. The name of the facility was changed in October, 1994 to the University Child Care Centre (UCCC). The Child Care Centre is under the guidance of the University Day Care Board which defines the purpose, objectives and scope of service, develops policies and bylaws and maintains a sound financial base. The Executive Director of the Board manages the operations of the UCCC; the Program Director co-ordinates the educational components of the program.

Except for Mount Royal College (MRC), there were no other facilities of higher education in Calgary in the 1930s and 1940s. Although MRC had been granted permission to offer first year university courses in affiliation with the University of Alberta (U of A), the pressure of returning soldiers seeking an education and a forseeable baby boom made a new facility a necessity. When the government closed the Normal Schools and placed Teacher training under the guidance of the U of A's Faculty of Education, it was seen as a foot in the door by the Calgary University Committee who advocated a full University in Calgary. In 1946 this educational facility became known as the Calgary Branch of the University of Alberta. More courses were gradually added: Arts & Sciences (1951); Commerce (1953); Physical Education (1956); Engineering (1957). In 1957 the campus became known as the University of Alberta in Calgary and became a full-fledged extension of the U of A; in 1961 it was known as the University of Alberta, Calgary; during 1965-1966 it was known as University of Alberta at Calgary. The push for automony in 1964 eventually saw the establishment of separate Faculty councils for Edmonton and Calgary and in May, 1965, the government conceded autonomy in most academic and financial affairs for Calgary. From 1964 to 1966, each campus had its own president and its own General Faculty Council (GFC). Full autonomy was accorded under the new Universities Act in April, 1966. The Library Building Committee at the University of Alberta, Calgary was established by M.G. Taylor, Principal. It became a subcommittee of the University of Alberta (Edmonton) Buildings and Grounds Committee. The Coordinating Council was apparently set up in response to the growing autonomy of the Calgary campus. A new coordinating body was established in 1966 under the Universities Act.

In 1910, a number of Calgary business owners and the municipal government began a movement to establish a private university in Calgary. By October 1912, classes had begun in what was optimistically called the University of Calgary. Classes were held in the Public Library under the Faculties of Arts and Law with a staff of four professors, 24 regular students and 101 part-time students (those taking one class or more). The members of the Board of Governors were: Thomas Henry Blow (Chair), W.J. Tregillus (Secretary), J.S. Dennis, James Short, William Georgeson, H.W. Riley and R.B. Bennett. The first faculty members were Dean Edward E. Braithwaite, Professor F.H. MacDougall (Chemistry and Mathematics), Professor Mack Eastman (History and Politics) and Professor F.C. Ward. Funding for the University came from private donations and donations of land and money from members of the Board: W.J. Tregillis donated 160 acres in the Rosscarrock Subdivision on the Old Banff Coach Road; T.H. Blow donated $40,000 and the City set aside $150,000. An architectural plan for the proposed site was drawn up by Mr. Dunnington-Grubbs, one of Canada's foremost landscape architects. The University applied three times (1911, 1913 and 1915) for the right to be given degree-granting powers but was turned down all three times. Reasons cited were the financial burden for the province to sustain two Universities and a fear of the "evils of competition and rivalry". Since University powers were with-held, by 1915 the official name of the University had become Calgary College, although it was still known locally as the University of Calgary. Calgary College closed in 1915 due to the collapse of the real estate boom, continuing squabbles with the province and the beginning of the First World War.

As early as 1977, there was an ad hoc committee on University Archives which proposed to appoint the retiring Chief Librarian as the first university archivist. This proposal was not realised. In March of 1977, it was agreed to be essential that the University Archives have a reporting and budget operation independent of the University Library. On December 17, 1981, the Board of Governors ruled that "destruction of university documents requires prior written approval of the appropriate university officer and the University Archivist." This gave the Archives the responsibility for creating retention rules for university records; however, the Information Management Program would not be approved and begin activities until 1996. Early in 1982, the Director of Libraries was appointed the Coordinator of the University Archives. In November of that year, the Archives program was established and began operations. Jean Tener, the literary archivist employed in the University Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, became the first University Archivist in December of 1983 after completing the National Archives summer training school. The University Archivist reported directly to the Chief Librarian for a short period after the position was created. In 1983, the University Archives became a separate administrative unit with the Archivist reporting to the Director of Information Services, who also held the title Director of Libraries. In 2000, when Information Services split into Information Resources, Information Technologies and the Learning Commons, the University Archivist began reporting to the Director of Information Resources. Information Resources included the Library, the University Archives, the Image Centre, and the University Press. The Nickle Arts Museum became a part of the unit a short time later. Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik took over the responsibilities of the University Archivist when Jean Tener retired in 1992. With the anticipation of freedom of information legislation, President Murray Fraser approved the Information Management Program in 1996. This program proposed to manage active records through the development of a uniform classification system, records scheduling, and the automation of the program. The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) was proclaimed for all post-secondary institutions in 1999 and the University Archivist, Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik, took on the role of the Information and Privacy Coordinator for the University of Calgary. In 2003 Information Resources created a new department, Archives and Special Collections, which brought together all those units holding primary resources under a new Assistant Director. University Archives, along with units which had formerly been a part of the Library -- Special Collections, Canadian Architectural Archives, and the Museum of the Regiments Archives and Library -- formed the new department. Teresa Reilly was appointed the first Assistant Director; she reports to the Director of Information Resources.

The primary function of the University Theatre Services department is to provide technical, box office, promotional, financial and managerial support, as required, for the productions of the Faculty of Fine Arts. The Department is also responsible for the management and operation of the University Theatre and the Boris Roubakine Recital Hall. Specific services offered to the Department of Drama include ensuring the operational condition of the University Theatre, set construction, lighting, sound, painting, inventory control, cartage and storage. Services offered to the Department of Music include setup for concerts, recitals and rehearsals, stage management and recording of performances. Services offered to the program of Dance include design services, technical direction and performance management. The University Theatre Services, through its manager, reports directly to the Office of the Vice-President (Services) who shall be assisted by an advisory committee known as the University Theatres Advisory Committee. The first meeting of the University Theatre Advisory Committee was held in June, 1981. The Committee's terms of reference were the development, administration and review of policy associated with the general responibilities, organizational relationships and budget guidelines of the Department of University Theatres Services. The Committee advised the VP (Services) on matters relating to the daily management and operations of the University Theatre and the Boris Roubakine Recital Hall

The Reform Party of Canada was born out of a sense of frustration and disillusionment amongst a coalition of western Canadian businessmen and interest groups with what they regarded as the federal Progressive Conservative Party's disregard for the West's contributions to the political and economic well being of the country. Led by Preston Manning, the son of long-time Alberta Social Credit premier Ernest Manning, the coalition supported the creation of a western reform movement as a means of voicing the West's discontent and as an alternative to western separation. Some of the supporters of this idea advocated the creation of a new federal political party promising fiscal responsibility, provincial equality that allowed no special status for Quebec, and parliamentary reform which would include an elected Senate to represent the regions. In May 1987 the newly established Reform Association of Canada organised the "Western Assembly on Canada's Economic and Political Future" in Vancouver to air a reform agenda and to discuss the establishment of a new political party. The Assembly's 300 delegates voted 75% in favour of forming a new political party. In October of that year delegates gathered in Winnipeg to found the Reform Party of Canada, and elected Preston Manning as its leader. In the 1988 federal election, the Party fielded 72 candidates in the 88 ridings west and north of the Manitoba/Ontario border. Although none were elected, the Party succeeded in coming second in 15 ridings in Alberta, receiving 15% of the popular vote in that province. In March 1989 the Party elected its first Member of Parliament when Deborah Grey won a by-election held in Beaver River, Alberta. In the same year Reform candidate Stan Water's became the country's first "elected" senator. By 1990 the Party was a significant political force in the West. Hard campaigning against the Charlottetown Accord brought the Party to national attention. In the federal election of 1993 the Party upset the political establishment by electing 52 Reformers to sit in the House of Commons (including 22 of 26 seats in Alberta and 24 of 30 seats in British Columbia), helping to decimate the Progressive Conservatives in the process. In the 1997 general election Reform increased its seat total to 60, enough to install Manning in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. However, all of Reform's members were from west of Ontario. The Canadian political geography had split mostly along regional lines, with Reform in the West, the ruling Liberals in Ontario, and the Bloc Québécois in Quebec. Discontented with being perceived as a regional party, Manning proposed a radical solution. In September 1998 he initiated the "United Alternative" movement to bring together conservatives from all political backgrounds in an effort to "unite the right", produce a national party and end the vote splitting and stalemate that had resulted from the Progressive Conservative Party and the Reform Party running candidates in the same constituencies, thus allowing Liberal Party candidates to win ridings in which the majority of the electorate was right-wing. Two United Alternative conventions were held in 1999 and 2000 which lay the groundwork for a new party by bringing together supporters and organisers from a variety of right-wing parties, accepting policies, principles and a constitution that was drafted between the two conventions. On March 25, 2000 members of the Reform Party voted 92% in favour of dissolving their party and adopting the constitution of the new political party, and the Canadian Alliance was born.