Century of Generosity
Part of what will determine that future and define us as a university will be our ongoing commitment to making meaningful contributions – big and small – to the people and places around us. Thanks to our many supporters, we will fulfill this promise. In Canada’s 150th year, this generosity of spirit endures and continues to inspire us all in ways that imagine our future as brightly as we remember our past. These are just some of the extraordinary acts of generosity that have shaped – and continue to shape – our campus, our classrooms and our community.
1909: A First Gift
While cash has always been the most popular donation to the university followed by books, awards, works of art and land, the U of S has also been the recipient of a variety of the odd and unusual.
1928: Memorial Gates
Sixty-seven University students and faculty lost their lives while on service during World War I. The impact of the war on the University was immense: 330 students and faculty served during the War, a number equivalent to nearly all of the students who had registered the year prior to the beginning of the conflict.
1936: The Artful gift of Norman MacKenzie (MacKenzie Art Gallery)
Regina lawyer and avid art collector Norman MacKenzie played an important role in the early development of the University of Saskatchewan’s art collection. He was passionate about Saskatchewan art and artists, the latter he felt were "the equal of any in Canada".
1955: Memorial Union Building
The MUB, as it became known, has the distinction of being the last building in the centre of campus designed in the Collegiate Gothic style and completely clad in greystone. It was designed to serve as a memorial to the students, faculty and staff of the University of Saskatchewan who perished overseas in the First and Second World Wars.
1966: Louis Hantelman and the Quiet Act of Kindness
Louis R. Hantelman, originally from Iowa, moved to the Rouleau district in southern Saskatchewan to farm in 1905. Civically minded and with an interest in politics, he later served as a CCF MLA for 10 years, as board chair of the University Hospital, and as a member of the University's Board of Governors. In 1955, the U of S awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree.
1966-1979: A Place for Students
When Place Riel opened in 1979, it was the fulfillment of a promise made over a decade earlier—a promise to build a student centre to meet the social, cultural and recreational needs of the rapidly expanding student body.