University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.''University of Manitoba Act'', C.C.S.M. c. U60.
Retrieved on July 15, 2008 Founded in 1877, it is the first university of western Canada.

Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the U of M is the largest university in the province of Manitoba and the 17th-largest in all of Canada. Its main campus is located in the Fort Garry neighbourhood of southern Winnipeg, with other campuses throughout the city. Along with the Fort Garry campus as its central hub, the University of Manitoba operates three other major locations: the Bannatyne Campus, the James W. Burns Executive Education Centre, and the William Norrie Centre. In addition, the university also administers its French-language affiliate, Université de Saint-Boniface in the Saint Boniface ward of Winnipeg.

The university claims to maintain a reputation as a top research-intensive post-secondary educational institution, conducting more research annually than any other university in the region; its competitive academic and research programs have also consistently ranked among the top in the Canadian Prairies. Research at the University of Manitoba has accordingly produced various world-renowned contributions, including the creation of canola oil in the 1970s. Likewise, U of M alumni include Nobel Prize recipients, Academy Award winners, Order of Merit recipients, and Olympic medalists, among many others. , there have been 99 Rhodes Scholarship recipients from the U of M, more than that of any other university in western Canada. Moreover, the university has produced countless government figures, including provincial premiers, Supreme Court justices, and Members of Parliament (MPs).

The U of M is also a member of the U15 group of research-intensive universities in Canada and of Universities Canada, while its global affiliations include the International Association of Universities and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

The Manitoba Bisons represent the team in athletics as a member of U Sports and Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA).

History

Founding

The University of Manitoba, founded by Alexander Morris, was established under the ''University of Manitoba Act'' as a “ Provincial University” on 28 February 1877, becoming the first institution of higher education—thus also the first university—to be established in all of western Canada.

The first U of M Chancellor (1877–1904) was Most Reverend Robert Machray, who was Bishop and later Archbishop of Rupert's Land; the first Vice-Chancellor (1877–89) was Manitoba Attorney-General Joseph Royal, who was also the one to introduce the bill for the ''University of Manitoba Act''; the first registrar was Major E. W. Jarvis, an engineer who served with Sir Sanford Fleming in surveying the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Founding colleges

Officially opening on June 20, 1877, the university was formed by the federation of three existing denominational colleges and only conferred degrees on students graduating from these colleges: Collège de Saint-Boniface (Roman Catholic), St John's College (Anglican), and Manitoba College (Presbyterian).

The university would add a number of colleges to its corporate and associative body since. In 1882, the Manitoba Medical College, privately founded by physicians and surgeons, became a part of the university. Six years later, in 1888, Wesley College (Methodist) became affiliated with the university as well. The Bacteriological Research Building of the Manitoba Medical College would be designed by architect Charles Henry Wheeler in 1897, while the Science Building, between 1899 and 1900 by architect George Creeford Browne.

In 1895, the ''University of Manitoba Act'' was amended to give the denominational colleges the power to confer degrees in divinity. It would be amended again two years later in order to allow the Manitoba government to grant up to $60,000 for the university and a normal school (i.e., a teaching college).

In 1900, the university became a teaching institution by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Soon after, other colleges also received affiliated status:

* Manitoba College of Pharmacy (1902)
* Manitoba Agriculture College (1906)
* St. Paul's College (1931)
*Brandon College (1938)
* St. Andrew's College (1981), which was established in 1946 to train the ministry for the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church.
In 1938, Wesley College and Manitoba College merged to form United College. Three decades later, in 1967, United College became the University of Winnipeg, and Brandon College became Brandon University.

In contrast, Collège universitaire de St. Boniface has retained its affiliation with the U of Manitoba, though operating independently on its own campus in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg. Moreover, St. John's, St. Paul's, and St. Andrew's College have continued their affiliated relationship with the U of M into the present day, and are housed on the university's Fort Garry campus.

Early development

The university would hold its first exams on 27 May 1878, taken by a total of seven students, all from Manitoba College. Two years later, the U of M conferred its first degree, the recipient being Reginald William Gunn, a Métis student of Manitoba College who graduated with honours in Natural Sciences.

In 1885, the university is approved by the federal government for up to of crown land in Manitoba as an endowment.

In 1886, the U of M admitted its first woman student, Jessie Holmes, and in 1889, Holmes also became the university's first female graduate. In 1892, the Manitoba Medical College saw its first female graduate, Hattie Foxton, who passed her exams with first-class standing for Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery.

In 1897, the ''University of Manitoba Act'' was amended in order to allow the Manitoba government to grant up to $60,000 for the university and a normal school (i.e., a teaching college).

In the early part of the 20th century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law, and medicine. Graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced.

As the university recognized its need to be a teaching university in addition to its degree-granting responsibilities, the science building was built in 1901 on Broadway in downtown Winnipeg, becoming the university's first teaching facility. The university's first dedicated staff was subsequently hired in 1904 to teach in the newly created Faculty of Science. This staff of science professors is regarded as the university's "original six," and included A.H.R. Buller (botany and geology), Frank Allen (physics and mineralogy), M.A. Parker (chemistry), R. R. Cochrane (mathematics), Swale Vincent (physiology), and Gordon Bell ( bacteriology).

In 1908 the university established its library and Florence Davy Thompson became the first librarian.

The Broadway location—as well as the current site of the Canadian Mennonite University near Assiniboine Park—was considered as a possible main campus. However, the university ultimately decided on its current site at Fort Garry in order to be near the Manitoba Agricultural College, which, in 1911, began constructing the campus’ first buildings: Tache Hall, the Administration Building, and the Home Economics Building (now the Human Ecology Building), all completed in 1912.

Between 1911 and 1912, the university conferred its first honorary degrees, received by President of the University of Toronto Robert Alexander Falconer and by Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba Daniel Hunter Macmillan. On 1 January 1913, James Alexander Maclean became the first President of the university. Also in 1913, the university officially moved to the site, where it began constructing some of its own buildings, including the Engineering building. That year, the Departments of Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, French, and of German were established as well.

World War I

Many of the university's students went off to fight in the First World War, for which the U of M also served as a training ground. Between 1914 and 1915, the University Council established a Committee on Military Instruction, authorizing the teaching of military science and tactics, and a university corps is also organized. In 1915, the Western Universities Battalion (the 196th) of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF) was formed. On the first of March that year, the appointment of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps of the university was published.

In 1914, the Manitoba Law School was founded by the U of M and the Law Society of Manitoba as an affiliated college of the university. Officially opening on 3 October 1914, the School would have 123 students (including 5 women) and 21 academic staff in 1920. On 23 April 1915, a Baccalaureate Address was given at the end of the academic session for the first time in the university's history. In 1919, the U of Manitoba would found the first school of architecture in all of western Canada.

In 1916, the Departments of Arts (including Mathematics) and Architecture, the Library, and the administrative offices of the university were moved into the former Law Courts Building. Also that year, Englishman Frank E. Nuttall became the first trained librarian for the university.

In 1916, an Overseas Correspondence Club was established to write letters to UM students serving in England and France during the War, keeping them up-to-date in on University activities during their absence. At a March Faculty Council meeting in 1917, taking note of the Russian Revolution, the Faculty ordered the sending of a congratulatory telegram to the Provisional Government of Russia. The telegram was subsequently answered by Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov.

During this time, university enrollment reduced significantly due to military enlistment; students dropped from 925 in 1914–15 to 662 in 1916–17.

In 1918, the university's board of governors arranged for all men with a record of overseas service in the CEF, or who have served for a year or more in Canada, to receive full tuition remission in Arts and half tuition fees in Engineering, Architecture, Pharmacy, and Medicine. Also this year, the Spanish flu epidemic and the subsequent ban on public meetings closed the university for several weeks from October 11 to December 2.

By the end of World War I on 11 November 1918, a total of 1160 students and 14 faculty/staff from the U of M enlisted; 123 were killed or died during the war; and 142 received military honors.

Post-World War I

Following the War, the university saw a large increase in enrolment, with 2,013 students enrolling in various degree and special courses in 1919.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union was officially established in 1919, followed by the University of Manitoba Alumni Association in 1921.

By 1920, the university would be the largest university in the Canadian Prairies and the fifth largest in Canada, with 1,654 male and 359 female students, as well as 184 academic staff (including 6 women). It had eight faculties: Arts, Science, Law, Medicine, Engineering, Architecture, Pharmacy, and Agriculture.Dominion Bureau of Statistics, ''Canada Year Book 1921'', Ottawa, 1922

From 1920 to 1921, the teaching faculty was reorganized, creating a General University Faculty Council and an individual Faculties in Arts & Science, Engineering, and Medicine. In 1921, William Tier was appointed as the first Dean of Arts & Science, and E.P. Fetherstonhaugh as the first Dean of Engineering.

In 1924, the university officially merged with the Manitoba Agricultural College through an act of the Manitoba legislature. In the 1930s, the university moved its administrative offices to its Fort Garry campus, where the Arts Building is completed in 1931. Also that year, St. Paul's College became affiliated with the university.

The Faculty of Education was established by the university in 1934. The university established an Evening Institute in 1936.

In 1937, the university offers a Bachelor of Commerce, to be awarded through the Faculty of Arts and Science, for the first time.

World War II

The Second World War affected the university considerably.

Between 1940 and 1941, the Canadian Army took over the Fort Garry residence; all fit 18-year-old male students were required to take 6 hours per week in military training; and students above 21 years old receive two weeks of practical military training in a camp. Moreover, 90% of women students enrolled in a variety of courses to aid in the war, with auto mechanics particularly proving to be a preferred course among the women. During this time, the Dean of Women was Ursulla Macdonnell.

In 1943, the first degrees for Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy were conferred, replacing the diploma course for pharmacy. Also that year, the Senate established two new honorary degrees: Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) and Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.). Also, around this time, the School of Social Work was established within the Faculty of Arts and Science.

Some time from 1943 to 1944, the president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union