Echoes in the halls : an unofficial history of the University of Alberta

348 Pages·1999·17.6 MB·English

by  McIntosh, Gordon

An Unofficial History
of the University of Alberta
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS EMERITI OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
University of Alberta Libraries
https://archive.org/details/echoesinhallsunoOOmcin
An Unofficial History
of the University of Alberta
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS EMERITI OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
□OA
LES EDITIONS DUVAL
The University of Alberta Press
Published jointly by
Duval House Publishing
18120 - 102 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5S 1S7
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.duvalhouse.com
University of Alberta Press
□OA Ring House 2
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E2
Telephone: [phone]
Duval House Publishing and the University of Alberta Press gratefully
Canada ac^now^e(^^e financial support of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing
activities.
© 1999 Association of Professors Emeriti of the University of Alberta
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by
any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without prior written permission from
the publishers.
Printed in Canada.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Echoes in the halls
ISBN 1-55220-074-4
1. University of Alberta-History-Anecdotes. I. Spencer, Mary,
1923- II. Dier, Kay, 1922- III. McIntosh, Gordon.
LE3.A619E33 1999 378.7123’3 C99-911163-9
Cover photos:
Front: Dr. Mark Arnfield adjusting the Argon-driven dye laser with the sixteen
fibreoptic cables for interstitially applied PDT in Dunning R3327 rat prostate
cancers (photo courtesy of Malcolm McPhee)
Back: The trunk esker at Exeter Lake with its black and red beach concentrate of
diamond indicator minerals (photo courtesy of Robert Follinsbee)
Contents
vi FOREWORD
vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ix EDITOR’S REMARKS
1 STUDENT DAYS
2 ‘Call Me Tubby’ and Other Free-Wheeling Ramblings
8 The Chancellor Drops In
11 University of Alberta, 1953: A Taste for Learning
15 A Not-So-Nostalgic Look at University Life
23 ARRIVALS
24 Braving the Frontier: Remembrance of My Arrival in Edmonton
28 The Throne Room
31 How I Met “The President”
35 Learning to Love Muddington
45 CAMPUS LIFE
46 Life and Times on Rabbit Row
50 Memories of an Opening Nighter
53 An Old Time Skating Party
58 It’s Been Good to Know You
69 INNOVATION
70 The Northern Nurse Practitioner Program
77 Home Economics: One Size Does Not Fit All
83 The IBM 1500: 1968-1980
90 Launching a Computer Course in Nursing
93 A Dream, a Hot Tub and an Institute
97 ON TEACHING
98 Lecture Theatres of the Absurd
101 Learn by Teaching
107 Earl Buxton: Exemplary Teacher
113 THE JOYS OF ACADEME
114 Teaching, Scholarship and Service: Fusing the Pillars
125 Service to Agriculture, at Home and Abroad
132 A Brush with Billions in the Barrens
140 Peeling a Polyhedron
149 LEADERSHIP
150 A Decade to Remember
161 Looking at Ourselves: The President’s Advisory Committee on
Campus Reviews
175 On Being a Head, and Staying a Head
180 The Department of Surgery: Taking the Chair
187 BEHIND THE SCENES
188 The Great U of A Heist
194 On Becoming Too Close to Grad Students
196 Simpler Times
198 Memories and Misadventures
203 BUILDING THE UNIVERSITY
204 Emerging from the Hinterland
209 Portraits of Change: The Builders
224 Faculty Club Memories
229 The Foundation
235 Building a Department
245 PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
246 Humanity in the Sciences
250 Reminiscences of an Alumnus
257 Why?
267 THE PEOPLE
268 Big Art
273 Working with the Great Man
276 The Man from Riga
281 ACADEMIC JOURNEYS
282 The Boy from Lac La Biche
298 Reflections on Edmonton Urology Through a Personal
Retrospectoscope
317 Dancing with Time
321 COMPLETE LIST OF SUBMISSIONS
330 INDEX OF CONTRIBUTORS
vi Echoes In The Halls
Foreword
A
S WE APPROACH THE Millennium, we pause to look at the
University of Alberta—its roots, the forces that shaped its
development and will certainly influence its future. Many people
were involved—the public, governments, university governing bodies, and
staff at every level. And so, perhaps appropriately, this book is one of
apersonal recollections.
The Association of Professors Emeriti saw both the usefulness and interest
in recording these times, and initiated this collection. These are accounts
of events by people who experienced, and sometimes guided them. They
are inside chronicles about the University, about how it works, the people
who made it what it is today and how they did it.
Who better to tell these stories than the people who lived them? Authors
had complete freedom to choose their own subjects or events. A
fascinating picture of the University, its wide interests, diversity and
accomplishments, emerges. Equally interesting and entertaining are the
people—their ideas and contributions, personalities and ideals.
The response to our invitation to participate was excellent, but too large to
include completely in this book. All contributions as originally submitted
are available through the University of Alberta Archives. (See the complete
list of submissions at the end of the book.)
We did our best to solicit articles from all retired professors and senior
university personnel. Unfortunately, we could not reach everyone. We
regret this most sincerely.
Herewith—as a gift from the Old Millennium to the New—we invite you to
enjoy Echoes in the Halls.
VII
Acknowledgements
W
E HAVE MANY PEOPLE TO THANK for their assistance in bringing
this millennium project of the Association of Professors Emeriti to
a successful conclusion. First and foremost, we say a special
thanks to the nearly 100 retired members of the academic and
administrative staff, Board of Governors and Senate who responded to our
invitation to write about the University. In reading their papers, we
became happily aware that their years at the U of A were a time of great
satisfaction and considerable accomplishment.
Our publishers, Jean Poulin of Duval House Publishing and Glenn
Rollans of the University of Alberta Press, played a major part in helping
us reach the finish line. We set out in heedless innocence on a great
adventure to prepare an informal history of the University, and in due
course we discovered that we needed the discipline and know-how that
only experts in the publishing business could provide. Jean and Glenn
were our disciplinarians—gentle always, but firm when necessary, and
generous with their time.
Scott Rollans, as editor of the manuscript, was the good-humoured and
tough-minded artist who drew from the bounty of papers—the number
both delighted and dismayed us—and created an interesting and beautiful
book that we have called Echoes in the Halls.
For the title of the book, we acknowledge the creative enterprise of
Hank Spencer. He provided us with a mittful of suggestions, but Echoes was
so obviously the right one that little discussion was necessary in making
the choice.
viii Echoes In The Halls
It was our happy lot to have been immersed in the creative side of this
project, but many people asserted their own creativity and did the hard
work on the business and production side.
This project may have been lost in a quagmire of financial uncertainty
were it not for the timely intervention of our fundraising committee, Don
Bellow and Brian McDonald, the financial stewardship of John Young and
the leadership shown by Roger Smith in providing bridge funding for
production costs. Jim Malone took on the responsibility of marketing
Echoes. The executive of the Association of Professors Emeriti offered
moral support and practical assistance throughout the course of the
project. Many members of the Association, too many to name individually,
assisted us in contacting retired members of the academic and
administrative staff to inform them of the project and to enlist their
participation as writers.
Our secretaries, Nancy Smiley and Julia Mamolo, played key roles in
managing the flow of information that sometimes threatened to inundate
us. Lynda Vivier provided yeoman service in transcribing one of our balky
interview tapes.
Various University offices and individuals helped us with specific tasks:
Public Affairs, Alumni Affairs, University Archives, and the office of the
Senate. In addition, the Edmonton Public School Board Archives helped us
to locate an elusive photograph.
Our heartfelt thanks to all of you. This was a labour of love for us, and
we think it likely was for you as well.
Mary Spencer, Chair
Kay Dier
Gordon McIntosh
Organizing Committee and Volume Editors