Showing 76 results

Authority record

Mount Royal University

  • MRUASC-AR0001
  • Corporate body
  • 1910-

Mount Royal University is a public university in Calgary, Alberta.

Joel Barrett

  • MRUASC-AR0002
  • Person
  • 1930-2015

Joel Barrett was an architect based in Calgary, Alberta and New Westminster, BC. Barrett studied architecture at the University of Manitoba and Columbia University before settling in Calgary, where he was a Design Partner with the firm Stevenson, Raines, Barrett, Hutton, and Seton. In 1989 he relocated to West Vancouver and joined CJP Architects in New Westminster, where he continued his career until retirement at the age of 79.

Muriel Sanderson

  • MRUASC-AR0003
  • Person
  • 1926-2011

Muriel Sanderson was a student from East Coulee, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in 1944-1945.

Helen Hartman Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0004
  • Person
  • 1921-2016

Helen Hartman Smith was a student from Olds, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in 1937-1938. Mount Royal University established the Helen Hartman Smith Centennial Scholarship in English in her honour in 2011.

Alina Dabrowska

  • MRUASC-AR0005
  • Person
  • 1932-2012

Alina Dabrowska was an instructor in the Department of Interior Design at Mount Royal College from 1979 to 2007. Born in Poland in 1932, she immigrated to Great Britain in 1972 and then to Calgary in 1979. Dabrowska had a successful career as an architect, engineer, college instructor, and artist.

Tom Besse

  • MRUASC-AR0006
  • Person
  • 1940-2010

Tom Besse was an instructor at Mount Royal College, as well as Coordinator of Theatre Arts and the Chairman of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Besse graduated with a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta. Besse was hired in 1967 to build MRC’s drama department, where he increased student enrollment from 60 students in 1967 to 1200 students in 1984. He taught at Mount Royal College for thirty years and was involved in directing, producing, and acting in over 60 theatrical productions.

Margy MacMillan

  • MRUASC-AR0007
  • Person
  • 1962-

"Margy MacMillan received her BA in Medieval French and Old Icelandic literatures in 1984. Taking this intensely practical focus to the next level, she received her Master’s degree in Library Service from Dalhousie University in 1986. She has worked for the University of Calgary, the Tsuu Tina Nation." (1)

"[She] worked in various capacities at Mount Royal College and University from 1990 to 2017. For most of that time she was an instruction librarian, but also had brief stints as Internet Coordinator working from the ADC, one year as acting Circulation Librarian and several years as coordinator of Information Services in the Library. She served on many committees for the Library, MRFA, and the institution. Her scholarly work was concerned primarily with information literacy, including how students read and used scholarly articles." (2)

Mount Royal University Library

  • MRUASC-AR0009
  • Corporate body
  • 1910-

Mount Royal University Library is the academic library of Mount Royal University.

Ida Schrader

  • MRUASC-AR0010
  • Person
  • [18--]-[19--]

Ida Schrader was a student at Mount Royal College in 1914-1915. She was enrolled in the Commercial Department and received a diploma in shorthand in 1915. She was originally from Harmattan, Alberta.

David Raichman

  • MRUASC-AR0011
  • Person
  • [1916?]-[1997?]

David Raichman was the Calgary-Centre district candidate for the Communist Party-Alberta in the 1963 provincial election.

Phi Theta Kappa (Mount Royal College)

  • MRUASC-AR0012
  • Corporate body
  • 1991-1998

Alpha Upsilon Delta was the official name of the local chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa academic honour society at Mount Royal College. Founded at Mount Royal College as the 1000th chapter of Phi Theta Kappa on November 19, 1991, the chapter was active on campus until 1998 when it was discontinued. While affiliated with Mount Royal College, Phi Theta Kappa members participated in organizing student events, producing a society newsletter, organizing annual induction ceremonies, and maintaining office hours for the benefit of their membership.

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honour society for two-year colleges designed for students with high academic achievement. The society was formed in 1918 in Jackson, Mississippi and is still active today with 1250 chapters across the United States, Canada, and internationally. The goal of the Phi Theta Kappa society is to foster academic excellence by providing opportunities for leadership training, promoting an interchange of ideas, and to ingrain scholars with a desire for continuing education.

Leonard Leacock

  • MRUASC-AR0013
  • Person
  • 1904-1992

Leonard Leacock was a Canadian pianist, composer, and educator who taught music and musical theory at Mount Royal College for over sixty years. Leacock was born in 1904 in London, England and immigrated in 1908 with his family to Canada where they settled in Banff, Alberta. Leacock started playing the piano at age 14 and was educated in Banff, Calgary, Toronto, and Boston. In 1924 he received an Associate Diploma from the Toronto Conservatory of Music and began his teaching career at Mount Royal College. He also completed his Licentiate Diploma from the Royal Schools of Music in London in 1937. In addition to his work as an educator for Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music, Speech Arts, and Dance, Leacock served as President of the Registered Music Teacher's Association, Calgary Branch, and was an examiner for the Western Board of Music.

Leacock composed compositions for orchestra, piano, strings, voice, and other instruments. Some of his most well known compositions include "The Lonely Lake", "Tic-Toc-atina", and "Sea Horses" which became popular with piano teachers and students, often being used as a competition test piece. Leacock gave many performances at Mount Royal College and performed with both the Calgary Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Aeolian Chamber Music Series. Leacock gave his last public performance in 1975 in the Leacock Theater which was dedicated in his honor in 1972 during the opening of the new Mount Royal Lincoln Park Campus. During his lifetime Leacock received many awards for his compositions and teaching. Most prominently, he received an Alberta Achievement award for service to music from the provincial government in 1985 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1986.

In addition to his musical and teaching career, Leacock was also well known for his interest in amateur photography and mountaineering. He spent many of his weekends and summers hiking the Rockies and around Banff. One of his photographs was published in National Geographic in 1947 and his work was exhibited at the Brussels International fair in 1958. Some of his work is still on display around Mount Royal University in the Leacock and Wright theaters. Leacock was also a frequent speaker giving talks about his climbing and mountaineering adventures to groups such as the Knights of the Round Table and at the Banff Springs Hotel.

Leonard Leacock passed away on December 3,1992. More of his papers and photographs can be found in the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff.

Communist Party of Canada

  • MRUASC-AR0014
  • Corporate body
  • 1921-

"The Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1921. We have a proud, 90 year history of fighting for a socialist future for Canada. We are a small party with big ideas. The Communist Party is a registered Federal political party, and we have successfully campaigned for that democratic right, and pushed forward the legal rules on political parties in Canada. But the Communist Party is a very different type of organization from the other political parties in Canada and is active in much more than elections."

"In fighting for fundamental change, the Communists express the ideals of vast numbers of Canadians who aspire to a new, humane social order free from exploitation and oppression. In this sense we cherish and promote the highest quality of the working class – devotion to the liberating socialist cause, the cause of human freedom and happiness. We seek to cultivate this humanist ethic among the working people. Since the founding of the Communist Party of Canada in 1921, Canadian communists have held high the banner of peace, Canadian independence, democracy and socialism. They have always stood with the struggles of the workers and farmers for a better life, often providing leadership for those struggles. Today we are ninety five years stronger as a Party — still growing, developing, active and relevant."

Communist Party-Alberta

  • MRUASC-AR0015
  • Corporate body
  • 1930-

"The Communist Party - Alberta advocates socialism and working class power. We take part in democratic struggles as well as elections."

Board of Governors (Mount Royal University)

  • MRUASC-AR0016
  • Corporate body
  • 1910-

The Board of Governors is the governance authority for Mount Royal University. The main responsibility of the Board of Governors is to act as senior oversight and to guarantee the activities of Mount Royal are in line with its mandate, vision, and mission.

The Act to Incorporate Mount Royal College was passed on December 16th, 1910. However, the Board of Governors had their first meeting in August 1910 to establish an academic and financial plan for the college. At its inception, the full Board consisted of thirty-three members and met annually. The Executive Committee, which consisted of the four officers plus six regular Board members, met monthly and was given the authority to transact all of the business of the Board and College between meetings of the full Board of Governors. During Mount Royal's years as a private college, members of the Board of Governors were drawn primarily from the United Church network due to the school’s Methodist roots. This tendency changed after the college became public with Board members coming from a wider base including members of the Conservative Party, the Calgary Board of Education, and volunteers active in local health and community organizations. During the transition to a public college the Board briefly changes its name to the 'Board of Trustees' in order to take over the assets, liabilities, and administration of the private college. The name of the Board reverted back to the Board of Governors in January of 1970.

The Colleges Act of 1969 changed the composition of the Board to include the college president, a Board chair, six public members chosen by the Government, one member nominated by the Student's Association, and one member nominated by the Faculty Association. In 1982 the first support staff member was added to the Board of Governors making the total member number eleven. In 1972 the Board of Governors’ standing committees also underwent restructuring to include members of the faculty, student body, and administration for the first time. The 1990s saw another notable change to the composition of the Board as Mount Royal was actively trying to become a degree granting institution. Community volunteers were replaced with prominent business leaders who were considered to be strategically placed to push Mount Royal’s interests.

Currently the Board of Governors consists of thirteen members made up of the Board chair, the university president, a faculty representative, a support staff representative, the president of the Student’s Association, and eight public members. The Board continues to be directed by several statues and regulations that direct its responsibilities, the foremost being the Post-Secondary Leaning Act. The entire Board has an obligation to meet at least four times a year and one meeting must be opened to the public. The Board of Governors continues to carry out much of its work through standing committees, of which there are currently five: Academic Affairs Committee, Audit and Risk Committee, Finance Committee, Campus Development Committee, Governance and Nominating Committee, and the Human Resources Committee.

Pat Roome

  • MRUASC-AR0017
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Pat Roome was a history professor at Mount Royal College/University and the founder of what became the Mount Royal University Archives and Special Collections. Roome joined Mount Royal College in 1974 and taught Canadian history and women’s studies until 2007. Starting in 2008, Roome was seconded to lead the Centennial Archives Project, which sought to establish an institutional archives for the college, which would play a central role in Mount Royal's centennial in 2010. While heading the archives, Roome acquired institutional and private records relating to Mount Royal's history, inventoried the institution's art collection, and promoted the archives and Mount Royal College history though centennial projects such as the establishment of the military memorial scholarships and the naming of the Kerby LRT station. Now retired, Roome's contributions to Mount Royal continue to be recognized in the Patricia Roome Centennial Scholarship, which is awarded to a fourth year history student of high academic achievement.

Carol Shepstone

  • MRUASC-AR0018
  • Person
  • 1964-

"Carol Shepstone has been working in academic libraries for more than 18 years. [She became Ryerson University's Chief Librarian in September 2017.] As the former university librarian at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, she helped transition the Library through periods of significant institutional change, and provided key leadership in planning the new Riddell Library and Learning Centre facility, which is set to open July 2017. Her career has also included leadership roles with the University of Saskatchewan Libraries and positions with both the University of British Columbia (UBC) Library system and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Carol also has experience working in archives, academic research institutes, and public libraries.

Carol is an active member of many association boards, advisory committees, and academic library consortia. She is currently serving as vice-chair of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), and vice-chair of the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL). Her research interests include organizational culture, perceptions of the value and impact of academic libraries, library building design, and intellectual property.

Carol holds a bachelor of arts in Cultural Anthropology (Museum Studies) from UBC, where she also received her Master of Library and Information Studies. She is currently pursuing an LLM in intellectual property law from Osgoode Hall Law School on a part-time basis."

Donna Hinde

  • MRUASC-AR0019
  • Person
  • 1946-1995

Donna Hinde (nee Hehr) was a nursing instructor and administrator at Mount Royal College from 1974 to 1995. Hinde was the daughter of Martha and William Hehr and grew up on a farm outside of Crossfield, Alberta. Hinde trained as a nurse at the Calgary General Hospital and graduated in 1967. After graduation, she worked as an operating room nurse and began her teaching career at the General Hospital's Nursing School, which she taught at until the school shut down in 1974. Hinde joined Mount Royal College as a nursing instructor and administrator in 1974 and taught until her death from cancer in 1995.
In addition to her nursing diploma from the Calgary General Hospital Nursing School, Hinde earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alberta in 1970, and two master's degrees in Education in 1980 and Science in 1984, both from the University of Calgary. Hinde was active in several nursing organizations, serving as the chairwoman of the Nursing and Allied Health Department and as a member of the board of the Alzheimer's Society of Calgary. Hinde is also recognized for her commitment and contributions to the field of gerontology, and Mount Royal University continues to offer the Donna B. Hinde Memorial Scholarship in Gerontology to honour her contributions to the university and the nursing program.

Office of the Registrar (Mount Royal University)

  • MRUASC-AR0020
  • Corporate body
  • 1910-

The Office of the Registrar is the official repository of student records and provides administrative services to Mount Royal students. The office has existed since the start of Mount Royal's operations in 1910, with the first person to hold the office being Professor John H. Beazley. The primary duties of the Registrar is to provide registration and withdrawal assistance, process tuition and other fee payments, print official and unofficial transcripts, confirm graduation eligibility, maintain student records, and act as a student resource for academic and administrative policies.

Diana Patterson

  • MRUASC-AR0021
  • Person
  • 1948-

Diana Patterson was a professor of English in the faculties of Arts and Communication Studies at Mount Royal University. She began her career at Mount Royal in 1991 and retired in 2013 after 23 years. As the acting chair of the Technical Writing program, she was instrumental in developing the Technical Communication Degree. Patterson is also well known as a Harry Potter expert and has published several papers and an edited book, "Harry Potter's World Wide Influence", on the subject. Patterson is currently working on a book about the history of the Mount Royal Conservatory and has been an invaluable resource in developing the University Archives and capturing the institution's history. In 2014 Patterson was selected by the University Board of Governors as Professor Emerita for her ongoing commitment to Mount Royal. Additionally, the SIGDOC (Special Interest Group for Design of Communication) offers the biannual Diana Award, named after Patterson who was a past president, to organizations, institutions, or businesses for their long-term contributions to the field of communication design.

Purdy family

  • MRUASC-AR0022
  • Family
  • [19--]

The Purdy family consisted of Gordon Stanley Purdy, his wife Margaret E. (Lundrigan) Purdy, and their five children. Gordon Purdy was a World War I veteran and originally from Wallace River, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. Margaret, known as Peg, was from Seaton Carew, Country Durham, England.

Douglas Gordon Purdy

  • MRUASC-AR0023
  • Person
  • 1920-1942

Douglas Gordon Purdy was a captain in the Calgary Regiment of the R.C.C.A. during the Second World War and a former Mount Royal College student. Purdy was the middle son of Gordon Stanley and Margaret Purdy. He enlisted for military service on June 28, 1940 and was assigned to the Calgary Regiment, R.C.C.A. 14th Army Tank Regiment. On May 29th, 1942 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Captain Purdy and the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment were dispatched on August 19th, 1942 to participate in an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, which became known as the Battle of Dieppe. Purdy was the Troop Leader for 8 Troop B Squadron on TLC-3 (Tank Landing Craft). Captain Purdy died at age 22 during landing operations at the start of the battle and was buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in Seine-Maritime, France.

Douglass Smith Kirkwood

  • MRUASC-AR0024
  • Person
  • 1921-1944

Douglass Smith Kirkwood was a Warrant Officer 2nd Class in the Royal Canadian Air Force and a former Mount Royal College student. Kirkwood was the only son of William and Catherine Kirkwood and was born in Calgary, Alberta. He attended Mount Royal College from 1930-1936 and continued his education in Edmonton, Alberta by attending the University of Alberta from 1937-1942, earning a Bachelor of Science in Geology. Kirkwood enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on April 28, 1942. Kirkwood was part of the seven man crew for a Avro Lancaster LL960 HW-D which was part of 100 Squadron, stationed at Royal Air Force Station Grimsby in County Lincolnshire, England. On May 21, 1944 Kirkwood's Lancaster bomber was deployed on a mission over Duisburg, Germany where it was shot down. Douglass Smith Kirkwood is buried at the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Kleve, Germany.

Mount Royal University Foundation

  • MRUASC-AR0026
  • Corporate body
  • 1989-

The Mount Royal University Foundation is a philanthropic society affiliated with Mount Royal University. The Foundation seeks out and encourages private sector support of Mount Royal University and stewards collected funds. The Foundation supports Mount Royal University's goal, to provide an exceptional undergraduate experience, by raising funds, working as a community ambassador, endowing student scholarships, and supporting innovative programs and campus spaces.

Gordon Stanley Purdy

  • MRUASC-AR0027
  • Person
  • 1890-[19--]

Gordon Stanley Purdy was a Lance Corporal in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force during the First World War. He is the father of former Mount Royal College student and World War Two captain, Douglas Gordon Purdy.

Alan Dyment

  • MRUASC-AR0028
  • Person
  • [19--]

Alan Dyment was the Director of the Learning Resource Centre, and an administrator at Mount Royal College for twenty seven years. Dyment received a Master's degree from the University of Wales, and worked as a librarian at Centennial College in Toronto before moving to Calgary in 1973 to accept the position of Director of the Learning Resource Centre. During Dyment’s directorship, the Learning Resource Centre adopted an service model known as ‘resource islands,' where most faculty members were centrally located in the library near the teaching materials related to their disciplines. The model was designed to facilitate self-paced learning and became very popular with student, faculty, and staff. Dyment was also active in the library community outside of Mount Royal College, serving as chairman for the Alberta Council of College Librarians in 1976-1979, and as chairmen of the Community and Technical College Libraries section of the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries in 1982-1983.

Dyment was closely involved with the administration of Mount Royal College. He was a member of the Vice-President’s Advisory Group, which consisted of all Deans/Directors that reported to the Vice-President, and he was active on several committees and task forces including: the Planning Committee, the MRSSA Exempt Professional Development Committee, and the Organizational Review Committee. While serving as one of three members of the Organizational Review Committee, Dyment played a significant role in a major administrative reorganization of the college that took place in the early 1980s under the leadership of President Donald Baker. The committee solicited faculty member opinions, made recommendations, and authored reports that influenced the restructuring that laid the groundwork for the college's expansion.

In 1982 Dyment resigned as Director of the Learning Resource Centre to become the Director of Academic Services. He was replaced as head librarian by Elaine Boychuck. Dyment served in other administration roles in the 1990s including Assistant Vice-President, Academic and Dean of Academic Services, and Vice-President, Student and Academic Services. Dyment retired in 2000 and his service was recognized by Mount Royal College through the establishment of the Alan Dyment Bursary which is available to full and part-time students with a disability in their third or fourth year of study.

Dorian G.W. Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0029
  • Person
  • 1934-2013

Dorian G.W. Smith was a Canadian mineralogist and professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Smith was born in London, England where he served in the Royal Air Force and attended University College London before completing a PhD at Cambridge in 1963. Smith subsequently completed a Master of Science at the University of Alberta and accepted a teaching position in the Department of Geology in 1966.

While at the University of Alberta, Smith taught mineralogy and acted as the curator of mineral and meteorite collections. He also helped to establish an electron microprobe laboratory and developed a software database used for the identification of minerals known as MinIdent, which is still used worldwide by mining companies and academic institutions. Smith's research focused on "K/Ar dating, clay mineralogy, meteoritics, X-ray spectroscopy, microanalysis, and computer applications" (Higgins, Dorian G.W. Smith). Smith remained at the University of Alberta until his retirement in 2000.

Smith was heavily involved with the geology and mineralogy community. He was an active member of the Mineralogical Association of Canada, where he held executive positions and acted as President from 1978-1979. Smith also traveled widely to collaborate with other geologists and mineralogists, attending and contributing to international conferences including the International Mineralogical Association. Even after retirement, Smith continued to contribute to his field by developing codes for unnamed minerals as part of the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals, and by continuing to update and maintain MinIdent.

Great West Newspapers Limited Partnership

  • MRUASC-AR0030
  • Corporate body
  • 1995-

"Great West Newspapers Limited Partnership is a chain of news outlets throughout Alberta. Headquartered in St. Albert, Alberta, the company is co-owned by Jamison Newspapers and Glacier Ventures International Corporation. Each organization has a 50% stake in the company.
Great West Newspapers LP is committed to producing quality journalism in Alberta, providing credible and reliable news information in both online and print formats. The company holds its readers in the highest regard because we believe that producing quality journalism results in a strong product for both the public and our advertisers. We are dedicated to providing the best community news in Canada!"

Ray Sloan

  • MRUASC-AR0032
  • Person
  • [1940?]-[1995?]

Ray Sloan was an environmental scientist, conservationist, and instructor at Mount Royal College.

Dick Cooke

  • MRUASC-AR0033
  • Person
  • [19--]

Dick Cooke was the Director of Planning and Development at Mount Royal College.

Barry Virtue

  • MRUASC-AR0034
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Barry Virtue was the Provost of Mount Royal College. In 1971, Virtue was made responsible for the operation of Mount Royal College's Churchill Park Campus (located at 300 5th Avenue SW).

Mary Prossak

  • MRUASC-AR0035
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Mary Prossak was the Supervisor of the Student Store at Mount Royal College.

Marilyn Meek

  • MRUASC-AR0036
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Marilyn Meek (née Duffy) was a student from Calgary who was enrolled in the Secretarial Science program at Mount Royal College in 1963-1964.

Steve Bascom

  • MRUASC-AR0038
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Steve Bascom was employed in Mount Royal College's Department of Program Research and Development.

Mount Royal University Alumni Association

  • MRUASC-AR0039
  • Corporate body
  • 1982-

The Alumni Association of Mount Royal College was incorporated under the Societies Act of the Province of Alberta on May 27, 1982. When Mount Royal College became a university, the organization was renamed the Mount Royal University Alumni Association.

Patricia Houghton

  • MRUASC-AR0040
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Patricia Houghton served on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of Mount Royal College.

Mount Royal Faculty Association

  • MRUASC-AR0041
  • Corporate body
  • 1966-

The Mount Royal Faculty Association (MRFA) is a trade union that represents all full-time, limited-term, and contract academic staff at Mount Royal University. The Association "...provides a collective voice for faculty, promotes tenure and academic freedom, advocates for the highest standards of professionalism in higher education, and upholds the values of diversity, equity and human rights." The main purposes of the MRFA are to negotiate the collective agreement with the employer (the Board of Governors of Mount Royal University), and to represent members in the grievance process. The Association also provides professional development services for members, represents faculty in the shared academic governance of MRU, and advocates for post-secondary education.

Department of Financial Services (Mount Royal University)

  • MRUASC-AR0042
  • Corporate body
  • [19--]-

The Financial Services Department is responsible for the accurate and timely capture, analysis, and reporting of all financial information for Mount Royal University, the Mount Royal University Foundation, and the Mount Royal Day Care Society.

Jack Kenyon

  • MRUASC-AR0043
  • Person
  • 1935-1994

Jack Kenyon was a successful basketball coach and mathematics professor at Mount Royal College. A native Calgarian and Mount Royal College student, Kenyon completed a Master of Science degree in Mathematics at the University of Alberta. In the early 1960s he returned to Mount Royal College and taught math and coached the college basketball team to great success until his death in 1994. In 1989 he received a Distinguished Faculty Teaching award, and in 1990 he was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1993, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mount Royal University Archives and Special Collections

  • MRUASC-AR0044
  • Corporate body
  • 2005-

The mandate of the Archives and Special Collections is to support teaching, learning, and scholarship through the development of archival holdings and specialized library collections.

Cougars Athletics and Recreation (Mount Royal University)

  • MRUASC-AR0045
  • Corporate body
  • [19--]-

Cougar Athletics and Recreation is a Mount Royal University department that manages and promotes the university's athletics program and other recreational sport activities and events on campus.

Donna Taylor

  • MRUASC-AR0047
  • Person
  • [19--]

Donna Taylor was a nursing faculty member at Mount Royal College from 1971 to 1997. She started as a sessional instructor in 1971 and became full time faculty in 1983. Taylor joined the Calgary Conjoint Nursing Program Task Force in 1986. She was Chair of the Department of Nursing and Allied Health in 1991, and served as Director for the Centre for Health Studies in 1995 until her retirement in 1997.

Pam Nordstrom

  • MRUASC-AR0048
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Pam Nordstrom was a faculty member and administrator in the School of Nursing at Mount Royal University. A graduate of the University of Calgary, Nordstrom served in a variety of roles at Mount Royal including Director of the School of Nursing, Chair of the Department of Undergraduate Nursing Studies, Executive Director of Enrollment Services, and Program Chair of the Maternal Infant Child Healthcare program. In 2017, Nordstrom was appointed Vice President of Academic Affairs at Ambrose University.

Stephen Wilk

  • MRUASC-AR0049
  • Person
  • 1923-2006

Stephen Wilk was the coordinator of the Mount Royal History Project and a former teacher of psychology and sociology at Mount Royal College during the 1950s. The goal of the Mount Royal History Project was to research the history of Mount Royal College to produce a book for the college's 90th anniversary. As Project Coordinator, Wilk acted as the photo page editor and conducted interviews of former Mount Royal students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Wilk acted as the Project Coordinator of the Mount Royal history project from 1996 to 2004 and produced a complete but unpublished manuscript entitled "An Institution and its Communities: A History of Mount Royal College 1910-2000."

Wilk held a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, a Bachelor of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry, and was a historian primarily focused on the history of Alberta. He was an active member of several local historical societies including the Nose Creek Historic Society, and was involved with local archives, museums, and heritage preservation efforts. He was the author/editor of several books on local history including "One Day's Journey", a history of the Airdrie District, "Pioneers of Faith", a history of the Airdrie United Church, and "100 Years of Nose Creek Valley History".

In addition to his work as a historian, Wilk was a United Church of Canada minister (since 1952) and served as a medic with the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. Stephen Wilk died on November 12, 2006.

Margaret Plewis

  • MRUASC-AR0050
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Margaret Plewis was a student from Swift Current, Saskatchewan who attended Mount Royal College in 1948-1949.

Mount Royal University Conservatory

  • MRUASC-AR0051
  • Corporate body
  • 1910-

The Mount Royal Conservatory of Music was established in 1911 as one of the original divisions of Mount Royal College. The Conservatory was formed to prepare students for local examinations in music offered by the Toronto Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music. The original vision for the Conservatory also included a Fine Art School and a School of Expression, Physical Culture, and Dramatic Arts. The Conservatory opened, under the musical directorship of Wilfred V. Oaten, with an enrollment of seventy-five students, but enrollment grew quickly to ninety-five students by 1913-1914. The Conservatory was originally designed to be financially separate from Mount Royal College and self-sustaining. The majority of its funding came from student fees, with the college only responsible for covering deficits. As a result of this funding arrangement, student registration and retention numbers were always vital to the Conservatory’s success. In the early days of Mount Royal College the Conservatory accounted for the majority of student registrations and played an integral role in establishing Mount Royal’s reputation.
Musical instruction formed the basis of the majority of the Conservatory’s early programs. Instruction was provided for the piano, violin, organ, voice, musical theory, and was expanded to include woodwinds and saxophone in the 1920s. Significantly, the Conservatory started offering examinations from the Toronto Conservatory of Music starting in 1915 and became a location for their administration in the west. In addition to the two-year diplomas offered in affiliation with Toronto Conservatory, Mount Royal originally only offered a single two-year diploma of its own for pianoforte teachers. Music was a common aspect of college life during Mount Royal’s formative years. Conservatory students and faculty provided music for campus events, social clubs, and performed for local Methodist churches and with their choirs.. The Conservatory was also especially well known for its orchestras. Two of the most well-known and successful orchestras were the Mount Royal Junior College Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1937 by Director Jascha Galperin, and the Calgary Youth Orchestra, which was formed in 1968 by Frank Simpson. When the Calgary Symphony was disbanded from 1939-1955 the Conservatory’s Junior Orchestra became Calgary’s only opportunity for large-scale musical entertainment, cementing the orchestra’s prominence in Calgary. The Mount Royal Junior College Symphony Orchestra was renamed the Calgary Symphony Orchestra under the directorship of Clayton Hare in 1949, and underwent a large restructuring in 1965 under Hare’s replacement, John S. Bach. Bach divided the orchestra into a junior orchestra, an intermediate orchestra, and the Southern Alberta Youth Orchestra. By the time Mount Royal College moved to the Lincoln Park campus in 1972, the Conservatory had three string orchestras, two full symphony orchestras, five choirs, and a range of brass and woodwind ensembles. All of this cemented the Conservatory’s position in the burgeoning Calgary Arts community and garnered the college much praise and esteem.

The 1940s and 50s saw a large amount of growth for Mount Royal College and the Conservatory. To better accommodate the growing space needs of the Conservatory, Mount Royal opened a branch Conservatory location in the North Hill community of Calgary in 1954 which could fit up to one hundred students. During John Garden’s term of college Principal (1942-1958), he made moves to bring the Conservatory more formally under the administrative and financial structure of the rest of the College by establishing the Conservatory of Music Committee, which included the Principal and a member of the Board of Governors. This committee created formal employment contracts for Conservatory faculty, granted a salary to the Conservatory Director (as opposed to a percentage of student fees, as had been the previous practice), and established a formal portion of the college budget for the Conservatory, ending some of the Conservatory’s reliance on student fees. The 1950s also saw the introduction of a new music examination system that led to certificate and diploma awards and the adoption of an external examination process. The Conservatory also started offering its first degree program in affiliation with Trinity College and expanded musical instruction to cover the accordion, tympani, and xylophone.
The School of Expression, Physical Culture, and Dramatic Arts within the Conservatory was focused on providing instruction in public speaking, elocution, and dramatic arts and offered courses in English literature, composition, voice culture, philosophy of expression, and storytelling. By 1915-1916 the School of Expression started offering its first two year diploma in expression. Similar to the musical instruction programs, the School of Expression had a significant impact on the art and culture community outside of the College. Faculty and students produced regular dramatic productions, put on public performances, and organized dramatic readings by popular artists of the day. The speech and drama portions of the School of Expression curriculum were expanded in scope with the appointment of instructor Leona Paterson, a pioneer in speech arts and future Conservatory director, in 1944. Some of her successful initiatives for the school included the formation of the Reader’s Theatre and the Children’s Theatre in 1951. She also introduced new areas of study such as radio and television broadcasting, a speech-therapy program, a new theatre arts program, and implemented a board of examiners for speech arts, similar to that for musical examinations. The Conservatory of Music changed its name, to the Conservatory of Music and Speech Arts, for the 1961-1962 academic year, to reflect the growing prominence of the speech programs offered through the School of Expression.
The Fine Arts School was established as part of the Conservatory in 1911 but has had a less consistent presence than other areas of instruction, with the school being disbanded and reformed as student interest and registration waxed and waned. Similar to the School of Expression and the musical instruction program, the Fine Arts School offered classes that supported areas of instruction offered by other college departments as well as offering stand alone classes for members of the public. Early fine arts instruction focused on watercolors, oil painting, leather tooling, china painting, metal working, wood carving, and drawing. During the 1920s the Fine Arts School offered several diploma options, including a two year diploma in freehand drawing, a two year diploma in the history of art, and a one year diploma in design. After a period of inactivity, the Fine Arts Division was reformed in late 1965, under the directorship of Peter J. Hodgson, in the hopes of eventually expanding to diplomas. However, the program was not a success and it was discontinued by 1969-1970.
Instruction in the dramatic arts was an early component of the Conservatory’s instruction program, and is listed as a part of the School of Expression starting in the 1915-1916 academic year. Many of the earliest theater arts courses were strongly connected to the Speech Arts program, focusing on elocution and performance voice work. The theatre arts program was expanded in the 1930s with the introduction of two educational streams for students. The first stream was catered to training theatrical performers and the second stream focused on training technical staff for TV and theatre productions. Director Cyril Mossop briefly introduced a ballet program in 1944 but the program only lasted until Mossop left the Conservatory in 1950. Mount Royal revisited offering a School of Dance, as part of the Faculty of Continuing Education and Extension, in partnership with Alberta Ballet Company, in 1984, but it was ultimately unsuccessful and discontinued in 1987. With the move to the Lincoln Park campus, the number of professional quality facilities and theatre spaces that students had access to greatly increased. Threatre students staged productions on campus, in the new Wright and Leacock Theatres, that were open to campus members and the larger Calgary community. Starting in 1984, Mount Royal expanded to offer off-campus theatrical productions in the form of the popular ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ summer plays. Shakespeare in the Park productions originally took place in Olympic Plaza in downtown Calgary, before moving to Prince’s Island Park, and were free events. Shakespeare in the Park productions became extremely popular, with the 20th anniversary performance of Julius Caesar in 2004 drawing over 40 000 attendees from July 2-11. Due to program cuts by the Alberta provincial government in 2013, the theater arts program, in its entity, was cut from the Conservatory. At that time, Shakespeare in the Park, was taken over by Theatre Calgary, and continues to offer free annual Shakespeare productions every summer that remain a popular fixture in the Calgary arts scene.
The 1980’s also saw considerable expansion and growth for the Conservatory. Director Norman Burgess (1978-1992) introduced a three-stream approach for Conservatory students with different levels of focus, learning outcomes, and instructional faculty. The first stream, which was expected to capture the majority of students and was focused on life enrichment and teaching students engaged with music at a hobby level. The second stream focused on preparing students for careers in music, and the final stream, which became known as The Academy of Music program, was dedicated to preparing gifted students, under the age of 18, for performance-based musical careers. The Academy of Music program received positive attention and attracted gifted students and instructors to the Conservatory from throughout western Canada and beyond. Many graduates of the program went on to find successful careers in television, radio, and as orchestra soloists. Another result of Burgess’ ‘student-stream’ initiative was the rise in prominence of both the Suzuki and Kodaly music programs. The Suzuki program was started in 1984 as a summer piano institute that focused on teacher training. However, the program was quickly expanded to teach a variety of levels and provide musical instruction in other instruments. A Certificate of Achievement in Suzuki Piano Pedagogy started being offered in 2002 and Conservatory faculty member, Merlin B. Thompson greatly expanded the Suzuki program by introducing videoconferencing in 2004. The Kodaly method is another program of music instruction adopted by the Conservatory with great success. Focused on teaching music to young children, the Kodaly method continues to be the basis of several of the Conservatory’s programs of instruction for children and adolescence.
Areas of instruction such as the Suzuki, Kodaly, and Academy of Music programs helped to increase the Conservatory’s prestige and form links with leading music schools and musicians around the world. In particular, the Conservatory formed beneficial links to schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the New England Conservatory, and Juilliard School in New York. Internationally the Conservatory’s reputation was bolstered by programs such as the Academy of Music program and the Morningside Music Bridge. The Morningside Music Bridge was an annual summer music workshop that brought aspiring international young musicians to Calgary. The Morningside Music Bridge started in 1996 and focused on providing summer workshops for students in violin, viola, cello, piano, and chamber music. As the scope of the Conservatory’s musical instruction increased so did the prominence and accomplishments of its students. Conservatory students excelled in local musical competitions such as the Kiwanis Music Festival and the Alberta Music Festival. Some of the Conservatory's most prominent students include Yuri Hooker, principal cellist of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; Tanya Kalmonovitch, violist; Rhian Kenny, flutist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Martha Baldwin, cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra; Katherine Chi, pianist and winner of the 2000 Honens Competition; Alan Van Sprang, TV/film actor, Michael Kim, Dean of Brandon University School of Music; and Leslie Feist, Juno award winner.
Conservatory faculty not only provided quality instruction for Mount Royal students but many were accomplished musicians and performers in their own right who contributed to the reputation and prestige of the Conservatory. The Conservatory started out with 5 full-time faculty members in 1911 and steadily increased from there as programs expanded and registrations increased. In 1943-44 there were fourteen full-time Conservatory faculty members, only one of which had a degree. By the 1960s, faculty had increased to almost fifty members, with more specialized credentials. In addition to full-time faculty, the Conservatory also hired instructors to teach in fourteen ‘associated branches’ and employed part-time instructors from the Branch Teacher Association, who taught music lessons out of their homes. By 1990 there were approximately 100 teachers on campus and another 40 affiliated instructors from the Branch Teachers Association. By 2005, the conservatory had 240 teachers on campus and another 50 affiliated teachers teaching from their homes, reaching 5,000 Calgary area students. Notable Conservatory faculty members include Leonard Leacock, pianist, composer, and Order of Canada recipient; Norma Piper, diva soprano ; Knight Wilson, violinist and former department head of the Conservatory of Regina ; and Mary Munn, concert pianist and Order of Canada recipient.
The Conservatory currently operates out of the Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts, a new building that opened in July 2015 and includes the 787 seat Bella Concert Hall. The Conservatory continues to offer a range of musical instruction, speech and drama class, private lessons and ensemble and choral instruction. Musical instruction ranges across a variety of instruments including cello, flute, guitar, piano, trumpet, clarinet, viola, double bass, euphonium, French horn, harp, oboe, organ, percussion, saxophone, trombone, tuba, bagpipes, ukulele, violin, and voice. The Conservatory also offers group instruction in stage combat, music theory and history, music literacy, Chinese classical music studies, improvisation, speech, and presentation. The Conservatory remains particularly well known for its focus on child and youth instruction with specialized programs such as Music with your Baby, Music Explorers, Adventures in Music, Piano Explorers, and ensembles such as the Calgary Youth Orchestra, the Junior Sinfonia, the Junior Orchestra Program, the Mount Royal Horn Choir, and the Arietta, Arioso, and Artia choirs.

School of Nursing and Midwifery (Mount Royal University)

  • MRUASC-AR0052
  • Corporate body
  • 1967-

The School of Nursing and Midwifery is part of Mount Royal University's Faculty of Health, Community, and Education, and as of 2019 offers the following programs: Bachelor of Nursing, Bachelor of Midwifery, the Bridge to Canadian Nursing, and the Advanced Studies in Critical Care Nursing Certificate.

Mount Royal’s nursing program was launched in 1967 as a two-year diploma program under the directorship of Jean Mackie. At the time, the College's Diploma Nursing Program was controversial because previously most nursing education had consisted of either apprenticeship programs run by hospitals or four-year degree programs taught in universities. However, the program grew and gained acceptance over several decades, eventually expanding to include certificate programs in specialty areas of nursing including: operating room and intensive care nursing, post-basic mental health nursing, occupational health nursing, extended care nursing, and gerontological nursing. The Diploma Nursing Program continued until 1993, with the last cohort graduating in 1995.

In the 1980s, the Nursing and Allied Health Department started to explore options for offering a nursing degree program through Mount Royal College. After several years of research and planning, an agreement was reached in 1992 through which the three nursing programs offered in Calgary were merged into one program, the Calgary Conjoint Nursing Program (CCNP), a collaborative baccalaureate program offered by Mount Royal College, the University of Calgary, and the Foothills Hospital School of Nursing. The program launched in 1993 with the first class of students graduating in 1997. The program offered classes at all three institutions and students had the option of completing either a four-year Bachelor of Nursing degree or a two-year nursing diploma. The Calgary Conjoint Nursing Program was initially only approved for a six-year trial period, but the partnership continued for eleven years, with the last students graduating in 2004.

As the Calgary Conjoint Nursing Program wound down and the last intake of students occurred in 2000, the Mount Royal College Centre for Health Studies sought out other partnerships in order to continue to provide a Bachelor of Nursing option without interruption to student enrollment. They eventually reached an agreement with Athabasca University in 2000, which allowed Mount Royal to provide university-level nursing courses at the Lincoln Park campus taught by Mount Royal faculty. The Athabasca University at Mount Royal College (AU @ MRC) Bachelor of Nursing program officially launched in 2001 and ran until 2013, with the last intake of students into the program occurring in 2010.
The partnership with Athabasca University allowed Mount Royal College to continue to provide university-level nursing education while it pursued independent degree-granting status.

In 2007 the nursing program became Mount Royal College’s very first baccalaureate degree program, and in 2011 the School of Nursing launched Alberta's first Bachelor of Midwifery degree.

Gloria Heinzmann

  • MRUASC-AR0053
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Gloria Heinzmann (nee Hodgson) was a nursing student at Mount Royal College, and a member of the nursing program's inaugural graduating class in 1970.

Violet Armstrong

  • MRUASC-AR0054
  • Person
  • 1918-2018

Violet Armstrong was a student from Taber, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College in the early 1940s as part of the Provincial Health and Recreation Youth Training Programme. She "taught youth leadership and recreation classes in communities around the southern region. In 1944 Vi moved to Berkley, California with her husband, Malcolm Taylor. There she worked in Richmond, California's Recreation Department as a youth programmer and counsellor, creating some of the city's first integrated sport and social programs."

Grant Paterson

  • MRUASC-AR0055
  • Person
  • 1956-

Grant Paterson is a teacher, actor, musician, director, and adjudicator specializing in speech arts. Paterson began his teaching career in 1994, giving private lessons in drama and speech arts with his colleague Jim Dobbin. Paterson started teaching at the Mount Royal College Conservatory in 1995 in Speech, Theatre, and Communication Studies, and later served as the Coordinator of the Speech Arts department. Paterson continues to teach as a sessional speech arts instructor in the Conservatory and as a part-time lecturer in the School of Communication Studies.

Paterson is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music and was heavily involved in the merger of the Mount Royal College Conservatory and Royal Conservatory of Music syllabuses and examination criteria. Paterson is also a well-known speech arts adjudicator and has adjudicated at various speech, drama, and performing arts festivals throughout Alberta and Canada.

Paterson has been involved in many theatre productions in the Calgary area. The play Rhyme Rustler: The Ballad of Robert Service was written, directed, and performed by Paterson and was taken up for two seasons by the Vertigo Theatre. Paterson graduated from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London in 1979 and also holds associate diplomas in speech arts and drama from Mount Royal College and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Paterson graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1980 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1994. Paterson earned associate diploma (1976), licentiate (1985), and fellowship (1988) degrees from Trinity College of Music in London, England.

Grant Paterson is also the son of Dr. Leona Paterson, who founded Mount Royal College's Speech and Drama Department in 1944.

Jim Cameron

  • MRUASC-AR0056
  • Person
  • [19--]

Jim Cameron was a Calgary based photographer. Cameron was hired to photograph the construction of Mount Royal College's Lincoln Park campus in the early 1970s. He also captured images of the original downtown campus, Churchill Park campus, Old Sun College campus, and related ceremonies and events.

Bruce Hunter

  • MRUASC-AR0057
  • Person
  • 1952-

Bruce Hunter is a Canadian author. The oldest of seven children, Hunter was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and currently lives in Ontario. Hunter worked in Calgary as a gardener, labourer, and nightwatchman for fifteen years before winning a scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1978, where he studied creative writing with W.O. Mitchell. Hunter attended York University in his late twenties, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours in 1983.

Hunter went on to teach a wide variety of English, Creative Writing, and Liberal Studies courses at Seneca College from 1986 to 2012, and has also taught at York University and the Banff School of Fine Arts. He has also taught workshops on poetry, spoken word, and creativity, and served as a Writer in Residence at the Calgary Public Library, the Richmond Public Library, and the Banff Centre (for the Writers' Guild of Alberta). Hunter worked as a reviewer for several literature journals, and served as the poetry reviews editor and columnist for Cross Canada Writers' Quarterly in the 1980s. Hunter was deafened as an infant due to a bout of pneumonia, and is an advocate for people with disabilities and a prominent member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Hunter is the author of: Country Music Country, a collection of short stories published in 1996; In The Bear's House, a novel published in 2009; as well as five books of poetry: Selected Canadian Rifles (1981), Benchmark (1982), The Beekeeper's Daughter (1986), Coming Home From Home, (2000), and Two O'Clock Creek (2010). In The Bear's House won the 2009 Canadian Rockies Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival, and Two O'Clock Creek won the Acorn-Plantos Peoples' Poetry Award. Hunter's poetry has also been published in several anthologies and journals, and has also been published in Italian.

Wade Lorenzton

  • MRUASC-AR0059
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Wade Lorenzton was the chaplain for Mount Royal College.

Margaret Bertram

  • MRUASC-AR0062
  • Person
  • 1928?-

Margaret Bertram, nee Greene, was a secretarial student in Mount Royal College's Commercial Department in 1945-1946.

Doris Annear

  • MRUASC-AR0063
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Doris Annear, nee Greene, was a student from Innisfail, Alberta who attended Mount Royal College from 1947-1949.

Audrey Spencer

  • MRUASC-AR0064
  • Person
  • 1933?-

Audrey Spencer was a student and a teacher of speech at the Mount Royal Conservatory.

Francis Turner

  • MRUASC-AR0065
  • Person
  • [19--]-2000

Francis 'Scoop' Turner was a student in the secretarial program at Mount Royal College, and graduated in 1931.

Leona Paterson

  • MRUASC-AR0066
  • Person
  • 1912-2004

Dr. Leona Flegal Paterson was a noted speech arts and drama educator, performer, and adjudicator who taught at the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music for 33 years and directed the Conservatory from 1974-1977. Paterson was born in Calgary in 1912 to Otto and Mathilda Flegal and started making a name for herself in speech arts at an early age. Paterson’s first teacher was Calgary play-reader and impersonator, Theresa M. Siegal, under whose tutelage Paterson performed many reading concerts as a solo performer. Paterson was primarily educated in Calgary but continued her education in California, finishing high school and majoring in acting at the University of Southern California. She also earned an associate diploma (ARCT) in speech from the University of Toronto Conservatory of Music, studying under speech instructors Clara Salisbury Baker and Florence Aymong.

Paterson began her teaching career at a young age by offering private speech lessons in Calgary, and continued to offer private lessons to hundreds of speech students over her long career. In 1944 she joined the faculty of Mount Royal College as the director of the Speech and Drama department of the Conservatory of Music. Early course offerings in the department include theory of voice training, elocution, elementary prosody, public speaking, and dramatic art, with a degree in elocution offered from the Toronto Conservatory of Music. During her time teaching at Mount Royal, Paterson greatly expanded the speech arts program and introduced new programs such as a speech therapy program for children with hearing difficulties, speech course for radio and television presenters, a reader’s theatre program, children’s theatre program, and an expanded theatre arts program. Paterson also introduced a board of examiners for speech arts which administered an examination process which was similar to the one for music at the Toronto Conservatory. Paterson’s authority on speech arts was unprecedented in Canada. She authored numerous articles on voice production, readers theatre, and choral speech and published a book, Creative Communication: Teaching the Language Arts in 1972.

In addition to teaching at Mount Royal College, Paterson was also a highly in-demand summer faculty member at other notable institutions such as the Banff School of Fine Arts, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Alberta. Paterson was a faculty member at the Banff School of Fine Arts for sixteen summers, starting in 1946, where she taught speech arts and drama to students from around the world. Paterson also traveled extensively throughout Canada conducting workshops and seminars to increase the profile of speech arts education and was well respected for her work as a speech arts adjudicator and examiner. She adjudicated music, speech, and drama festivals across Canada and was instrumental in having speech and drama introduced to the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival. Paterson further helped to establish speech arts by founding the Canadian Speech Association and the Alberta Speech Association, and she served as president of both organizations.

Throughout her life Paterson received many awards honouring her contributions to Canadian speech arts and education. She received an achievement award in drama from the Government of Alberta in 1970, an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary in 1974, and an honorary fellowship from Trinity College of Music London in 1984. The Canadian Speech Communicators Association named her its "Speaker of the Year'' in 1983 and Paterson appears in the book 200 Remarkable Alberta Women: The Kay Sanderson collection, which was published by the Famous 5 Foundation in 1999.

Paterson was the wife of Harold Paterson and the mother of Grant Paterson, both of whom have worked as Mount Royal College Conservatory faculty. Harold Paterson taught literature and public speaking part-tim,e and Grant has been teaching speech and drama classes since 1994.

Marg Edmonds

  • MRUASC-AR0067
  • Person
  • 1927-

Marg Edmonds was a Social Work professor in the faculty of Continuing Education and Extension at Mount Royal University. She began teaching at Mount Royal in the 1970s and retired in the 1990s.

Paul Brandt

  • MRUASC-AR0068
  • Person
  • 1972-

Paul Brandt is a Canadian country music artist. He was born Paul Rennee Belobersycky on July 21, 1972 in Calgary, Alberta. Brandt attended Crescent Heights High School and Mount Royal University, where he graduated from the nursing program in 1992.

Brandt made his music debut in 1996 with the release of his single “My Heart Has a History.” This single propelled him to become the first Canadian country singer to make the top 10 list on Billboard Hot Country Songs since 1974. Having a successful music career, Brandt was first signed by Warner Canada. His debut album “Calm Before The Storm” was released in 1996 and was certified gold in 1997 by the RIAA. Brandt followed this success with further albums “Outside the Frame” (1997), “That’s the Truth” (1999) and a greatest hits album, "What I Want to Be Remembered For" (2000), which was only released in Canada.

In 200[?] Brandt started his own record label “Brand-T Records." Through his label, he has released further albums including “Small Towns and Big Dreams” (2001), “This Time Around” (2004), “Risk” (2007), “Give it Away” (2011) and “Just as I Am” (2012). Brandt won the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Album of the Year award for “Small Towns and Big Dreams” in 2002, a Juno award for Country Recording of the Year for his album “Risk” in 2008 and gold or platinum certification for most albums.

Besides his music career, Brandt received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2009 and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Briercrest College and Seminary in 2010. He was awarded the HRM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 and inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017. Brandt is a humanitarian and has many philanthropic endeavours. He has supported charities such as the Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child and the campaign “Not In My City,” which raises money to support survivors of human trafficking. Brandt has also served as Storyteller-in-Residence at Mount Royal University from 2016-2018.

In 1997, Brandt married his wife Elizabeth (Liz) Peterson, with whom he has two children.

Linda Many Guns

  • MRUASC-AR0069
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Linda Many Guns is a Professor of Indigenous Studies, Arts & Sciences, at the University of Lethbridge, and has served as the Associate Vice-President of Indigenization and Decolonization at Mount Royal University and the Executive Director for the Nii Touii Knowledge and Learning Centre. Many Guns is a Blackfoot woman and elder, a member of the Buffalo Women's Society and the Beaver Bundle Society, and was born on the Tsuut'ina Nation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University, a Master's from Carleton University, a law degree from University of Ottawa, and a doctorate from Trent University.

Ronald Smith

  • MRUASC-AR0070
  • Person
  • [19--]-[200-?]

Ronald Smith was a student at Mount Royal College. He attended the college from 1960-1961 and took business administration and sales management.

Smith was a member of the Mount Royal College Junior Football team and wore number #74. In 1961, he was awarded the Henry Birks & Sons Gold Medal for highest general standing in Second Year Business Administration and the Calgary Section Council of Jewish Women Bursary for highest standing in Second Year Business Administration.

Antoine Eche

  • MRUASC-AR0071
  • Person
  • [19--]-

Antoine Eche is an Associate Professor of French at Mount Royal University.

Eche obtained a BA, MA in French as a Foreign Language, MA in English and American Literature, and a PhD in French Literature from the Universite de Tours in France. He has previously taught the French language and French literature at the University of Strathclyde, the University of Calgary, and the University of Cyprus.

His research interests include travel writing from the Ancien Régime. At Mount Royal University, Eche is a member of the Enlightenment Group, an interdisciplinary group of faculty that have hosted colloquia and symposia on the 18th century.

Mount Royal University. Marketing and Communications

  • MRUASC-AR0072
  • Corporate body
  • [19--]-

The Department of Marketing and Communications at Mount Royal University manages university publicity campaigns and communication with students, employees, alumni, and the wider community. The department also develops guidelines around logos, graphic standards, and social networking, and regularly publishes Summit magazine.

Robert Steadward

  • MRUASC-AR0074
  • Person
  • 1946-

Robert Steadward is a professor, sports scientist, author, coach, community leader, and was the founding President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Steadward was born on May 26, 1946 in Eston, Saskatchewan to Danny and Irene Steadward. Steadward studied Dentistry at the University of Alberta before switching fields to earn a bachelor degree from the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Alberta. He went on to earn a master's degree in Physical Education from the University of Alberta, and a PhD from the University of Oregon.

Steadward began working with disabled athletes and adaptive sports in 1960 when he coached the Edmonton Handicaddies, a wheelchair basketball club. Steadward went on to coach basketball, swim, and track teams for the Paralympic Sports Association, and coached the Canadian national team at the 1972 Paralympic Games, 1973 International Stoke Mandeville Games, and the Jamaican Pan-American Games. He was also responsible for organizing the Canadian team during the 1976 Olympics for the Physically Disabled. Steadward served as President of the Alberta Wheelchair Sports Association from 1971-1975, was the founding president and chairman of the Canadian Sports Fund for the Physically Disabled (1979-1989), and has served in various roles with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, including coach, chef de mission, national governor, treasurer, and president.

His involvement in organizing competitive sporting events for athletes with disabilities began in 1968 with the development of the first Canadian national championships for wheelchair sports, which was held in Edmonton. He became interested in establishing a central organization responsible for the international development of sport opportunities and competitions for disabled athletes after attending the Olympics for the Physically Disabled in Arnhem, Netherlands in 1980. Previous to the foundation of the International Paralympic Committee, Paralympics Games were run by a conglomeration of four different organizations: the International Sport Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), and the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CP ISRA). Working with the Canadian Federation of Sport Organizations for the Disabled (CFSOD), Steadward aimed to develop a new centralized democratic model for disabled sport. Throughout the 1980s Steadward forged relationships with various disability sports organizations and sought support for the formation of a single organization to represent disabled athletes at the highest level of competition. Finally, in 1989 the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was formed with Steadward as the first President.

One of Steadward's goals for the IPC was to pursue recognition from, and eventual integration with, the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As a result of Steadward's communications with the IOC, demonstration events for athletes with disabilities started being included in the Olympics, and some competitions, such as the 2002 Commonwealth Games, started to fully integrated events for people with disabilities into their sporting program. Other IPC successes under Steadward's leadership include: developing the organizational and committee structure for the IPC, growing IPC membership to include 172 nations, and formally connecting the IPC and IOC with a memorandum of understanding in 2000. Steadward then stepped down as President and became Honorary President for Life in 2001.

Regarding his academic career, Steadward joined the faculty of the University of Alberta in 1970, specializing in exercise physiology, anatomy, and athletic injuries. Steadward founded the Research and Training Centre for the Physically Disabled at the University of Alberta (now known as the Steadward Centre for Personal & Physical Achievement) in 1978. The center became a multi-disability fitness, research, and lifestyle center that continues to be internationally recognized as a model in the field of independent fitness training for people with disabilities. Steadward retired from the University of Alberta in 2001 and was later named Professor Emeritus.

Steadward is the author of over 150 publications and has delivered over 300 speeches and presentations. He was also responsible for creating Vista '93, a disability sport conference that brought together over 160 sports experts and laid the foundations for the ensuing Paralympic Congresses. Steadward has been recognized as a pioneer in the field of disability sport and has received numerous honours and awards celebrating his contributions and achievements including: Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (1984), Order of Canada - Officer (1999), Terr Fox Hall of Fame (2002), Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), Edmontonian of the Century (2004), Canada's Sport Hall of Fame (2007), Alberta Order of Excellence (2010), and Order of Canada - Companion (2020).

Bennie Emil Ehnisz

  • MRUASC-AR0075
  • Person
  • 1920-1943

Bennie Emil Ehnisz was a Mount Royal student and RCAF flying instructor during the Second World War.

Ehnisz was born in Burstall, Saskatchewan and attended Mount Royal College in 1938. The Chinook yearbook describes him as “a very amiable lad whose ambition on completing his education is to return to Saskatchewan and rehabilitate the drought area.”

On 11 October 1940, Ehnisz enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Regina. He became an instructor at the #2 Flying Instructors School in Vulcan, Alberta (the school later relocated to Pearce, Alberta). During a training flight with a student, the starboard engine of his aircraft caught fire and he ordered the student to bail out to safety. Ehnisz did not survive the crash as his parachute had malfunctioned. He died eight miles east of Champion, Alberta on February 13, 1943. Ehnisz is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Medicine Hat, Saskatchewan. Ehnisz Island at Kakabigish Lake in northern Saskatchewan is named in his honour.

Emory Jackson

  • MRUASC-AR0076
  • Person
  • 1911-1998

Emory George Jackson was born in Calgary on December 23, 1911 and grew up on his father’s farm near Cheadle, Alberta. Jackson attended junior high school at Mount Royal College from 1926 to 1930. During his studies, he won the gold medal in general proficiency in 1926, and the excellence in history prize in 1929. Jackson also managed the boys’ hockey and basketball teams, was a member of the Literary Society, and assisted with the college yearbook, The Chinook, as a classroom reporter and wit and humour staff member. According to the yearbooks, his comedic antics earned him the nickname "Goofy" amongst his friends and classmates.