Six firsts in 60 years at the University of Calgary

You will always remember your first.

First kiss. First love. First car. First house. The list goes on and on.

When the University of Calgary achieved its autonomy in 1966, it opened up new doors for a variety of its own firsts, from first orientation to first convocation and everything in between.

Each year has also provided more firsts thanks to the education, research, philanthropy, athletics and other activities on campus.

As we celebrate our 60th anniversary, let’s take a look back at just a few of the firsts that helped pave the way for future generations of UCalgary students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members.

1. First buildings

Finding a home for a Calgary university was a bit of a shell game as its different iterations came to life.

The Calgary Normal School, located in what is now the McDougall Centre downtown, was used to train primary and secondary school teachers.

When that school was absorbed by the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education in 1945, the offerings were moved to what is now SAIT.

Finally, the City of Calgary approved a 99-year lease on a 348-acre site for the future University of Alberta at Calgary campus in an area in the northwest surrounded by farmers' fields.

Groundbreaking was in 1958 and, less than two years later, came the official opening for the $4-million first phase.

The first facilities to open were the Arts and Education Building, now the Administration Building, and the Science and Engineering Building, which is now Science A.

Each two-storey building provided 240,000 square feet of space and featured modern equipment for students to use like new microscopes.

UCalgary is now home to 53 buildings on the main campus along with additional campuses at Downtown, Foothills and Spy Hill, as well as several satellite facilities that for a time even included a campus as far away as Qatar.

Find more information about our facilities here.

2. First president 

Officially becoming the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary was a long time coming for Dr. Herbert S. Armstrong.

After serving as vice-president at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he was named the president of the University of Alberta in Calgary (UAC) in May 1964. However, he waited until the university received autonomy before being installed.

That happened during the final UAC convocation on April 16, 1966, as the University of Calgary gained its official freedom on July 1.

Armstrong was officially installed by Lieutenant-Governor Grant MacEwan after he was robed by Arts and Science Dean T. M. Penelhum and Education Dean H. A. Baker.

In his first address to the community, Armstrong said he hoped the university would be proactive in addressing professional needs, adding the new University of Calgary needed to be a place where scholars could search for the truth without fear.

“Only if we learn the real truth can we recognize the half-truths; and even if the real truth hurts, how pitiable that anyone should prefer to remain in ignorance,” he said.

Read more about all past presidents here.

3. First motto

With autonomy on the horizon, the UAC held a special convocation at the Jubilee Auditorium. 

Newly installed President Armstrong addressed the crowd to unveil the first motto of what would become UCalgary’s motto: “I will lift up my eyes.”

He said the motto, which reads “Mo Shùile Togam Suas” in Gaelic, was the result of two physical features of Calgary: the Rocky Mountains and the chinook arch, motivating people to look up and into the distance.

“As members of a scholarly community, our students deserve the best we can give them,” Armstrong said. “I doubt if we can do this and I doubt if our community will achieve its full purpose unless we, from time to time, look up and, so to speak, take a good look around.”

The motto later became the inspiration for UCalgary’s Eyes High strategic plan.

4. First honorary degree recipients 

From politicians and philanthropists to artists and athletes, UCalgary’s highest honour has gone to a diverse range of people.

Nowhere was that more evident than the first official group to be recognized after the university received autonomy.

The Class of 1967’s honorary degrees included:

• Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson
• Jean Sutherland Boggs — National Gallery of Canada director
• James Alexander Corry — Queen’s University principal and vice-chancellor
• Eric L. Harvie — Calgary lawyer
• W. Bruce Hutchison — Vancouver Sun editorial director
• Dr. Wilder Graves Penfield — Canadian neurosurgeon

The ceremony also provided an opportunity for the nearly 2,000 people in attendance to see the university’s brand-new coat of arms.

Learn more about honorary degrees at UCalgary and all past honorary degree recipients.

5. First national sports championship

It isn’t just academics and research in which UCalgary has excelled.

In athletics, the Dinos have to date captured 49 USports national championships in 10 sports over the last 60 years.

The first was earned by the women’s volleyball team during the 1969-1970 season, where they went into the Western Canada Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship as an underdog.

Despite a strong season, the Dinosaurs (which they were called until 1999) were up against the four-time defending champion University of Manitoba, which didn’t seem to faze them as they split the first two sets before capturing the title with a 15-7 final-game victory. 

Off to University of Waterloo for nationals, the Dinnies (as the Dinos were called for short back then) lost their first set against the hosts before winning the next two. The Andrea Borys-coached squad swept Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto before beating Toronto again with three straight wins in a best-of-five playdown.

6. First patent

As UCalgary’s footprint grew, so did its entrepreneurial spirit.

In 1980, the first United States patent was filed by a group of researchers including Drs. Jack E. Gillott, Ian J. Jordaan, Robert E. Loov and Nigel G. Shrive.

Their invention, “Sulphur Concretes, Mortars and The Like,” showcased how a new mixture of sulphur and minerals displayed improved flexibility and pliability in concretes and mortars. 

The new product was also useful in the creation of curbs, gutters, pipes and coatings.