The University of British Columbia's seventh president Douglas Timothy Kenny was born in Victoria, B.C., in 1924 and educated at Victoria College and UBC. He received his BA (1945) and MA (1947) from UBC and his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1952. Kenny began his teaching career at UBC as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology in 1950 and rose through the ranks, becoming a full professor in 1964. His academic interests were in teaching and research in personality and learning, developmental psychology and patterns of child development. Kenny became head of the Department of Psychology in 1965 and served in this capacity until he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1970. As head of Psychology, he laid the foundations which enabled that department to achieve its present distinction as one of the premier psychology departments in Canada. As Dean of Arts from 1970 to 1975, he led the Faculty with skill and excellence through a period that saw many challenges to the academic environment of universities in North America. In 1975 Kenny was named as UBC President. His commitment to excellence and devotion to the betterment of this University, its students, its Faculty and its staff were first and foremost in his administration goals. Under his leadership, a wide range of new academic programs and physical facilities were approved for development by the Senate. These accomplishments under his Presidency added significantly to the reputation of UBC as a University that was recognized and respected throughout the world. After stepping down as president in 1983, Kenny returned to the Department of Psychology, where he remained until his retirement in 1988. He died in 1996 at the age of 72. President Kenny was a strong advocate for the cause of higher education in Canada. He played an essential role in advancing scholarship and learning as a member of the Governing Board of the Canada Council (1975-78) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (1978-83). The Senate recognized his contributions to higher education and his Alma Mater with an honorary degree in 1983. In 1984 the Senate also designated the newly constructed facility that houses the Department of Psychology on West Mall, the Douglas T. Kenny Building.

In 1919 the University of British Columbia instituted the first-degree course in nursing in the British Empire. The original aim of the program was "to provide a liberal education for the student nurse and equip her to meet all professional demands, especially those in the Public Health field and for executive posts." Ethel Johns was selected for the dual role of coordinator of the University program and Director of Nursing at Vancouver General Hospital. In 1924 the Departments of Nursing and Public Health were merged to form the Department of Nursing and Health in the Faculty of Applied Science. Mabel Gray was appointed department head the following year, succeeded by Evelyn Mallory in 1944. In 1951 the program was reorganized as the School of Nursing, with Evelyn Mallory as Director. From its beginnings, the School has evolved and expanded. For example, in 1991, it offered baccalaureate programs leading to the BSN for high-school graduates and registered nurses, a master's program leading to the MSN, and non-credit courses in continuing nursing education. Since 1951, the School's Directors have been Evelyn Mallory (1951-67), Elizabeth McCann (1967-71), Muriel Uprichard (1971-76), MarilynWillman (1977-93), Katharyn May (1994-2000), and Sally Thorne (2002-10).

William Ronald Frank Seal was born in Nelson, BC, on April 7, 1914. He attended high school in Nelson and was awarded a bursary from the Rotary Club to attend Victoria Normal School on Vancouver Island. In 1932 he began teaching in a one-room school at Mirror Lake. He married Olivia Dickson in 1934, and they had a son, Michael, in 1937 and a daughter, Helen, in 1939. He taught in small schools in Shutty Bench, Silverton, Gibsons and Prince Rupert. In 1943 Seal took a job with Boeing Aircraft on Sea Island. He joined the Canadian Navy in 1944 and was discharged in 1945. The Vancouver School Board then hired him, and in 1957 began training Industrial Arts teachers. In 1958 he was appointed to the Faculty of Education at UBC as a senior instructor, later becoming chairman of the Industrial Education Division. The Division eventually grew to nine faculty; a facility was built on Willingdon Avenue in Burnaby, becoming a UBC degree‐granting program. Seal retired in 1979 – after retirement, he continued with his first love, boat building, and became active in community affairs. His wife Olivia died in 2000, so in 2005 he moved to North Vancouver to live with his daughter.

Walter Leek Sr. was the senior engineer and head of Leek and Co. Limited, an engineering firm founded in 1808 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England and later re-established in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The company was known for prefabricated piping and was made up of heating and power plant engineers and contractors. In addition to drawing the engineering plans for many of the original buildings at the University of British Columbia, Leek also served as President of the Vancouver Exhibition Association and the Pacific National Exhibition for many years. As a result of his work in these positions, he was made Chief Sookalmgett ("Clear Skies") of the Ktunaxa Nation in 1927.

The information on the following biographical sketch is taken from an article researched and written by UBC Athletics Historian Fred Hume, which is available with the Bob Hindmarch Collection.
Robert "Bob" Hindmarch (1930-2021) was born in Nanaimo. His presence at UBC spanned over fifty years. As a student, Hindmarch was one of the top scorers with UBC's senior basketball team. An all-around athlete, he also played baseball and football. After the 1952-53 season, he was awarded UBC's Bobby Gaul Award for UBC's outstanding athlete in performance, leadership and sportsmanship.
Hindmarch graduated from UBC with a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education in 1953. He completed his Master of Science degree at Oregon University and later his Ph.D. and was appointed full professor of Physical Education at UBC in 1974. In addition, Hindmarch was appointed General Manager and Assistant Coach of the Olympic Hockey team for the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics. After working with national hockey coach Fr. David Bauer, Hindmarch returned to coach the Thunderbirds for twelve seasons.
He later served as Director of Athletics at UBC from 1980-1992. He also served as vice-president of the Olympic Association for sixteen years. In addition, he was Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the 1984 Winter Olympics. His accomplishments were acknowledged when he was inducted into the Canadian Olympics and the British Columbia Hall of Fame. In addition, he received both the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

At Home in the Universe: The Life and Times of William Shatner is a documentary created for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s biographical series, Life and Times, which was produced by Harvey McKinnon Productions, with Harvey McKinnon as Executive Producer and Writer, Lynn Booth as Producer and Michael Tobias as Director. First broadcast in November 1999, this short film (44 minutes) is a biographical treatment of actor William Shatner that highlights significant events in his life, focusing on his career and his love for nature and children.
Harvey McKinnon of Harvey McKinnon Productions is an inspirational speaker and trainer and has raised significant funds for various non-profit organizations. He has worked as a radio columnist for CBC Radio and published in numerous Canadian newspapers. McKinnon has produced or written several award-winning documentaries, including Side by Side: Women Against Aids, The Nature of David Suzuki and The Black Sea in Crisis.

The Vancouver Women’s Network was established in October 1979 as part of the Women in Management and Career Development Programme at the UBC Centre for Continuing Education. It was founded by program director Eileen Hendry as an opportunity for women professionals, often isolated in their places of work, to plug into a support system to promote information and idea exchange, feedback, referrals, guidance, role models and mentors. At its monthly meetings, the Network held discussions and invited speakers on such issues as sexual harassment and discrimination, wrongful dismissal, affirmative action, and inequity of wages in the workplace. The organization was re-organized as a separate non-profit society in 1983 and re-named the Westcoast Women’s Network. The Network has evolved to become more focused on the issues particular to career-oriented women, but it retains its original purpose to promote “women helping women.”

Dianne Longson enjoyed a close connection with UBC for over four decades as an employee or student. In the mid-1970s, she worked in accounting at the Dean's Office and later at the Faculty of Education. In the 1980s, Longson obtained an Arts degree (English Literature) at UBC. In the 1990s, she returned to campus as an Administrative Assistant to the vice-president of Finance and Administration. When the vice-president retired, she moved to the Treasury Department and remained there until her retirement in 2008.

During her long affiliation with the University, Longson developed a deep appreciation for the Point Grey campus's beauty. She spent considerable time recording the details of the unique natural features and buildings in the various seasons through photography. Longson took considerable time honing her photographic skills, taking photojournalism courses at Langara University fine art photography during her undergraduate degree at UBC. She attended many seminars, fine art classes and workshops. Longson's work has been exhibited on and off-campus.

Ethel Margaret Futers Fulton was born in Birtle, Manitoba, in 1922. Fulton taught in high schools in Manitoba and Ontario from 1942 to 1953. And later, she completed a BA at the University of Manitoba in 1955. She completed an MA at UBC in 1960 and a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1969.
Dr. Margaret Fulton was appointed Dean of Women in 1974, following Dean Emerita Helen McCrae, until 1978, when the position was eliminated. Fulton also taught in the Faculty of Education at UBC. She then served as the President of Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax from 1978-1986. From 1986-1996 she was an Adjunct Professor at UBC.
Fulton has been active in numerous organizations and causes, including education, women’s studies, and rights for the elderly. She was Vice-Chair of the Woman’s World Summit Foundation, Geneva, an NGO committed to furthering education, health, and equality for rural women. She holds 15 honorary degrees and has been recognized for her work with a Governor General’s Award and the Order of Canada. Fulton was also the subject of a documentary film, A Round Peg and a book biography by Dr. James Doyle, Transformations: The Life of Margaret Fulton, Canadian Feminist, Educator, and Social Activist. Fulton retired to Salt Spring Island.

John Allan Jones earned an applied science degree in civil engineering from UBC in 1929. While a student at UBC, he was involved in numerous social and athletic activities, including starring on both the varsity and engineering intramural rugby squads (breaking his nose twice), serving as an assistant trainer for the varsity soccer team, and serving as secretary of his graduating class. He later married Gertrude Hillas (Arts '28). Jones worked on the Burrard Street Bridge project in the 1930s. He was chief engineer for the RCAF defence and construction programme during World War II and was later an engineer to construct the DEW Line in northern Canada. He was involved with numerous other construction projects, retiring project manager to build an addition to the Bank of Canada in Ottawa. He died in December 1980 in Ottawa.

David William Strangway was born in Angola in 1934 to Missionary parents and later moved to Canada. He studied a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Toronto. NASA recruited him to work on lunar samples and later became head of the NASA geophysics department. Strangway also taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and U of T. In 1983; he became President of the University of Toronto. From 1985 to 1997, Strangway served as the tenth President of UBC. After leaving UBC, in 1998 he became the President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation and is the Founder and President of Quest University Canada in Squamish, BC.

Anthony George Bulhak was born in Poland in 1898, where he was studied drawing, painting, and photography. One of his teachers was his cousin, the noted Polish photographer Jan Bulhak. During the First World War, he served with the Russian Army, first as an artilleryman, then as a radio operator, and finally, as a cavalry officer where he was wounded. After his recovery and after the war, Bulhak studied political science and agricultural economy at the University of Warsaw. A 1927 visit with his cousin Jan Bulhak at the University of Vilno re-kindled his interest in photography. Unfortunately, he and his wife were forced to flee Poland during the Second World War when Germany invaded. They escaped to Lithuania, then journeyed across the Soviet Union to Japan, where they waited three months to board a ship to Canada, arriving in Vancouver on Christmas Eve 1940. To learn English, Bulhak enrolled at UBC and took a laboratory job with the Department of Agronomy. Two years later, he took a position with a company that manufactured precision instruments for the Navy. During this period, he developed his artistic photography skills and occasionally displayed his work at exhibitions. His book UBC Panorama featuring his photographs and sketches, was published with the support of the University in 1945. He also continued as a student at UBC, graduating with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1947. Bulhak also chaired the UBC Art and Culture Centre, based at “The Gables” in University Village, which sponsored art exhibitions at the Campus Corner Café. In 1950 Bulhak joined the Real Estate Department of Bell-Irving Insurance, although he continued with his artistic photography hobby. He also published the Recreational Almanac of British Columbia (1959) and gave occasional presentations on photography on campus. He died in 1977.

Ellen Jaffe is a writer and poet who grew up in the United States and eventually emigrated to Canada. She was born in New York City in 1945 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family and began writing in childhood. She received a B.A. in English from Wellesley College, studied theatre and education in New York, was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and studied psychotherapy in the United Kingdom. She moved to Canada in 1979, becoming a citizen in 1993. Living in Hamilton for many years, Jaffe moved to Toronto in 2018. She has published a young adult novel, three poetry collections, several short plays, and the non-fiction Writing Your Way: Creating a Personal Journal. She has been published widely in poetry journals and anthologies. Jaffe has also given writing workshops and organized literary festivals in Hamilton. In her workshops and her book Writing Your Way, Jaffe encourages people to write in their voices and tell their own stories – to have, in Jane Rule’s words, “a speaking presence.” The commonalities between Jaffe and Rule – that they are both writers born in the United States who later emigrated to Canada – are part of what drew them together.

Margaret McLean graduated from UBC in 1965 with a B.Sc. in Pharmacy. She was also the Faculty of Pharmacy’s candidate for Homecoming Queen in 1961. She worked as a community pharmacist after graduation. In 1980 McLean joined the B.C. College of Pharmacists, where she worked as a “quality outcomes specialist,” advising pharmacists around the province until her retirement in 2005.

In 2014 a research project was conducted by Judith Saltman of UBC’s School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, and SLAIS graduate student Bonnie Tulloch. The project was called No Man Is An Island: Examining island imagery and its relation to female identity in a selection of Canadian children’s and young adult literature. It was a literary analysis involving interviews with several award-winning British Columbia children’s book authors. Deirdre Baker, Polly Horvath, and Kit Pearson shared a common theme: writing children’s and young adult novels set in the B.C. Gulf Islands. Portions of those interviews were used to create several academic papers and presentations.

The first Frederic Wood Theatre opened on UBC's campus in a converted snack bar in 1953. The current theatre was constructed in 1963 with a fully equipped proscenium stage. It has a four hundred seat capacity.

The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service was a weekly periodical with national and international distribution. It was the official newspaper and weekly periodical of the Black Panther Party. The newspaper was founded in 1967 by Huey B. Newton and Bobby Seale and published until 1980.

The newspaper focused on Black Panther Party activities, values, and ideology; police brutality, racial oppression in the United States; political prisoners, communism, and international revolutions. From 1968 to 1971, the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service was the most widely read Black newspaper in the United States. The back of each issue features original artwork from Emory Douglas, Black Panther's Minister of Culture and artist.

UBC Library Stravinsky Collectors is a project by UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections which aims to showcase rare and unique holdings related to the composer Igor Stravinsky in the UBC Library, to complement the H. Colin Slim Stravinsky collection. Materials related to Stravinsky, including discrete items and existing vertical files, have been drawn from different UBC Library branches, donations, and acquisitions as well as from Rare Books and Special Collections. The UBC Library Stravinsky Collection was made in order to be provenancially separate but still intellectually linked to the H. Colin Slim Stravinsky Collection.

Blackstone Press was a letterpress that operated on Granville Island from 1996 to 2021. It was run by David Clifford and, starting in 2005, his daughter Yasmine Franchi.

Clifford began a six-year printing apprenticeship in London in 1951 at the age of 15. After several years in the printing industry, he moved to France in 1962 and worked at Imprimerie Meyerbeer before moving to Vancouver in 1970. Clifford worked as a graphic designer until 1996, when he founded Black Stone Press.

The press used primarily polymer type and operated a variety of vintage presses, including three Heldelberg Winmill presses, to produce their work.

Gavin Dirom attended UBC from 1927-1932. During that period, he stared on the varsity Canadian Rugby (football) team as both a defensive guard and in the offensive backfield at the halfback position. Dirom was also a key member of UBC's track and field team. In March 1931, he was elected president of the Men's Athletic Association. Dirom graduated with a degree in engineering in 1932.

Israel Michael Lerner was a geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He studied genetics at the University of California Berkeley in 1936.

John Seymour Conway was born in London, England, and studied at St John's College Cambridge. He emigrated to Canada in 1955 and taught International Relations for two years at the University of Manitoba. In 1957 he joined the Department of History at UBC and continued teaching Modern European History and International Relations until 1995. In 1998 he was appointed the Smallman Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of History at Western Ontario. His research concentrated on the role of German Churches in the 1930s and 1940s. From this research, he wrote "The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945". This book was first published in Britain in 1968, translated into German, French and Spanish, and reissued in 1997. His researches took him frequently to Germany, which he visited almost every year, including several sabbatical periods at various German universities. In 1970 he was a founding member of the Scholars' Conference on the German Church and the Holocaust. He wrote many articles dealing with the role of the European churches and the Vatican during the Holocaust and on Christian-Jewish relations during the twentieth century. He paid three visits to Israel and lectured at the Yad Vashem Memorial Foundation in Jerusalem in 1993. In 1995 he became the Director of the Association of Contemporary Church Historians and editor of its monthly newsletter, which has a worldwide audience. He was also a member of the editorial boards of Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte and the Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Conway played an active part in several associations connected with Vancouver's international relations, including being Chairman of the Vancouver Branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and the United Nations Association. For ten years, he was the executive vice-chairman of the Tibetan Refugee Aid Society of Canada. In this connection, he paid several visits to India. In 1977 he was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal for his services. He also served as a member of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster's Refugee Liaison Committee. He was long associated with the Student Christian Movement and the World University Service on the UBC campus. He acted for many years as the Faculty Advisor. He served for many years as the editor of the Newsletter of the Association of Contemporary Church Historians. He was also a faithful member of St James' Anglican Parish, Vancouver. Conway passed away on June 23, 2017.

After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1924, John Gibbard embarked on a teaching career that lasted almost thirty years at McGee High School. In 1937, he completed his Master's thesis on the history of the Fraser Valley. Gibbard obtained his Bachelor of Education in 1946 and nine years later returned to UBC to serve as a special lecturer in the Faculty of Education. He retired in 1966 but remained active in the faculty for some time.

Lyle Creelman (née Morrison) was born in Nova Scotia and earned a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Arts Degree from Columbia University. Within two years of graduating, Creelman became Director of Public Health Nursing for the City of Vancouver. Shortly after that, she became President of the Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia. For the next twenty-four years, she established national and international standards for accomplishments in the field of nursing. Some of these achievements included: Chief Medical Officer for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in the British zone of occupied Germany, where she pioneered specialized nurses training programs; Chief Nursing Officer with the World Health Organization, where she won acceptance for a philosophy of improved third world health care through adequate training of local workers; and co-author of the Ballie-Creelman Report, which was accepted for many years as the primary reference for the preparation of public health professionals in Canada. In addition, Creelman's accomplishments resulted in various forms of recognition, including the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada (1971), the Canadian Centennial Medal (1967) and Honorary Doctorate Degrees from the University of New Brunswick in 1963 and the University of British Columbia in 1992. Lyle Creelman died in Vancouver on February 27th, 2007.

A native of Ontario, Mollie Esther Cottingham grew up in Vancouver, received her BA from UBC in 1927 and, in the following year, embarked on her teaching career in the secondary schools of BC. She began teaching at Fernie in 1928 and then moved to Powell River (1935), Trail (1938) and Nelson (1940) before returning to Vancouver in 1943 to teach at Prince of Wales and John Oliver Schools. Cottingham enjoyed a keen interest in history, and while in Nelson, she conducted research that was later used to prepare her MA thesis about the West Kootenays (1947). Throughout her career, Cottingham actively participated in organizational affairs. In recognition of her service and talent, she became the first woman to hold the president's office for the BC's Teacher's Federation (1957-1958). After completing her presidential term, she joined UBC's new Faculty and College of Education, where she remained until her retirement in 1971. In 1967, Cottingham was awarded the Fergusson Memorial Award as the province's outstanding educator.