Frank Read was born on March 1, 1911. In the early 1930s, he became an accomplished oarsman with the Vancouver Rowing Club. He went into the hotel industry after a back injury suffered while playing football ended his rowing career. In late 1949, Read agreed to coach the University of British Columbia rowing team, which, at the same time, began a formal cooperation with the Vancouver Rowing Club. In recognition of both institutions, it was decided to call these new members "VRC/UBC" oarsmen. Despite minimal resources for the UBC's fledging rowing program, Read focussed on the importance of training and conditioning and instilling in his athlete's dedication to the sport.
Competing against other top Canadian teams to represent the country at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the Toronto Argonauts club beat the UBC team. Read's intensive training program soon produced results. His eight-oared crew represented Canada two years later at Vancouver's 1954 British Empire Games. There the team won Canada's first-ever gold medal for the eights. The Duke of Edinburgh invited the group to compete against the world's best at the Henley Regatta in England; the students scored an upset victory over the world champion Russians in the semi-finals. They finished second to the U.S. team in the finals. In 1956 Read led his rowing teams to the Melbourne Olympics, where the coxless four won a gold medal, and the eights came a very close second to capture a silver medal. These were the first Olympic medals won by Canada in rowing.
After a brief retirement (1957-60), Read returned to coach the rowing team at the 1960 Rome Olympics. That year, his eights finished second, earning Canada's only medal at the games. Following the Olympics, Read once again retired, bringing to a close an essential era in this country's rowing history.
Read was also a mentor to those who followed him as rowing coaches. During his first retirement, John Warren coached the UBC team, representing Canada at the 1958 Empire Games in Cardiff, Wales, winning a gold and two silver medals (in the eights, fours, and coxless fours, respectively). Wayne Pretty and Glen Mervyn were on the coaching staff for Canada's rowing teams at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo (resulting in one gold medal in pairs) and the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
John Carver, in The Vancouver Rowing Club: A History, 1886-1980, offered the following assessment of Frank Read's accomplishments:
"It was starting with almost nothing, operating on the most meagre budgets. He took his crews to the top international competition and, incidentally, put himself among the top rowing coaches in the world. He had the drive and the patience to stand the rugged twice daily grind in all kinds of weather; he demanded discipline and condition and got them, and he had the knowledge and knew how to impart it to his crews. He will say to himself that the horses in the boats win races, and of course, he is right. However, no sport demands more coaching than crew rowing, and Read supplied it beyond measure." Frank Read died in Vancouver in 1994.

Lorne Brown was born in Belleville, Ontario, in 1908 but later moved with his family to Vancouver. He taught physical education at Kitsilano High School (1930-40). He worked in YMCA recreation services for the RCAF during World War II. Brown was Superintendent of Physical Education for the provincial Department of Education (1944-46) and served as Director of Health and Physical Education at the Provincial Normal School in Vancouver (1946-55). He earned his BPE (1952) and MA (1954) in Physical Education from Oregon. He joined the faculty of Education in UBC when the Faculty of Education opened that year, holding an associate professor position until his retirement in 1973. Brown served one term on Vancouver's Parks and Recreation Board (1967-68). His long-time enthusiasm for camping began at the YMCA's Camp Elphinstone, beginning in 1925 until he left in 1950 as the camp's co-director. Brown served as president of the BC Camping Association, The Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and the Council of Outdoor Educators. He and his wife, May Brown, ran Camp Deka, a private boys' camp on Deka Lake near 100-Mile House in the Cariboo, from 1961 until he died in 1976.

J.G. Brown was born in Lakefield, Ontario and received his university and theological education in Toronto. After a few years in pastoral work in Ontario, he came to British Columbia and ministered in several congregations. Later, he was appointed to the Principalship of Ryerson Theological College. When, in 1927, Ryerson College and Westminster Hall were merged, he became the first Principal of Union College of British Columbia, affiliated with UBC. Under his administration, the main Union College buildings on campus were erected. He successfully faced the difficult task of guiding the College through the Depression and then World War II. After his retirement in 1948, he lived for three years in Oxford, England, until his return to British Columbia, where he assumed the pastorate of the Church of Our Lord in Victoria.

Provincial legislation passed in November 1973 gave rise to the British Columbia Medical Centre (BCMC). The legislation established a network of hospitals and related health facilities to provide patient care services, health science teaching, and related medical research. BCMC integrated the resources of numerous institutions, including Vancouver General Hospital, UBC Health Science Centre, G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre, Children's Hospital, B.C. Cancer Institute, St. Paul's Hospital, and Shaughnessy Hospital. The creation of BCMC would have involved a massive expansion of the Shaughnessy Hospital, which generated a great deal of public controversy. As a result, the provincial government disbanded BCMC in 1976 in light of the high cost.

The UBC Department of English was established in 1915 within the Faculty of Arts, one of the University's first academic departments. Over the years, various Department staff members have been prominent within the University community and nationally and internationally, including Earle Birney, Roy Daniells, Jane Rule, Garnett G. Sedgewick, Frederic Wood, and George Woodcock. Researchers can find a history of the Department and prominent staff members during the 20th century on the Department of English website. The UBC English Department is unique in Canada. It offers two tiers of English Literature, English Language, and Linguistics programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Courses include the following focuses: national, transnational, postcolonial, transpacific, Indigenous literature, language, linguistics, rhetoric, critical theory, and media studies in Medieval, Early Modern, Eighteenth Century, Romantic, Victorian, Modernist, Postmodern, and Contemporary contexts. In addition, English department faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students lead in several multidisciplinary research programs, including First Nations and Indigenous Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, Studies in Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice, Law and Society, Media Studies, Canadian Studies, and Medieval Studies.

The Faculty of Arts was one of the three original faculties of the University of British Columbia. Renamed the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1922, it administered all departments and programmes in the natural, physical and social sciences, humanities, and creative arts. By 1962 the Faculty had about half of the University's total enrolment and was responsible for three-quarters of academic instruction. The resulting administrative complexities led to its division in 1963 into the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science. The reduced Faculty of Arts included the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology, Asian Studies, Classics, Economics and Political Science (split in 1964), English, Fine Arts, Geography, German (renamed Germanic Studies in 1976), History, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Romance Studies, and Slavonic Studies, plus the Schools of Home Economics (renamed Family and Nutritional Sciences in 1984), Librarianship (renamed Library, Archival and Information Studies in 1985), and Social Work.
Since 1963 the Faculty has added the Departments of Religious Studies (1965), Creative Writing (1965), Theatre (1965, renamed Theatre and Film in 1991), and Linguistics (1969). Romance Studies was split into the Departments of French and Hispanic and Italian Studies in 1967. The School of Music was formed in 1987. Since 1990, Slavonic Studies has been disbanded. Family and Nutritional Sciences has been transferred to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, and departmental mergers (forced in part by financial constraints) have created the Departments of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, and Theatre, Film and Creative Writing. The Faculty of Arts continues to provide instruction and facilitate research in the humanities, social sciences, and creative arts.

The UBC Department of Economics, Sociology and Political Science was established in 1915 within the Faculty of Arts. However, there were no officers and staff in the department at that time. Instead, three courses in economics were offered by Samuel Mack Eastman, assistant professor of the Department of History. Theodore H. Boggs became the first professor of economics in 1917 and head of the department in 1920 when Henry F. Angus joined him. In 1931, Angus succeeded Boggs, and he served as a head until 1956.
Meanwhile, the department name was changed to the Department of Economics, Political Science, Commerce, and Sociology in 1934. Five years later, the Department of Commerce was created. The department was then renamed the Department of Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. A program leading to a master's degree in economics was offered in 1926, and a doctoral program was instituted in 1962. The Department of Economics and Political Science was divided into separate units; the Department of Economics and the Department of Political Science in 1964. The Department of Economics belongs to the Faculty of Arts that administers all departments and programmes in the humanities, social sciences, and creative arts. The department is responsible for teaching, research, and service to the university, profession, and community economics. Other heads of the department have been John J. Deutsch (1956-1959), Joseph A. Crumb (1959-1960), John H. Young (1960-1966), Anthony D. Scott (1966-1969), A. Milton Moore (1969-1973), Ronald A. Shearer (1973-1977), John G. Cragg (1977-1986), Samuel P. S. Ho (1986-1990), John F. Helliwell (1990-1993), William C. Riddell (1993-1997), Ashok Kotwal (1997-2002), and Angela Redish (2002- ).

The Bursar's Office was the University of British Columbia's administration unit responsible for financial affairs between 1915 and 1984. The Bursar, who acted as a chief financial officer for the University, implemented the Board of Governors' fiscal policies. In addition, the office encompassed the following areas of responsibility: treasury, internal audit and control, consultative or financial management, and the implementation of technological developments such as data processing and computerization. The position of Bursar dates back to the University's first opening in 1915. However, the position was known as Business Agent for the first two years of operation.
Relatively few individuals have served as Bursar at UBC. Fred Dallas held the position of Bursar for twenty years until his retirement in 1935. His successor, Angus MacLucas, was Bursar until 1948. He was succeeded by R.M. Bagshaw, who held the position for three years. E.D. MacPhee was appointed Honorary Bursar in 1951 and oversaw the operation of the office until 1963. William White became UBC's last Bursar, finishing his term in 1969. After that, the position of the Bursar was discontinued, although the Office of the Bursar continued to control the University's financial matters until 1984, when it was superseded by the Office of the Vice-President Finance (now V.P. Administration and Finance).

Leonard M. Staley received a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia in 1951. Upon completing his M.Sc. at the University of California, he taught agricultural engineering at the Ontario Agricultural College. Staley returned to UBC as an assistant professor of Agricultural Mechanics in 1956. In 1981, he became head of both the Department of Bio-Resource Engineering and Agricultural Mechanics.

Herbert Read Christie was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. He graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1908 and the Faculty of Forestry in 1913. Christie became the first member and director of the UBC Department of Forestry from 1921-1933.

Goodall was born in Wells, Somerset, in 1909. In the early 1930s, he visited Canada. Goodall returned in 1935, first to Vancouver, then Alberta, before getting married and settling in Victoria as a commercial artist. He wrote to the Illustrated London News (ILN) asking if they wanted any British Columbia events covered. His grandfather had done illustrations for the ILN of the Crimean War. His first assignment was the aluminum smelter at Kitimat, followed by sketches of famous Canadian universities and schools. Later he was invited to cover Royal Canadian Navy exercises to San Francisco, Southern California and the Hawaiian Islands. He has done watercolours for one of the biggest greeting card firms in North America, as well as other commissions. In March 1947, The Graduate Chronicle featured a University Library sketch by "Ted" Goodall. The Chronicle had commissioned this sketch. Readers were invited to purchase 8 x 5-inch prints from the UBC Alumni Association (March 1947, cover and page 9).

The Museum of Anthropology was established in 1949 as a department within the Faculty of Arts at UBC. In 1976, it moved to its current location, designed by architect Arthur Erickson and the grounds landscaped by Cornelia Oberlander.

The Women's Club of the University of British Columbia was founded in 1917 in response to a request from the Board of Governors "that the wives of faculty members be asked to supervise possible rooming houses for women students about to enter the university." In 1925 the Club's name changed to the Faculty Women's Club. Membership included both faculty wives and women members of faculty. Its official purposes were, and are, to promote social activities and other interests among its many members and provide financial support and further assistance to students as the Club's resources may permit. Early Club meetings were held in members' homes; later sessions were in Brock Hall. Social activities included entertainment for Club members and their spouses at dinners, dances, and teas, and lunches for the students. Club meetings regularly include speakers and musical programs. Student financial assistance is provided through scholarships and bursaries. The Anne Wesbrook Scholarship Fund, founded in 1919, awards $500 (formerly $100) to any student (preferably a woman) for post-graduate work at any university. From 1934 to 1967, the Faculty Women's Club bursary was awarded annually until funds were diverted to the Dean of Women's emergency fund for female students. The Jubilee Fund, established in 1970, provides financial aid to mature female students. From the beginning, the work of the Club has been primarily carried out by committees. Membership expanded after World War II. Since then, many interests and hobby groups have been formed; they also play an essential role, significantly since membership jumped again during the 1960s. In 1967 the Club obtained permanent quarters in the basement of Cecil Green Park House, and in 1992 celebrated its 75th anniversary.

Before establishing the University of British Columbia Archives in 1970, the UBC Library began to collect copies of faculty publications. Although not necessarily comprehensive, the collection of material grew over time. The Library periodically sent out notices to faculty members inviting them to deposit copies of off-prints and articles. The University Archives continued to collect this material until the practice was discontinued in 1990.

The Department of Mathematics existed as part of McGill University before UBC's founding in 1908. The mathematics professor George E. Robinson, acting principal and Dean of Arts for McGill University College of British Columbia, became head of mathematics at the new University of British Columbia. Housed initially at Point Grey in the Mathematics Building and Annex (built 1924-25), the Department of Mathematics was among UBC's first departments. Initially, the Department was part of the Faculty of Arts. However, in 1922/23, the Faculty of Arts has renamed the Arts and Science. In 1963 the Department joined the newly formed Faculty of Science.
UBC has long been known as home to one of the top mathematics programs in Canada. In 1972, in partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Department founded the Institute for Applied Mathematics (IAM). This partnership developed out of a need to provide applied mathematics students with the opportunity to embrace an interdisciplinary approach and study mathematics in other departments. In addition, the Department is an active participant in the broader mathematics community. Since 1979 it has run the Euclid Contest for British Columbia and several other outreach programs geared at broadening mathematics education across various communities.

The WCAC was established in 1946 when the art galleries in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg organized to bring exhibitions from eastern Canada and the U.S., sharing the costs involved. Gradually, other exhibiting centres joined this cooperative organization. The Circuit was re-organized in 1958. A Co-ordinating Committee was established, consisting of one representative from each of the four western provinces, and June Binkert was hired as the Executive Secretary to manage the day-to-day running of the WCAC. In 1969, in response to the growing need for art educational services rather than the coordination of exhibits, the WCAC was replaced by the Western Canada Art Association.

In 1918, Wilfrid Sadler became the first appointment to UBC's newly created Department of Dairying in the Faculty of Agriculture. Besides his teaching activities, he was involved in bacterial research and contributed to public health and technical journals relating to dairying science. In 1922, Sadler became head of the department and served in this capacity until he died in 1933.

Chantal Petitclerc is a Canadian Wheelchair Racer who has won 21 Paralympic medals, 14 of them gold. After her performance at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, she was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian Athlete of the Year. In addition, she was a flag bearer for the Canadian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 2009, she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In March 2016, Petitclerc was named to the Canadian Senate by prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Kevin Kim Wang Chong was born in Hong Kong in 1975 and moved with his family in 1977 to Vancouver, where he was raised. He attended Vancouver College and Prince of Wales High School's mini-school programme. After high school, Chong studied at the University of British Columbia, receiving a BA in English and creative writing in 1997. Chong then went to Columbia University in New York, where he received an MFA in fiction writing in 2000. His master's thesis was published in 2001 as his first novel, Baroque-a-Nova. As of 2016, he is the author of five books (Baroque-A-Nova, Neil Young Nation, Beauty Plus Pity, My Year of the Racehorse, and Northern Dancer), numerous short works (fiction and non-fiction), and several stage and broadcast works. His work has appeared in a range of publications, including Taddle Creek, Chatelaine, Maclean's, Maisonneuve, Vancouver Magazine, the Vancouver Sun, and The Walrus, and on CBC Radio. He is also a former co-editor of Joyland Magazine. He served on the Vancouver Public Library's Board of Trustees in 2003-04 and formerly played guitar in a band called The Redenbachers. Chong also teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and SFU's The Writer's Studio.

Land and Building Services is responsible for engineering and grounds and building maintenance. These functions were initially the responsibility of the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, first established in 1943 within the Bursar's Office, and later the Dean of Administrative and Financial Services. This position was subsumed into the Office of Physical Plant in 1967. In the 1980s Physical Plant was re-organized into two departments, Plant Operations (1989-1997) and Physical Design and Construction. In 1988 Physical Design and Construction merged with Facilities Planning to form Campus Planning and Development (later renamed Campus and Community Planning). Plant Operations continued as a separate department until 1998 when it was subsumed within Land and Building Services under the direction of Associate Vice-President Geoff Atkins. During the next ten years, UBC's sustainability and community planning initiatives and its traditional plant operations and utility management were directed from within the Land and Building Services framework. In 2009 these responsibilities were re-organized and dispersed. Atkins was placed in charge of the University's sustainability initiatives within Campus and Community Planning. Plant operations and utility management were placed within Building Operations under Managing Director David Woodson, established within the Vice-President Finance, Resources and Operations portfolio under Pierre Ouillet.

Dorothy “Dot” Beatrice Osborne (née McRae) was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. After graduating from Prince of Wales High School, she received a teaching certificate from Vancouver Normal School (1934) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from UBC (1935). In 1936 she was elected Vice President of the Alumni Association. She was a lifelong member of the Delta Gamma Fraternity, joining in 1932. In 1946 she became a member of the PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Sisterhood.
The Graduating class of 1935 first met for a formal reunion in 1955 for the twentieth anniversary of their graduation. The class had elected a “permanent class executive,” which planned many of the events. The reunion included graduates in arts, science, and agriculture. From 1955 through 1995, the class met every five years. Events were typically held during Homecoming in the fall, but the 55th reunion was held in July.
In 1985 the class established an endowment for The Graduating Class of 1935 Scholarship, which is awarded to a student with outstanding academic achievement with preference given to a student demonstrating financial need.

Originally from Victoria, B.C., Muriel Grant attended UBC from 1916 to 1919, graduating with a B.A. She was active in the Musical Society and the Women's Literary Society. During her time at the University, she compiled a scrapbook documenting her interests and prominent campus events.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation resulted from a call by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in January 1989 for Asian-Pacific economies to consult on how they could effectively cooperate and increase trade and investment flows. Australia's motive was to create an Asia-Pacific economic identity, of which it would be an integral part. Japan endorsed the Australian proposal and became the second driving force in the creation of APEC. The first APEC meeting of trade and foreign ministers took place in Canberra in November 1989 (with twelve attendees: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the U.S.).
A summit or Leaders Meeting has become an annual event since President Clinton invited leaders to Blake Island in 1993. The first APEC Leaders Meeting was held in Seattle in November 1993. This first Leaders Meeting of economies represented half the world's population and 56% of its GNP. A year later, all APEC leaders met at Bogor, Indonesia. At that meeting, the Leaders resolved to move to free trade and investment by 2010 for industrialized member economies and by 2020 for developing member economies. The 1995 meetings were in Osaka, Japan, where the Osaka Action Agenda was agreed to, setting a template for future APEC work towards common goals. The Philippines convened the APEC Leaders Meeting in 1996 at Subic Bay. Finally, the Leaders Meeting was held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1997 at the Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus.
The following countries are members of APEC as of 1999: Australia, Brunei, Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.
APEC has two standing committees, ten working groups, and a few other forums that report to the Senior Officials Meeting. The two committees are the Committee for Trade and Investment (CTI) and the Economic Committee (EC). The CTI deals with trade and investment liberalization and business facilitation concerns. The role of the EC continues to evolve. It is primarily responsible for providing the Senior Officials Meeting with information and analysis on broad, cross-cutting issues which are not easily handled by one of the working groups.
The ten working groups are Trade and Investment Data, Trade Promotion, Investment and Industrial Science and Technology, Human Resource Development, Energy, Marine Resource Conservation, Telecommunications, Fisheries, Transportation, and Tourism.

In 1987 and 1988, the University of British Columbia students in Diane Newell's History 303 course ("The Canadian West") conducted a series of oral interviews with former Britannia Beach residents. The interviews were designed to provide students with a first-hand understanding of life in a mining community; this project was conducted in cooperation with the British Columbia Mining Museum. As a result, this collection provides valuable insights into the history of the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company and its impact on the community.

Education Minister Pat McGeer established the Committee on Continuing and Community Education in British Columbia in 1976 to study adult and community education around the province and make recommendations on funding, administration, and programming. Chaired by Ron Faris of the Ministry of Education, it became known as the "Faris Committee." Gordon Selman joined the UBC Department of University Extension in 1954 and served as associate director from 1960 to 1965. After serving two years as executive assistant to University President John B. Macdonald, Selman returned to Extension to serve as director from 1967 to 1974 - he then transferred to the Faculty of Education to teach adult education. In 1976 he served on the Faris Committee.

The British Columbia Forecasting Committee was formed by the Academic Board. Its goal was to create post-secondary enrollment forecasts.

The Biological Board of Canada was established in 1912. It evolved from a management board in 1898 that established a biological station on the Atlantic Coast. During the 1920s, the Biological Board of Canada hired full-time employees and opened laboratories concerned with fishing and food processing. By 1937 the Biological Board of Canada became the Fisheries Research Board.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is a "non-partisan, autonomous and charitable society" whose mandate is to "preserve, defend, maintain and extend civil liberties and human rights in British Columbia and across Canada." On November 25, 1997, approximately 1,500 protesters came to the University of British Columbia campus to voice their opposition to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit. Protesters were concerned that APEC discussions aimed at liberalizing trade between the participating countries would not reference human rights and social and environmental issues. In particular, the protesters demonstrated against President Jiang Zemin of China and President Suharto of Indonesia. Several anti-APEC organizers, including Jaggi Singh, were detained or arrested in the days leading up to the protest. Following a series of peaceful demonstrations on the morning of November 25, protesters clashed with police in the afternoon. At the Rose Garden plaza, protesters broke through a police barricade and were pepper-sprayed by the police. The protesters then spread out in hopes of being seen by APEC delegates. At one of the roadblocks on N.W. Marine Drive, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart warned protesters that officers would use whatever force necessary if they did not clear the area. Shortly after that, officers moved in to the crowd with pepper spray. Differing versions of events, both before, during, and after the protest, led to the initiation of various legal actions. Serious charges were levelled at the RCMP for their handling of the event and their alleged role in suppressing free speech and other civil liberties.
Allegations of political interference by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) into the actions of the RCMP were also made. The APEC Inquiry was launched by the RCMP's Public Complaints Commission (PCC) on February 20, 1998, and formal hearings commenced on October 5, 1998. Following additional allegations of renewed political interference, the hearings ended abruptly with the resignation of the Inquiry's Chief Commissioner, Gerald Morin, on December 4, 1998. The second round of hearings under the direction of Ted Hughes began on march 23, 1999, and concluded on June 30, 2000. The PCCs interim report was released on July 31, 2001, and its final report appeared on March 25, 2002. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, through its president, Kay Stockholder, filed a complaint with the RCMP PCC. Although the BCCLA took no position on the merits of the various protestors views, the Association was the first to call for public hearings into the events at the APEC summit, and, as President of the BCCLA, Stockholder was the complainant before the PCC until replaced in 1998 by incoming president Andrew D. Irvine.

Alden Forest Barss was born in New York State in 1888. He received a B.A. from the University of Rochester, a B.Sc. in agriculture from Cornell University, a Master's degree in horticulture from Oregon State College, and a Ph.D. from Chicago. Barss joined UBC's Department of Horticulture in 1918, eventually succeeding Dean F.M. Clement as Department head in 1940. He served in this position until his retirement in 1953. Barss also served as a member of the UBC Senate from 1924 to 1930 and was involved with the Inter-Fraternity Council. In addition, he was a member of many professional and scientific societies, and he gave several radio presentations on agricultural issues. Barss was an active member of St. Helen's Anglican Church in Vancouver. He also served from 1927 to 1971 on the Anglican Theological College of B.C. (later part of the Vancouver School of Theology), including twenty-five years as its secretary.

June Binkert (née Barnish) was born in England and emigrated to Canada to work with B.C. Binning, head of the UBC Fine Arts Department. She was married to the sculptor Paul Binkert. June Binkert has been credited with developing the UBC Department of Fine Arts alongside Binning.

Born the brother of musician Harry Adaskin, Gordon was adopted by Harry and his wife Frances at the age of five, after his father's death. Although Gordon's birth mother, Rifle, was still alive, she allowed the Adaskins to adopt Gordon, following the elder Adaskin's dying wish. Gordon moved to Vancouver in 1946 and attended University Hill Junior School. However, he would forego his final year at University Hill to attend the Vancouver Art School. Subsequently, Gordon toured Europe, paying particular attention to the museums and galleries of Italy. Returning to Canada, Adaskin went to the Alberta College of Art and taught at the University of Manitoba in the Faculty of Architecture. He remained there for over twenty-five years. His artwork was regularly exhibited at the university and in touring shows, two of which visited Vancouver, the home of his parents.
Adaskin, a visual artist, was also an interviewer and commentator on art and artists. He interviewed many of the leading Canadian artists of the mid-twentieth century, including B.C. Binning and Jack Shadbolt. In the early 1990s, Gordon moved to Gibsons, British Columbia and married Jan Busch, his second wife, in April 1997. Gordon Adaskin died in December 2001.

Harry Adaskin was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1901 and later emigrated with his family to Toronto. As a child, he learned to play the violin, and at the age of twelve, he entered the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1923 he and three colleagues formed the Hart House String Quartet, in which Adaskin played the second violin. Sponsored by Vincent and Alice Massey, it was the first Canadian musical quartet to make an international reputation. The quartet made many concert tours of North America and Europe, and in 1928 played at Maurice Ravel's New York debut. In 1938 he resigned from the quartet, and as a freelance musician, combined musical performance with a broadcasting career. His wife, pianist Frances Marr Adaskin, undertook several concert tours throughout Canada and the United States. For several seasons in the 1940s, Adaskin was an intermission commentator for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's Sunday afternoon concerts, heard throughout Canada. He also hosted several CBC Radio programmes, including Musically Speaking and, later, Tuesday Night. In 1946, he became head of the new Department of Music at UBC, which he held until 1958. He continued as a professor until his retirement in 1973. His circle of friends and acquaintances included Emily Carr, members of the "Group of Seven," Vincent Massey, Frank Lloyd Wright, and other prominent artists. Adaskin received the Order of Canada in 1974 and honorary doctorates from Simon Fraser University in 1979, and UBC in 1980. He died in 1994.

D.C. (Donald) McKechnie graduated from UBC in 1920 in Mining Engineering. During the summer of 1919, he worked at Britannia Mines and explored the Bridge River country. After he graduated, McKechnie worked as a mining engineer for 45 years, first in the Kootenays; journeyed by dog-sled from Alaska to Hudson Bay; and took journeys to Africa, South America and Jamaica. He died on February 16, 1992.

John A.E. Parnall completed his B.A. (1935) and B.Ed (1949) at the University of British Columbia and an M.A. at Toronto. After serving as Associate Registrar and lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, Parnall became Registrar at UBC in 1957 and held that position until 1980.