University of Manitoba History: University of Manitoba Faculty Histories

Faculty of Architecture

Architecture has been taught at the University of Manitoba as far back as 1913.  The curriculum was organized in a four-year program leading to the degree Bachelor of Architecture.  In 1920 it became a part of the newly established Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.  In 1933 a Masters of Science in Architecture was initiated.  In 1938 a three-year diploma program in interior decoration was established.  In 1945 the Departments of Architecture and Interior Decoration were granted school status as the School of Architecture and Fine Arts.  Three years later the school reorganized to become the School of Architecture with a five-year program in Architecture and a four-year program in Interior Design.  In 1949 a one-year graduate program in Community Planning, open to graduates in Architecture of Civil Engineering, was established.

The John A. Russell Building was completed in 1959, being the first building in Canada to be designed exclusively for a School of Architecture.  Architecture garnered Faculty status in 1963.  In 1966 the Senate authorized the curriculum of Architecture to include a three-year program leading to a Bachelor of Environmental Studies as prerequisite to a degree in Landscape Architecture or Architecture.  In 1970 the Master of Architecture degree was introduced; it was followed by the Master of Landscape Architecture degree two years later.

Asper School of Business

In 1937 the Department of Commerce was created within the Faculty of Arts and Science.  At the same time, the Department of Actuarial Science was created, the University’s intention being that in addition to a general business program there would be the option of specialization in the actuarial sciences.  In 1949 the Commerce Department was elevated to the rank of School.  In 1966 the Bachelor of Commerce was increased to a four-year honors degree.  The following year the Masters of Business Administration Degree was approved by Senate.  In 1970, with the separation of the Faculties of Arts and Science, Commerce achieved Faculty status.  In 1972 the Faculty was renamed Administrative Studies.  In 1986 it acquired its current title of Faculty of Management.  The Faculty moved into the Drake Centre in 1987.  Recent developments have included the introduction of a Masters of Accountancy in 1991 and a Ph.D program in Management in 1992.  In 1999, Israel Asper made a gift of $1,000,000 through the Asper Foundation towards the Asper Centre for Entrepreneurship for the University of Manitoba’s business school. In 2000, he made an additional gift of $10,000,000 and the school was renamed in Israel Asper’s honour.

Faculty of Dentistry

The first classes in the Faculty of Dentistry started in 1958.  The Faculty lacked a facility and so space was provided in the Faculty of Medicine.  The following year the Dentistry Building was constructed at 780 Bannatyne Ave. and 777-785 McDermot Ave.  In February 1962 the Faculty was placed on the fully accredited list of Dental schools and colleges in Canada and the United States.  A School of Dental Hygiene was established in 1962.  The Dentistry Building has undergone two major renovations in 1967-1968 and 1989-1990.

Faculty of Education

While teacher education in the Province of Manitoba dates to 1882, it was in 1935 that the Faculty of Education was created to offer programs leading to secondary teaching certificates and to M. Ed. degrees.  It was not until 1965 that the elementary school certification program and the staff of the Manitoba Teachers’ College were integrated into the University of Manitoba.  In 1982, the Provincial Board of Teacher Education and Certification recommended to the Minister of Education that the basis for teacher certification be the B. Ed. degree.  This was ratified in 1986.  The Education building was completed in 1962 with additions in 1965 and 1969.

Extended Education Division

The Adult Education office was created in 1941 but ceased operation three years later when the Carnegie Corp. grant was not renewed.  In 1949 the Department of University and Adult Education was created with A. S. R. Tweedie as its Director and Professor of Adult Education.

In 1953 an Audio-Visual Division was created in the hope of furthering Adult Education in rural Manitoba.  The Evening Institute was absorbed by the Extension Division that same year.

In 1961 the Broadway site was abandoned and all offices were centralized on the Fort Garry campus.  The Extension Division was restructured in 1964 and the Community Studies Division added in 1967.  In 1975 the current title of Continuing Education Division was adopted with David J. Lawless as Dean of the Division.  Continuing Education contained an Access Program, Canadian Armed Forces Program, Distance Education and the Stony Mountain program to name but a few.  The Continuing Education Division is now known as Extended Education.

Faculty of Graduate Studies

At the University of Manitoba graduate study and research was conducted on a very modest scale during the early years.  As more students went on to complete advanced degrees a need was met with the formation of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in 1949.  By the mid-1990’s enrollment had increased to 3200 students.  The Federal Department of Agriculture and the Freshwater Institute of the Fisheries Research Board maintain major research establishments on the Fort Garry campus.

Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management

In 1933, a Director of Recreation position was created at the University of Manitoba.  It was not until 1950, however, that a Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics was established.  The purpose of this unit was to provide physical education courses for the various schools and faculties and to direct, organize and supervise the intramural and intercollegiate athletic programs.  In February 1964 the Senate of the University approved the establishment of a three-year program leading to the degree Bachelor of Physical Education.  In 1966 Phys. Ed. received School status.  Senate approved a Master of Physical Education in May of 1979 (the degree has since been changed to Master of Science).  A Bachelor of Recreation Studies originated in 1982 and the School was given Faculty Status in 1982.

In 1992 the Faculty established the Health, Leisure and Human Performance Resource Institute.  In the spring of 1998 a four-year degree program, the Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science, was initiated. 

Effective July 2007, the University of Manitoba Board of Governors approved the recommendation to change the Faculty name to the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management.

School of Medical Rehabilitation

The School of Medical Rehabilitation was established in September 1960 as a response by the University of Manitoba to the increasing need for occupational and physical therapists.  It was founded as an academic unit within the Faculty of Medicine and was located originally in the Children’s Hospital.  In 1962 the school moved to the third floor of the newly-completed Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital.  Since the incorporation of the Health Sciences Centre in 1972, the school has retained this location with increasing utilization of lecture, library and laboratory space in the Medical College and Basic Science Building.

In February 1976, new undergraduate programs leading to the degrees Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation (Occupational Therapy) and Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation (Physical Therapy) were approved by Senate in recognition of the expanding roles of occuapational and physical therapy in health care.  The diploma programs were discontinued.

Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music

The Department of Music began in 1944 when classes in music theory and history were instituted as electives for Arts and Science students.

In the early 1960’s Senate approved a series of courses leading to a Bachelor of Music degree; the School of Music was established in 1964.  The first students enrolled that year for a three-year general Bachelor of Music degree.

The Music Building was completed in 1965 with the recital theatre named after the first director, Eva Clare.  In 1974 the four-year Bachelor of Music program was initiated.  In 1984 an Integrated Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Education program was formed.  In 2005, the School of Music reached faculty status.  The Faculty of Music was then named after Dr. Marcel A. Desaultels following his $20 million donation to the faculty in 2008.

Faculty of Nursing

The first Nursing program at the University of Manitoba was offered in 1943.  One-year certificate courses prepared registered nurses either for teaching and supervision or for public health nursing.  As a result of an increased demand for nurses with more than one year of training, two program sequences were introduced  in 1962 and 1963 that offered courses leading to a Bachelor of Nursing. 

A new program for registered nurses and applicants holding previous degrees in other fields started in 1971.  A four-year program was instituted in the School of Nursing in 1975 with an M.A. program offered in 1979.  In June 1986 the revised two-year Baccalaureate program for Registered Nurses was approved. 

The School of Nursing attained faculty status in 1992. One of the legacies of the 1999 Pan American Games will be the new Nursing Building which is scheduled to open in the fall of 1999.

Faculty of Social Work

The Faculty of Social Work was established in 1943 as a graduate school in the Faculty of Arts and Science.  The School originally offered a one-year program leading to a graduate diploma; later this program was altered to lead to a post-baccalaureate degree.  In 1952 the Faculty initiated a two-year graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Social Work.

In 1968 the University of Manitoba was among several Canadian universities to introduce a Bachelor of Social Work program.  A revised Masters program was also introduced that same year.  In May 1989 the School was granted Faculty status.  The Faculty is housed on the fifth floor of the Tier Building.