MHS Centennial Organization: Brandon University

Link to:
Presidents | Chancellors | Honorary Degrees

In the summer of 1899, Brandon College was established in Brandon by the Baptist Union of Western Canada, on the foundation of S. J. McKee’s Brandon Academy established in Brandon in 1891 after several years of successful operation in Rapid City from in the early 1880s. McKee had arrived in Rapid City in the wake of the creation and collapse of Prairie College, the first attempt by Baptists (in this case Dr. John Crawford, formerly of the Canadian Bible Institute at Woodstock, Ontario) to establish a post-secondary Baptist institution in Western Canada. Because Baptists were committed to separation of education institutions from the state, the founders of Brandon College rejected any affiliation with the state-sponsored University of Manitoba. Failing to gain a charter from the Manitoba government, Brandon College affiliated with McMaster University in 1912.

Until 1938 graduates of Brandon College received degrees with the imprimatur of McMaster University. In 1938 the Baptist Union of Western Canada withdrew its financial support from the College. In that year, the College affiliated with the University of Manitoba as a non-denomination college granting University of Manitoba degrees. In 1967, Brandon College became Brandon University through an Order-in-Council approved by the Duff Roblin government under the existing Universities Establishments Act. In 1998, Brandon University finally received its own charter through the Brandon University Act.

The MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented to Brandon University President Louis P. Visentin by MHS President Gordon Goldsborough on 27 May 2004.

Presidents of Brandon University and its Predecessors

Period	President
1899-1912	Archibald P. McDiarmid (1852-1946)
1912-1923	Howard Primrose Whidden (1871-1952)
1923-1924	Franklin W. Sweet
1925-1926	David Bovington
1927	Harris L. MacNeill
1928-1959	John R. C. Evans (1891-1959)
1960-1969	John Everett Robbins (1903-1995)
1970-1977	Andrew Lloyd Dulmage (1917-1989)
1977-1983	Harold Jackson Perkins
1984-1985	Earl John “Curly” Tyler (1913-1997)
1985-1990	John Mallea
1990-2000	C. Dennis Anderson
2000-2009	Louis P. Visentin
2009-present	Deborah Poff

Chancellors of Brandon University

Period	President
1967-1970	Maitland Bernard Steinkopf (1912-1970)
1970-1990	Stanley Howard Knowles (1908-1997)
1990-1996	Ronald D. Bell
1996-2002	Kevin Kavanagh
2002-2008	Edward Richard Schreyer
2008-2012	Henry Champ (c1937-2012)

Honorary Degrees conferred by Brandon University

Recipient	Year
Murray Adaskin	1972
Arthur Amoitte	1994
Robert Earl Beamish (1916-2001)	1988
Wilfred Gordon Bigelow (?-2005)	1967
Beatrice Alice Brigden (1894-1977)	1973
Samuel Bronfman (1889-1971)	1969
James Stinson Brown (1923-2009)	2004
Douglas Lloyd Campbell (1895-1995)	1967
Henry Champ (c1937-2012)	2005
Matthew Choptuik	2002
Andrew Hill Clark	1975
Tom Cochrane	2005
Flora Cowan (1902-1986)	1967
Laurence Harold Cragg	1976
Stuart Criddle (1877-1971)	1968
Sarah Persis Johnson Darrach (1886-1974)	1971
Remi DeRoo	1987
Walter Gilbert Dinsdale (1916-1982)	1977
Maurice Stanton Donovan	1973
Shirley Douglas	2005
Thomas Clement “Tommy” Douglas (1904-1986)	1970
Henry Edmison “Harry” Duckworth (1915-2008)	1982
Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902-1995)	1990
Sophie-Carmen “Sonia” Fridman Eckhardt-Gramatté (1899-1974)	1970
James Ehnes	2005
Frank Henry Epp	1975
Chief Dan George	1973
Betty Gibson (1911-2001)	1977
George Gooden	1993
Charles Gordon	1994
John King Gordon (1900-1989)	1974
James Henry Gray (1906-1998)	1974
Harry B. Hawthorn	1975
August James Henzel	1980
Paul Gerhardt Hiebert (1892-1987)	1974
Tomson Highway	1996
Milton Carman Holden (1903-1975)	1967
Robert Dudley Howland	1974
Diedre Irons	2007
Grettir Leo Johannson	1975
Martin Wesley Johns	1972
Stanley Howard Knowles (1908-1997)	1967
John Lane (1903-1975)	1971
Jean Margaret “Peggy” Wemyss Laurence (1926-1987)	1975
J. W. Grant MacEwan	1969
Rev. Harris L. MacNeill	1967
Laurence Gladwyn MacPherson	1975
Henry Heard Marshall	1974
Wilfrid Forrest McGregor (1902-1968)	1967
Frederick George McGuinness (1921-2011)	1997
Gerald A. McKinney	1985
Thomas Hector MacDonald McLeod (1918-2008)	1987
William Ormond Mitchell	1974
William Morrison	2007
Fred Penner	2007
Robert C. Prus	2002
Helen Clara Gerring Riesberry (1916-2010)	1972
Philipe Andre Renaud	1971
John Everett Robbins (1909-1995)	1974
Peggy Agnes Sharpe (1914-2005)	1998
Victor Joseph Houston Sharpe (1918-2009)	2003
Maurice F. Strong	1968
Lawrence Adne Stuckey (1921-2001)	1997
Paul Henric Thorbjorn Thorlakson (1895-1989)	1970
James Harvey Tolton (1898-1987)	1976
Jon Vickers	1976
Norma E. Walmsley (c1921-2011)	1988
John Warkentin	1987
Lorne Watson	1993
Lewis Whitehead	1990
Warren Winkler	2007

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brandon College and Clark Hall Buildings (270 Eighteenth Street, Brandon)

“Only Brandon Men Can and Will Save It”: Boosterism, Brandon College, and the Crisis of the Great Depression by Tom Mitchell and W. R. Morrison
Manitoba History, Number 24, Autumn 1992

McKee of Brandon College by Tommy McLeod
Manitoba History, Number 40, Autumn/Winter 2000-2001

“To Bestir Themselves:” Canadian Baptists and the Origins of Brandon College by Tommy McLeod
Manitoba History, Number 56, October 2007

Brandon University

This gallery was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough with assistance and information from Tom Mitchell.

Page revised: 31 March 2013