Message from the president

For more than 30 years—as a professor, dean and now president—I have had the privilege of seeing the tremendous things achieved by members of our campus community: we were the first to treat a cancer patient successfully using cobalt-60 radiation therapy; we created and improved more than 400 varieties of commercial crops; we developed multiple vaccines—including a couple of world firsts—to protect human and animal health; and we came together to lead the development of Canada’s largest lab, the Canadian Light Source synchrotron.

Those highlights, however, don’t begin to scratch the surface of the innovative spirit found in every lab, classroom and library at the U of S. Innovation is at the heart of what we do. By necessity, innovation requires inquiry, because only through inquiry do we make discoveries that create innovation. At the U of S, we ask the right questions in a broad range of disciplines, and ensure the answers to those questions benefit the world.

For well over 100 years, our faculty and students have been asking meaningful questions, to inform themselves, to inform their disciplines and to drive innovation forward. Because of our long history of inquiry, we know the urge to find answers is instilled in every graduate of the U of S. Through our graduates and researchers, we show that part of the value of a modern university is how we help the world adapt through innovation.

In this issue of the Green & White, we tell stories about our alumni, researchers and students who have developed innovative ways to blaze trails, whether in agriculture, medicine, law, arts and science, or engineering. The innovations covered in these pages are as diverse as the disciplines whence they came. But what all innovation has in common is that it helps create a better world.

So continue asking questions, because doing so leads to information, innovation and inspiration. I do hope you are inspired by what your fellow alumni have accomplished.

Peter Stoicheff
President and vice-chancellor, University of Saskatchewan
uofs.president@usask.ca