Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Bishop's University

Bishop's University is an English-language liberal arts university located in the borough of Lennoxville, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.

History

Bishop's University, established as Bishop's College in Lennoxville, Quebec near Sherbrooke in 1843 has a strong Anglican religious affiliation. Bishop's is one of the oldest universities in Canada. The fact that it is a small university is one of its trademarks.

Bishop's was originally established by Bishop George Jehoshaphat Mountain in 1843 for the education of members of the Church of England and erected into a University in 1853. The school was originally founded by Bishop Mountain, the third Anglican bishop of Quebec as a liberal arts college. In 1845, instruction began and in 1854, the first degrees were granted.

An act of the Quebec Legislative Assembly ratified its foundation. In 1853 it was established as a university by royal charter bearing the name University of Bishop's College. It is affiliated to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Its charter empowered the University to grant degrees in theology, law, medicine, and fine arts. The Church of England controlled the university until 1947.

Since 1947, a corporation made up of Anglican bishops from the dioceses of Quebec and appointed trustees have been responsible for its business affairs. A senate have dealt with academic matters.

The governance was modeled on the provincial University of Toronto Act of 1906 which established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate (faculty), responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors (citizens) exercising exclusive control over financial policy and having formal authority in all other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to perform institutional leadership and provide a link between the senate and the board of governors.

In the early part of the twentieth century, professional education expanded beyond the traditional fields of theology, law and medicine. While graduate training based on the German-inspired American model of specialized course work and the completion of a research thesis was introduced, Bishop`s University remains one of Canada's few primarily undergraduate universities.

Bishop's University remained under the Anglican church's direction until 1947 when the university became a non-denominational institution.

The policy of university education initiated in the 1960s responded to population pressure and the belief that higher education was a key to social justice and economic productivity for individuals and for society.

Bishop's carries a strong academic history which includes fifteen Rhodes Scholars.

Academic programs

Primarily undergraduate, it also offers graduate courses and M.A. and M.Ed. degrees in education and M.Sc in Computer Science and Physics. Bishop's offers several programs from five academic divisions:

William's School of Business and Economics
Division of Humanities
Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Division of Social Sciences
Division of Education

Each division seeks to provide a well-rounded education for all its students. The average class size as of Fall 2004 was 36 in first-year courses and 12 in upper-year courses. Thirty-two percent of the classes offered at Bishop's have ten or fewer students, allowing each person's voice to be heard.

In 2004, Bishop’s joined the Universite de Sherbrooke in creating SIXtron, a joint spin-off of technology based in Montreal which is focused on developing highly scalable and cost-effective, amorphous silicon carbide (SiC)-based thin film coatings for the solar industry. In the fall of 2007 the university announced a strategic research plan which will position “Research and Creativity” as a central focus for the University’s future development, making Bishop's unique among Canadian undergraduate institutions.

As of 2007, Bishop’s has 1817 full-time students. The student body represents every Canadian province and territory along with 18 U.S. States and over 50 countries.

Campus

The Bishop's campus is located on of land at the junction of the St. Francis and Massawippi rivers in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec. The campus is significantly influenced from the Gothic Revival period, and is home to some of Quebec's most historic buildings, including St. Mark's chapel. Construction on campus began with "Old Arts" in 1846 and continues today with the University's most recent building, Paterson Hall, in 2003. The students are known for their strong affinity towards their school especially during sports games. The local meeting spot is the nearby Golden Lion Pub. In 2005, the CBC's Rick Mercer Report, named the “Lion” the best student pub in Canada.

'Unofficial' school song

At both home and away athletic competitions, BU students can be heard singing their school fight song or alma mater. Bishop’s official school song, “Alma Mater,” was written in 1937 and continues to be a favorite. In 1964, however, the lyrics “Drink a toast to Bishop’s University” were written by John Piper, Douglas Tees, Ace Henderson and John Martland as part of the musical comedy, “The Grate Escape,” performed by the Bishop’s choir. The tune stuck and has become the beloved unofficial song. Today it is the most well known school song in the country and a wonderful piece of BU tradition.

Raise a toast to Bishop's University
On the mighty Massiwippi shore!
We're conditioned to our fate,
We will never graduate,
We will stay here forever more!

College days will linger ever in our hearts,
Wearing gowns, raising hell and quaffing ale!
And we'll show esprit de corps
As we watch the Gaiters roar
On to victory!

So raise your beer mugs,
And your little brown jugs
To Bishop's University!

Principals of Bishop's University

The Rev. Jasper H. Nicolls, 1845
The Rev. J.A. Lobley, 1878
The Rev. Thomas Adams, 1885
The Rev. J.P. Whitney, 1900
The Rev. T.B. Waitt, 1905
The Rev. H. de B. Gibbins, 1906
The Rev. R.A. Parrock, 1907
The Rev. Canon H.H. Bedford-Jones, 1920
The Rev. Arthur Huffman McGreer, 1922
A.R. Jewitt, 1948
C.L.O. Glass, 1959
A.W. Preston, 1969
D.M. Healy, 1970
C.I.H. Nicholl, 1976
H.M. Scott, 1986
Janyne M. Hodder, 1995
Robert Poupart, 2004
Jonathan Rittenhouse (Interim), 2007
Michael Goldbloom, 2008

Sports

Bishop's Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams are known as the Bishop's Gaiters. Although their logo and mascot suggest the term "gaiter" stems from the word alligator, the term "gaiter" actually refers to a sock-like article of clothing worn by Anglican bishops up until the beginning of the 20th century.

The Bishop's Gaiters have a long history with the university. Rugby football began in 1888 and Canadian football was a budding varsity sport by the 1930s. From 1962 until 1987 the Bishop's University football sidelines were patrolled by the legendary Bruce Coulter, who went into retirement with the CIAU record for wins, having recorded 137 (137–80–3). In 1991 the football stadium was renamed in his honour. The Bishop's football team competes for two special trophies: The Mayor's Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the annual contest between Bishop's University and the Université de Sherbrooke, and the Bigg Bowl, which goes to the winner between Bishop's University and St. Francis Xavier University (currently scheduled once every three years).

The hard-court has also brought Bishop's great success. The men's basketball team enjoyed their most successful season in 1998, winning the CIAU National Championship, becoming the smallest school in history to do so. The women's basketball team won back-to-back National Basketball championships in 1983 and 1984. Bishop's currently competes in nine varsity and club sports.

Noted former students and alumni

Maude Abbott — one of Canada's earliest female medical graduates, founder of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada
Nick Arakgi — CFL football star and CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award winner.
John Bassett — publisher of the Montreal Gazette, owner of the Toronto Argonauts, 1961–1971
Peter Blaikie - Rhodes Scholar, Lawyer, Former President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, television commentator

Jim Corcoran - singer, songwriter and radio host.
Reginald Fessenden — radio pioneer
Robert Ghiz — Premier of Prince Edward Island
Robert Gordon — Former President of Humber College, President of Canada Basketball, President of Bishop's University
Scott Griffin — Chancellor of Bishop's University, Canadian businessman and philanthropist
Ralph Gustafson — poet
Michael Ondaatje — poet, writer - spent one year at Bishop's
Alex Paterson — Senior Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP ; Order of Canada, Former Chancellor of Bishop's University
Damian Pettigrew — film director
The Rev. Canon Frederick Scott - Senior Chaplain, First Canadian Division, Canadian Expeditionary Force, WW I
Francis Reginald Scott — poet, constitutional expert
Larry Smith — President of the Montreal Alouettes
Norman Webster — former Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail, Chancellor of University of Prince Edward Island