Dunning Hall
Dunning Hall was built in 1960 and originally housed the departments of economics, political science, geography, and sociology, as well as the School of Industrial Relations and the School of Commerce. As each of these departments expanded, and new buildings were erected, most of these departments moved out and the purpose of Dunning Hall became more specialized. It housed the School of Business for many years, but on the completion of Goodes Hall in the fall of 2002, it became the home of the Department of Economics. Dunning Hall is named in honor of Charles Avery Dunning.

When Mackintosh-Corry Hall was completed in 1973, a walkway was built which connects it with Dunning Hall, and Dunning Hall also connects with Macdonald Hall through an underground passageway. The building is faced with Queenston limestone.

Charles Avery Dunning (1885-1958)
The life of Charles Avery Dunning is one that proves just how far you can go on talent and hard work. Mr. Dunning was born in England and immigrated to Canada when he was 17 to work as a farm hand in Saskatchewan. In less than ten years after his arrival, in 1911, he became the general manager of the Saskatchewan Co-Operative Elevator Company.

Mr. Dunning was elected as a Liberal representative to the Saskatchewan Legislature, and during his ten years there he held the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Railways, Minister of Telephones, and Provincial Treasurer. In 1922 he was elected Premier of Saskatchewan. Mr. Dunning entered federal politics in 1926, when he took the position of Minister of Railways and Canals in Mackenzie King's cabinet. He remained in this position until 1929, when he became the Minister of Finance.

Mr. Dunning lost his seat in the election of 1930, but returned to his former position in 1935. He remained Minister of Finance until 1939, when he was forced to resign because of poor health. He re-entered the business world and gained a reputation as a brilliant re-organizer of bankrupt companies. He was elected Queen's Chancellor in 1940 on the death of James Richardson, and was the seventh in Queen's history.

Mr. Dunning did not have a private fortune with which to support Queen's, but he was close friends with many of the leaders in business and politics in Canada, and soon proved his effectiveness in using his influence to the benefit of the university. In 1943 Mr. Dunning used his familiarity with the tax laws of Canada to find a loophole which allowed Canadian corporations a large tax exemption on profits if they gave to a university, and Mr. Dunning mobilized the Trustees and graduates of Queen's in a canvassing campaign to convince corporations to take advantage of the loophole to the benefit of Queen's. The results were spectacular: the university netted one million dollars in a few short months.

Mr. Dunning was also responsible for bringing one of Queen's most generous benefactors on board. Mr. Dunning and Col. R. S. McLaughlin were fellow directors of the CPR, and there is a story that at a board meeting in 1943 Dunning passed a note down the table to McLaughlin, stating simply that Queen's needed a new mechanical engineering building. McLaughlin passed the note back saying that Dunning should see him afterwards, and the result of Dunning's efforts was the large gift which resulted in the construction of McLaughlin Hall. The Chancellor Dunning Trust was established in 1946 by an anonymous donor who identified him or herself only as "a friend of Chancellor Dunning."