100 Moments

The history of Queen’s University began with a name. A Royal Charter issued by Queen Victoria gives the university explicit permission to use the British monarchy’s Royal Title. It was issued on October 16, 1841 – a date we now celebrate as Queen’s Day.  

Queen’s first corporate gift came from Canada’s first corporation. Back in 1841, a group affiliated with the Hudson’s Bay Company donated £562 to the university’s founding fund, a gift that would be more than $90,000 today. 

When the Queen’s Royal Charter was issued in 1841, there was no email – or regular mail for that matter. The three-page document arrived from Scotland by ship, and our first principal, Rev. Thomas Liddell, was the one who delivered it. He travelled to Kingston sight unseen and stayed long enough to guide the university through its first five years.

The Royal Charter calls for the instruction of youth “in the various branches of science and literature,” so it’s no surprise that the university’s first faculty was the Faculty of Arts and Science. Once housed in a single wood-framed house, the faculty is now Queen’s largest, with more than 9,500 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students in 30+ disciplines.

Queen’s first convocation in 1847 saw degrees awarded to the university’s first three graduates. Today, thousands cross the stage each year to meet the chancellor in a ceremony filled with all the pomp, circumstance, and emotion the moment deserves. Hooding marks more than the end of a degree – it welcomes graduates into the Queen’s alumni community.

In its early days, Queen’s didn’t have a permanent home. The university rented space in houses in Kingston before eventually settling in Summerhill. Built as a private residence for Archdeacon George Okill Stuart, the gracious estate had its problems – including a stream that ran through the basement. But it gave the university a place where it could grow.

Queen’s leadership in educating health-care professionals started when the School of Medicine was founded in 1854. The School of Nursing followed in 1941, and the School of Rehabilitation Therapy in 1967. Today, the three schools make up the Faculty of Health Sciences, an education and research powerhouse with partnerships throughout Canada and around the world.

When the Queen’s Alma Mater Society (AMS) was founded in 1858, it immediately became the centrepiece of Canada’s most impactful student experience. Today the AMS presides over businesses, student-run services, and more than 300 clubs. Among their most enduring accomplishments is choosing the iconic tricolour as the university’s official colour scheme.

When Queen’s took over the Kingston Observatory in 1861, you could watch a meteor shower from a campus rooftop. Today, researchers at Queen’s don’t just study stars and planets, they study things like dark matter and neutrinos, the fundamental – but invisible – building blocks of the universe.

A decade before the University of Toronto and Oxford admitted women to classes, Queen's Professor Clarke Murray opened his English lectures to women in 1869.  At first, women students were segregated and only allowed to participate in non-degree studies. But women students proved themselves, winning academic awards and enriching intellectual life at Queen’s. 

One of the oldest student newspapers in Canada, The Queen's Journal has been a training ground for top Canadian journalists. Created by the AMS in 1873, The Journal evolved with the times. It covered Gaels football almost exclusively in the 1920s and published psychedelic art on the front page in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Journal became an online paper in 2015.

Queen’s alumni have a legendary tradition of volunteer leadership. And it began in 1874 with the creation of University Council, an all-volunteer body that gives alumni a formal role in Queen’s governance. Elected by and from graduates, councillors advance alumni perspectives, serve as ambassadors, and help shape Queen’s future in many ways, including electing the chancellor.  

Women had studied at Queen’s before Elizabeth De St. Remy arrived in 1876, but only English Literature, and in separate classes. De St. Remy changed that when she became the first woman to officially register at Queen’s. She had asked the Queen’s Senate to attend ordinary classes, and the Senate agreed to open a larger – but still limited – number of classes to women.

A legacy is built one act at a time. Over 25 years as principal of Queen’s, George Monro Grant built a legacy like no other. It started with his vision of the university as a servant of the nation. On his watch, academic standards raised, enrolment restrictions lifted, the student population grew from 100 to 700, and Queen’s became a university of national repute.  

Robert Sutherland was an exceptional student, winning 14 academic prizes at Queen’s. He also happened to be Canada’s first known Black university student. He went on to a distinguished law career and left his entire $12,700 estate to the university. It was the largest gift Queen’s had received, and it helped stave off the University of Toronto’s annexation bid.

By the time Sir Sandford Fleming became chancellor at Queen’s in 1880, he had already designed Canada’s first postage stamp and proposed the set of 24 time zones still used around the world today. Fleming served as chancellor for 35 years, championing the importance of science and donating his own savings to establish a chair in physics.

Today, there are nearly 4,000 students in Queen’s School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. But in the university’s first five decades, there were no grad students at all. It wasn’t until 1889 that regulations for PhD and DSc degrees were adopted.

After a surprise football loss to U of T, Queen’s needed a new rallying cry. So, in 1891, the AMS turned to three students: Donald Cameron, F.A. McRae, and McLean, whose first name was lost to history. They took the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” added Gaelic lyrics, and gave Queen’s the “Oil Thigh” – the sonic boom still heard after Gaels' touchdowns.

Engineering at Queen’s started out in 1893 as the Kingston School of Mining. Today, Smith Engineering teaches a lot more than just mining. Engineers educated at Queen’s design everything from bridges and buildings to software platforms and medical devices. They build the systems that sustain our lives.

What do Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, and Joyce Carol Oates have in common? All of them have contributed to The Queen’s Quarterly. Founded in 1893 by Principal Grant, Chancellor Fleming, and Prof. John Watson, this quarterly journal offers readers deep, reflective analysis of topics as diverse as science, religion, and travel, as well as poetry and short fiction.

Long before the NHL, the Stanley Cup was a silver bowl open to challengers – and Queen’s wanted to sip. In 1895, the Tricolour became the first team outside the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada to play for the Cup. Queen’s tried again in 1899 and 1906 and remains the only university team ever to chase hockey’s greatest prize.

Named in honour of Queen’s host city, Kingston Hall opened in 1903 as the university’s new arts building, complete with library and classroom space. A raging fire, started by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt, seriously damaged the building in 1931. A group of Kingston residents pooled their resources and donated the money for its repair.

From the moment it was completed in 1905, Grant Hall’s stone clock tower has cut Queen’s most recognizable silhouette. It is also a tribute to a legendary principal and a magnificent feat of fundraising. When Frontenac County refused to pay for the building, Queen’s students raised $35,000 to complete its construction – the equivalent of $1.4 million today.

In 1905, a group of first-year students decided the football Gaels could use a little sideline spirit during their home games. They formed a marching brass band, which was booed off the field at every game. Although they disbanded after only two years, they set the stage for future incarnations that evolved into the six components of Queen’s Bands that continue today.

Richardson Stadium, Richardson Hall, and Etherington Hall are just a few of the campus landmarks named after the Richardson family. Members of the Winnipeg-based grain exporting clan not only studied and played at Queen’s, they also served it faithfully and counted two chancellors among their ranks. The legacy began with James Richardson’s graduation in 1906.

When the Faculty of Education opened its doors in 1907, it focused on the philosophy and history of teaching. Education has changed a lot since then, and today, students can undertake program tracks that include Artist in Community Education, Indigenous Teacher Education, and Outdoor and Experiential Education.

The story of women at Queen’s begins with the first female students, but it doesn’t end there. In 1884 five women crossed the convocation stage for the first time, with two winning gold medals for academic excellence. In 1909 Queen’s appointed Wilhelmina Gordon as the first female academic staff member. And it wasn’t until 1943 that women were fully admitted to study medicine.

Only at Queen’s could a centuries-old Scottish tradition become a modern-day student megaphone. The rector’s role began in 1912 and evolved into something unmistakably Queen’s: a student-elected advocate who stands on the convocation dais with the chancellor and principal, while carrying student voices into the university’s biggest conversations.

The First World War had a dramatic impact at Queen’s. Many students and faculty enlisted, and Grant Hall became a military hospital. With so many members of the community serving overseas, the university struggled to stay afloat. A post-war $1-million drive – enormous for its time – helped the university survive and launched a tradition of collective giving.

In 1919, Queen’s launched the first business degree program in Canada (and only the second in the Commonwealth). Offered by the Department of Political and Economic Science in the Faculty of Arts and Science, the three-year Bachelor of Commerce program began offering chartered accountancy (CA) courses in 1921, making Queen’s Ontario’s only CA training provider.

The Tam O’Shanter is a reminder of Queen’s Scottish roots. These distinctive tartan hats are worn at convocations and celebrations, not to mention football games. The colour of the pompom reflects a student’s area of study. Though some students find them itchy and uncomfortable, tams have been a symbol of the university community since the 1920s.

On Oct. 7, 1922, George Parsons played “The Bluebells of Scotland” on his cornet into a Fleming Hall microphone. Those first notes launched Queen’s radio, now CFRC – Canada’s oldest continuously broadcasting campus station and an early home for voices like sportscaster Chris Cuthbert, Artsci’79, and CBC Radio host and Queen’s Chancellor Shelagh Rogers, Artsci’77.

Queen’s reputation as a training ground for leaders got a boost in 1924, when Sir Robert Borden, Canada’s eighth prime minister, became our fifth chancellor. Chancellor Borden’s Parliament Hill connections helped Queen’s build strong relationships with government officials that has served our community – and our country – for more than a century. 

Queen’s third chancellor, James Douglas, donated half the construction costs of the building that now bears his name. When Douglas Library opened in 1924, it contained offices for the principal and other senior leaders. Today it’s home to Queen’s rare book collections and a popular student study space because of its soaring stained-glass windows and brass lamps.

In the early 1900s, female students had to live in off-campus rooming houses. The Alumnae Association envisioned an on-campus women’s residence and spent over a decade planning for it. They raised more than half of the cost through bake sales, teas, and small donations. Ban Righ Hall opened in 1925 and remains an all-female-identified residence today.

In November 1926, more than 850 alumni returned to Queen’s for the first-ever Reunion Week. The jam-packed week included dances, a visit from the governor general, and, of course, a football game. Every year since then, thousands of alumni come back for Homecoming to reconnect with old friends, strengthen their ties to the community, and re-experience Queen’s.

That first Reunion Week also included an alumni convention where delegates decided they wanted their bond with the university to last a lifetime and voted unanimously to form the Queen’s University Alumni Association. Today, the QUAA keeps more than 180,000 alumni in more than 150 countries connected with Queen’s and with each other.

Once alumni decided to remain connected, Queen’s launched a magazine “to foster a spirit of loyalty, fraternity, and help.” The first issue of the Queen’s Review, published in March 1927, featured an all-star cast of writers, headlined by Chancellor Robert Borden. Today the Queen’s Alumni Review is an award-winning quarterly telling our stories to alumni around the world.

Every campus has rules, but in 1936, Queen’s found a unique way to uphold them: students looking out for students. Queen’s Student Constables – or “StuCons” – are believed to be the only peer-to-peer university security service of their kind in North America. Their yellow jackets have become a familiar sign that student life is unfolding under student watch.

The sound of bagpipes can stop a Queen’s alum in their tracks. A pipe band first emerged in 1925, linking Queen’s to its Gaelic past, but the tradition became a permanent fixture in 1938, when pipers were joined by Highland dancers. Since then, the skirl of the pipes has become part of Queen’s itself – a sonic memory of campus, ceremony, and coming home.

As Europe edged toward war, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Queen’s on Aug. 18, 1938, for an honorary degree. He made Richardson Stadium feel like the centre of the world. In a speech before a packed crowd, he gave a promise that cut through American isolationism: the U.S. would “not stand idly by if domination of Canadian soil” were threatened.

Among the members of the Class of 1940 was John Matheson, Arts’40, LLD’84, soldier, Member of Parliament, and Gaels fan extraordinaire. Perhaps his best-remembered contribution is the red maple leaf. Matheson helped create the design that became the Canadian flag. He’s also credited with creating the Order of Canada, which he modeled after the Tricolour Society.

For its 100th anniversary in 1941, Queen’s wanted to honour “the most distinguished woman graduate of Queen’s.” It had to be Charlotte Whitton, MA’17. A History and English medalist, AMS and Queen’s Journal trailblazer, and one of the women’s hockey league’s fastest skaters, she later became Ottawa’s mayor – the first woman to lead a major Canadian city.

On Nov. 15, 1941, Alfred Bader arrived on campus, midway through the semester, ready to begin his education. A refugee fleeing the Nazis, the brilliant young chemist came to Queen’s after other universities rejected him for being Jewish. His gratitude to Queen’s for accepting him when no one else did would inspire decades of philanthropy to Queen’s.

During the Second World War, the Queen’s community contributed on the homefront, as well as on the frontlines. Students organized the Queen’s War Aid Commission to raise money for the war effort. They sold postage stamps and donated the proceeds to the Red Cross. They even raised the funds to purchase a field ambulance for the troops.

When the Students’ Memorial Union building burned down in 1947, the university needed a new hub for student life. A donation from Col. R.S. McLaughlin enabled a quick rebuild and a new place for students to gather. In the 1970s, the building was renamed the John Deutsch University Centre in memory of the popular principal. The JDUC remains the hub of Queen’s student life.  

When he arrived in 1936, Principal Robert Wallace envisioned Queen’s as a leader in conservation research. He planned to buy land near Kingston to serve as an outdoor laboratory. With the help of a provincial grant, Queen’s bought 65 acres near Lake Opinicon. Today QUBS, the Queen’s University Biological Station, includes more than 3,400 hectares of protected land.

The motto of Queen’s Faculty of Law is “soit droit fait” – let law be made. Since 1957, the faculty has trained the lawyers and judges who shape our laws through experiential learning opportunities like Canada’s largest and most successful moot court program. Queen’s Law grads have interpreted laws on the Supreme Court of Canada and written them in Parliament.

Agnes Richardson Etherington loved art so much she turned her red brick University Avenue home into a showcase for art and a gathering place for artists. When she died in 1954, she left the house to Queen’s “for the furtherance of art and music.” The Agnes Etherington Art Centre opened in her home in 1957. It became home to more than 17,000 works from around the world.

Today, the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs counts more than 5,000 students. But until 1963, the university didn’t have a dedicated place for graduate studies. The School of Graduate Studies, as it was known then, created a place where graduate students come first and research excellence is paramount.

In 1965, students and researchers from the Queen’s School of Medicine ran their first clinic in Moose Factory, Ontario, and quickly discovered a need for better health care in the region. Soon medical and nursing students were running regular clinics in the northern community in a lasting partnership with the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority.

Beatrice Worsley was one of the world’s first female computer scientists, and one of three people who launched the Queen's Computing Centre in 1965. Although she only spent a few years at Queen’s, Worsley played an important role in establishing graduate- and undergraduate-level curricula.

When Agnes Etherington Art Centre curator Frances Smith approached Alfred Bader for a donation in 1967, she had no idea she was launching a legendary collection. Girolamo Galizzi’s 16th-century painting Salvator Mundi was the first of Alfred’s gifts of art to Queen’s and the inaugural piece in The Bader Collection.

Digital research tools put millions of pages of legislation at a lawyer’s fingertips. Queen’s researchers invented this technology. Launched in 1968 by Dr. Hugh Lawford, the Queen's University Institute for Computing in Law (QUIC/LAW) System of Editing and Retrieving Legal Documents was decades ahead of its time and an indispensable tool for generations of lawyers.

Quarterback Don Bayne passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns to lead Queen’s to its first-ever Vanier Cup championship in November 1968. The game, played at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, ended in a 42-14 victory over Waterloo Lutheran University. The Gaels have won Canada’s university football championship four times, most recently in 2009.

In the 1960s, Queen’s West Campus was still a prison farm. But a growing university needed more space for its students, and Queen’s had a vision to be something bigger. in 1969, the university acquired the 61-acre parcel of land, and West Campus became an integral part of the university.  

Being part of a raucous crowd at Richardson Stadium is a quintessentially Queen’s experience. The vibe hasn’t changed that much over the years, but the stadium itself has. The first iteration of the stadium opened in 1921 at Tindall Field on Queen’s main campus. It moved to its current location on the West Campus 50 years later.

Clark Hall Pub has hosted Canadian music legends like Arcade Fire, Arkells, and The Tragically Hip. In the 1980s, the Hip even lost a battle of the bands competition there. Run by the Engineering Society, Clark Hall Pub started out selling beer from a cooler in 1971. More than 50 years later, it’s now Canada’s oldest student-run pub.

Getting women’s studies started at Queen’s took a petition from more than 1,000 students – and no small amount of bureaucratic wrangling. But in the 1980s, professors from across the academic disciplines came together to make it happen. By 1986-87, their efforts paid off when the university announced a special field concentration in women’s studies.

Some call it beautiful. Others think it’s a labyrinth designed to confuse staff and students.  From the moment it was built on the old Richardson Stadium grounds in 1973, Mackintosh-Corry Hall has had both admirers and detractors. Either way, the building was built to foster collaboration among social science disciplines, which it has done successfully for 50-plus years.

When Queen’s opened its first residences for women in the 1920s, the volunteers who ran them insisted any surplus should be re-invested to benefit women. Fifty years later, the investment funded the Ban Righ Centre. Opened in 1974, the centre is a place of support for women students, especially those who have been out of school for a while. 

When Agnes Benidickson became Queen’s 10th chancellor in 1980, she continued a family tradition started by her father, Chancellor James Richardson. She also continued her own tradition of community service that earned her the Tricolour Award in 1941. That tradition continued as she served as chancellor for 16 years, conferring more than 64,000 degrees.

On a Tuesday in April 1986, Mike Schad got the call: the Los Angeles Rams had taken him 23rd overall in the NFL draft. The six-foot-five Queen’s lineman became the first Canadian drafted in round one and remains the only player selected from a Canadian university in the first round. He played 62 NFL games with the Rams and Eagles.

Can you power a vehicle with nothing but the sun? Formed in 1988, the Queen’s Solar Vehicle Team set out to prove it. Starting with Photomoto, students built and raced 11 solar cars, won on the world stage, and set a Guinness record with a 7,044-km cross-Canada journey. Today, the Queen’s Solar Design Team carries that spirit into sustainable, off-grid design.

Queen Victoria issued the 1841 Royal Charter that proclaimed Queen’s into being, but she never actually visited Canada. Her great-great-great grandson was able to do it in her place – 150 years later. In 1991, HRH The Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, visited Queen’s and unveiled a replica of the charter, now on display in the JDUC.

In 1992, Alfred Bader saw an ad for a castle in the Times of London’s real estate section and decided to buy it for his wife, Isabel. She declined, joking that it had too many rooms to clean. Instead, he gifted the castle to Queen’s in 1993. Today Herstmonceux Castle is known as Bader College, Queen’s U.K. campus and gateway to Europe.

In 1993, the Grant Hall clock was updated and replaced with an electrical mechanism. The renovation – like the building itself 90 years earlier– was paid for by students. To mark their faculty’s 100th anniversary, female Engineering students, led by the Class of 1992 through the ThankQ’92 initiative, funded most of the cost.

Joseph S. Stauffer credited his education for his success and expressed his gratitude to Queen’s with a series of gifts – many of them anonymous – that continued long after his death in 1978. His biggest gift, to establish a new library in the heart of campus, proudly bears his name. Built in 1994, Stauffer Library is still a campus centrepiece.

The Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre is a home away from home for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students at Queen’s. Opened in 1996, it facilitates cultural activities, as well as social, academic, and wellness programming. It’s the primary dedicated Indigenous space on campus and a hub for research assistance, teaching support, and community outreach.

Cancer research rarely moves in a straight line. It takes biologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, clinicians, and patients moving discoveries from lab to treatment. In 2001, Queen’s brought that work together in the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute, now the Sinclair Cancer Research Institute, creating a hub for interdisciplinary cancer research.

Cedric Goodes sacrificed a lot so his son, Mel, could study at Queen’s. Mel repaid those sacrifices by making a generous gift to help build a new home for Smith School of Business and naming it for his father. Since 2002, Goodes Hall has combined historic charm and contemporary design to create a cutting-edge business education environment.

You can learn a lot in a classroom, but sometimes you can only learn by doing. Beamish-Munro Hall is a hub for hands-on learning at Smith Engineering. Opened in 2004, it’s home to the Integrated Learning Centre for Engineering. It transformed how Queen's engineers learn, replacing passive learning with design studios, fabrication labs, and team project spaces.

Alumnus Gordon Gray grew up in Sudbury, Ont., within jogging distance of the SNOLAB site. In 2006, he and his wife, Patricia, decided to fund a chair to support the particle astrophysics research that happens there. Little did they know that the chair’s occupant, Dr. Arthur B. McDonald, would win a Nobel Prize for that research 10 years later.

Queen’s aimed high in 2006, launching its most ambitious fundraising campaign ever with a $500-million goal. A decade later, the Queen’s community had blown past it, raising more than $640 million for student awards, learning spaces, academic chairs, and the people and ideas shaping the university’s future.

Technology doesn’t just emerge fully formed. It needs to be nurtured and incubated. The Queen’s University Innovation Park does exactly that.  Launched in 2007, the 20-acre campus is the university’s contribution to Kingston’s innovation ecosystem, bringing together startups, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors to bridge the gap between ideas and innovations.

Queen’s researchers study the universe at SNOLAB. Housed deep underground in the old Creighton Mine on the outskirts of Sudbury, Ontario, SNOLAB opened in 2012. It became the site of Art McDonald’s Nobel-winning neutrino research. One day, it could yield answers about the nature of dark matter – a mysterious, invisible substance that makes up most of the universe.

Isabel Bader nurtured a lifelong passion for music, drama, and the arts. In celebration of those passions, her husband, Alfred Bader, provided the lead gift for Queen’s spectacular waterfront performance venue. Since 2014, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts has been drawing world-class performers to Kingston.

Giving Tuesday is a global movement to unleash the power of generosity. Held on the Tuesday after American Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday asks people to make donations in the service of a simple goal: to do good. Queen’s has been participating in Giving Tuesday since 2014, supporting bursaries, physician training, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, and more.

Since 2015, Indigenous graduates are honoured at Queen’s Convocation with special gifts and may cross the stage in traditional First Nations, Inuit, or Métis attire instead of a gown and hood. In recent years, many have also been greeted by Indigenous chancellors, including Chancellor Emeritus Mazina Giizhik Murray Sinclair and current Chancellor Shelagh Rogers.

Neutrinos are particles emitted by nuclear reactions in stars. They are abundant in the universe, but elusive. And they are so small that it wasn’t known whether they had any mass at all. But Professor Emeritus Art McDonald’s research showed that neutrinos do have mass, and he won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work – the first in Queen’s history.

Gratitude for a life-changing education – and a desire to create the same opportunity for others – inspired Stephen J.R. Smith to make a transformational investment in what is now known as Smith School of Business. The 2015 gift helped attract top students and researchers and elevate the faculty’s reputation globally.

The Bader Collection was already one of the world’s leading collections of Dutch and Flemish art in 2015 when Alfred Bader donated what is now its signature work, Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo. Alfred’s family added three more Rembrandts in 2019, giving the university Canada’s largest private Rembrandt collection.

After a long dry spell on the field, a few Queen’s football alumni were ready to lead the Gaels back to championship form. They formed the Red Banner Society in 2015 with the goal of bringing another banner to Queen’s. Their philanthropy and leadership helped recruit coaches and players, while also funding the newest incarnation of Richardson Stadium.

Queen’s Principal Daniel Woolf and philanthropist Seymour Schulich discovered they shared a passion for 16th- and 17th-century British history – and for collecting rare books from the era. At Schulich’s suggestion, they pooled their collections and donated them to Queen’s in 2015. Today, the 400-volume Schulich-Woolf Rare Book Collection is on display at Douglas Library.

The roar got louder at Richardson Stadium in 2016, when a major revitalization brought new turf, bowl seating, a state-of-the-art scoreboard, and webcasting capabilities to game day. The Lang Pavilion followed in 2023, adding locker rooms, coaches’ offices, therapy space, and viewing areas, thanks to more than 300 donors led by alumni Stu and Kim Lang.

Before The Tragically Hip’s farewell tour, the band came home to Grant Hall to receive honorary degrees. Three members were Queen’s grads, and the Hip’s earliest following grew in campus pubs and local dives. It was also a return to the stage where they wrote much of Road Apples – proof that Kingston and Queen’s helped shape Canada’s band.

Black students have been part of the Queen’s community for well more than 175 years, but the Queen’s Black Alumni Chapter (QBAC) wasn’t founded until 2017. QBAC aims to create a lifelong sense of belonging among Black alumni, students, and faculty. It’s a platform to share resources, build community, and promote inclusion and innovation.

Since 2017, Queen’s and the University of Gondar have opened doors to higher education for students with disabilities in Ethiopia. Supported by a US$24.2-million Mastercard Foundation grant, the partnership has helped more than 450 scholars pursue degrees, trained over 60 Gondar faculty at Queen’s, and launched Ethiopia’s first occupational therapy program.

How do you build on a Nobel-winning legacy? One answer came in 2018 with the launch of the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute. Backed by $63.7 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, it boldly explores the invisible universe – from dark matter to neutrinos – and keeps Queen’s at the frontier of physics.

Rising from the rubble at the corner of Union and Division Streets, Mitchell Hall opened in 2019 as a new crossroads for campus life. Inside, teaching studios, engineering labs, wellness services, gymnasia, and gathering spaces are under one roof, thanks to more than $50 million in support from a community of donors.

Queen’s burst onto the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings in 2021, placing first in Canada and fifth in the world. The rankings measure universities’ work on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals – from ending poverty to protecting the planet. Queen’s has ranked among the global top 10 every year since.

Research at Queen’s is strong and getting stronger. Exhibit A: In the 2020s, Elizabeth Eisenhauer, Cathleen Crudden, Paul Kubes, and John Smol earned top honours in Canada and the world, including a Gairdner Wightman Award, NSERC Polanyi Award, Oxford visiting professorship, and Mohn Prize – recognizing breakthroughs in cancer care, chemistry, immunology, and Arctic science.

The Queen’s Queer Alumni Chapter (QQAC) began in 2021 with a powerful promise: you belong here. Through mentorship, events, resources, and student support, QQAC helps 2SLGBTQ+ alumni, students, faculty, and staff find each other, build bridges across generations, and grow stronger queer communities at Queen’s.

From dark matter to clean energy, the Bruce Mitchell Research program is bringing new research firepower to Queen’s from around the world. Launched in 2023 with a $30-million gift from alumnus Bruce Mitchell, it has so far helped recruit five faculty members and more than 50 grad students and postdocs to tackle the big questions facing the planet.

In 2023, at the south end of Tindall Field, the curved, cedar-shingled Tsi Yakwanahstahsontéhrha Aankenjigemi rose from the landscape. Inspired by Anishnaabe roundhouses, the Outdoor Indigenous Gathering Space is now a hub for ceremony, learning, and reflection, part of Queen’s ongoing work to create Indigenized spaces and advance truth and reconciliation.

The next generation of engineers will need more than formulas and technical know-how. They’ll need creativity, empathy, and real-world experience to take on problems that cross borders and disciplines. In 2023, a historic $100-million gift from Stephen J.R. Smith, Sc’72, LLD’17, helped Smith Engineering put those skills at the heart of how students learn.

On Athletics Giving Day, cheers from the stands become fuel for Queen’s teams. Launched in 2023, the annual campaign lets alumni, parents, and fans back the varsity and club teams they love, helping student-athletes cover the costs of competition, from travel and equipment to training and academic support.

Agnes Reimagined is opening the doors wider on art and community. Begun in 2024 and supported by a US$75-million gift from Bader Philanthropies, the foundation of Alfred and Isabel Bader and their family, the revitalization will double gallery space and make Agnes the largest public university-affiliated museum in Canada.

When cancer hit their family, Cara and alumnus Murray Sinclair faced the many unanswered questions that come with a diagnosis. Their experience inspired a $25-million gift to Queen’s in 2024 to advance cancer imaging, immunotherapy, and more. The Queen’s Cancer Research Institute was renamed the Cara and Murray Sinclair Cancer Research Institute in their honour.

For more than 75 years, the John Deutsch University Centre has been the crossroads of student life at Queen’s. Reopened in 2025 after a major revitalization featuring Indigenous design elements, the JDUC now pairs historic limestone with greener, accessible spaces for clubs, studying, wellness, and gathering – all made possible through student and donor support.