The Launch is selected as a test centre for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic network. The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic network provides a variety of infrastructures where companies and researchers can demonstrate and validate technologies for both defence and civilian purposes. The designation reinforces the Marine Institute’s significant role in providing access to world-class infrastructure and test facilities to partners nationally and internationally.

A $91.6-million investment in the Qanittaq Clean Arctic Shipping Initiative is the largest research grant ever awarded to either Memorial or the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada. Memorial and the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada co-lead a global partnership to respond to the increase in Arctic shipping, the related environmental impacts affecting Arctic communities and the need for safe and cost-efficient resupply for Inuit communities.

After a 40-year presence in Labrador, the Labrador Institute transitions to a full academic campus, and the new Labrador Campus of Memorial University in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is born.

A massive, 25-metre blue whale skeleton is installed in the Core Sciences Facility on the St. John’s campus. The acquisition and display of the rare blue whale skeleton is made possible by a generous donation from Mark and Sandra Dobbin and Craig and Lisa Dobbin in honour of Eleanor “Penney” Dobbin, Mark and Craig’s mother. In 2023, a public vote is held to name the whale. More than 5,000 ballots are cast, and Memorial’s big blue whale is named Altum.

Memorial establishes its first academic unit based in Labrador. The School of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Studies in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is Memorial’s newest academic unit. The school’s mission is to provide place-based, Indigenous-led and northern-focused programs to meet the needs and priorities of Labrador and the North.

Memorial establishes the Pye Centre for Northern Boreal Food Systems in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. The centre partners with farmers, the Nunatsiavut Government, the NunatuKavut Community Council, the Innu Nation, the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture and Grenfell Campus to respond to Labrador’s food systems, food security and food sovereignty. The farm donates thousands of pounds of vegetables to community organizations annually.

Memorial opens its newest campus. Signal Hill Campus in downtown St. John’s is an exciting location for the university and community to connect and work collaboratively on a number of the province’s priorities and opportunities. Externally focused Memorial units, including the Harris Centre, the Gardiner Centre, Genesis and the Office of Public Engagement, move in. The building is also home to graduate student residences, a conference centre, the MUN Pensioners Association and Business and Arts NL.

The Memorial University Sea-Hawks win the USports Men’s Curling Canada Championship. The team of Adam Boland, Stephen Trickett, Zach Young and Evan Kearley finished their season with a perfect record of 17-0. This is the second time Memorial has won the men’s national varsity championship in curling.

Grenfell Campus hosts its first All-Nations Powwow. The All-Nations Powwow is now a well-attended event held every fall, having recently held its eighth All-Nations Powwow in 2024. The event draws hundreds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together for a day of learning and celebration.

The Craig L. Dobbin Genetics Research Centre, where the Faculty of Medicine performs cutting-edge research with advanced technology, officially opens. The technology includes one of the largest and fastest high-performance computing systems in Canada, which enables faster analysis of data related to critical health-care challenges.

Grenfell Campus's landscape changes with the opening of the residence complex, the latest addition to its student housing community. The new 200-room residence has the capacity to house up to 600 students.

A professional telescope is installed in Grenfell Campus’s Arts and Science building, and the Grenfell Observatory opens to the public in 2012. It is one of the largest research telescopes in Atlantic Canada, and the observatory now hosts about 1,000 visitors every year.

Researchers at Memorial University discover the gene responsible for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a deadly genetic heart condition highly prevalent in Newfoundland and Labrador. An interdisciplinary research team in cardiac genetics from Memorial — led by Drs. Terry-Lynn Young, Patrick Parfrey and Sean Connors — identified the genetic cause of the disease. The discovery, published in the February 28 online American Journal of Human Genetics (co-first authors Drs. Nancy Merner and Kathy Hodgkinson), could lead to more interventions and, eventually, a cure for the deadly disease.

Angus and Jean Bruneau present the largest single donation from living individuals at the time. The Angus Bruneau Student Leadership and Innovation Fund in Engineering offers life-changing opportunities for students in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. The gift is a game-changer and encourages others to think about transformational giving.

Memorial launches its institutional brand: Memorial is the natural place for people and ideas to "become." It reflects the idea of transformation and that Memorial offers the freedom to explore and experience your ingenuity. The logo shape is inspired by Newfoundland and Labrador’s landscape. It suggests a rock face, cliff or iceberg and symbolizes strength and an adventurous spirit.

Petro-Canada Hall officially opens in the School of Music. Now known as Suncor Energy Hall, it is a beautiful and sophisticated rehearsal and teaching facility with special internet technology that allows students and professors to rehearse and perform, in real time, with musicians anywhere else in the world. 

Memorial University engineering graduate students Jamie King, Brendan Brothers and Raymond Pretty form Verafin. The company will create the financial industry’s leading financial crime management platform. In 2019, Verafin will receive an investment of $515 million, the largest venture capital deal in Canadian history. In 2020, Nasdaq will acquire Verafin for US$2.75 billion.

Memorial officially opens the then-named Bonne Bay Marine Station in Norris Point. Built on the site of Memorial's 30-year-old biology field station, the facility serves as a teaching centre for marine biology and environmental studies university students, a research complex and a public marine interpretation centre.

The Smallwood Centre opens on the St. John’s campus. Under its roof, student government and student services have a common and modern home. The six-storey building also houses a food court, retail shops and office space for student clubs and societies. The centre bridges the south side of campus with the north side and is commonly referred to as the “university centre” or by the acronym UC.

The Library and Computing Building at Grenfell Campus opens in Corner Brook. In November, the library is dedicated to the memory of E.J. Ferriss Hodgett, Grenfell's first vice-principal, who showed an unconditional commitment to the college. From a single complex that housed classrooms, laboratories, library, bookstore, gym, pool, dining hall and residence, Grenfell has developed into a liberal arts institution with 1,200 students and five modern buildings.

The Marine Institute launches the MV MOSTRC, a full-mission, full-motion ship bridge simulator, offering state-of-the-art industrial marine training. The simulator’s hydraulic base mimics the motion of wind and waves. The bridge is surrounded by a 10-metre-high screen. Training on the bridge feels like the realistic motion of a ship and a corresponding sea state is pictured out the windows.

The Glenn Roy Blundon Centre officially opens at Memorial. The mission of the Blundon Centre is to provide and co-ordinate programs and services that enable students with disabilities to maximize their educational potential and to increase awareness of inclusive values among all members of the university community. The centre is named in honour of Glenn Roy Blundon, a former Memorial student remembered for his advocacy, leadership and commitment to equality and accessibility on campus.

Memorial University releases the promotional and informational video Making Waves hosted by Gordon Pinsent. The video is now a time capsule of the university and some of its facilities in the 1990s. The 14-minute video also includes snippets of lectures from some of Memorial’s best-known faculty members, including Neil Bose, Noreen Golfman, Elliott Leyton, Jon Lien and Shane O’Dea.

Before 1989, the Sea-Hawks were known as the Beothuks. The name was changed to the Sea-Hawks to create a more recognizable and inclusive identity for the university's athletic teams.

CHMR Radio begins broadcasting on the FM band. A product of the students’ union, CHMR is found at 93.5 FM and, with a little free training, any undergraduate student can start a program on the station. CHMR also offers its equipment to undergraduate students interested in online podcasts.

The Telemedicine Centre establishes a first in Canada's telecommunications history with a teleconference link between Canada and a developing country for the purpose of health education and patient care. The centre made a satellite link between the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's and the Department of Pediatrics in Kenya.

Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (now Grenfell Campus) establishes the Fine Arts Program in Corner Brook. The Fine Arts building opens in 1988, and the program confers bachelor of fine arts degrees upon its first graduates in 1992.

Architect Charles H. Cullum designs Memorial’s Queen Elizabeth II Library. Cullum’s Bauhaus and New Brutalist influences can be seen in the building, which is the largest academic library in Atlantic Canada. It is a common campus myth that the QEII, as it is colloquially known, was built backwards. But the QEII was constructed as Cullum intended with the reading room’s large windows overlooking the scenery of Mount Scio.

Alex Faseruk joins the Faculty of Business Administration. During his 34 years with the faculty, Faseruk receives 24 teaching awards. As a beloved teacher and mentor, he coaches Memorial business teams to more than 50 first place finishes in national and international competitions. He coaches three teams to victory in the John Molson MBA International Case Competition. By 2017 Memorial teams will have won the International Case Competition’s Concordia Cup five times, more than any other team in the world.

Twenty-year-old Memorial student Judy Lynn Ford of Port-aux-Basques is struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing the Prince Philip Parkway. The tragedy sparks a week-long blockade of the parkway by nearly 2,000 Memorial students demanding a safer crossing system. It leads to the construction of two pedways. In 2019 Memorial unveils a storyboard dedicated to Ford’s memory in the University Centre’s food court, which passes over the parkway.

Dr. Jon Lien rescues a whale entangled in fishing gear. It is the beginning of the work that will earn him international renown. In 1979, he establishes the Whale Research Group. He invents acoustic devices that deter whales from fishing gear and pioneers release techniques used to save whales around the world. He is respected by both scientists across the globe and by fishermen at home. Over his career, Lien rescues over 500 marine animals and is nicknamed The Whale Man.

Memorial University launches its Telemedicine Project under the guidance of Dr. A.M. House. On April 7 at 3:30 p.m. a closed-circuit, audio-visual connection using the Hermes satellite is established between Ottawa, St. John’s, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador City, St. Anthony and Stephenville. The goal of telemedicine is to provide continuing education for doctors, nurses and other health professionals across Newfoundland and Labrador. The Hermes satellite is the most powerful transmitter orbiting the planet at the time. Over the years, Memorial is recognized as a world leader in telehealth.

The West Coast Regional College of Memorial University opens in Corner Brook, built on 100 acres of land donated by the Bowater Newfoundland Company. The college provides Memorial with a vital and long-awaited presence on the west coast of the island. In 1979, it will be renamed Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and, in 2010, it will become Grenfell Campus. Grenfell is widely known for its exceptional fine arts and environmental programming.

Memorial creates an Office of Research to provide information both on research in progress at the university and on research funding sources. The aim is to stimulate interdisciplinary research at Memorial, as well as foster, promote and co-ordinate research related to Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Botanical Garden at Oxen Pond in St. John’s is established to preserve and promote the natural history of the province. Development begins with one hectare of land, and the garden opens to the public in 1977. By 2022, the garden covers 110 acres and offers nature trails, themed gardens, a greenhouse and an alpine house. The Botanical Garden supports researchers and offers numerous programs to the public. Open seasonally from May to November, it also opens in December for the Merry and Bright Festival. 

The Memorial University men’s varsity soccer team wins the national intercollegiate championship. In a game played in two inches of snow at York University, the team from Memorial overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat Loyola College of Montreal by a score of 4 to 2 in the championship game.

Memorial begins its own degree-granting co-operative engineering program. Undergraduate degrees are offered in three disciplines: civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as a new master of engineering degree in ocean engineering.

The first issue of the MUN Gazette is published on Aug. 2. The newspaper will simplify its name to the Gazette in 1974. Print issues cease in January 2016 as the Gazette evolves into an online news site.

Memorial’s Extension Service and the National Film Board of Canada begin production of 28 short films about Fogo Island and its residents. The films unite Fogo Islanders around common goals and community advancement. The films are also screened for politicians and civil servants to promote engagement and social development. It becomes known as the Fogo Process and will be emulated around the world. You can access the videos of the Fogo Process through Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative.

Memorial’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) founds its publication arm, ISER Books. ISER initially publishes research fellows’ doctoral theses relating to Newfoundland and Labrador economics, anthropology and sociology. In the 1970s, ISER expands its mandate to publish monographs about the society, culture and economy of the wider North Atlantic region. By 2020 ISER Books will publish more than 120 titles; about 100 of those remain in print. In 2021 ISER Books rebrands to become Memorial University Press, but its mandate to publish scholarly books about the North Atlantic region remains consistent.

Leading up to the 1966 provincial election, Premier Joseph Smallwood announces free tuition for Newfoundland and Labrador first-year students. Student activist Rex Murphy criticizes the plan on national television as a fraud, arguing that tuition increases in later years will cover the costs. Smallwood subsequently extends free tuition to all Newfoundland and Labrador students. Murphy is elected president of the students’ union that same day. The Smallwood government’s austerity budget of 1968 ends free tuition.

The College of Fisheries opens at the Parade Street campus in St. John’s. Now known as the Marine Institute, it moves to its Ridge Road location in 1985 and joins Memorial in 1992. It grows to become Canada’s leading centre for fisheries and marine training and is one of the largest marine educational facilities in the world. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, almost 50 per cent of the college’s enrolment is from rural areas of the province and most are fishermen.

The Elizabeth Avenue campus in St. John's officially opens. Nineteen honorary degrees are conferred on dignitaries and Roy H. Thompson is installed as the second chancellor. Thousands of students from schools across the province parade down Elizabeth Avenue to mark the occasion and the event is broadcast across the country. It is the biggest assembly of university dignitaries to ever meet in Canada to date and is followed by a state banquet with almost 1,000 guests.

On March 26, Memorial students march to the Colonial Building, the seat of the Newfoundland Legislature. The march is in support of the provincial government as students protest the federal government's refusal to give the province more funding under Term 29 of Newfoundland's Terms of Union with Canada.

The Carnegie Corporation donates $30,000 over three years to establish a provincial archive. During this time, librarian Agnes O’Dea compiles the first comprehensive bibliography of Newfoundland and Labrador writing, which leads to the establishment of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies. In 1959 the archives transfer to the provincial government and eventually move to the Provincial Archives Division at The Rooms. Memorial awards O’Dea an honorary degree in 1960.

Esmond Cecil Harmsworth, Memorial University’s first chancellor and the second viscount Rothermere, lays the cornerstone for the new Elizabeth Avenue campus. A copy of The Muse newspaper is enclosed in the cornerstone.

On May 27, Premier Joseph Smallwood turns the first sod to begin construction of the new university campus on Elizabeth Avenue in St. John’s. The 80-acre site, at that time on the outskirts of the city, had been a part of the Halliday family farm.

The Student Representative Council publishes the first issue of the student newspaper in December. It has an incomplete title; the word “The” followed by a blank space. A contest is held for students, but no suitable names are found. They ask the Department of English for help. The name Muse was chosen based on the Greek letter M (called mu), the initials of the university (MU), the reference to the muses (the Greek goddesses of the arts and sciences) and Muse rhyming with news.

Newfoundland enters Confederation and becomes Canada’s 10th province. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians voted to join Canada in a referendum held on July 22, 1948. One of the new Newfoundland House of Assembly’s first actions is to enact legislation elevating Memorial University College to university status as Memorial University of Newfoundland.

On May 22, members of Newfoundland’s National Convention debate the elevation of Memorial University College to university status. Joesph R. Smallwood and Memorial University College graduate Michael Harrington deliver passionate speeches about the need for a university.

The number of registered students reaches 434. It is the highest enrolment in the college’s history so far, and with the rise in student numbers, overcrowding on the Parade Street campus becomes a serious issue. The assembly hall is partitioned to form new classrooms.

John Lewis Paton, the college’s first president, dies and bequeaths £3,000 to Memorial, one quarter of the residue of his estate.

On Sept. 2, the Second World War ends. Three hundred and ten former Memorial University College students volunteer for active service. Thirty of the former students are reported dead or missing. Their names are recorded in Memorial’s academic calendar.

Memorial provides its gymnasium for use as a hospital for the Royal Canadian Navy. It would later be used as a merchant-marine hospital. Students will not use the gymnasium again until 1944.

Photo of the graduating class parading from the Parade Street campus to Pitts Memorial Hall, June 7, 1941, courtesy Marion Peters Scott

Following the beginning of the Second World War, the college forms a cadet corps in July. Male students are required to participate in military drills, and female students are enrolled in first aid and physical training. Beginning in October, the military training occurs once a week at the Church Lads Brigade Armoury. The training is more than perfunctory; with each passing year, more Memorial students and alumni volunteer for active service.

Margaret Duley, Newfoundland’s first internationally acclaimed novelist, publishes Cold Pastoral. She portrays a Memorial University College graduation ceremony where over a dozen speakers refer to the college’s motto, provehito in altum (launch forth into the deep). A character exclaims, “My God, if another person tells them to plunge into the deep, I’ll follow with pleasure.” A plaque dedicated to Duley is mounted near the main entrance of the Queen Elizabeth II Library on the St. John’s campus. Photo courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Memorial’s 300-seat assembly hall becomes home to the St. John’s Players, founded by playwright Grace Butt, who completed her teacher training at the Normal School. The St. John’s Players (still in existence today) will become the city’s most-celebrated amateur theatre group, even making their own additions and improvements to the assembly hall. In 1981 Memorial awards Butt an honorary degree for her contribution to art and culture in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Memorial opens its Department of Teacher Training. The new department is of vital importance as it fills the void left by the closure of the Normal School, which was phased out of existence in 1932. Through the 1930s, students enrolled in teacher training receive grants to cover their $50 tuition fee. In 1946, Teacher Training will be renamed the Department of Education. And thanks to organizational foresight and advance planning, the department starts offering fourth-year courses as soon as Memorial achieves university status in 1949. 

Albert George Hatcher is named Memorial University College’s second president. His tenure begins as the worst effects of the Great Depression are being felt across Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s a difficult time for the young college, but Hatcher’s leadership ensures its survival as it meets the needs of students and the community. When the college is granted university status in 1949, Hatcher is named the first president of Memorial University of Newfoundland.

A three-storey wing opens on Parade Street campus with additional laboratories, kitchens, a large lecture theatre and a gymnasium, the largest in Newfoundland at the time. As enrolment continues to rise, staff and faculty find creative solutions to accommodate students and the evening courses being offered to the extended community. Through the Great Depression, the Second World War and beyond, temporary buildings are used and the assembly hall is divided into classrooms.

A three-year program in pre-engineering begins at the college and is met with enthusiasm by Newfoundland’s large industrial firms. Regular field trips mean students receive instruction everywhere from the Bell Island mines to the Corner Brook paper mill. In 1939 the department approaches engineering firms to find summer employment for students, establishing the foundation for the department’s co-operative education program, which begins in 1969 and is one of the oldest in Canada.

Memorial University College students publish their first magazine for the public, titled the College Mag. The following year in January, it is retitled the Cap and Gown and is published under that name for nearly 70 years. Supported by advertisements from local businesses, the magazine initially publishes poetry, stories, essays and images of the graduating classes. As graduating classes grow larger over the years, the Cap and Gown evolves into a photographic yearbook.

Monnie Mansfield becomes the Memorial University College registrar. She holds the position for 30 years and becomes one of the driving forces behind the college’s success. During her first year on staff, she studies librarianship at Columbia University and, starting in 1930, finds time to act as Memorial’s first librarian. In 1944 she is appointed dean of Women. Memorial University confers its first honorary degree upon Mansfield in 1960.

Memorial University College helps establish a travelling library. Four years earlier, several of the college’s founding trustees requested the Carnegie Corporation fund the venture. It responded with a $5,000 donation. Special sea-worthy travelling boxes are designed to carry 30‒50 books each. The boxes are carried by steamer vessels to 44 communities. Books are distributed from Newfoundland’s South Coast to North West River, Labrador.

In June of 1926, Helena McGrath becomes the first graduate of Memorial University College. Nancy Frost is the first person to receive a scholarship, the College Scholarship, valued at $600.

Photo of Helena (McGrath) Frecker courtesy Maire O’Dea

Memorial University College needs a president. The founding trustees set their sights on John Lewis Paton, who is on a speaking tour of Canada at the time. In April, founding trustee Levi Curtis travels more than halfway across the continent to find Paton and speak with him in person. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, presumably in a hotel room, Curtis meets with Paton to discuss the vision of Memorial University College.

Five founding trustees worked tirelessly for over a decade to create Memorial University College. From left to right: Ronald Kennedy, William Blackall, Vincent Burke, Arthur Barnes and Levi Curtis.