Head and shoulders image of Dwaine Nelson, Assistant Professor, Department of Music.

Bio/Historical Note: Dwaine Darold Nelson was born in 1926 at Coteau, Burke County, North Dakota and began playing in the family band as a pre-teen. Nelson attended Minot State Teacher's College, Minot, North Dakota, where he majored in music and specialized in teaching brass. After marriage in 1954 he moved to Mohall, North Dakota, where Nelson became the choral and instrumental music teacher at Mohall High and Middle School. Under his direction, the band took many state honors. He was active in the community where he also directed the choir at the Mohall Methodist Church. During the summers he studied for his MA at Greeley Colorado State University. He was often called upon to conduct symphonics bands at the International Music Camp near the International Peace Gardens. Nelson then accepted a position as chairman of the music department and professor of music at Dickinson Teachers College, Dickinson, North Dakota, in 1958. There he founded the Tri-State Music Festival. In 1967 Nelson moved to Saskatoon, where he was Professor of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. He won the Master Teacher Award in 1990 as Professor Emeritus for his excellence in and dedication to teaching. Nelson was a driving force in the development of the Department of Music forming instrumental programs which grew from near non-existence to hundreds of participants. In 1978 he founded UNIFEST which has become one of western Canada's major music festivals and which also attracts thousands of students annually. Over the years Nelson conducted over 300 concerts and clinic/workshops in western Canada and the United States, served as adjudicator or examiner at 80 music festivals and as guest conductor for bands, orchestras and choral groups. Nelson’s years as conductor of the Saskatoon Junior Symphony and the Saskatoon Symphony were times of tremendous growth. His Orchestral Development Program was recognized by the Canada Council as a "significant model of all of Canada". Nelson died of a heart attack in 1991, one year after retirement. The Dwaine Nelson Memorial Scholarship for Band, Conducting, and Orchestra honours Nelson.