Looking northeast at Ellis Hall; steel structure completed and stone work begun. Stone on ground; University Hospital at left.
Bio/Historical Note: Ellis Hall was built as part of the University of Saskatchewan's Medical Complex that included the Medical College Building and University Hospital. As with the other two buildings, it was clad in locally quarried greystone. Opened in January 1956, the hall was designed by Webster and Gilbert to meet the needs of students in the School of Nursing who would study on campus, work in the hospital and live in the nurses’ residence. With the opening of University Hospital in 1954, a basic 3-year diploma program was established aimed at producing bedside nurses. Board and room, laundry and uniforms were provided without charge. The hall was named after Kathleen Ellis, who served from 1938 to 1950 as the School of Nursing's first director. It has the distinction of being the only building on campus named in honour of a woman. Ellis Hall is linked by a walkway to the 1979 hospital addition and is still home to the College of Nursing (2022).
Bio/Historical Note: A nursing leader and the first professor and director of the School of Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan, Kathleen Ellis was born 16 June 1887 in Penticton, British Columbia. Well educated and experienced in administration, she was executive-secretary and registrar of the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association from 1937-1950. Ellis instituted changes in conditions of nursing, and regulated schools, curriculum, and teaching. Under her aegis, the small but highly regarded degree program was established at that university in 1938. During World War II she served as emergency nursing advisor to the Canadian Nurses' Association, determining the use of federal funds to sustain services and education during the war. The nursing profession emerged strengthened and improved. Ellis made a permanent imprint on nursing in Saskatchewan. In 1955 the U of S awarded her an honourary Doctor of Laws degree for her “lifetime of responsibility and service in the nursing profession.” She was a dignified and gracious lady, independently wealthy, the embodiment of noblesse oblige. Kathleen Ellis retired in 1950, and died 9 March 1968 in Vancouver.
