The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, the university's first president. It was enabled through the Post-secondary Learning Act. The university is considered a "comprehensive academic and research university" (CARU), which means that it offers a range of academic and professional programs that generally lead to undergraduate and graduate level credentials.
Old Arts Building, University of Alberta campus, designed by Percy Erskine Nobbs & Frank Darling 1909–10.
Rutherford House, on the northeast corner of the University of Alberta campus.
Corbett Hall
Biological Sciences Building at the University of Alberta
Alexander Cameron Rutherford
Alexander Cameron Rutherford was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the first premier of Alberta from 1905 to 1910. Born in Ormond, Canada West, he studied and practiced law in Ottawa before he moved with his family to the North-West Territories in 1895. Besides his work as lawyer, he began a political career that would see him first serve as member of the North-West Legislative Assembly and then as MLA and premier of Alberta. He lost the premiership in 1910 due to the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal. He later was prominent in the administration of the University of Alberta, beside which his family lived for decades. The Rutherford House historic site is located on the grounds of the UofA.
Portrait by Elliott & Fry, c. 1908–1910
Rutherford as an articled clerk, c. 1883
Rutherford around the time of his move West
The Rutherford family in 1898