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The Technical University of Nova Scotia was founded as the Nova Scotia Technical College (NSTC) on 25 April 1907. In 1978 it was re-named the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS), and in 1997 it amalgamated with Dalhousie University, temporarily becoming DalTech, a separate college within Dalhousie.

The school was established through the Technical Education Act to fill the province's need for a degree-granting technical college to offer the final two years of engineering study; Acadia, Dalhousie, the University of King's College and Mount Alison already had fledgling programs offering two-year diplomas. Over time, other Atlantic universities joined these associate institutions. The provincial government funded NSTC's operation until 1963, when the Board of Governors became responsible for the college's finances.

Under the direction of Frederick Henry Sexton, the first principal, classes began in September 1909 in a new building on former military land on Spring Garden Road obtained from the federal government in exchange for the inclusion of military instruction in the college's curriculum. Both faculty and students were directly involved in both world wars, and compulsory military training was discontinued in 1945.

NSTC initially offered courses in civil, electrical, mechanical and mining engineering. In 1947, coinciding with F.H. Sexton's retirement, the Technical College Act transferred the responsibility of technical education from the college's principal to the provincial education department. Chemical and metallurgical engineering were added to the curriculum in 1947, geological engineering in 1964, and industrial engineering in 1965. Atlantic Canada's first School of Architecture was established in 1961 and the School of Computer Science in 1982. MEng degrees began being offered in the 1950s and a PhD programme was established in 1962.

In 1978 the college's name changed to the Technical University of Nova Scotia, after 40 years of lobbying to circumvent its confusion with the Nova Scotia Institute of Technology and the Nova Scotia Teachers’ College and to end the institution’s identity as a "college." In 1986 an Advisory Board was put in place to ensure liaison between what was now the Technical University of Nova Scotia and its associate universities. TUNS's mission was articulated as contributing to the development of Nova Scotia though high quality education, research, and community and industry collaboration in architecture, computer science and engineering.

Provincial pressure to amalgamate TUNS and Dalhousie brought about the Dalhousie-Technical University Amalgamation Act in April 1997. TUNS became DalTech (Dalhousie Polytechnic of Nova Scotia) and existed as a constituent college within Dalhousie until early 2000. DalTech offered courses in the Faculties of Engineering, Computer Science and Architecture and the associated buildings were re-named the Sexton Campus in honour of NSAC's first principal. The campus had expanded over the years from the original building on Spring Garden Road to encompass much of the large block bounded by Spring Garden Road, Barrington, Morris and Queen streets.

George Geoffrey Meyerhof was a distinguished geotechnical engineer, best known for his work on the bearing capacity of foundations. He is the author of over 200 papers, a book on structural and soil mechanics, and a booklet called "Memories of a Civil Engineer in World War II."

Born in Kiel, Germany in 1916, Meyerhof was the son of the late Nobel Laureate in Physiology, Otto Meyerhof. After graduating in 1938 with a B.Sc. from London University, he worked with consulting structural engineers in England for several years. In 1946 he joined the British government's Building Research Station near London, where he carried out extensive research on soil mechanics and foundation problems. In 1950 he obtained his Ph.D in engineering from London University, which later awarded him a D.Sc.

Meyerhof emigrated to Canada in 1953 and was appointed Supervising Engineer in the Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation in Montreal. In 1955 he joined the Nova Scotia Technical College (later TUNS) and served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering between 1964-1970.

Meyerhof was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and many other scientific and engineering societies in Canada and abroad. In 1999 Meyerhof received the Order of Canada for distinguished service in geotechnical engineering. He was also awarded the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia's prestigious F.H. Sexton Award and the year 2000 Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers (United Kingdom). He was awarded the Centennial Medal of Canada, the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for outstanding service to Canada. Other honours include the Duggan Medal and the Julian C. Smith Medal of the Engineering Institute of Canada, the R.F. Legget Award of the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the Engineering Award of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia, and the Karl Terzaghi Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Meyerhof was the first President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society, a Council Member of the Engineering Institute of Canada, a Council Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, a Terzaghi Lecturer of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Buchanan Lecturer of Texas A&M University, and a Hardy Lecturer of the Canadian Geotechnical Society. His honorary degrees include Doctor of Engineering degrees from the Technical University of Aachen, Germany and the Technical University of Nova Scotia; Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Ghent (Belgium), McMaster University (Hamilton) and Queen's University (Kingston); and the Doctor of Laws degree from Concordia University (Ottawa).

He was a founding member of the Halifax Grammar School, and a supporter of music and theatre in Halifax.

The Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) was the third centre for agricultural education and research to be established in Canada. The college was created in 1905 through a merger of the School of Agriculture, set up in 1885 at the Provincial Normal School; the Provincial Farm, founded in 1889 at Bible Hill; and the School of Horticulture, established in 1894 in Wolfville. The new agricultural campus was centred around the farm at Bible Hill and a newly constructed science building. While NSAC's primary role was to educate and prepare farmers for practice, some students completed degrees at Macdonald College at McGill University or at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. Many of these graduates entered government and were among the early Canadian leaders in agricultural public service.

In 1913, campus facilities and programs were expanded in response to federal funding for agricultural education; among the initiatives were home economics education, women’s institutes, rural science and youth training. Government demand for increased food production during World War One further enhanced agricultural education, while pressures from NSAC field staff led to the formation of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and, later, the Department of Agriculture. During the 1920s and 1930s, the college made significant contributions to improving the genetic base of Atlantic Canadian farm livestock.

After World War Two there was a surge in enrolment in response to veterans seeking agricultural training, and the college was further challenged when a fire in 1946 destroyed the science building. A temporary campus at the military hospital facilities in Debert, NS, served until 1953, when a new science building—now known as the Harlow Institute—and a central heating plant enabled the move back to the Bible Hill campus. In 1959 the first campus residence was opened.

During the 1960s, requirements for a more comprehensive vocational and technical agricultural education spurred the development of additional residences, three new academic buildings, new barns and campus services. NSAC's central role was formalized by the four Atlantic provinces in the 1960s, and the degree program was officially recognized through the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission. Continued growth throughout the 1970s saw women enrolling in larger numbers, and women’s sports teams and new student services were created, including the Athletic Centre and a new dining hall. The former auditorium in Cumming Hall was redeveloped as the Alumni Theatre.

Provincial legislation in the 1980s enabled an academic agreement with Dalhousie University for degree granting purposes, and September 1981 was the first year that NSAC students were registered into a full four-year BSc program in one of four areas of specialization: Agricultural Economics, Animal Science, Plant Protection and Plant Science. More facilities were built during the 1980s, including the library, Animal Science building, and an extension to the Cox Institute. Growth in faculty and expanded research activities followed, along with increased opportunities in international development programs. In the early 1990s, graduate studies were developed, with MSc and PhD degrees conferred by Dalhousie University.
On July 1, 2012, NSAC became Dalhousie University's Faculty of Agriculture, remaining a distinct campus within the university, led by a principal/dean, a dual role that oversees both academic programs and local campus services and supports.

John Bubar—known to his students as "Johnny Plant"—was the first head of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College's Plant Science Department. Born on 13 September 1929 in Hartland, New Brunswick, he was the first of three sons of Charles Humphrey Bubar and Ida Margaret Pratt. He grew up on farms near Hartland alongside his Pratt uncles, who were successful agriculturalists.

He graduated from Hartland High School in 1946 and spent one year in Normal College and another year teaching in a one-room school. He left teaching to attend Nova Scotia Agricultural College and McGill University's Macdonald College, earning a BSc in Agriculture in 1952. Two years later he completed his MSc at Penn State University, then returned to Macdonald College, where he earned his PhD. His doctoral research led to the development of the "Leo" Birdsfoot Trefoil, the first named cultivar of the forage crop species.

Bubar taught at Macdonald College for a decade before returning again to NSAC in 1967, where he taught for twenty years and carried out agronomy field trials both on and off campus. In 2010 a scholarship for top students from New Brunswick was established in his name.

John Bubar died on 1 April 2014 in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Melville Cumming was the first principal of Nova Scotia College of Agriculture and the namesake of Cumming Hall, the administration building at the heart of Dalhousie University's Agricultural Campus. He was born in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, on 5 January 1876, to Thomas and Matilda (McNair) Cumming. After graduating from Colchester County Academy as a Gold Medalist, he earned his BA from Dalhousie University in 1897. In 1899 he received a BSc in Agriculture from Iowa State College, USA, and in 1900 he was granted another BSc Agr from the University of Toronto, which was affiliated with the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, where he held his first professorial appointment from 1900-1905. He also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dalhousie in 1918.

In February 1905, Cumming was appointed principal of the newly formed Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro, Nova Scotia, where he also taught animal husbandry, agronomy, bacteriology and public speaking. He took on a concurrent appointment in 1907 with the newly formed Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, which he held until 1925. On leaving NSAC in 1927, he moved to Halifax as the director of marketing for Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, where in 1933 he became the head of provincial agricultural statistics. He retired in 1947.

Cumming was active in the wider community, serving as an elder in Halifax's Fort Masse United Church, president of the Men’s Club and superintendent of the Sunday School. He was president of the Truro Canadian Club, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Association, chairman for Colchester County of the Canadian Patriotic Club, president of the Truro Golf Club and of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children. He was a chairman of the Farm and Finance Committees at the Maritime Home for Girls and honorary vice-president of the Nova Scotia Tuberculosis Association, of which he was a charter member. He was also a charter member of the Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturalists (now the Agricultural Institute of Canada) and a member of the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists. In 1905 and again in 1907, he travelled to Scotland to purchase Clydesdale, Hackney and Thoroughbred horses. The administration building (Cumming Hall) at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College was named in his honour.

Melville Cumming was married to Mary Alice Archibald in 1905, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. He died on 16 April 1969.

Kenneth Cox was the sixth principal of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and made significant contributions to the Maritime agricultural industry. Born in 1899 in Upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, he received his early training at NSAC, where he graduated with the Class of 1921. In 1924 he earned a BSc in Agriculture from the Ontario Agricultural College, studying animal husbandry. He followed this with graduate studies in agronomy at Macdonald College, McGill University, graduating with an MSc in 1929.

Cox returned to Nova Scotia to work at the Dominion Experimental Farm in Nappan, where he was employed as assistant to the superintendent and carried out research on cereals, forages, root crops and fertility. In 1937 he was appointed Provincial Agronomist and Professor of Agronomy at NSAC, and Vice-Principal and Farm Director in 1941. He became Acting Principal in 1946 and was appointed Principal in 1948, a position he held until his retirement in 1964.

Respected across the agricultural community, Kenneth Cox was a member of the Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturalists and served as president of the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists and honorary president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture. In 1960 he was made a fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada and an honorary life member of the Canadian Seed Growers Association. His contribution to agricultural education was recognized with an honorary LLD from McGill in 1964.

In 1968 the Cox Institute of Technology on the NSAC campus was named in his honour and in 1991 Kenneth Cox was granted a Distinguished Alumnus Award. He died in 1994.

Albert E. Roland was Provincial Botanist for the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Professor Emeritus of Biology at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. Born in Aylesford, Kings County, in 1911, he graduated from Acadia University with a BA in 1931 before attending University of Toronto to study plant pathology, earning an MA in 1936, and then the University of Wisconsin, where he was granted a PhD in 1944.

In 1944 he joined the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and started teaching at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. He was an active researcher and writer and published prolifically, including the seminal Flora of Nova Scotia (1944), which was revised in 1988 as Roland's Flora of Nova Scotia (ed. Marian Zink); Geological Background and Physiogeography of Nova Scotia (1982); and, with Randal Olson, Spring Wildflowers (1993). The herbarium collection at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College is named in recognition of his lifelong contribution to the understanding of Nova Scotia's natural history.

Albert Roland was a member of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science, the Agricultural Institute of Canada, the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists, and the Canadian Botanical Association. He served as president of the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists (1958-1959) and became a fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada in 1971. Named as one of thirty outstanding graduates of Acadia University between 1910-1960, he was granted an honorary DSc from Acadia (1972), the centennial medal (1967) and an LLD from Dalhousie University (1980). He died in September 1991 in Truro, Nova Scotia.

The first major conference hosted by the Atlantic Canadian gay community was Our Atlantic Gay Community: United Against Oppression, from 8 -10 October 1977. Events included workshops, meetings, an Artisan's Expo, dinner and dance at The Turret, and Halifax's first gay march. The conference was jointly organized by GAE and APPLE (Atlantic Provinces Political Lesbians for Equality.)

The following year the city hosted Building Solidarity: The Fight Against Repression, which marked the sixth national conference of the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Rights Coalition.

In 1979 the Atlantic Gay and Lesbian (AGL) Conference theme was Building a Community Spirit. In 1980 the AGL conference theme was Growing. The fourth AGL conference (1982) was held in Fredericton. By 1993 the conference name had changed to the Atlantic Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Conference and the theme that year was We Are Everywhere. The conference had 230 people in attendance.

Beginning in 1988 with Halifax's first Pride March, members of the city's gay and lesbian community organized Pride Week without the benefit of legal protections. Amidst growing unrest about rampant prejudice and discrimination, the first Pride March was primarily a protest over the lack of legal protection from discrimination, and the all-too-common threat of homophobic violence.

Approximately 75 people marched through Halifax's North End that first year. A handful wore paper bags over their heads out of fear for their livelihoods and their safety. Since then, the Halifax Pride Festival has grown into a celebration that includes numerous events that highlight the unique character of a diverse community, and welcomes 120,000 participants each summer.

Anne Charlotte Bishop is an activist, author, educator, food security advocate, labour organizer and community development worker. Since the 1980s she has advocated for LGBTQ rights, union organization, equity and anti-racist policies in the province of Nova Scotia.

In the 1970s she attended the University of Toronto's Centre for Christian Studies, where she was introduced to social analysis and collective approaches to education. In 1979 she worked on the People's Food Commission, a participatory research project that held hearings across Canada on issues of food security. In the 1980s she helped to organize a union of predominantly female workers at a Pictou County fish plant. In the summer of 1987, she joined Dalhousie University's Henson College as the coordinator of the Community Development and Outreach Unit. From 1987-1992 Bishop played a central role in Lesbian and Gay Rights Nova Scotia (LGRNS), which successfully lobbied the provincial government for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. As an adult educator, she helped to develop a course on grassroots leadership development and wrote two influential books on consciousness-raising, anti-oppression organizational change and allyship. With Brenda Beagan, she founded a women's chorus, The Secret Furies. Bishop is currently an organic farmer in rural Nova Scotia with her partner Jan.

Anita Louise Martinez is a photographer and long-standing community activist and volunteer, in particular with reference to the peace movement, women’s equality and empowerment groups, and LGBTQI rights. She has documented numerous local and national organizations and her work has been published in periodicals, magazines and books in Japan, New Mexico, New York and Canada.

Born in Ontario in 1939, at the age of eight she won a Brownie camera, which began her love of photography. At 15 she left her home town and began traveling, eventually settling in New Mexico, where she raised six children. In 1983 she moved to Nova Scotia.

She has studied a breadth of subjects—from woodworking to photography to cake decorating—and holds a nursing degree from the University of New Mexico and a diploma in photography, graphic design and digital imaging from Nova Scotia Community College. In addition, she’s completed workshops in drug and alcohol counseling, suicide prevention, and co-operative housing.

In Halifax, Anita served on various boards and committees: PLURA (Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches); Halifax Transition House Association; the National Transition House Association; Urban Core Support Network; Second Stage Housing Association; Take Back the Night Committee; the International Women’s Day Planning Committee; Pandora Women’s Newspaper; and WAYVES. She was membership coordinator on Lamplight Housing Cooperative Board and president of PSAC Union. Anita also served the board of Women’s Employment Outreach and was on the organizing team for Dawn Canada. She was a longtime support person with the Nova Scotia’s Persons with AIDS (PWA) Coalition.

In 1975 the newly formed Dalhousie Women’s Organization proposed the establishment of a women’s studies program. It was 1982 before such a program was approved by Senate, and it was further delayed by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Council (MPHEC), as similar courses were already being offered at Mount Saint Vincent and Saint Mary’s universities. Women's studies classes were first offered at Dalhousie in 1988, with Susan Sherwin as program coordinator and only three enrolled students. Judith Fingard took over as program coordinator in 1989 and introduced classes in science, political science and economics.

By 1992 Dalhousie had an active Women’s Studies Student Society, and the program was gaining attention through its lecture and seminar series. The program was not without detractors, particularly in the wake of the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989, and exams were written with security personnel present after some faculty received death threats.

In 2005, the program adopted a new name in an effort to be more inclusive, and officially became the Gender and Women’s Studies program.

J. Andrew (Andy) Wainwright is a poet, novelist and McCulloch Professor Emeritus of English at Dalhousie University. He was born 12 May 1946 in Toronto, Ontario, and received his BA in 1969 at the University of Toronto. He spent the early 1970s in Spain, Greece and England before moving to Halifax to pursue his MA (1973) and PhD (1978) in English at Dalhousie University. He began teaching at Dalhousie in 1979, with a focus on modern and postmodern (Canadian) literature, indigenous studies, gender studies, multicultural fiction and poetry, intercultural issues and popular culture.

Wainwright is widely published, with titles including World Enough and Time: Charles Bruce, A Critical Biography (1988); Landscape and Desire: Poems Selected and New (1992); (ed.) A Very Large Soul: Margaret Laurence’s Letters to Canadian Writers (1995); A Deathful Ridge: A Novel of Everest (1997); A Far Time (2001); (ed.) Every Grain of Sand: Canadian Perspectives on Environment and Ecology (2004); The Confluence (2007); and Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle (2009).

He retired from teaching in 2008.

James Gray was a scholar and professor of English literature and language at Dalhousie University. Born in Montrose, Scotland, he studied literature at the University of Aberdeen before serving in the Second World War from 1941-1946. After the war, he received a BA (1948) and MA (1951) in literature from Oxford University, where he studied at Balliol College. He moved to Quebec in 1951 to take up a teaching appointment at Bishop’s University, becoming head of their English department in 1958 and Chair of Humanities in 1971. During this period he also taught part time in the Canadian National Railways staff training course. He received his PhD in literature from the University of Montreal in 1970.

In 1975 Gray came to Dalhousie University as Dean of Faculty of Arts and Science. He wrote and lectured extensively about eighteenth-century studies, particularly on theatre and religious works. He was active in various literary and teaching associations, journals and publication initiatives, including the editorial committee of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson for over a decade. He was also a keen philatelist.

He was married to Pamela Gray, with whom he had one daughter. In 1980 James Gray retired to Kentville, Nova Scotia, as Thomas McCulloch Professor Emeritus. He died in 2012.

Rowland Smith was a McCulloch Professor of English at Dalhousie University. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1938. He earned his BA at the University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and returned to Natal to obtain his PhD. In 1967 he and moved to Halifax with his wife Ann to take up a teaching position at Dalhousie, later serving as acting Dean of Arts and Science. He was the author of the Smith Report, a recommendation for splitting the faculty of arts and science into two entities, which happened in 1987. In 1994 he was appointed Vice President, Academic at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he remained until 1994, when he left top take up a final appointment at the University of Calgary as Dean of Humanities.

Smith published and lectured extensively on modern British and post-colonial literature in English. In addition to his scholarly activities, he was a director of Opera Ontario, a regional judge for the Commonwealth Writers' prize, and a member of the Book Prize jury for the Canadian Federation for the Humanities. He also served as a governor of the Neptune Theatre foundation and as director of the Nova Scotia Rugby Football Union, being an avid rugby player himself. His other great love was music, and he was a member of Calgary's Opera's Impresario Circle. He died in 2008.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology was established in October 1966 after hiving off from the Department of Economics and Sociology. The creation of an independent department was the initiative of sociology professor John Graham, with the support of H.B.S. Cooke, Dean of Arts and Science. The department grew rapidly from 1969-1972, with an increase in teaching staff from six to 22.

It was renamed Sociology and Social Anthropology in December 1977 following a departmental review that articulated the divergences and tensions between the sociologists and anthropologists in terms of disciplinary interests and resource allocation. The change in name from anthropology to social anthropology was seen as an affirmation of the department’s intellectual coherence and unity. The department continues to draw on the strengths of both disciplines—sociology and social anthropology—by recognizing their distinct intellectual and methodological heritages, while emphasizing how they complement each other.

The eldest son of James E. Dickie and Harriet Tupper, Alfred Dickie was born in Upper Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, on 28 March 1860. Dickie was educated at Dalhousie College and went on to become a prominent businessman known for a time as the ‘lumber king’ of Nova Scotia.

After college, Dickie assisted with his father’s businesses; he worked in the general store and lumber business in the Stewiacke area, and in 1886 became secretary of the Stewiacke Valley and Lansdowne Railway Company, of which his father was president. On 8 September 1885 he married Alice Amelia Dickie, his father’s second cousin, with whom he had five children: Rufus, Walter, Aileen, Ethel and Harold. Rufus and Walter would both work for the family business, although Walter eventually left to practise medicine.

Between 1899 and 1904 Dickie established several lumber companies of his own, notably Alfred Dickie Lumber Co. in Lower Stewiacke, and Grand River Pulp and Lumber Co., located in a small trapping community along the shores of the Grand River in central Labrador. A conflict between Quebec surveyors and Dickie's company escalated into a dispute between the Dominion of Canada and the colony of Newfoundland over the Labrador-Quebec boundary. In response, the Imperial Privy Council eventually mapped out the current boundary.

Despite the early rapid expansion experienced by Dickie’s business ventures, which supplied local, national and international lumber markets with a variety of timber products, his business experienced a downturn between 1904 and 1906. Slower markets and difficulties with bankers forced Dickie to reorganize his assets. He sold many of his timber limits; obtained woodlots in Nova Scotia under the names of his wife and son; established new companies such as the Albion Lumber Company; diversified his interests by investing in utility and insurance company stocks, currencies and real estate; and established the Colchester County Steam Ship Company with boats previously used in his lumber business.

In addition to his business enterprises, Dickie had political ambitions and was active in the community. He made several unsuccessful runs for Parliament and served as mayor of Stewiacke for four years. In 1914 Dickie and his family moved to Halifax, where he became active in local charities, boards, clubs and other organizations. Towards the end of his life, chronic health issues affected Dickie's activity. While his longstanding banking problems were resolved and he and his son Rufus formed the Canadian Lumber Company, his time as lumber king had passed. Alfred Dickie died in 1929.

The first reference to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Dalhousie University calendars is in 1923-1924, where Dr. H.B. Atlee is identified as the Head of the Department. In previous calendars, Obstetrics and Gynaecology is listed as a subdivision of courses offered by the Faculty of Medicine, but there was no indication that it was organized as a department. Obstetrics first appears as a series of lectures offered by the Faculty of Medicine in 1868, with William J. Almon and Alexander G. Hattie lecturing.

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology currently has seven divisions: Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Gynaecology-Oncology, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Perinatal Epidemiology Research, and Uro-Gynaecology. The department is located in the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia and various Nova Scotia Health Authority sites throughout the province.

The original precedent for Neptune Theatre was Nova Scotia's first French language theatrical presentation, Marc Lescarbot's Le Theatre de Neptune en la Nouvelle-France in 1606.The impetus to found a repertory theatre in Halifax was spurred on by the Canada Council's encouragement of establishing regional theatres in the late 1950s. Local Halifax politicians supported the endeavor, believing it would aid city development and help to attract additional tourists. Neptune's first repertory season was in 1963-1964. Neptune was also the first completely year-round theatre in Canada.

In the early years, Neptune produced a variety of plays in an attempt to appeal to a broad audience. However, attendance numbers typically were only around fifty percent of capacity and the theatre started to experience the first of many financial hard times. Subscription series were introduced in 1967 to help counteract these problems. Neptune was also supported by a variety of grants, including some from the Canada Council as well as from all three levels of government.

Neptune has produced many Canadian-authored plays, including several commissioned specifically for them over the years. From the start, Neptune attempted to reach a wide audience by touring one or two productions each year on a regional basis, beginning in 1963. The first nation-wide tour was in 1967. Neptune also produced several world premieres in its early years, including Michael Cook's Colour the Flesh the Colour of Dust (1972).

In the early 1970s, the decision was made to have a single season from November to August rather than continuing the year-round schedule. It was too expensive to maintain a full company for that time period. It was also difficult to attract many of Canada's best performers to stay in Halifax for long periods of time. Therefore, rather than attempt to remain a repertory company, Neptune became a stock company during this time.

In the 1971-1972 season, Neptune's Studio Theatre was created. This second stage produced more experimental works as well as workshop-style productions. It was dependent upon government grants and, due to a lack of such monies, disappeared after the 1973-1974 season. It was later reinitiated by Tom Kerr in the 1985-1986 season under the name "Neptune North," and later in the 1990s as the "Studio Series."

The community took an active interest in Neptune. This was first concretely demonstrated by the creation of The Tritons, or Children of Neptune. This was a group of young people who wanted to know more about Neptune and it served as the forerunner of the Theatre School, later established by Tom Kerr in 1983. In 1973-1974, a Student Theatre Company was formed jointly with the Halifax School Board. However, it was quickly abandoned after only two seasons.

During these early years, it became progressively clear that the physical resources of the Neptune Theatre, namely the building and theatre equipment, were lacking. This acknowledgement was the start of a quest to improve these facilities. Various renovations were conducted over the years, but the desire for a new theatre building remained a passionate goal. Studies were conducted and plans were drawn up in the early 1980s to create a joint Neptune and Art Gallery complex on the Halifax waterfront. These plans were abandoned due to a lack of financial backing. Neptune also considered redeveloping the existing building with the addition of a second stage during the 1980s. This dream finally came to fruition in 1997 with the construction of a wholly renovated building, complete with a second stage.

The financial situation worsened as the theatre's deficit mounted from 1974 to 1977. In 1978, Artistic Director John Wood was replaced by John Neville (Artistic Director 1978-1983), who worked to correct the financial situation by instigating several changes and programs. New managerial staff was hired to help improve the financial area through new subscription campaigns and by appealing to the business sector for sponsorship.

An actor of international stature, Neville helped to promote Neptune locally and abroad. He kept himself visible to the greater community by acting in several plays and helped to increase Neptune's community exposure with the creation of the Young Neptune Company, a professional company that conducted extensive school tours throughout the region. Neville also instituted the artist-in-residence program in 1981-1982 and attempted to increase the accessibility of theatre to the community with the lunchtime productions. These productions became difficult to maintain alongside main stage productions and were phased out after the 1983-1984 season.

Tom Kerr maintained the Young Neptune Company, the artist-in-residence program, and also added the Apprentice Directors' Program in 1983. He also founded the Neptune Theatre School in 1983 with the help of Irene Watts.

Today, Neptune remains a multi-faceted organization with main stage productions, Studio Series productions, a Young Neptune Company, and a successful Theatre School. There will surely be many more seasons to come.