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The Sir George Williams University Academic Planning Committee originated in 1963 resulting from a widely-held feeling that academic growth was suffering from a lack of direction and cohesion. It was founded on a somewhat ad hoc basis to establish comprehensive consultative procedures for the University at the time the Hall Building was being planned and constructed. Its mandate at that time was: "To consider the total academic policy of the University, and to make any recommendations to appropriate bodies that may arise out of such consideration."

Initially it was independent of the formal University structure, the principal link being the Vice Principal (Academic) who was both Chairman of the Committee and the Chair of University Council. In the spring of 1967, after discussion within University Council, it was decided that the Committee would become a sub-committee of University Council.

The principal achievements for the initial period of 1963-1967 are the following: planning and consideration of the first graduate programmes; detailed examination of the Parent Commission Report; review of new areas into which the institution might move; establishment of ongoing five-year projections, submitted by all departments and reviewed annually.

Mr. James H. Whitelaw joined Sir George in 1954 as the first head of what became the Department of Modern Languages. In November of '67, he was appointed to the position of Curriculum Coordinator, and in 1971, he became Associate Vice-Principal (Academic Planning). Subsequently, in 1974-1975, 1976-1977 and 1977-1978 he was named Associate Vice-Rector (Academic Planning), and finally, from 1978 up to his retirement, in June 1984, he occupied the position of Associate Vice-Rector (Academic).

Through Chairman Whitelaw, the Academic Planning Committee was very involved in the developing of English speaking CEGEPs in Quebec.

The Concordia University Alumni Association (CUAA) was created in 1983. In the words of its constitution, the association exists to "encourage the fellowship of graduates from Loyola, Sir George Williams, and Concordia University through social, educational and cultural activities" and to "preserve and promote the interests of Concordia University through alumni involvement in its future and governance." All graduates of the University are automatically lifetime members of CUAA, as are graduates of Concordia's two founding institutions: Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, which merged in 1974 to form Concordia University. CUAA worked with Concordia's Office of Alumni Affairs to provide alumni with a variety of programs and services. It organizes a series of career and personal development seminars and workshops, and a travel program; all are outlined in the calendar of events mailed to Montreal-area graduates. All graduates receive the quarterly Concordia University Magazine. CUAA is committed to the development and support of a worldwide network of alumni chapters.

On June 8, 2001, CUAA president Peter McAuslan and Rector Frederick Lowy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the CUAA and Concordia. The MOU was “for the purpose of delineating the responsibilities of the University and the CUAA to each other for their mutual benefit.” Among other details, the agreement spells out the support that Concordia is to provide the association in the form of funding, services and personnel, and the financial commitment that the CUAA pledges in return, as well as the continuing place of the alumni associations of Loyola and Sir George.

In 2014, the Concordia University Alumni Association, Association of Alumni of Sir George Williams University and Loyola Alumni Association have united. On May 28, at special general meetings, the associations unanimously approved amalgamating into one organization.

Robert N. Wilkins was born in Montreal in 1947. He graduated from Sir George Williams University in 1969 (BA) and was a high school history teacher in Montreal for 35 years. In retirement, he was initially a regular contributor to the Westmount Examiner, and later a columnist for The Gazette (“Looking Back” and "Montreal Diary” pages). He is the author of Montreal 1909 (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue: Shoreline, 2017). Using extracts from the 1909 editions of The Montreal Star and his own comments, he gave in this book a fascinating day-by-day account of the fast-growing Montreal during the Edwardian era (1900-1910).

The first meeting of what would become the Sir George Williams University Faculty Club took place on September 24, 1960. A private non-profit cooperative organization, it offered dining and bar facilities and aimed to facilitate social exchange among members of the University. Club membership was open to faculty and senior administrative staff. First located in the Norris Building, the Faculty Club moved to the 7th floor of the Henry F. Hall Building after it opened in 1966. It continued to operate under the name Sir George Williams Faculty Club after S.G.W. Merged with Loyola College to form Concordia University in 1974.

The Irish Canadian Heritage Society was founded in February 1965 in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, by Fred G. Sullivan, following the example of the Irish American Heritage Society, which was established a few years earlier. First president of the organization was Fred G. Sullivan, followed by Rory O’Sullivan. With the change of the presidency, the society’s headquarters moved to Baie-D'Urfé, Quebec.
The mission of the Irish Canadian Heritage Society was to “foster a knowledge of Ireland and its cultural institutions and an appreciation of the Irish contribution to the Canadian way of life.” The society held regular meetings to which they invited guest speakers to present various subjects related to Ireland and the Irish in Quebec.

With the formation of Concordia University in 1974, the Centre for Instructional Technology (CIT) at Sir George Williams University (SGWU) and the Educational Media Centre (EMC) at Loyola College combined their administrations to form the Concordia University Centre for Instructional Technology (CIT). In 1975, CIT became the Concordia University Audio-Visual Department, a name it kept until its merger with Computing Services to create Instructional & Information Technology Services (IITS), in 1998.

In the 1960s, the SGWU Centre for Instructional Technology was one of the first centralized audio-visual units among the Canadian universities. It had been established in 1964, under the name of Instructional Media Office (IMO) - which became CIT in 1969 - as a department to assist learning through the use and understanding of audio-visual technology. It was part of the Office of the Vice-Principal (Academic) and under the direction of Assistant Professor G. A. B. Moore. On October 1, 1970, the Centre was transferred to report to the Vice-Principal, Administration and Finance.

At Concordia, the AV Department has mainly been part of the Vice-Rector, Services portfolio. Its directors were Bernard (Ben) Queenan, from 1974 to 1986, and Mark Schofield, from 1987 to 1998. In collaboration with the academic sector and other service units, the AV Department identified and promoted appropriate technologies to facilitate the University audio-visual needs. It provided audio-visual equipment and expertise for teaching and learning in classrooms, laboratories and at remote locations. Its Visual Media Resources section (VMR) accumulated through the years a collection of films, videos, and DVDs for academic purposes (VMR was part of IITS between 1998 and 2003, and of Fine Arts after that. It became Visual Collections Repository (VCR) in 2018). And from the beginning, the AV department had a photographic and a graphics sections.

Originally intended as a teaching-aid department, the AV Department early opened its facilities to University community at large, particularly to students (e.g. to CUTV members). For instance, in 1975 the Department established a learning centre called AVISTA (Audio Visual In-Service Technical Area) to help students and faculty members learn to handle audio visual material, equipment and techniques. AVISTA became MITE-AVISTA in November 1989, when it installed a Multi-media Interactive Technology Environment (MITE).

The AV Department also had successful experiments in early distance education with local television channels, in the 1960s and 1970s (e.g. University of the Air). From 1988, it became responsible for the Concordia participation to CANAL Education Television, a Quebec consortium of education institutions which provided facilities for the broadcast of courses on the television network.

To provide information on its services, the AV Department published between 1987 and 1994, a newsletter called Fast Forward. Educational Technology, Concordia University Television (CUTV), Fine-Arts, Cinema, and Modern Languages were some of the heavy users of the AV Department facilities. The links with the Education department were particularly strong as one of its Faculty member, Gary Boyd, was also Assistant Director, Research and Development, of the AV Department for most of its existence.

Daniel Feist was born in Montreal on January 27, 1954 as the son of German immigrants Ursula and David Feist. His father was a visual artsit. Daniel Feist was married to Susan (Susie) Kessler. They had two children, Emily and Max. Daniel Feist died in Montreal on February 11, 2005.

Feist received a BA degree in Communications Studies and German and a minor in music from Concordia University, where he later studied music composition.

He worked as a freelance broadcast and print journalist, electroacoustic musician, band manager, and record producer, and he taught at Dawson College (1980-1984) and in the Department of Music and the Department of Communications Studies at Concordia University (1990-1999). From 1997 to 1999, Feist offered the World-Beat Music History Course in the Department of Music. As part of the class work he brought world music artists who were residents of Montreal to Concordia’s Oscar Peterson Concert Hall to perform and be interviewed.

Feist was one of the first broadcasters to embrace world music (world beat, i.e., the popular music of the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world). He traveled widely, especially in Africa, where he also lived for several years, and interviewed many performers. He was considered an expert in the music of Africa and the Caribbean.

Since the early 1990s, Feist hosted the world-beat program “Rhythms International” on Sunday nights on the Montreal radio station CJFM Mix-96FM. Rhythms International was the only program of its kind on commercial radio in Canada. For several years, Feist also provided a version of Rhythms International for Air Canada’s and Delta Airlines’ in-flight programming, and he wrote and hosted the world-beat series “A Whole New World”on CBC-FM radio from 1993 to 1995.

As an electroacoustic composer, Feist was a member of the Concordia University Electroacoustics group, which had been founded in 1982 as the Concordia Electroacoustics Composers Group. The group’s members composed electroacoustic music and gave concerts. In 1990 his composition “Auxferd Nightburr’d November 2 A.M.” was voted jury winner at the first ACREQ (Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustiques du Québec) Electroclips competition.

Feist was a long-time contributor to Montreal’s The Gazette as a world-beat music critic and he wrote for programs of events such as the Montreal festival Nuits d’Afrique. In 2001 he covered the United Nations Conference Against Racism in Durban for the Southam News Agency. In 2002 he covered the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Being diagnosed with cancer in 2004, Daniel Feist wrote together with Stan Shatenstein a series of articles for The Gazette chronicling his treatment. Theses articles were published as a book by CanWest in 2006, entitled "Cancer: My Story".

The Department of Communication Arts was founded in 1965 by Father John E. O’Brien at Loyola College, one of the two founding institutions of Concordia University. In 1964, the department started its modest beginnings with an elective course, “Mass Communication and Society” which was taught by Father O’Brien. Almost a year later, the department officially began, the first of its kind in Canada, with Father O’Brien as chairman for the next 12 years. In 1966, a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Communications was introduced. The department was renamed Communication Studies in 1976.

Kevin McKenna was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1952. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in New York in 1974.
Bob McKenna is an artist and filmmaker working in visual and media arts.
Together, the McKenna brothers participated in the exhibition Corridart dans la rue Sherbrooke, that was sponsored by the Arts and Culture Committee of the 1976 international Olympic Games held in Montreal. They created the large-scale photomontage Rues-miroirs, encompassing a panoramic view of five or six blocks of Sherbrooke Street and St-Laurent Street, where it was installed. The exhibition, and with it McKenna’s installation, was dismantled by the City of Montreal before the Olympic Games opened.

The Sir George Williams Part-Time Students' Association of Concordia University (PTSA) was originally named the Evening Faculty Student Society. The date of its creation is unknown. In 1950, it changed its name to Evening Undergraduate Society (EUS), and with the presentation of a new constitution in 1955, the association again changed its name to Evening Students' Association (ESA). In 1968, the ESA started publishing a newspaper called The Paper, which became The Concordian in May 1973.

In March 1974, because of mismanagement of the ESA, the Sir George Williams University Board of Governors suspended the constitution of the Association. After a short legal battle, the Board of Governors won the right to audit the Association and created a Board of Trustees which managed the Association while it prepared a report on its future. (Sir George Williams University officially merged with Loyola College to form Concordia University in August 1974.) In March 1975 the Board of Trustees published part of its report in The Concordian. They proposed a new constitution and a new name: the Sir George Williams Part-Time Students' Association of Concordia University (PTSA). In April 1975, these were approved by the Board of Governors.

The Board of Trustees stayed in office as the PTSA executive. In October 1975 an attempt to elect a student executive failed. An extension was granted by the Concordia University Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees attempted another election in March 1976; that election was cancelled. In May 1976 the Board of Governors created an advisory committee to administer the PTSA until a student executive could be elected for the 1977-1978 academic year, but after a few attempts at stimulating part-time student interest, the advisory committee decided not to proceed with the election. The PTSA continued to publish the student newspaper The Concordian until February 1976. The advisory committee remained in place until the creation of the Concordia University Students' Association (CUSA) in 1979.

Andrew (Andy) Dutkewych was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1944. He lives in Canada.
In 1966, he graduated from Philadelphia College of Art. He received a Post Graduate Diploma from Slade School of Art (London, England) in 1968. Since then, he is working as visual artist, mainly focusing on sculpture.
Andy Dutkewych was founding member of Véhicule Art.
He teaches Sculpture at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.

In 1974 Sir George Williams University (SGWU) and Loyola College merged to form Concordia University, and existing Fine Arts departments were consolidated into a newly established Faculty of Fine Arts in June 1975. By the time of the merger, both of Concordia University’s founding institutions had responded to the desire for more expansive and accessible education for the artist. Loyola College offered a number of film studies courses in the Department of Communication Arts and formal studies in music and drama in the new Department of Fine Arts established in fall 1973. SGWU’s profile with respect of Fine Arts was stronger, the Department of Fine Arts had been established as early as 1960 and there were already two master programs (Art Education and Studio/Art History). The establishment of the Concordia Faculty of Fine Arts was authorized by the Board of Governors on June 14, 1974. Its first Dean was Alfred Pinsky. The Faculty Performing Arts (Music and Theatre Arts) were grouped at Loyola Campus and the Visual Arts (Studio Arts/Art Education, Art History, Cinema) at SGW Campus. In 1981 the Faculty of Fine Arts was reorganized and existing Divisions of Visual Arts, Performing Arts and Graduate Programs were replaced with formally created departments of Art Education; Art History; Cinema and Photography; Design; Music; Painting and Drawing; Printmaking; Sculpture and Crafts; and Theatre. Later on, some of these departments were reorganized and renamed.

Founded in 1965 as Communication Arts, the Department of Communication Studies was the first department to study the art of communication in Canada. In keeping with this ground-breaking tradition, the department has since gone on to develop three highly innovative graduate programs: a Diploma in Communication, a Master of Arts in Media Studies, and a Joint PhD in Communication.

The Department of Applied Social Science was created in1963 at Sir George Williams University, simultaneously with the Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies under the vision and guidance of Principal Robert C. Rae and Dr. Hedley G. Dimock, who became the first Chairman of the department and Director of the Centre. The Centre was a research, consultation and training service of the Department. In November 1997, the Department of Applied Social Science was amalgamated with Leisure Studies to establish the Department of Applied Human Sciences.

The position of Vice-Principal, Administration and Finance was established at the end of 1966. John Smola was appointed to the position, effective in February 1967.

Roger Verschingel was born on January 19, 1928 and died on May 27, 1996 in Montreal. He was a professor of chemistry at Concordia University and one of its two founding institutions, Sir George Williams University. He received a Diplôme d’études scientifiques from Collège Notre-Dame in June 1946, a Bachelor of Science from Sir George Williams College in 1949 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from McGill University in 1955.

He joined the Sir George Williams University staff in 1954 as a lecturer in Chemistry (Natural Science Division). He later became associate professor and professor in 1968. He was Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1968 to 1973, and was Dean of Sir George Williams Faculty of Science from 1973 until the creation of the Concordia University Faculty of Arts and Science in 1977. Professor Verschingel retired in 1993.

Father Aloysius Graham, S. J. was born July 17, 1916 in St. Marys, Ontario and died in Pickering, Ontario on August 20th, 2012. He entered the Jesuits in 1933 and followed their program of studies. He also studied chemistry at the University of Toronto. He was ordained a priest on December 3, 1947 in Bogota, Colombia. He later moved to Montreal to set up the department of chemistry at Loyola College. He pronounced his final vows in the Loyola Chapel. Father Graham remained at Loyola College for his academic career, first as professor and department chair, Associate Dean of Science (1964), and finally as the Dean of Science (1968). In October 1974, he took the role of Vice-Rector and Principal of Loyola campus of the newly created Concordia University. He held this position until his departure in June 1980. He then became secretary of Concordia's Board of Governors until his retirement in June 1988.

John Smola was born in Czechoslovakia on May 12, 1923, and died in Ottawa on November 14, 2013. He came in Canada in 1949 and graduated from Sir George Williams University (B. Com. 1954, B.A. 1956) and obtained a master degree (1959) and Ph. D. (1963) from Université de Montréal. John Smola joined Sir George Williams University as Vice-Principal, Administration and Finance in 1967, after serving as Vice-President at Molson Breweries Limited. At merger, he became Concordia Vice-Rector, Administration and Finance until May 31, 1976. He then became a full-time professor in the Department of Management, Faculty of Commerce and Administration. He retired in 1986.

Edwy Cooke, a painter and an educator, was born on March 10, 1926 in Toronto and died in Montreal on March 13, 2000. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA (Honours) in Art and Archeology in 1949 and from the State University of Iowa with MFA in 1951. From 1951 to 1959 he was an instructor for the department of Art and Archeology at the University of Toronto. From 1953 to 1959, he was also curator of the Lord Lee of Fareham Collection at the University of Toronto. From 1959 until 1964, he was director of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick and also head of the department of Fine Arts at the University of New Brunswick.
He came to Montreal in 1964 and joined Sir George Williams University as associate professor of Fine Arts. He taught various art history courses, including the first full course in Canadian art history offered by the department. He was promoted to full professor in 1969. From 1970 to 1976, he was Chairman of the Department of Fine Arts. He was Director of the Sir George Williams Art Galleries (now the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery) from 1966 to 1973. After the establishment of the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1975, he became an active member of its Department of Art History where he taught until his retirement in 1996.

Howard Shubert is an architectural historian who taught Canadian architecture in 1990-1991 in the Art History Department of Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. He has a BComm in Economics (1977) and a BA in History from McGill University (1979) and also holds a MA in Art History (1980) and a MPhil in Architectural History from the University of Toronto (1983).

Dennis Jones was born on June 9, 1932 in Woolwich, England and raised in India. He studied at the Farnham School of Fine Art in Surrey and worked as a graphic artist in London before coming to Canada in 1958. His teaching career started at Sir George Williams University, and he retired from Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 1997. He died on September 16, 2007 in Montreal.

Maurice Tynes was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1915. After the Second World War, Tynes settled in Little Burgundy, a neighborhood in South-West Montreal.

During the Second World War, Tynes served in the Canadian Armed Forces as part of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders infantry regiment. He later worked as a Feed Grain Operator for the Port of Montreal, where he worked until his retirement around 1975. Tynes had two children: Linda Jones and Robert Tynes.

Maurice Tynes passed away in Montreal in 1978 at the age of 63.

Al Baculis was a Canadian clarinetist and composer. He was born in Lachine, Montreal on November 21, 1930, as Joseph George Alphonse Allan Baculis. He was the son of Lithuanian immigrants. From 1948 to 1951, he studied clarinet at McGill University, and from 1952 to 1956 he studied composition. Baculis married Margo MacKinnon in 1963. They lived in Montreal and had two children, Heather and Alan Jr.

During the 1950s, Al Baculis played with the Canadian All Stars, but also with various bands led by Buck Lacombe. In 1958, he started to do studio work for the CBC. Around the same time, Al Baculis played and composed for several NFB films. From around 1965 to 1972, he led the Al Baculis Singers, a studio group working mainly for radio and television. Also in the 1960s, he led the Al Baculis Octet. Al Baculis wrote arrangements for the Ted Elfstrom Octet and played saxophone in the Johnny Holmes Orchestra. In the mid-1960s, Baculis performed with Vic Vogel's band for Canadian soldiers in Europe and the Middle East. Al Baculis composed and arranged the theme for the closing ceremonies of the 1976 Montréal Olympics. From 1977 to 1986, Al Baculis taught arranging and composition at Vanier College, Montreal, and at McGill University, Montreal, from 1978 to 1983.

Al Baculis died on January 22, 2007 in Seminole, Florida, where he had lived since his retirement in 1993.

Gerald (Gerry) Hanson, born in Montreal on June 9, 1928, was a Montreal trumpet player and vocalist. Hanson He married Elva Grant around 1960. They are the parents of four children : Janis, Kathryn, Kenneth and Robert.

For 37 years, Hanson worked at Alcan Aluminum. He began his musical career around 1947, playing with the Westernaires, a high school band of West-end Montreal. In the late 1950s, Hanson played in the Paul Beauregard Swing band, and performed in Broadway presentations at The Lyric Theater and Phoenix Theater, both in Montreal. Later, he sang cantatas and oratorios with the Elgar choir in Montreal, including in various churches. In his last years, he was tenor soloist and trumpet player with Knox Presbyterian Church in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Gerry Hanson died on May 15, 2016.

The Negro Community Centre was established in 1927 under the leadership of Charles H. Este, pastor of the Union United Church in Montreal. Reverend Charles H. Este, along with members of the Union United Church, set out to create an organization to help alleviate distress among Montreal's Black community.

The Centre, which first came into being in the living room of Reverend Charles H. Este, was located in a series of rented room in the St. Antoine Street district, also known as Little Burgundy, during its early years of operation. In 1930, the Centre moved into the basement of the Union United Church, located at 3007 Delisle Street. Due to a lack of space at the Union United Church, some of the Centre's early activities took place at Royal Arthur School. Originally supported by the Canadian National Railway, the Negro Community Centre obtained financial support from the Financial Federation of Montreal beginning in 1929. The Centre was accredited by the Council of Social Agencies in 1928. It was incorporated in 1949.

The Negro Community Centre remained at the Union United Church until 1955, at which time it moved into the Iverley Community Centre, located at 2035 Coursol Street. This move was a consequence of the merger of the Negro Community Centre and the Iverly Community Centre, which occurred as a result of the social welfare planning of the United Red Feather Service (now Centraide). By mutual agreement of the Boards of Directors, the Negro Community Centre moved into the building owned by the Iverley Community Centre on Coursol. The building, which was expanded over the years, included offices, a gymnasium, a sewing room, a kitchen, a library, and a credit union office (Walker Credit Union). The deed to the building was transferred from the Iverley Centre to the Negro Community Centre during the Annual General Meeting held in 1965.

The first programs offered at the Negro Community Centre were oriented towards the educational and recreational needs of children and teenagers. In 1949 under the guidance of Stanley A. Clyke, the Negro Community Centre began to develop age-specific activities for all members, and integrated health and welfare services into its programming. A variety of activities and services were offered over the years, including a daycare, summer camps, dance and music lessons, after-school programs, a seniors program, and language courses, among many others.

The Development Office was responsible for the University fundraising activities until 1986. After the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974, Stirling Dorrance was the first to work on the organization of development plans for Concordia University. In January 1980, E. Howard Radford, the University Development Officer for the two previous years, was replaced by John E. Saunders, with the title of Director of Development, reporting to the Rector. Mr. Saunders had been director of the Sir George Williams Schools since 1964 for which he continued to assume the overall direction. In April 1986, during the University five-year Capital Campaign Building Together for a new library building, the Development Office was closed and the second phase of the campaign was put in the hands of a professional firm, Ketchum Inc.

Martin Graham was born in Heswall, Lancashire, England in 1939 and died in Pointe-Claire on September 5, 2015. He came to Canada in 1947 and attended Roslyn School and Lower Canada College in Montreal and then the University of New Brunswick where he got his bachelor and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering. He joined Sir George Williams University (SGWU) as a lecturer in Engineering in 1962 and became Assistant Professor in 1964. In 1965 he became director of new SGWU Computer Centre that he ran until 1976. In 1970, Martin became SGWU Assistant Vice-Principal, Communications that put him in charge, in addition to the Computer Centre, of the Centre for Instructional Technology (CIT), the Bookstore and the Telephone Services. After the merger, his responsibilities extended to both Concordia campuses with the title of Assistant Vice-Rector, Communications. In 1976, Martin was named Vice-Rector, Administration and Finance, a post he held until October 1984 when he became the first Vice-Rector, Services for two years. Throughout his career at Concordia, he always taught at least one course each term in order to stay in touch with the students who were his main concern. In 1986, he returned to teaching in Computer Science and in 1991, he became Principal of the Institute for Co-operative Education. He retired from Concordia on May 1, 2001.