Queen's University, Kingston



Queen's University, generally referred to simply as Queen's, is a coeducational, non-sectarian, research intensive, public university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In national and international rankings, Queen's has consistently maintained its status as one of the top universities in Canada.

The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in 1841 with a royal charter from Queen Victoria. The institution was founded on October 16, 1841, pre-dating the founding of Canada by 26 years. The first classes were held March 7, 1842 with 13 students and 2 professors. Queen's was the first university west of the maritime provinces to admit women, and to form a student government. In 1883, a women's college for medical education was established affiliated with Queen's University. In 1888, Queen's University began offering extension courses, becoming the first Canadian university to do so.

Queen's University founders modeled their nascent college after the University of Edinburgh for the Scottish university's tradition of academic freedom, authority, and moral responsibility. Beyond the Kingston campus, the university has an International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England, formerly the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

History
Queen's University was modelled on the democratic mores of the older Scottish universities. Queen's was founded on October 16, 1841, when its first principal, Thomas Liddell, arrived in Kingston from Scotland carrying the Royal Charter of Queen Victoria, which established Queen's College as an educational institution. Originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland (see the Presbyterian Church in Canada as it was called after 1875), it was established to instruct youth in various branches of sciences and literature.

The royal charter of Queen's University was granted 26 years before Canadian Confederation, in the Province of Canada (a union of Upper and Lower Canada). When Queen's sought to have the charter amended in 1891, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that it required amendments by the Government of Canada rather than by the Government of Ontario. Consequently, any amendment to the Queen's charter requires federal legislation. The federal government has subsequently resisted requests from principals of Queen's for special funding as a result of that arrangement, since education under the British North America Act was an area of exclusive provincial jurisdiction.

The first student government in Canada was established at Queen's in 1858 in the form of the Dialectic Society, which is known today as the Alma Mater Society. The governance was modelled on that of the Scottish universities Edinburgh and Glasgow, including a Principal, Board of Trustees, and a Senate. Consolidation was a way to strengthen this small and financially insecure institution. By withdrawing financial support, the Government of Ontario pressured its denominational universities to consider co-operation with the public sector in 1868. The university became a secular institution in 1912 and Principal Daniel Miner Gordon oversaw the drafting of a new university constitution. Queen's Theological College remained in the control of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, until 1925, when it joined the United Church of Canada, where it remains today. One of the university's most important early benefactors was Robert Sutherland. Queen's first student of colour, Sutherland came to Queen's from Jamaica. He was to become Upper Canada's first black graduate and Queen's 30th graduate (Honours, Classics and Mathematics). Sutherland studied Law at Osgoode Hall Law School and practised law for 20 years in Walkerton, Ontario. Upon his death, his entire $12,000 estate was left to Queen's. This was the largest donation by an individual at the time and allowed the university to get through a period of financial difficulties. In appreciation, Principal George Munro Grant commissioned a large granite tombstone for Sutherland's grave in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In 2009, the Policy Studies Building was renamed "Robert Sutherland Hall."

Queen's University's attempt to open its doors to students from other cultures was tested at the end of World War I. The university had begun accepting black students to its medical school in the early century. The students were integrated into student life,"but were more tolerated than truly accepted by local patients." In 1918, 15 black medical students from the Caribbean were expelled after soldiers returning from the war demanded white doctors.

In 1922, Queen's University established the first university-operated educational radio station in Canada; the station now operates under the call letters CFRC-FM.

Queen's celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 1991, and received a visit from Charles, Prince of Wales, and his then-wife, Diana, to mark the occasion. The Prince of Wales presented a replica of the 1841 Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria, which had established the university; the replica is displayed in the John Deutsch University Centre.

In May 2010, Queen's University joined the Matariki Network of Universities (MNU) together with Dartmouth College (USA), Durham University (UK), University of Otago (New Zealand), University of Tübingen (Germany), University of Western Australia (Australia) and Uppsala University (Sweden).

Campus
Much of the Queen's campus consists of old picturesque limestone buildings and unique Romanesque Revival and neo-gothic architecture., Indeed, several buildings are over a century old, including Summerhill (1839), Old Medical (1858), Etherington House (1879), Theological Hall (1880), Carruthers Hall (1890), Victoria School (1892) {now part of Goodes Hall}, Ontario Hall (1903), Kingston Hall (1903), Grant Hall (1905), and Kathleen Ryan Hall (1907). The main campus contains most of the teaching and administrative buildings packed into a relatively small space; walking time from one end of campus to the other is approximately 15 minutes.

Adjacent to the campus, and within the same walking distance, is the Kingston General Hospital which is affiliated with Queen's, and is a designated National Historic Site of Canada as it served as the location of the first parliament of the Province of Canada in 1841. There is also a smaller expansion known as "West Campus", which is approximately 1 km (0.6 mi) west of the main campus limits. The West Campus holds additional student residences, Duncan McArthur Hall (which houses the Faculty of Education), and Richardson Memorial Stadium (home of the Queen's Gaels), along with more sports fields. Leonard Hall (1959) and Leonard Field are named in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel Reuben Wells Leonard on land given by him to Queen's in 1923.

On September 11, 2007, Queen's announced the purchase of the former Federal Prison for Women, a 3.3 ha parcel of land that served as a correctional facility from 1934 to 2000, and was then sold by the Canada Lands Corporation. Although plans have not been officially announced, it is expected that the Prison for Women site will ultimately house the Queen's University Archives, currently stored on main campus in Kathleen Ryan Hall. The former prison is located adjacent to West Campus. Using funds donated by notable alumnus Dr. Alfred Bader to build a performing arts centre, Queen's has also purchased the 1.2 ha J. K. Tett Centre, a waterfront property with historical buildings home to many artistic and community organizations.

Although the campus is relatively small and the buildings densely packed, there are many open green spaces and trees that create a park-like atmosphere. The campus is on the shore of Lake Ontario and has easy access to two lake-front parks, favourite locations for students to relax. The campus is also located approximately 10 minutes' walk from the city's downtown.

About 50 km (31 mi), north of Kingston, the Queen's University Biological Station provides research facilities for faculty, students, and visiting scholars. The 2650 ha campus on Lake Opinicon consists of 35 buildings including several laboratories, conference rooms, guest rooms, and a library.

Queen's University Library
At present, the Queen's library collections contain over 2.6 million individual items. Maclean's magazine reports that Queen's ranks first among Canadian universities, in the Medical / Doctoral category, in per capita library volumes per student (with 352), and fourth in overall holdings (behind the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, and the University of British Columbia). Libraries on the Queen's campus include:
 * Bracken Health Sciences Library
 * Douglas Library
 * Engineering and Science Library
 * W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library
 * Education Library
 * Lederman Law Library
 * Stauffer Library
 * Adaptive Technology Centre
 * Art Collection
 * MADGIC-Maps, Data and Government Information Centre
 * Map and Air Photo Collection
 * Social Science Data Centre
 * Wallach-Groome Sustainability Centre

Additional library locations:
 * Queen's Biological Station
 * International Study Centre

Sustainability
Sustainability initiatives at Queen's University have focused on waste diversion, energy conservation, hazardous waste management, green power, and green construction policies. A student Sustainability Coordinator assists University administrators in implementing campus sustainability programs. Queen's Office of Sustainability was established in 2008, in order to promote sustainability initiatives on campus and create greater awareness of issues relating to environmental sustainability among members of the community. In 2009, the Sustainable Endowments Institute awarded Queen's University a "B-" for its campus sustainability initiatives.

Innovation Park at Queen's University
Queen’s has completed an agreement with Novelis Inc. to acquire a 20 ha property adjacent to the company's research and development centre in Kingston. The agreement is part of the plan to establish an innovative technology park located at the corner of Princess and Concession streets, which is to be called Innovation Park at Queen's University. The property was acquired for $5.3 million, a portion of the $21 million grant Queen's received from the Ontario government last spring to pioneer this innovative new regional R&D "co-location" model.

Queen's has also reached an agreement to lease approximately 7900 m2 of the Novelis R&D facilities to accommodate both faculty-led research projects that have industrial partners and small and medium-size companies with a research focus and a desire to interact with Queen's researchers. The remainder of the government funds will go toward further development of the technology park to transform the property into a welcoming and dynamic site for business expansion and relocation.

Bader International Study Centre
The Bader International Study Centre (BISC) is housed in Herstmonceux Castle, which was donated to Queen's in 1993 by alumnus Alfred Bader. Herstmonceux Castle is in southern England and provides a base for field studies by its students generally in southern England. The courses available range from English Literature to Geography to Mathematics, with many of the courses specially designed to take advantage of the location of the BISC. Instructors and students are not exclusively from Queen's, but attend from across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe, Japan, China, Scandinavia and elsewhere.

Students attend classes Monday through Thursday and are encouraged to use their three day weekend to experience Europe. Field trips are required for all courses, although some are more field trip heavy than others (e.g. history and art history). There are also Mid-Term Trips that are included in the programme fees. In the past, the Fall semester trip has been to Scotland and Northern England, while the Winter semester trip has been to Paris, Brussels and Bruges. These include some course-specific field trips and other general cultural trips for the entire student body. Spring term has seen Mid-Term Trips to Dieppe, while the Summer term Mid-Term Trip in the past has been to London, owing to the short nature of the term.

Herstmonceux Castle is famous for its gardens and grounds, as well as its proximity to the old Royal Observatory but students at the BISC can also enjoy a small gymnasium and a student pub within the Castle called the Headless Drummer.

Queen's Centre
In October 2004, Queen's University announced a multi-million dollar plan to create a sports and recreation complex called the "Queen's Centre" over two city blocks. It is expected to take more than ten years from design to completion. The plans include the building of a six-lane track, an Olympic-sized arena, 25-metre pool, eight basketball courts, substantially more gathering and meeting space than is currently available, fitness, aerobic, locker and food space, and a new home for the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies (formerly School of Physical and Health Education). The project will be completed in three phases, the earliest of which was completed in December 2009. This first phase includes the new Varsity Gymnasium, public food court, club areas, aquatic centre, fitness and weight centre and School of Kinesiology and Health Studies.

The development of the Queen's Centre marks the largest construction project in the university's history, however it remains controversial with both current students and alumni. Much of the controversy surrounding the project relates to debates over financial priorities and a perceived lack of foresight by former Principal Karen Hitchcock, whose administration initiated the project.

In an effort to cope with the large costs involved in the groundbreaking project, the university has developed an intensive fundraising campaign, led by David J. Mitchell, former vice-principal of advancement, which will aim to attract "million-dollar-plus" donations from alumni and large corporations. The campaign target is set at $132 million, making it one of the most ambitious fundraising campaigns in the history of Canadian universities. The Queen's university's student government has already made an historic contribution to the campaign, pledging "$25.5 million in fees over nine years from student surcharges", the largest sum ever donated to a university by its students.

During the summer of 2009, it was announced by the university that Phase One of the Queen's Centre would officially open on August 31, 2009. However, a massive flood, caused by a major thunderstorm in August, damaged the new gymnasium floor and knocked out the building's electrical system, leading to further delays; the storm also caused flooding elsewhere in Kingston. Phase One eventually opened on December 1, 2009, and the projected cost of Phase One is now $169 million (Canadian). Varsity competition in the new facility began January, 2010.

Other centres
Other Queen's-affiliated centres include:
 * Centre for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
 * Centre for International Relations
 * High Performance Computing Consortium (HPCVL)
 * Fuel Cell Research Centre
 * GeoEngineering Centre
 * Human Mobility Research Centre (HMRC)
 * Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR)

Administration
The highest officer of Queen's University is the Chancellor, though the position is largely ceremonial. The day-to-day running of Queen's is done by the Principal, who is normally (though need not be) the Vice-Chancellor. The Principal is himself assisted by the newly-created position of Provost along with a number of Vice Principals and Deans. The third officer of the university is the Rector, a unique position among Canadian universities. The Rector is directly elected by all the matriculated students of Queen's. While it was not always the case, in recent years it has become customary to elect a student to the position.

Queen's University has a tricameral governance structure, which is responsible for setting the policy of the university. The three bodies that govern the university are the University Council, the Board of Trustees and the Senate. The University Council meets once per year on May 1, and is composed of all the members of the Senate and the Board of Trustees, along with an equal number of elected Queen's graduates. The University Council is responsible for electing the Chancellor, setting the bylaws for the election of the Rector and the Trustees, and for bringing any matter to the attention of the Senate or the Board of Trustees. The University Council serves in a largely advisory role and has no power over the actual operations of the university.

The Board of Trustees is the second governing body of Queen's, and meets four times each year. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the finances and the non-academic operations of the university. The membership of the Board is largely external to the University. Trustees are elected from the University Council (6 members), graduates (6 members), benefactors (7 members), faculty (2 members), students (2 members, 1 graduate and 1 undergraduate), staff (2 members), and the Theological College (1 member). The Board of Trustees also chooses 15 members itself. The Chancellor, Principal and Rector also serve as ex-offio members of the Board of Trustees. In addition to managing the finances of Queen's University, the Board of Trustees is also responsible for appointing the Principal.

The Senate is the third governing body of the university, and meets each month between September and May. The Senate is responsible for awarding degrees (including honorary degrees) and generally has power over all the academic functions of Queen's University. Whereas the Board of Trustees is dominated by external members, the Senate is composed entirely from the Queen's community and one of its primary principles is that the faculty hold a majority of the membership. Most of the Senate is elected by the faculty (36 members), students (16 members) and the staff (3 members). The faculty and student membership is further divided roughly proportionately to the various faculties of Queen's based on each faculty's enrolment. The Senate also has 16 ex-officio members. These are mainly the senior administrators of the university but also include representatives from the two student societies and faculty union. Queen's today has 18 faculties and schools, listed below:

Queen's features three schools that are, in effect, full faculties through their relative autonomy:
 * The Faculty of Arts and Sciences that, in addition to offering a wide variety of social sciences, humanities, natural and physical sciences, languages, and fine arts, hosts the following schools:
 * The Queen's School of Music
 * The Queen's School of Kinesiology and Health Studies
 * The Queen's School of Computing
 * The Queen's School of Environmental Studies
 * The Queen's School of English
 * The Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science. Students can choose to specialize in the following disciplines: Chemical Engineering, Engineering Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, dual degrees, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, Geological Engineering, Mathematics and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engineering.
 * The Faculty of Health Sciences which is divided into:
 * The Queen's School of Medicine
 * The Queen's School of Nursing
 * The Queen's School of Rehabilitation Therapy
 * The Faculty of Law
 * The Faculty of Education
 * Queen's School of Business
 * Queen's School of Graduate Studies and Research, which includes the School of Policy Studies and the School of Urban and Regional Planning
 * Queen's Theological College (affiliate)

Academic profile
Queen's was ranked fifth in Canada in the Medical-Doctoral category of the Maclean's University Rankings (2010 edition) despite refusing to participate in the latest survey along with twenty-three other universities, over concerns with the data collection and analysis. Queen's also maintained the highest level of student retention and had the highest graduation rates out of any Canadian institution at 95.5%. Maclean's completed the survey using Access to Information requests. Additionally, Queen's was ranked 132nd internationally by QS World University Rankings, making it the fifth highest ranked university in Canada. In 2007, Queen's University was ranked 88th in the world and 4th in Canada. In 2010, Queen's formally protested the Times Higher Education methodology, refusing to participate or contribute data to the organization. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) in 2010 had ranked Queen's University 100-133 in North America. Likewise with Maclean's national post-secondary rankings, Queen's does not provide information to the ARWU.

Queen's School of Business
The Queen's School of Business full-time MBA program was ranked as the #1 in the world outside of the United States by BusinessWeek magazine's influential biannual ranking of MBA programmes in October 2008. This was the third consecutive #1 ranking the full-time MBA program has received from BusinessWeek.

Admissions
Queen's University has an acceptance rate of 43% (percentage of students accepted versus those who applied), making it the most selective public-research institution in Canada. The school emphasizes the PSE (Personal Statement of Experience) that is a mandatory part of the admissions process. The PSE focuses on the applicants qualifications and involvements outside of academic grades that plays an important factor in determining whether a student is admitted. The average entrance grade for 2008 was 87.4% (A), the second highest in Canada after McGill University. The graduation rate at Queen's is 89.8%, compared with a graduation rate average across all universities in Ontario of 78.3%.

Research
The Queen's physics department is one of the largest groups involved in the international Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute. The Institute manages the world-famous SNO experiment, which demonstrated that the solution to the solar neutrino problem was that neutrinos change flavour (type) as they propagate through the Sun. The SNO experiment was also credited with proving that a non-zero mass neutrino exists. This was a major breakthrough in cosmology. While the actual experiment is located 2 km below the Earth's surface in an active Vale Limited (formerly INCO) mine in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, the Queen's collaborators do much of their work in Queen's Stirling Hall (a lab noted for its circular design and the large Foucault pendulum in its main atrium). Queen's physicist and SNO director Arthur B. McDonald has won both the Herzberg Prize, Canada's top science honour, and the American Physical Society's Tom W. Bonner Prize for nuclear physics.

Book publishing
Queen's University currently has a joint venture with McGill University, operating an academic publishing house known as the McGill-Queen's University Press. The university press publishes original peer-reviewed and books in all areas of the social sciences and humanities. While the press's emphasis is on providing an outlet for Canadian authors and scholarship, the press also publishes authors come from across Canada and throughout the world. The university press currently has over 2,800 books in print. Originally the McGill University Press in 1963, it amalgamated with Queen's in 1969. McGill-Queen's University Press focuses on Canadian studies and publishes the Canadian Public Administration Series.

Student life
Queen's currently has approximately 14,111 full-time undergraduate students and 3,257 graduate students. Prominent student organisations at Queen's include the Alma Mater Society, the oldest student government in Canada which hires over 500 Queen's students; the Society of Graduate and Professional Students; the Queen's Bands, the largest and oldest student marching band in Canada, dating from 1905; the Queen's Journal, started in 1873, one of the oldest student newspapers in Canada and the oldest current publication at Queen's; Golden Words, a weekly humour newspaper; the Queen's Tricolour Yearbook, founded in 1928, is one of Canada's remaining annual university yearbooks covering all faculties and schools; Queen's First Aid; and the Queen's Players, a unique improvisational sketch comedy troupe. There are over 300 more student clubs, organisations, and societies at Queen's. The student population additionally includes 400 medical students and 500 law students. The Queen's student body represents 98 different countries, with students from every Canadian province and territory. Alumni reside in 158 different countries.

Alma Mater Society
The Alma Mater Society of Queen's University forms the undergraduate student government organization which represents the 14,000 Queen's undergraduates and runs 14 services. The annual operating budget of the society is approximately $14,000,000.

Graduate student societies
The Society of Graduate and Professional Students at Queen's University, or the SGPS, is the central graduate student society and a member of the Canadian Federation of Students Local 27. The SGPS Council is the main decision-making body of the Society and is made up of graduate/professional student representatives from every department or school, the SGPS Executive and aboriginal and international student representatives.

Alumni
The Queen's University Alumni Association was founded in 1926 and the following year began publishing its magazine, the Queen's Alumni Review. Initially the publication appeared nine times each year, but today it is a 64-page Time-sized quarterly with a circulation of 103,000. The university has developed firm links between Alumni and prominent business leaders. Queen's 'NetworQ' won the 2006 Harris Connect Achievement Award for "Best Career Advisor Network."

Debating
The Queen's Debating Union was formed in 1843, and has operated continuously since that time. Originally called the Dialectic Society, and exclusively for men, it later formed a union with the Levana Debating Society, the equivalent club for women, to form a new society.

It was the primary ancestor of the Alma Mater Society, which began in 1858.

Chess
Chess players associated with the newly-formed Queen's University played in 1841 for the Kingston side in a correspondence chess game by mail against Quebec City; this game, won by Quebec, is the oldest recorded game in Canadian chess history. Queen's hosted the Canadian Open Chess Championship with several top international players in 1966, and the Canadian Chess Championship for only the top Canadians in 1992.

Queen's Players
The Queen's Players is a sketch comedy/improvisation/rock and roll troupe that performs at Queen's University, Kingston, at the Time To Laugh Comedy Club. It produces three productions every year: one in the fall, one in the winter, and one show in the summer. The shows are run by and feature Queen's University students both as members of the acting cast as well as the accompanying rock band. The consumption of alcohol by both the Queen's Players as well as audience members is heavily associated with the shows.

Media
Queen's has a number of student-run newspapers and magazines that publish on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. The Queen's Journal, or simply The Journal, is the main student-run newspaper. It was established in 1873, making it one of the oldest student newspapers in Canada. The Journal publishes twice a week during the academic year.

Golden Words is a weekly humour publication, originally founded by the Engineering Society. The publication retains a friendly rivalry with The Journal and publishes once a week during the academic year.

Queen's Television is a weekly television program, completely student-run, which showcases the Queen's Community. Focusing on music sports, news, and special features, Queen's Television is the most-rapidly growing media outlet on campus, with over 200,000 views in 2010-2011 alone.

Queen's also has a number of monthly and semi-monthly publications such as the bi-annual publication Syndicus, as well as literary and artistic ones such as Ultra-Violet Magazine, antiThesis and the Lighthouse Wire.

Radio
CFRC, the Queen's University radio station, is the second longest running radio station in the world, surpassed only by the Marconi companies. The first public broadcast of the station was on October 27, 1923 when the football game between Queen's and McGill was called play-by-play. CFRC operates to the present day and broadcasts at 101.9 MHz.

Fight song
Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation, and athletic games are: 'Queen's College Colours' (1897) also known as 'Our University Yell' and 'Oil Thigh,' with words by A.E. Lavell, sung to the tune 'John Brown's Body'.

Queen's jackets
Each faculty at Queen's sports its own distinctive jacket, the unique colour of which is determined by the programme type. The material is almost exclusively leather, though historically there were times when the jackets were made of other materials such as nylon. Students often sew distinctive bars or patches onto their Queen's jackets to make them more distinctive and individual. Patches include major of study and faculty society mottos, as well as the official school crest with university motto and other assorted symbols. However, according to tradition, additions may not be made until the completion of the first year of study.

, the jacket colours are:
 * Arts & Science: maroon
 * Applied Science (Engineering): gold (usually dyed purple to varying degrees)
 * Medicine: blue
 * Commerce: burgundy
 * Computing: black
 * Concurrent Education: midnight blue
 * Consecutive Education: midnight blue
 * Law: black
 * Music: black
 * Nursing: midnight blue
 * Kinesiology and Health Studies: midnight blue

In the case of Arts (before expansion as Arts & Science), Applied Science, Medicine, and Commerce, the jacket colour is the same as the toorie on each faculty society tam, the wearing of which was introduced in 1925. In the case of Arts, Science and Medicine, the colours were derived from the University Tricolour of Red, Gold, and Blue. Before gaining greater autonomy, Commerce was under the Faculty of Arts, and as such its colour was derived as a different shade of the Arts colour. In the relatively newer faculties, however, this colour link is not present.

Students of Applied Science (Engineering) have taken to dying their jackets purple with Gentian violet, a tradition that was originally established to honour the engineers who stayed behind and lost their lives on the Titanic, as their uniform colour was purple.

Tartan
The Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario tartan officially associated with the university includes the colours of six Queen's academic hoods: blue (Medicine), red (Arts & Science), gold (Applied Science), white (Nursing Science), green (Commerce & MBA), and Purple (Theology). This tartan is not to be confused with the Royal Stewart tartan, worn with special permission from Queen Elizabeth II as part of the uniforms of the Queen's Bands.

Flags
Queen's adopted its current flags in 1984. One is for use only by the principal while one is for general "civilian" use. The principal's flag comprises a square version of the Queen's coat of arms. The civilian one is three vertical stripes of the school colours: blue, yellow, and red. In the upper left corner on the blue stripe is a crown in yellow symbolising the University's royal charter. The flag is similar in look to the flags of Romania, Chad, Moldova, and Andorra.

Sports
Sport teams at Queen's University are known as the Golden Gaels. The Golden Gaels sports teams participate in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport's Ontario University Athletics conference for most varsity sports. Varsity teams at Queen's currently include basketball, cross country, Canadian football, ice hockey, rowing, rugby, soccer and volleyball. The athletics program at Queen's University dates back to 1873. With 39 regional and national championships, Queen's football program has secured championships then any other sport team at Queen's, and more than any other football team in Canada. The Gaels are also one of the only two universities to have claimed Grey Cups (1922, 1923 and 1924), currently the championship trophy for the Canadian Football League, with the other being the University of Toronto. Queen’s also competed for the Stanley Cup in 1894-95, 1898–99 and 1905-06.

Queen's University has a number of athletic facilities open to both their varsity teams as well as to their students. The stadium with the largest seating capacity at Queen's is Richardson Memorial Stadium. Built in 1971, the stadium seats over 10,000 and is home to the varsity football team. The stadium has also played host for a number of international games including Canada's second round 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification games and the inaugural match for the Colonial Cup, an international rugby league challenge match. Other facilities at Queen's includes the Athletic and Recreation Centre, which houses a number of gymnasiums, pools and is also home to the university's basketball and volleyball programs, Tindall Field, a multi-season playing field and jogging track, Kingston Field, home to the school's rugby teams, and West Campus Fields, which is used by a number of Gaels teams and clubs as well as a number of Queen's intramural leagues.

Military service
Queen's students served in both the Great War and the Second World War. Approximately 1,500 students participated in the First World War and 187 died. Months before Canada joined the Second World War, US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, came to Queen's to accept an honorary degree and, in a broadcast heard around the world, voiced the American policy of mutual alliance and friendship with Canada. Roosevelt stated,

Canada, during the Second World War, had the participation of 2,917 Queen's graduates and the sacrifice of 164. The Victoria Cross was awarded to Major John Weir Foote, Arts '33, Canadian Chaplain Service.

After the Second World War, 151 veterans returned and enrolled in Queen's Applied Science (Engineering) Program. This group did not take summers off, and so they graduated in the Fall of 1948. This class is affectionately known as Sci '48½, and have donated more endowment support to Queen's than any other graduating class.

The Memorial Room in Memorial Hall of the John Deutsch University Centre lists those Queen's students who fell during both world wars.

Today, numerous Queen's students serve in Kingston's naval reserve division, HMCS Cataraqui (which administers the University Naval Training Divisions programme for reserve officers), and Kingston's local militia regiment, The Princess of Wales' Own Regiment.

Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR)
Created in 2010, the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) at Queen's and Royal Military College of Canada performs military and Veteran health research. The areas of study include: battlefield medicine and surgery, epidemiology, infectious disease, collaborative health care teams, health technologies, health surveillance, Veterans’ health, mental health, military and veterans’ family health, occupational health, operational health, and rehabilitation.

Scholarships
The University joined Project Hero, a scholarship program cofounded by General (Ret'd) Rick Hillier, for the families of fallen Canadian Forces members.

Controversies
In 2001 the Senate Educational Equity Committee (SEEC) conducted a study of the experiences of visible minority and Aboriginal faculty members at Queen's after a black female professor left Queen's University alleging that she had experienced racism. Following this survey SEEC commissioned a study by anti-racism expert, Dr. Frances Henry, Professor Emerita, York University. The Henry Report (April, 2006), found that many perceived a "Culture of Whiteness" at the university. The report concluded that “white privilege and power continues to be reflected in the Eurocentric curricula, traditional pedagogical approaches, hiring, promotion and tenure practices, and opportunities for research” at Queen’s. The university's response to the report has been the subject of continuing debate. The administration has implemented measures to promote diversity since 2006, such as the establishment of a position of diversity advisor and the hiring "dialogue monitors" to facilitate discussions on social justice. While such programs are credited as having good intentions there is skepticism that they will be adequate in addressing social inequalities at Queen's. Non-administrative initiatives, including the creation of the Queen's Coalition Against Racial and Ethnic Discrimination (QCRED), have taken a lead role in lobbying the administration for further action, as well as providing resources and support for students, faculty, and staff of colour on campus.

Notable people


Queen's graduates have found success in a variety of fields, serving at the heads of diverse institutions both in the public and private sector. There are currently over 131,000 alumni in 156 countries. Queen's faculty and graduates have accumulated numerous awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Turing Award and the Victoria Cross.

A number of notable politicians have held the position as Chancellor at the university including Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, Roland Michener, Governor General of Canada, and provincial premiers Peter Lougheed and Charles Avery Dunning. Many alumni have gained international prominence for serving in government, such as Prince Takamado, member of the Imperial House of Japan; and Kenneth O. Hall, formerly Governor General of Jamaica. Two Canadian premiers also graduated from Queen's, William Aberhart, the 7th Premier of Alberta and Frank McKenna, the 27th Premier of New Brunswick. David A. Dodge, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the university's current chancellor is similarly a Queen's graduate.

A number of prominent business leaders studied at Queen's. Examples include Derek Burney, former chairman and CEO of Bell Canada, Donald J. Carty, current chairman of Virgin Atlantic and Porter Airlines and former chairman and CEO of AMR Corporation, Gordon Nixon, president and CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, and Elon and Kimbal Musk, founders of OneRiot, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, Sandford Fleming, an engineer and inventor who was known for proposing worldwide standard time zones had also served as the Chancellor of Queen's.