Looking Back: Fedoruk elected USask’s first female chancellor in 1986

Fedoruk presided over her first USask convocation ceremony 40 years ago on Oct. 25, 1986, showcasing the USask beanie that she was obligated to wear 80 years ago during her first week at USask back in 1946. She would go on to become an iconic innovator, a research pioneer, and distinguished stateswoman, both on campus and in the community in a celebrated career that was capped with receiving an honorary degree 20 years ago from USask in 2006.

Born in Canora, Sask., Fedoruk earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in medical radiation physics at USask before joining the Saskatoon Cancer Clinic to serve as chief medical physicist and as a professor at USask. She also became the lone female member of the groundbreaking USask research team led by Dr. Harold Johns (PhD) that developed the world’s first non-commercial Cobalt-60 radiation therapy unit that revolutionized cancer treatments around the world. In 1973, Fedoruk also became the first woman to serve as a member of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada and was a consultant in the field of nuclear medicine with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

After 35 years on campus, Fedoruk retired as a professor emerita 40 years ago in 1986, the year she was elected chancellor and as a member of USask’s Board of Governors and was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. She went on to become the first woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan from 1988-1994, received a Governor General’s Award in 1986, was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1987, and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2009.

“I just feel that I was around at the right time, doing what I was supposed to do – and I’ve made a contribution,” Fedoruk said at the time.

Fedoruk was also an accomplished athlete, playing golf and volleyball and serving as a goalie on the Huskiettes hockey team, but it was at the curling rink where she earned national acclaim, helping the Saskatchewan team win the Canadian women’s curling championship—known then as the Dominion Ladies Curling Championship—in 1960 and 1961. She was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 and was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame 40 years ago in 1986.

Fedoruk’s legacy was honoured in the naming of the Sylvia Fedoruk Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation on campus, with her life story detailed in a 2020 biography—A Radiant Life—by former USask professor Dr. Merle Massie (PhD). In her book, Massie stated that Fedoruk represents “the essence of Saskatchewan, of building a life with world impact in a place well used to being forgotten.”

Fedoruk passed away in Saskatoon in 2012 at the age of 85.