Established in memory of Professor E. L. Bruce, former Head of the Department of Geology,
The Scholarship was established by graduate students of my fathers' as their thoughtful and generous recognition and remembrance of their great debt to him for the years of teaching, help and encouragement which he gave to them. I was asked for my approval of their gift of the scholarship, and I naturally welcomed it warmly. I understand that many in the university, graduates and, I think, some mining companies, have given money to the Fund as a way of expressing their gratitude for the contribution that my father had made to the mining industry through his research. He spent most summers doing field work in northern Ontario, Quebec and the West. Several years after his death and the establishment of the Bruce Scholarship, the University named the wing of Miller Hall after him.
After graduation from Queen's in 1911, he earned a PhD at Columbia in New York City and then took a semester at the University of Wisconsin.
May I add a few other aspects which may help to illustrate other interesting dimensions of his life.
He was offered the position of Commissioner of the North West Territories, but he declined it, probably, I suspect, because of his commitment to his profession, his love of teaching and to the University. He participated in a number of international congresses and represented the Canadian Government in a conference in the USSR. He was elected President of the Geological Society of America in the 1940's - a further recognition of the academic stature he had earned in the USA as well as Canada.
Although it may not be relevant, I might add that he also had time for non-academic activities while a student at Queen's. He played on the University's football team, and was sufficiently involved in student affairs that he was elected President of the AMS.
In retrospect his contributions were all the more remarkable when I recall that he came from a modest, middle class family in Smiths Falls, and that he was forced to interrupt his educational program at Queen's twice in two separate years in order to return home and teach in a school to earn enough money to earn his way through the University. His family were apparently unable to provide much financial support.
