Bruce Robert Schnell was born in Maymont, Saskatchewan, in 1937. A 1960 University of Saskatchewan pharmacy graduate, he later earned a MBA degree from the University of Toronto and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. He joined the faculty of the College of Pharmacy in 1966, became dean in 1976, and vice-president (academic) of the University in 1982. He was responsible for the establishment of the master teacher award program and was intimately involved in the academic reorganization resulting in the creation of the current College of Pharmacy and Nutrition. Named professor emeritus in 1994, he subsequently served as the first executive director of The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs and developed the first accreditation standards for academic pharmacy in Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

Dr. Schnell directed two national research projects that significantly influenced hospital pharmacy standards and practice in Canada and abroad -- the Study of the Unit-Dose System of Drug Distribution in Canada and the Development of a Canadian Hospital Pharmacy Workload Measurement System. He was a member of the Medical Research Council of Canada, associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy and, for 28 years, chaired the editorial advisory panel of the Canadian Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), the primary source of pharmaceutical product information for health professionals in Canada. He was chair of the Formulary Committee of the Saskatchewan Prescription Drug Plan for 17 years. Last year, he authored Pharmacy: An Art, a Science, a Profession - Reflections on 100 Years of Pharmacy Education in Saskatchewan.

He was president of the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada, the Association of Deans of Pharmacy of Canada, and the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy. He has served on the boards of the Saskatoon United Way, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, St. Paul's Hospital, St. Andrew's College, McClure United Church and McClure Place Association. He is past-president of the Rotary Club of Saskatoon and a member of the Probus Club of Saskatoon Bridges.

Dr. Schnell and his wife, June, reside in Saskatoon. They have two children, both graduates of the University of Saskatchewan, and three grandsons. Thirty-one members of Dr. Schnell’s family have attended the University of Saskatchewan, over the past 100 years, receiving a total of 34 degrees, including two honorary degrees awarded to his parents, Leonard Schnell and Nellie Schnell, by St. Andrew’s College.

The Observatory was designed by Gentil J.K. Verbeke and constructed in two phases using local limestone from 1928-1930 for about $23,000. The R. J. Arrand Contracting Co. was contracted to build the Observatory Tower in 1928 for a cost of $6625. The firm completed the tower $353 under budget on 14 April 1929, for $6,272. On 20 June 1929 R. J. Arrand was again awarded a contract by the University, this time to build the small classroom wing of the Observatory for $15,640. Work on the classroom wing was completed on 23 January 1930 for $15,034.50. University funding for the construction of the building was supplemented by private donations. Along with the Field Husbandry Building, the Observatory would be among the last free-standing buildings constructed on campus until after World War II. A plaque with the names of many donors still hangs inside the dome of the observatory. Saskatoon residents will find many of the names highly recognizable even today. A sundial was added to the exterior of the Observatory during the 1940s. It reads:
I am a Shadow
So art thou
The observatory facilities are available for use by both university students and visitors to the campus. The telescopes and other scientific equipment are used by students during the laboratory component of their courses. University personnel regularly offer tours of the observatory to elementary and high school classes, youth groups and other community associations. The Observatory is staffed year-round on Saturday nights so that any visitor may view celestial objects through the telescope.

CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, and is Canada's only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia across about 20,400 route miles (32,831 km) of track.[1] In the late 20th century, it gained extensive capacity in the United States by taking over such railroads as the Illinois Central.
The railway was referred to as "Canadian National Railways" (CNR) between 1919 and 1960, and as "Canadian National"/"Canadien National" (CN) from 1960 to the present.