December 4th 1996: COUSINS, William James born on February 22, 1908.
Founding Faculty, and member of the History Department. Jim was educated in South Wales (Rhondda Valley), and at Coleman high school in the Crowsnest Pass. Professor Cousins completed a distinguished undergraduate career at the University of Alberta in 1945, receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree. This was followed by a Master of Arts degree from Washington State University in 1951. In addition Mr. Cousins completed the major portion of the requirement for a Doctorate of Philosophy Degree, also at Washington State.
The Lethbridge Junior College began operations in 1957 with Jim Cousins as its first Dean, and, after six years, he became Dean of the University Section of the College, remaining in that position until 1967, when the establishment of the degree-granting University of Lethbridge separated the two institutions. W. J. Cousins was appointed the University’s first full professor and Chairman of the History Department.. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the University of Lethbridge in 1973.
Prior to becoming involved with the Lethbridge Junior College, Mr Cousins taught for some 30 years in the Alberta school system, specializing in high school Social Studies and Music. He was able to effectively combine his University administrative involvement with a full-time teaching load. Much of Professor Cousins’ life was spent in Southern Alberta, in Lethbridge and the Crow’s Nest Pass area, the latter being one of his favourite sources of historical research. He presented a number of papers about the Crow’s Nest Pass , published in newspapers and the Alberta Historical Review. Mr. Cousins article Peter Fiddler--Canadas Forgotten Geographer was one of the first to publicize the Alberta explorations of this historical figure. His popular book A History of the Crow’s Nest Pass came out in 1981.