Sir George Williams University College, named after George Williams, founder of the original YMCA in London, upon which the Montreal YMCA was based. In 1934, Sir George Williams College offered the first undergraduate credit course in adult education in Canada. The Sir George Williams College became Sir George Williams University (SGWU) in 1948, when it received a university charter from the provincial government, though it remained the education arm of the Montreal YMCA. SGWU expanded into its first standalone building, the Norris Building, in 1956. It established a Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies in 1963. SGWU continued to hold classes in the
George Williams (priest) connection with the college but Williams retained his post until 1856. From 1854 to 1857 Williams was vice-provost of King's College, Cambridge, and in 1858 he acted as pro-proctor to the university. He was unpopular, and his nomination as proctor was rejected by the university senate on 1 October 1860, the nonplacets being 29 and the placets 26. In 1858 Williams took temporary charge of Cumbrae College in Buteshire, and was appointed an honorary canon of there in 1864. The college had been founded in 1849 by George Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow, a Tractarian layman. Williams made a long