Good for Another 100 Years

Way back in 1915 the University of British Columbia adopted its coat of arms as prepared by the College of Arms in London, England and based on the vision of Frank Wesbrook, UBC’s first president.

The design – a tendril sun reaching up and over three wavy bars of azure, with an open book on the top with the Latin words Tuum Est – It is Yours – looked good on the printed page and so served the growing university for more than 100 years. Now in the age of the Internet, electronic messaging and ever-changing formats, the coat of arms has been refined to enhance readability on the screen, modernize the fonts and with a nod to the local environment, the shape of the leaves on vine pattern on the open book have been changed to match the local flora.