WHAT'S HAPPENING AT UNB
ALUMNI NEWS MAGAZINE | Summer 2024
Frederick (Fred) J. Beairsto (BScCE'63) received an honorary doctorate of letters. A lifelong Frederictonian, Fred is an entrepreneur and humanitarian. He was a major contractor and businessman in New Brunswick. After purchasing W.J. Beairsto Co. Ltd., he built the small plumbing and contracting company into one of the largest mechanical contracting businesses in the province. He also cofounded P.E.S. Sales Ltd. and Beacon Hill Investments Inc. Fred held the position of president of UNB's Associated Alumni Council and was a member of the university's Senate and Board. In 1982, he was presented with an Alumni Award of Honour, which recognizes outstanding service and commitment to UNB and the Associated Alumni. Understanding that students often face financial challenges, his wife, Dixie, and he created the Fred and Dixie Beairsto Emergency Aid Fund to support undergraduate students in need. Fred has been recognized with an Order of New Brunswick, the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce's Distinguished Citizens Award, the Fredericton Community Foundation's Philanthropy in Action Award, Rotary International's Paul Harris Award, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, and the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick's Excellence in Aging Award.
Earl Brewer (BA'70, LLB'74) and Sandra (Sandy) Kitchen-Brewer (BA'94, MA'08) received honorary doctorates of letters. They are social activists, philanthropists, and community supporters who are dedicated to improving the lives of their neighbours and fellow New Brunswickers. Their activism and quiet generosity have had significant impacts across the province on education, food security, the arts, health and social innovation.
In 2006, they began the Studio Watch Emerging Artist award program with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery as a way to increase the exposure of young, upcoming artists in New Brunswick giving them an opportunity to be celebrated, to excel in their field, and to advance to the next step in their career. The award is in its 18th year.
In 2009, Earl and Sandy established the Brewer Foundation. Initially, their interest was to provide educational scholarships to students, especially those with good academic achievement and a great deal of fortitude. In 2016, they became focused on the local student food insecurity program. Since then, they have invested heavily to establish or help existing student hunger programs in over 80 schools across the province.
Earl, with Sandy's whole-hearted support, is deeply committed to UNB's faculty of law, recently donating $1 million to establish the Brewer Scholarship, which will be second only to the value of the prestigious Beaverbrook Scholarship. Earl and Sandy have also donated to the $1 million to establish the Brewer Scholarship, which will be second only to the value of the prestigious Beaverbrook Scholarship. Earl and Sandy have also donated to the renovation of the Justice Building.
J. Darrell Duffie (BScCE'75) received an honorary doctorate of letters. He is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.
A respected expert in the field of finance and economics, Darrell has been recognized with research awards, fellowships, teaching awards, and the International Association of Financial Engineering's Financial Engineer Award. Darrell has been an adviser for the World Economic Forum, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Society of Financial Econometrics, and the Scientific Councils of the Swiss Finance Institute and the Duisenberg Institute, among many other international bodies. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He is the author of more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles and numerous books, including How Big Banks Fail - And What to Do About It. His highly regarded and widely cited graduate textbook, Dynamic Asset Pricing Theory, offers a comprehensive exploration of modern mathematical finance.
Hans S. Keirstead received an honorary doctorate of science. He is an internationally known neuroscientist and entrepreneur who, through his research and innovations, has made remarkable contributions to the field of regenerative medicine. He has strong ties to the province of New Brunswick; his father, the late scientist and entrepreneur Kenneth Keirstead, lived in Fredericton and attended UNB.
His research had led to major biomedical breakthroughs and innovations, including the development of a treatment that can restore movement and function to people with quadriplegic spinal cord injuries. His work in spinal cord injury earned him the distinction of being one of the 100 top scientists of the year in Discover Magazine. He was featured on 60 Minutes in a full segment covering his treatment for spinal cord injury. Hans has successfully developed treatments for people suffering from melanoma, brain and ovarian cancers. He has also led therapy development for immune disorders, motor neuron diseases, retinal diseases and a multipathogen vaccine.
Hans has received a number of major awards throughout his career, including the Distinguished Award for Research, the UCI Academic Senate's highest honour; the UCI Innovation Award for innovative research leading to corporate and clinical development; the National Institutes of Health's Solowey Award for the most promising scientist of the year; and Singularity University's Touching One Billion People Award.
Margaret MacMillan received an honorary doctorate of letters. She is an award-winning author and influential historian. Margaret is a scholar who is a soughtafter media commentator on both history and current international relations. Her best-selling, critically acclaimed books, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World and The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, are two of the most influential studies ever written on the First World War.
A New York Times best-selling author, she has won many awards for her writing, including the Governor General's Literary Award, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. She is the first woman to receive the Samuel Johnson Prize
for non-fiction. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Canada. She is a trustee of the Imperial War Museum and the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna).
In 2006, she was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada and became a Companion in 2016. In 2022, she was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II with an Order of Merit, a special mark of honour conferred by the Sovereign on individuals of exceptional distinction in the arts, learning, sciences and other areas such as public service.
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