Dineen Memorial Lecture Series

About the Lectures

The Dineen Memorial Lectures began in 1980 and honour former engineering professor and UNB president James O. Dineen. The lectures, which focus on technology and its impact on society, are sponsored by the University of New Brunswick, the Faculty of Engineering in Fredericton, the Department of Engineering in Saint John, and the Associated Alumni of both campuses.

James Owen Dineen (1920-1975) was born in Hampton, New Brunswick. He earned his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering at UNB. His academic awards included a Beaverbrook and a Rhodes Scholarship, as well as the Leonard Scholarship from the University of Toronto. He began teaching at UNB in 1942 and moved through the ranks in the Electrical Engineering Department to become Dean of Engineering.

After six months as Acting President, he was named President of UNB in January 1970, a post he held until his resignation on June 30, 1972 due to ill health. His contributions in the field of educational and professional activities were recognized by honorary degrees from McMaster and Saint Thomas Universities, Université de Moncton, Nova Scotia Technical College, and UNB, and the granting to him in 1974 of the Julian Smith medal by the Engineering Institute of Canada for achievement in the development of Canada.

An extract from a tribute to him by the Council of the UNB Faculty of Engineering expresses the impact he had on his colleagues. "Jim Dineen was gifted with intellectual capacity, physical stamina, and ability to accomplish, that might have caused him to treat much of mankind with condescension, but not a trace of this negative characteristic existed in his makeup. In all his dealings with others, he showed kindness, good humor, firmness, and deep understanding that distinguished him as a practitioner of love for his fellow man in its most all-embracing and unselfish form."