James Owen Dineen (July 24, 1920 – September 21, 1975) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

engineer, university administrator and the twelfth President of the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

. "Biographical Sketch."
University of New Brunswick Archives. Retrieved on: April 3, 2012. Born in

Hampton, New Brunswick Hampton (2016 population: 4,289) is a town in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. Located on the Kennebecasis River 30 kilometres northeast of Saint John, Hampton is the shire town of Kings County. It functioned as the seat of county governm ...

, he graduated from the Hampton Consolidated School in 1936. At the age of 16 he entered the

, having been awarded a Beaverbrook Scholarship. Dineen graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1940. He was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

but was unable to take it up because of the Second World War. Instead of going to Oxford he went to the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

with a Leonard Fellowship subsequently taking a position as a radio instructor in Hamilton, Ontario. He returned to the

to instruct airmen and sailors at the UNB Radio School.Glenda Turner, James Owen Dineen: Profile of an Engineering Educator, The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick, The Faculty of Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B., 2000 Dineen was appointed Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1942, Associate Professor in 1946 and Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1951. In 1957 he became Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. Research and graduate programs were strongly encouraged by Dineen in the Electrical Engineering Department and in the Faculty of Engineering as a whole. He was appointed as Acting President of the University in 1969 succeeding

Colin B. Mackay Colin Bridges Mackay, (July 26, 1920 – November 27, 2003) was president of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada from 1953 to 1969. Mackay oversaw the expansion of the university f ...

. On January 1, 1970 he was appointed as the 12th President of the

for a 6-year term. Ill health forced him to relinquish that position in September 1972. He died three years later. Dineen's presidency was notable for his commitment to an open and collegial approach, integrity, and leadership. He won wide respect among faculty members and students. The

Engineering Institute of Canada The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) ( French: l'Institut canadien des ingénieurs; ICI) is a federation of fourteen engineering societies based in Canada, covering a broad range of engineering branches, and with a history going back to 1887. ...

elected Dineen as a Fellow in 1971 and in 1974 it awarded him the Julian C. Smith medal in recognition of his contributions to engineering in Canada. He received honorary doctoral degrees from five Canadian universities:

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

1968;

St. Thomas University (New Brunswick) St. Thomas University (also St. Thomas or STU) is a Catholic, English-language liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a primarily undergraduate university offering bachelor's degrees in the arts (humanities a ...

1970;

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian francophone university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on higher ed ...

1972;

Nova Scotia Technical College The Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) was a Canadian university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. TUNS was officially founded as the Nova Scotia Technical College on 25 April 1907. On 1 April 1997 it was merged into Dalhousie Universit ...

1973. He was made an Honorary Member of the Canadian Institute of Surveying (now

Canadian Institute of Geomatics The Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG, French: ''Association canadienne des sciences géomatiques'') is a not-for-profit scientific association based in Ottawa, Ontario devoted to the development of geomatics in Canada. It was previously known a ...

) in 1974. He was awarded the

Canadian Centennial Medal The Canadian Centennial Medal (french: Médaille du centenaire du Canada) is a commemorative medal struck by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1967 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation and was awarded to Canadians who were ...

in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dineen, James Owen 1920 births 1975 deaths Canadian academics in engineering Canadian university and college chief executives People from Hampton, New Brunswick Academic staff of the University of New Brunswick