George Dennis O'Brien (born February 21, 1931) is an American philosopher who served as the eighth President of the University of Rochester. O'Brien was born in Chicago, Illinois to a medical doctor and a nurse. His father was also a medical examiner and the young O'Brien accompanied him to autopsies he performed at local funeral homes. He attended St. Philip Neri grammar school and Leo Catholic High School. O'Brien earned a B.A. in English at Yale University in 1952 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1961. While in graduate school, he took an instructorship at Princeton University, where he became assistant professor after graduating. He began his career as administrator when he took on the role of Assistant Dean of the College at Princeton and then moved to

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

where he took on successively more responsibilities. In 1976, Bucknell University tapped O'Brien to become its twelfth president. In 1984, he assumed the presidency of the University of Rochester. At UR, he introduced several innovations, including the "Take Five" program, the Rochester Conference, which brought high-profile speakers to the River Campus from 1987 to 1990, and a weekly University Day to bring faculty and undergraduates together for interchange of ideas. He also kicked off a major fund-raising campaign to fund more competitive compensation for faculty. O'Brien also dealt with several controversies, notably the ill-fated idea to raise the possibility of renaming UR to "Rochester University" or "Eastman Rochester University". In 1987, he had to deal with the fallout from

William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration Simon Business School (formerly known as the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration) is the business school of the University of Rochester. It is located on the university's River Campus in Rochester, New York. It was rename ...

's rescinding the admission of a Fujifilm employee to its MBA program after senior

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

officials voiced their concern that they would have to pull their executives out of the same program to prevent the possibility of

industrial espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governmen ...

. O'Brien also divested the University from South Africa after student protests. After retiring from UR in 1994, he served as chair of the Commonweal Foundation and on the board of

La Salle University La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. History La ...

. He also served as an accreditation reviewer and chair for several institutions of higher learning in the United States.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, G. Dennis 1931 births Living people Presidents of the University of Rochester Bucknell University faculty Princeton University faculty Middlebury College faculty Academics from Chicago University of Chicago alumni Yale University alumni Presidents of Bucknell University