University of New Brunswick

In 1783, Loyalist settlers began to build upon the ruins of a former Acadian village called Ste-Anne-des-Pays-Bas. The new settlement was named Frederick's Town in honour of Prince Frederick, son of King George III and uncle of Queen Victoria.[13]

Initially modelled on the Anglican ideals of older, European institutions, the University of New Brunswick was founded in 1785 as the Academy of Liberal Arts and Sciences.[14] The petition requesting the establishment of the school, titled "The Founders' Petition of 1785," was addressed to Governor Thomas Carleton and was signed by seven Loyalist men: William Paine, William Wanton, George Sproule, Zephaniah Kingsley, Sr., John Coffin, Ward Chipman, and Adino Paddock.[15]

To his Excellency Thomas Carleton Esquire Governor Captain General, and Commander in Chief, of the Province of New Brunswick, and the territories thereunto belonging, Vice Admiral Chancellor &c &c &c: —

Your memorialists whose names are hereunto subscribed, beg leave to represent, and state to your consideration the Necessity and expediency of an early attention to the Establishment in this Infant Province of an Academy, or School of liberal Arts and Sciences.

Your Excellency need not be reminded of the many Peculiarities attending the Settlement of this Country The Settlement of other Provinces has generally originated in the voluntary Exertions of a few enterprising Individuals, unincumbered, and prosecuting their Labor at their Leisure, and as they found it convenient, and most for their Advantage – Far different is the Situation in which the loyal Adventurers here find themselves – Many of them upon removing had Sons, whose Time of life, and former Hopes, call for an immediate attention to their Education – Many publick advantages, and many Conveniences would result to Individuals could this be affected within this Province, the Particulars of which it is unnecessary to ennumerate – Your Memorialists do therefore most earnestly request your Excellency will be pleased to grant a Charter for the establishing, and founding such an Academy . . .[15]

The Old Arts Building on the Fredericton campus is the oldest university building in the country that is still in regular use for school operations.

By an 1800 provincial charter, signed by Jonathan Odell, the Academy of Liberal Arts and Sciences became the College of New Brunswick.[16] The college was succeeded by King's College, which was granted by royal charter in December 1827. King's College operated under the control of the Church of England until 1859, when it was made non-sectarian by an act of the provincial legislature that transformed the college into the University of New Brunswick.[17] In 1866, Mary Kingsley Tibbits became the first regularly admitted female student of UNB. By 1867, the University of New Brunswick had two faculties: Arts and Applied Science. It awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Science. The latter was awarded only in the fields of civil engineering, electrical engineering, and forestry.

UNB was one of only two schools in Canada in the late 1800s that offered a Forestry Engineering degree (the other being the University of Toronto). So when the federal government began creating Dominion Forests on federal land in Western Canada between 1899 and 1906, most of the first Forest Rangers were from UNB.[18]

In 1906, UNB established a bicameral system of university government consisting of a senate responsible for academic policy, and a board of governors exercising exclusive control over financial policy and other matters. The president, appointed by the board, was to provide a link between the two bodies and to provide institutional leadership. At this time, the university had 156 male students, 21 female students, and only eleven academic staff, who were all male.[19]

In 1964, a second, smaller campus was established in Saint John, New Brunswick. The growth of the UNBSJ campus is particularly notable, for the campus began with only 96 students spread throughout various buildings in Saint John's central business district. In 1968, UNBSJ moved to its new home at Tucker Park.

In 1968 the university's governance structure was reorganized with the aim of giving faculty members control of academic affairs. The UNB Act of 1968 led to the formation of two governing bodies, both chaired by the president. The Board of Governors, whose role was to oversee and give guidance to president as "chief executive officer" was to have four faculty representatives, while the majority of the Senate was to be made up of faculty members elected by their peers.[20]^:50

The Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers (AUNBT) was established in 1954; in 1979, this association became the bargaining agent for all full-time academic staff, and in 2008, it achieved certification for contract academic staff.

View from the UNB Saint John campus

In 1959, the Faculty of Law moved from Saint John to Fredericton following a report on the status of legal education in Canada by Professor Maxwell Cohen from McGill University. In his report, Cohen stated that the Saint John Law School was only "nominally a faculty of UNB". This prompted Lord Beaverbrook, as Chancellor, and UNB President Colin B. Mackay, to permanently move the Saint John Law School to the UNB Fredericton campus, despite the Dean's objections.

In March 1969 UNB was censured by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) because of its suspension of Norman Strax, a physics professor who had led protests in September 1968 against the introduction of photo id cards. The censure was lifted after the university agreed to engage in arbitration with Strax. Among the "tumultuous events" of the 1968-69 academic year were the occupation by Strax's supporters of his office in Loring Bailey Hall and the prosecution and jailing of a student journalist over an article in the Brunswickan.[21]

In the fall of 2007, a report commissioned by the provincial government recommended that UNBSJ and the New Brunswick Community College be reformed and consolidated into a new polytechnic post-secondary institute. The proposal immediately came under heavy criticism and led to the several organized protests. Under heavy fire from the public, the Graham government eventually announced that it would set aside the possibility of UNB Saint John losing its status as a university and would refer the report to a working group for further study.[22] The government would go on to announce in January that UNBSJ would retain its liberal arts program and its association with UNB[23] and the working group reported back to government in May, with its findings and government's response being made public in June.[24]

The UNB Fredericton campus is located on a hill overlooking the Saint John River. The campus is well known for its colourful fall foliage, Georgian style red-brick buildings, and a very steep hill. UNB Fredericton has shared the "College Hill" with St. Thomas University (STU) since 1964, when the former St. Thomas College moved from Chatham, NB (now Miramichi). While the universities share some infrastructure, they remain separate institutions.

Architect G. Ernest Fairweather designed several of the campus buildings, including the Old Civil Engineering Building (1900) and the Gymnasium (1906).[25] In addition, several of the stained glass windows in the Convocation Hall were created by Robert McCausland Limited.

UNBF's War Memorial Hall (usually referred to as Memorial Hall), originally built as a science building in 1924, honours the 35 UNB Alumni who died in World War I.

UNBF's Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, V.C., Centre for the Study of War and Society (usually referred to as The Gregg Centre) was created in 2006.[26]

The Richard J. Currie Center, a five-storey 139,000-square-foot building, was constructed in 2013.[4]

Two buildings on the Fredericton campus have been designated National Historic Sites of Canada: the 1827 Sir Howard Douglas Hall (the Old Arts Building), and the 1851 William Brydone Jack Observatory.[27][28]

The UNB Saint John campus (UNBSJ) is located in Tucker Park in the Millidgeville neighbourhood, several kilometres north of the city's central business district, and has views of the Kennebecasis River and Grand Bay. New Brunswick's largest health care facility, Saint John Regional Hospital, is located adjacent to the UNBSJ campus. Since 2010, the UNBSJ campus has been home to Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, a medical school that operates as a partnership between the Government of New Brunswick, the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine.

The Saint John campus has undergone expansion over the years and is the fastest growing component of the UNB system with many new buildings constructed between the 1970s and the first decade of the 21st century. A trend in recent years has been a growth in the number of international students.

The Hans W. Klohn Commons at UNB Saint John

Notable differences from its parent campus in Fredericton lay in the campus culture. While UNB Fredericton has a substantial number of students living in its on-campus residences, this is not the case for UNBSJ. The majority of students do not live within walking distance of the campus due to its remote location, so unlike Fredericton, Saint John is predominantly a "commuter campus".

April 1, 2010, the construction on the Hans W. Klohn Commons began. This building is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in Atlantic Canada.[29] The building features an electric elevator that produces power for the commons. The building is part of the Tucker Park enhancement project, which will include the refurbishment of the Canada Games Stadium, the new Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick facility, and the New Brunswick Community College's Allied Health building. A new residence building, named the Barry and Flora Beckett Residence (expected to be open for Winter 2021), is a geothermally-heated building, offerring 104 beds.[30]

In 2014, UNB was awarded the most entrepreneurial university in Canada by Startup Canada.[8] The university has also supported in launching 23 new startup companies as of 2015.

In 2020, Maclean's magazine ranked UNB sixth (tied with York University) out of 15 universities placed in the publication's "comprehensive university" category.[44]

In 2012, UNB's law school was ranked 2nd nationally in elite firm hiring by Maclean's.[45] According to Canadian Lawyer Magazine, the law school ranks among the top five in Canada.[46]

In 2008, the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen recognized UNB as being among the top three comprehensive research universities in Canada for the highest percentage growth of research income across a five-year period.[35]

Because so many of UNB's students, alumni, and professors have produced celebrated poetry, the city of Fredericton has earned the nickname "Poets' Corner." Two of Canada's four Confederation Poets – Sir Charles G.D. Roberts and Bliss Carman – were educated at UNB, as was Francis Joseph Sherman, along with a number of notable 20th- and 21st-century Canadian writers. In 1947, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada unveiled a "Poet's Corner" monument in honour of Carman, Roberts, and Sherman.[47][48]

The Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) on the Fredericton campus is one of the research institutes in biomedical engineering in Canada. It was founded in 1965 as the Bio-Engineering Institute, making it one of the oldest research institutes to be solely dedicated to the field of biomedical engineering. The institute is also the region's prosthetic fitting centre where amputees are fitted with "intelligent" artificial limbs. The institute also carries out research in the field of myoelectric signal processing, biomedical instrumentation and human motion analysis. The IBME also developed the UNB Test of Prosthetic Function which is used by researchers all over the world. Although the institute does not offer degrees in biomedical engineering, students at UNB usually enrol in one of the other faculties of engineering such as electrical or mechanical and pursue their research in biomedical engineering at the IBME.

The Canadian Rivers Institute was founded in 2000 and is a site of river sciences research. The mandate of the CRI is to conduct both multi-disciplinary basic and applied research focusing on rivers from their headwaters to their estuaries, to promote the conservation, protection and sustainable use of water, and to educate professionals, graduate students and the public on water sciences. Members of the CRI conduct research on regional, national and international issues related to rivers and their land-water linkages.[49]

With researchers from both UNB campuses, the CRI develops the aquatic science needed to understand, protect and sustain water resources. Since 2013, the CRI and its partners have been working with NB Power to research the potential environmental impacts of the future options being considered for the Mactaquac Generating Station. The Mactaquac Dam on the Saint John River will reach the end of its lifespan by 2030, and CRI has been evaluating key environmental challenges such as river health, fish passage and flow management. In 2015, CRI was given an additional $2.8 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to conduct an aquatic ecosystem study on the Saint John River.

UNB created its BEd program for First Nations students in 1977 in an effort to help First Nations communities take control of their own schools. In 1981, the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Institute (MMI), the former name of the MWC, opened its doors with an expanded mandate to train professionals and improve First Nations access to First Nations education. The Institute provided a variety of services, including research, curriculum development, language education, policy development, children's literacy, and more. In addition, the Institute funded the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Resource Collection, which contains materials that are immensely valuable to knowledge of First Nations culture, history, and perspective in the region.

The Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy was founded in 1996 as the Atlantic Centre for Policy Research,[51] supported by the Canadian Institute For Advanced Research. The name change took effect in January, 2000.[52] The institute was designated as a Statistics Canada Research Data Centre in 2002.[53] The institute brings interdisciplinary researchers together to focus on issues pertaining to social policy on a national and international level, specifically issues relevant to children and youth development.[54] Projects included the New Brunswick Schools Early Literacy Initiative;[55] Mapping Literacy as a Determinant of Healt;,[56] Raising and Leveling the Bar: A Collaborative Research Initiative on Children's Learning, Behavioural, and Health Outcomes;[57] and the Confident Learners Initiative.[58]

The University of New Brunswick's Medical Training Centre is the first anglophone school of medicine in New Brunswick. It is a joint medical programme, offered with Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine.

Traditional among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various times such as commencement, convocation, and athletic events are "Carmina Universitatis Novi Brunsvici", "Alma Mater" (1904), and "UNB Anthem", with words by A.G. Bailey and music by D.V. Start.[63] Colloquial songs included "Bombers Away" to celebrate the football team: Bombers away, my boys
Bombers away,
'Cause when you fight red bombers.
Fight you Bombers, Fight you Bombers,
Fight, Fight, Fight.

• 107.3FM CFMH-FM (Saint John)
• 97.9FM CHSR-FM (Fredericton)

• The Baron (Saint John campus)
• The Brunswickan (Fredericton campus)
• The Pillar (Engineering Newspaper) (Fredericton Campus)

• The Fiddlehead
• Studies in Canadian Literature
• Acadiensis