Dr. Robert MacKinnon, dean, Humanities and Arts, University of New Brunswick at Saint John, Canada, will visit the UTM to assist with the implementation of the new minor in Canadian studies.

As part of his visit, he will deliver a lecture on “The Industrial City in Transition – Saint John, New Brunswick, from 4:30-5:30 p.m., Feb. 15, in the Norman Campbell Humanities Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A geographer by training, MacKinnon taught at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the University of British Columbia (Vancouver), and the University College of the Cariboo (Kamloops, British Columbia), before assuming his current post at the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

He has lectured and published on a wide range of rural and urban issues impacting the regional economies of British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He has been particularly interested in studying quality of life indicators for small cities and their cultural future. His current research focuses on urban and economic change in Saint John, a historic port city on the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick, which has been pursuing major urban renewal projects since the 1960s to offset the decline of its traditional economic base in shipping and ship building.

“Dr. MacKinnon is an engaging, dynamic speaker, and the findings of his research on Saint John should have direct applications to many small cities in our state and region, which are also working through difficult periods of economic revitalization,” said Dr. Paul Crapo, director of UTM’s Center for Global Studies and International Education.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the UTM Department of Geology, Geography and Physics and the Center for Global Studies and International Education.