Department of Mathematical Sciences
Previous names: Division of Science and Mathematics; Division of Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science; Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
Established: 2000
History:
Mathematics courses have been offered at UNBSJ since 1964 under the Faculties of both Arts and Science. Required and elective courses in first and second year Mathematics were taught starting in 1965 by Miss Pauline Graham and Mr. Edmond Glover. In subsequent years, required courses in Mathematics were also included in Business Administration, Engineering and Forestry programs. Lectures were held from 1964 to 1969 at Beaverbrook House and offices were housed in the Science Building, also known as the Old Provincial Building in Saint John, from 1965 to 1969. Beginning in 1968, the Mathematics option was offered among the Bachelor of Science specializations and students could study their first and second year of Mathematics and Statistics at UNBSJ with the plan to specialize in the subject during their third and four year at UNB Fredericton. In the following year, students and the four faculty members of Mathematics moved to the newly constructed Tucker Park campus where they found their home in William Ganong Hall.
By the time the Tucker Park campus had opened in 1969, the number of courses offered in Mathematics had grown from one course in 1964 to four courses. In 1975, Statistics was also coupled with the Mathematics option and students studying Mathematics and Statistics could choose to select a Major or Honours in either Mathematics or Statistics for their third and fourth year in Fredericton. The next two years brought the creation of the Division of Science and Mathematics, chaired by R.B. Kelly, and then the establishment of the Division of Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science in 1977. During the 1980s the numbers of course offerings remained steady with thirteen courses offered in 1979 and fourteen offered in 1991. The Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science was first established in 1993 under the UNBSJ Faculty of Science, chaired first by Dr. Merzik Kamel. The following year, a four-year Bachelor of Science in Mathematics was offered in Saint John. Though the department was listed under the Faculty of Science, Applied Science and Engineering, a Major and Minor in Mathematics was also offered to students under the Faculty of Arts beginning in 1995. From 1999 to 2006, Mathematics was also listed as a major in the interdisciplinary Bachelor of Data Analysis. In the year 2000, Mathematics at UNBSJ was deemed an independent Department of Mathematical Sciences and was chaired by Dr. Alexander Wilson and then by Dr. Merzik Kamel in 2002. In 2007 a Bachelor of Science in Financial Mathematics became available to students.
Physical Location: William Ganong Hall
Faculty: Faculty of Science, Applied Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts
Notes: Established date is based on the date that the separate UNBSJ department was officially stated in the calendar under its most recent name
Sources:
- UA Case 137
- UA Case 180
- Undergraduate Calendars (UA RG 86) 1965-2014
- McGahan, Peter. The Quiet Campus: A History of the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, 1959-1969. Fredericton: New Ireland Press, 1998.