O'Brien, G. Dennis

Title

O'Brien, G. Dennis

Date

1984-1994

Format

image/jpeg

Birth Date

1931

Birthplace

Chicago, Illinois

Educational Background

AB (major English), 1952, Yale University;
Ph.D. (philosophy), 1961, University of Chicago

Tenure

President, 1984-1994

Biographical Text

Like David Jayne Hill, our second president, Dennis O'Brien came to us from the presidency of Bucknell University. Inauguration of President O'Brien took place on October 1, 1984.

President O'Brien's administration saw the opening of a number of important facilities, including the Computer Studies Building with its Carlson Library, and Schlegel Hall on the River Campus; the new Sibley Library, Eastman Student Living Center, and Cominsky Tower at the Eastman School of Music; a major addition to the Memorial Art Gallery, and the beginning of a major addition to the Medical Center complex.

Innovative academic programs were instituted during the O'Brien years, including the Take Five Program.

From 1987 to 1990, an annual week-long Rochester Conference was hosted by the University. The topics were Creation, Time, Power and Pleasure. Speakers included Steven Jay Gould, Derek Walcott, Alfred Kazin, Marge Piercy, Harlan Ellison, Robert Bly, John Cage, William Shatner, and The Amazing Randi.

Some of the events during the course of Dennis O'Brien's presidency 1984-1993:

1984: George Dennis O'Brien inaugurated on October 1 as Rochester's eighth president
1985: Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies established
1986: Susan B. Anthony Center for women's studies established
1986: "Take Five" (tuition-free fifth-year option) is among innovations adopted in undergraduate education
1986: Graduate School of Management announces $30 million endowment and is renamed William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
1986: Aggressive recruiting of River Campus undergraduate students gets under way; applications nearly double over next seven years.
1986: Rochester joins seven other national research universities to form University Athletic Association
1987: Carlson Library and Computer Studies Building opens
1987: Medical Center's Miner Library expanded and renovated
1989: Bausch & Lomb Riverside Park created
1989: Eastman Place opens, housing Sibley Music Library
1989: First annual Bausch & Lomb Invitational Regatta
1990: Alumni organization revitalized and reborn as University of Rochester Alumni Association
1990: University of Rochester Press established
1990: Rochester awards its 5,000th Ph.D.
1990: US. News & World Report ranks Rochester among the nation's top 25 universities
1991: Eastman Student Living Center opens adjacent to Eastman Theatre
1991: $375 million Campaign for the '90s begins public phase with a nucleus fund of nearly $127 million
1991: Schlegel Hall opens as classroom building for the Simon School
1992: Upgrade begun on Laboratory for Laser Energetics' OMEGA laser; will become one of the world's two most powerful lasers on completion in 1995
1992: W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy established
1992: Project undertaken to create new Ambulatory Care Facility at Medical Center
1993: Center for Optoelectronics and Imaging, 120,000-square- foot research facility, opens on South Campus
1993: Endowment restructuring, begun in the mid-'80s, now nearly complete, with endowment total at $656.2 million
1993: Education school endowed and renamed Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development
1993: US. News & World Report ranks Rochester among the top 25 "best value" national universities.

Citation

“O'Brien, G. Dennis,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed November 21, 2024, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/4564.

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