James Milton Ham (ElecE 4T3), the 10th president of the University of Toronto and former Dean of Engineering, was posthumously selected for induction into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. Ham was a leading Canadian engineer and a public servant who made enormous contributions to the safety of Canada’s mining and metallurgy industries and the development of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in Ontario.
The Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame is a central part of the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. It honours individuals whose outstanding scientific or technological achievements have had long-term implications for Canadians. Ham will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on January 20, 2015.
James Ham was an alumnus of U of T’s Electrical Engineering program, graduating with the highest marks ever awarded in the Faculty at that time. After graduation, he served in WWII in the Royal Canadian Navy. He joined U of T Engineering in 1953. Ham served as chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1964-66 and as dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering from 1966-73. He was dean of the School of Graduate Studies from 1976-78 and served as president of the University of Toronto from 1978-83. He was appointed President Emeritus in 1988.
As President, Ham spearheaded an effort to make universities centres for research and innovation—an idea we take for granted today. Ham chaired a special committee on university research, sponsored by the Council of Ontario Universities. His report proposed that research should become the centrepiece of Ontario’s economic development strategy and that this research should be based in universities. The Centres of Excellence program was developed in response to this report.
After his term as President, Ham helped to found the Canadian Academy of Engineering, for which he served as President from 1990-91. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Perhaps Ham’s most influential contribution was as the author of the “Ham Commission Report” on health and safety in the mining industry. The report of this commission was the impetus for the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1978.
In 1989, Ham was inducted into the Order of Ontario. In 1980, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his achievements as a “scientist, engineer and scholar who has had a distinguished academic and administrative career”.
“Professor James Ham applied his engineering competencies to the benefit of his field, his university, his province and his country, changing them all for the better”, said Dean Cristina Amon. “His career is an inspiring example of the extraordinary impact engineers can have as leaders and public servants.”
