James D. Leslie was no stranger to adversity. He was born to an immigrant family in Toronto during the Great Depression in 1935. He experienced life’s challenges early on, which instilled the value of hard work, the ability to find creative solutions to life’s problems and determination.
In 1957, Jim graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Engineering Physics and a goal of working for Ontario Hydro. Meanwhile, not too far from Toronto, three forward-thinking businessmen, Gerald Hagey, Ira Needles and Reverend Cornelius Siegfried were founding a new university. A university that would address the challenges of a new post war era, the cold war and the race for scientific advancements; one that was creative in its teachings and innovative in its advancements. In 1958, Jim was appointed a lecturer at the University of Waterloo, taking him down a very different career path than the one he initially imagined.
Jim obtained his PhD in Physics in 1963 from the University of Illinois and returned to the University of Waterloo as a professor. He was excited and engaged in his teachings, but recognized that the new Physics program was at a disadvantage because it did not offer any scholarships to attract the best students. Meanwhile, the province announced that high school teachers should obtain an academic degree. Jim had a creative idea to combine these two situations and resolve both issues; by offering correspondence courses for teachers to upgrade their education, the funds generated could be used for scholarships to entice the best and brightest undergraduate students. In 1967, he pitched his idea and began planning and a year later, it came to fruition.
Four
physics
courses
were
offered
by
correspondence
in
1968,
and
130
students
took
part
in
the
first
year.
Students
were
now
able
to
study
without
attending
class;
the
way
in
which
people
could
receive
an
education
had
been
advanced.
Jim
was
instrumental
in
bringing
education
to
those
who
were
geographically
restricted.
In
addition,
undergraduate
scholarships
were
generated
from
the
funds
of
the
correspondence
program
within
a
year
of
its
inception.
Professor
Leslie
devoted
38
years
to
teaching
and
researching
in
the
area
of
solid
state
physics
at
the
university.
He
received
the
125th
Anniversary
of
Confederation
commemorative
medal
in
1993
for
his
contribution
to
higher
education,
and
became
an
honourary
member
of
the
University
in
2003.
“The greatest product which we will realize from our electronic era is the better educated race,” said Ira Needles, president of B.F. Goodrich Canada, in a 1956 speech that helped lay the foundation for the University of Waterloo. “This applies to all fields — not just the field of science.”
Professor Leslie did just that, he provided a medium through which the general population could be better educated; he brought post-secondary education into the homes of people, not just in Canada but globally. Through his vision, today we offer more than 500 online courses in all six faculties.