Joe MacInnis, physician-scientist, author, and deep-sea explorer whose expeditions to the Titanic wreck helped inspire James Cameron’s Academy Award-winning film, has been appointed the first distinguished visiting professor at the Ryerson University Library and Archives. His appointment, effective to the end of December 2013, is co-sponsored by the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, and the Faculty of Science.

MacInnis, a Canadian doctor with expertise in diving medicine and the psychology of leadership, has led thirty expeditions and logged more than five thousand hours under the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. He led some of the world’s most historic deep-sea dives: the first science dives under the North Pole; construction of the world’s first polar station under the ice of the Northwest Passage; and the discovery and exploration of HMS Breadalbane, a century-old shipwreck located 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

“Ryerson University is proud to welcome Canada’s first deep-sea explorer, Dr. Joe MacInnis, to its academic community as a distinguished visitor,” said John Isbister, interim provost and vice-president, academic. “Appointments such as these reflect Ryerson’s commitment to providing our students and faculty with enriched learning opportunities.”

In 1987, MacInnis made his first dive to the Titanic. Soon after, he co-led the IMAX-Titanic expedition that made 17 dives and conducted the first scientific exploration of the wreck. The expedition and IMAX film were a major inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film directed by James Cameron, a 1998 Ryerson University Honorary Doctorate. Since that time, MacInnis has collaborated on three deep-sea projects with Cameron including a 90-minute, live Discovery Channel broadcast of the last unseen rooms of the Titanic. Last year, he was the electronic journalist and backup physician on Cameron’s seven-mile dive into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

MacInnis has written 10 books. His most recent, Deep Leadership: Essential Insights from High-Risk Environments – published by Random House – details  his leadership experiences with astronauts, deep-sea scientists, and Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. It examines twelve leadership principles, five pathways to achieve them, and is a guidebook for young, emerging leaders.

“Dr. MacInnis is an inspiring writer and speaker,” said Chief Librarian Madeleine Lefebvre. “His leadership and innovation are evident in his documentation of early underwater expeditions that he donated to Ryerson Library’s Special Collections, which last year digitized some of the materials. His approach to self-directed, life-long learning was ahead of its time and is in step with the transition to interactive learning. This is what the Library, and the Student Learning Centre currently under construction, are all about.”

In his role as a distinguished visiting professor, MacInnis will share his exceptional leadership insights with select students and faculty from the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, and the Faculty of Science. On April 3, he will deliver a public lecture about the Cameron-National Geographic seven-mile science dive into the Mariana Trench. The lecture will be open to the entire Ryerson community.

“I am really looking forward to engaging with Ryerson students and faculty,” said MacInnis. “We are going to explore synergies between science, engineering, art, literature, and leadership.”

MacInnis received his medical degree from the University of Toronto. He is the former chair of the TD Financial Group’s Friends of the Environment, is actively involved with the Trudeau Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, and the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto. A sought-after motivational speaker, he has delivered leadership presentations to numerous Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Microsoft, VISA and the US Naval Academy. His work has earned him a number of distinctions including six honorary doctorates and the Order of Canada.