Cape Breton University at 50: Perseverance Will Triumph details the history of Cape Breton University (CBU) and its deep commitment to the communities from which it arose. CBU owes its very existence to the support of Cape Bretoners.

What is now CBU was born in 1951, when St. Francis Xavier University agreed to establish a "feeder college" in Sydney, Cape Breton Island; the community wanted its own institution, and it persevered to create the College of Cape Breton in 1974. Within a decade it evolved as University College of Cape Breton and after another ten years became Cape Breton University.

CBU has embraced internationalization which has reshaped both the university and the Island. Now CBU is the second largest university in Nova Scotia and a force for change in its community, the province, and the country.

Cape Breton University at 50 honours the University's golden anniversary (1974-2024) as a degree-granting institution and chronicles the people, events, developments, and innovations that got it there.

Keith G. Brown (PhD) is former Vice President, International and Aboriginal Affairs and holds the Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies at Cape Breton University. His professional and academic experience spans local, regional and national First Nation issues and he is recognized as an international educator, author and speaker on the subject of cultural tourism marketing.

Keith G. Brown's profile page