Havelock (Hack) H. Yates was the Vice President, Academic, of Ryerson from 1971 to 1974. Yates was born in Cochrane, Ontario. From 1941 to 1945, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force, completing his pre-flight training at St. James Square---in the school that would later become Ryerson Polytechnic Institute. He earned his Bachelor of Science (1948) and his PhD (1952) from McGill University. Prior to his appointment at Ryerson, Yates was the Associate Dean, Academic, of the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University (1967 - 1971). From 1963 to 1971, he was the Birks Chair in Metallurgy at McGill and served as Chairman of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering from 1961 to 1965. His academic research interests included corrosion and oxidation mechanisms. Before entering academia, Yates worked for Cominco, Inco, Alcan and the Research Division of Standard Oil Development Co. He was district Vice-President and Chairman of the Montreal Chapter of the American Society for Metals and National Director of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. After leaving Ryerson, Yates became Vice-Chairman of the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies. He returned to Ryerson in 1978 as a part-time consultant on the development of Applied Research.