Past Events
Volunteer Group - Nov 10, 2021
The Emeritus Volunteer Group First Meeting
Wednesday, Nov. 10, 4-5pm
This is a new Special Interest Group (SIG) for both the recently retired and those who have enjoyed the good life for decades. The focus of the group is on volunteer activities, ones for which you can devote your time and talents toward projects that will greatly benefit others. But how does one go about choosing among the possible volunteer roles you would like to take on? Would you like to give your time to educational activities such as tutoring in the DTES or mentoring UBC students, join boards of non-profit organizations, work on projects promoting women’s rights or improving access to clean water and health in developing countries? The opportunities are limitless, diverse and in need of volunteers. How can you find out what opportunities are available locally, nationally, and internationally? How can you determine which volunteer activity is a good match for you, given your talents and an organization’s needs, where your value-added will be the greatest? The objective of this SIG is to generate interest, learn and share information on volunteer possibilities and give interested participants ideas and directions on where and how they might best use their talents to contribute to the greater good.
While the Group will be officially launched in January (hopefully in person), I think it would be useful to get together in November for a preliminary discussion by Zoom. The date and time for the November gathering will be: Wednesday, Nov. 10, 4-5pm. At that meeting, I will briefly share my motivation and ideas for this SIG, and hear from you about your experiences, interests and what you hope to learn from this Group. If there is time, we will try to reach some consensus on our goals and ambitions for this Group, and how to go about achieving them. For example, we may wish to have information sessions with speakers from different organizations, hear from remarkable individuals who have devoted their lives to worthy causes, create a website that matches individual’s interests with organizational needs, and more. The format, activities, and goals are wide open but are grounded in the fundamental principle that we all have the capacity to contribute in meaningful ways to improve the lives of so many in these challenging times.
For the January launch (date, time and location TBA), I am delighted that Dr. Martha Piper, former UBC president, has agreed to join us. Martha has been extraordinarily active in the volunteer circuit since her presidency, having served on numerous non-profit, corporate and educational Boards. She co-founded the Vancouver Council for CARE Canada that promotes women’s voices and leadership, especially in developing countries. She has served on the boards of the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education, Stem Cell Research Foundation, Crofton House School and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, to name a few. In each case, she selected her volunteer activities based on her personal interests and how closely they aligned with the objectives of the respective organizations. I hope this idea is interesting to many of you and look forward to seeing you Nov. 10, 4-5pm. If you plan to attend, please let me know at Nancy.Gallini@ubc.ca.
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 - 4:00pm to 5:00pmCouncil Meeting - November 10, 2021
The Council will meet online.
Wednesday, 10 November 2021 - 10:30am to 12:30pm
Senior Scholars' Series - November 9, 2021
Senior Scholars' Series: The Passions that Drive Academic Life
Pitman Potter
Professor Emeritus of Law (2020)
"Reflections From a China Scholar"
Potter’s teaching and research have focused on PRC and Taiwan law and policy in the areas of international trade and investment, dispute resolution, property and contract law, business regulation, and human rights. He has published many books and essays on China law and policy, including Exporting Virtue? China’s International Human Rights Activism in the Age of Xi Jinping (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2021).
Prior to his retirement in 2020, Dr. Potter also served as an attorney licensed in British Columbia, Washington State and California handling China business and arbitration matters. Dr. Potter has served on the Boards of Directors of several public institutions, including the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada where he is currently a Distinguished Fellow Emeritus and the Canada-China Business Council. Dr. Potter is a Deacon in the Anglican Church of Canada (Diocese of New Westminster) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe - moderator
Professor Emeritus of Art History, Visual Art and Theory (2015)
Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe graduated from the Courtauld Institute and taught for the Open University, and at London and McGill Universities before joining UBC. He chaired the ISGP and then his home department, Art History Visual Art & Theory before serving as Associate Dean, Awards and Scholarships, in the Faculty of Graduate Studies; a member of Senate for several years he was twice elected co-Chair.
He has published extensively on art, architectural and design history with a particular interest in related social and political culture especially of the later modern era; recipient of the Vancouver Book Prize, he was awarded a J.S Guggenheim Fellowship and a Visiting Fellowship at Clare Hall in Cambridge University. He is currently completing a re-assessment of the architecture and ideology of Arthur Erickson and, also with Michelangelo Sabatino, a multi-perspective anthology on Modernist architecture in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Film Group Oct 28, 2021
Series Thirteen – Systemic Racism
The films can be screened via the streaming sites listed with each film
Zoom discussions of each film will take place on: Thursdays: Sept 30, Oct 28 and Nov 25 at 4pm
Hosted by John LeBlanc
Series Thirteen: As a result of the US Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, the reality of racism in North America could no longer be ignored, but early attempts to come to terms with racism, such as in the 60s and 70s Sidney Poitier films, narrowly defined it as the product of deranged individuals. The recent Black Lives Matter protests, locating racism within society’s structures and institutions, such as the police, have forced us to confront the racism in the very nature of our cultures and national identity. These three films invite us to examine how the very founding of our nations and their ongoing development is grounded in racism, requiring a major self-confrontation and transformation in order to move beyond the paralysis that racism fosters. I Am Not Your Negro has the victims of racism explain its nature. Double Happiness and Beans provide a Canadian context (Asian-Canadian and Indigenous-Canadian, respectively) for the damaging impact of racism.
Oct 28 – Double Happiness (1993) – directed by Mina Shum, on the surface seems to be a simple family situation comedy but is, in fact, a sophisticated analysis of systemic forces that perpetuate racism against Asians in Canada. Focusing on a Chinese-Canadian family living in Vancouver and, in particular, on an aspiring actress (played by Sandra Oh), the film reveals the bind in which Asian Canadians often find themselves: both too Asian and not Asian enough. In particular, the film explores how the media perpetuates this bind while claiming to be Asian-positive. May be streamed through the UBC Library Catalogue streaming site. Suggested additional viewing: The Joy Luck Club directed by Wayne Wang. May be streamed through the UBC Library Catalogue.
Nov 25 – Beans (2021) – directed by Tracey Deer fictionalizes the director’s personal experience as a 12 year old during the 1990 Kanehsatake / Kahnawake crisis, a defining moment in Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous peoples. This crisis, developing out of the ongoing appropriation of Indigenous land in the Montreal / St Lawrence River region and resulting blockade revealed the racist nature at the heart of the Canadian settler project and its governing institutions. Deer’s return to this pivotal moment assists us in dealing with Canada’s past and moving forward into a more inclusive Canadian future. This film is playing at VanCity Theatre Sept 10-16: info at viff.org. Streaming options TBA. Suggested additional viewing: Alanis Obomsawin’s four documentary films dealing with the crisis: 1)Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, 2)Rocks at Whiskey Trench, 3)My Name is Kahentiiosta, and 4)Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man. All four can be streamed through the UBC Library Catalogue.
To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca
Travel Group October 28, 2021
Grizzly bears and hot pools - two road trips in BC.
Presented by Richard Spencer (Associate Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering and Registrar Emeritus) and Helen Spencer.
Richard and Helen will describe two road trips: one to stay at a lodge and see Grizzly bears on the Lardeau River, and the other to swim in hot pools in Ainsworth, Radium, Halcyon and Nakusp.
If you are currently not on the email list of the EC travel interest group and wish to receive our mailings, please contact Paul Steinbok at psteinbok@cw.bc.ca.
A zoom link will be sent out 2 days before each meeting.
Thursday, 28 October 2021 - 3:00pm
Photo Group October 22, 2021
The next photo group meeting will be a Zoom meeting on Friday, October 22, at 3pm. You can join for a general chat at 2.30.
The theme is “Breaking the Rules.” As always, photos from your catalog, as well as new photos, are welcome, and you can submit photos on other themes. Please send up to 3 photos, plus (if you wish) a “before” version of one of your photos before processing, to me at richard@rhspencer.ca. Please number your photos if you would like me to show them in a particular order.
You can send them as email attachments, zip files, or downloads from an online site. If you include them in the body of an email, you should avoid letting your software reduce the size of the photos to any resolution less than about 1000 x 800 pixels (within reason, bigger is generally better!).
If you would like to join, please contact Richard Spencer for the zoom-link at richard@rhspencer.ca
Friday, 22 October 2021 - 3:00pm