Past Events
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
UBC Emeritus College Conversations - October 20, 2021
Models: A Conversation
The conversation will be on the use, misuse, distrust, meaning and utility of models in publicly important science, such as climate science, epidemics and air quality.
The conversants will be Dan Coombs, Douw Steyn and Jim Zidek.
Our moderator will be Marc Levine.
Professor Daniel Coombs is an expert in mathematical modelling applied to human health, immunity, and disease. Dr. Coombs obtained his MSc and PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Arizona and did postdoctoral work at Los Alamos National Lab, before joining the Department of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a faculty member in 2003. Dr. Coombs contributes to our understanding of infection and immunity across scales from subcellular processes of immunological recognition to virus dynamics at the single-patient level, to epidemiological modelling across human communities. He works closely with experimental scientists at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital Research Centre, and public health experts at the BC Centre for Disease Control. Dr. Coombs is currently a member of the Canadian Chief Science Advisor’s expert panel on COVID19.
Douw Steyn, Professor Emeritus of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (2015)
Douw Steyn, ACM, FCMOS is active in the fields air pollution meteorology, boundary layer meteorology, mesoscale meteorology, environmental science and interdisciplinary science. His research involves measurement and modelling studies of regional air pollution, especially in regions with complex terrain. He has published more than 100 scientific papers in the international peer reviewed literature. He is an Accredited Consulting Meteorologist, and has provincial, national and international consultancy experience in his areas of expertise, and has provided expert testimony in numerous court cases and appeal board hearings in British Columbia.
Jim Zidek, Professor Emeritus of Statistics (2004)
Jim Zidek focused on applications of statistics in different domains: air pollution, environmental health, engineering, movement of sea mammals, and the forecasting crop of yields on Canadian farms during this time of climate change. These are extensions of my career into new areas that are of concern to society. Specific examples; serving on a US EPA Committee that in 2015 led to changes in the US air quality standards for ozone; a Canadian program for monitoring the strength properties of lumber; service on task forces to estimate the burden of disease due to particulate air pollution (for the World Health Organization) the health effects of high air temperatures over the UK (for the UK Met Office).
Marc Levine, Professor Emeritus of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2017)
Prof. Levine’s teaching included therapeutics of neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders, pain management, clinical pharmacology, and methods for design and analysis of clinical and biomedical research. The latter included the basis for diagnostic and screening tests and their application to research and clinical practice. His research interests included drug metabolism, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacokinetics and clinical trials. Since 2009 he has been Chair of the UBC Children’s & Women’s Research Ethics Board.
Privacy and Consent to Recording
Please note that this event will be recorded via Zoom and posted publicly. The recording may contain attendees’ names and images. We recognize that this may be undesirable for some participants. If you do not wish for your name or image to be used in the video, please leave your video turned off during the event. You may also change your name to something generic like “Participant” or “Anonymous” in the Zoom meeting room by selecting yourself from the participants list and editing your name. By registering for this event and clicking the Zoom link that will be emailed to you, you consent to being recorded. If you do not want to participate in the live session, the recording will be posted at a later date to our YouTube channel.
Wednesday, 20 October 2021 - 10:30am to 12:00pm
Green College Series on Intergenerational Trauma
british "home children" in canada: the untold story
Grant Charles
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Marvin Westwood - Convenor
Professor Emeritus of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education (2015)
Topic: British 'Home Children' in Canada: the Untold Story
Time: Tuesday, October 19, 2021, 5:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Green College link
Co-sponsors: Emeritus College and Green College
Tuesday, 19 October 2021 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Easy Riders - Oct 19, 2021
Easy Riders' final ride for the year:
Kay Teschke has planned and will lead our final ride of this year - a 20km circuit from the Greenway out to the River District along the 57th Avenue bikeway and back, mostly along the banks of the Fraser River (see below).
If you are interested in participating in this ride, please email me (at wynn@geog.ubc.ca) which will allow me to inform you if plans have to change.
Herewith the necessary stipulations: If you are joining this Easy Riders outing, please recognize that you do so voluntarily for recreational purposes. It is your responsibility to ensure that your bike is in good running order and thoroughly roadworthy. You must wear an approved cycling helmet, ride in a safe manner and obey all road traffic signs and rules. We are the Easy Riders - we will try to maximize use of protected bike lanes, local street bikeways, and painted bike lanes on our routes but some use of Shared Use lanes may be necessary. Generally we will try to follow the city’s AAA (All Ages and Abilities) routes. Inclines are unavoidable if riding any distance in Vancouver. Individuals should be careful not to over-exert themselves or ride beyond their comfort zones. We will have a designated route and accommodate those who need to dismount and walk or proceed slowly.
Our aim here is moderate, comfortable exercise, conviviality and enjoyment.
Kay and I have been reminded of the likelihood of rain in Vancouver in looking at the weather forecasts to schedule this ride. We have opted for the 19th at 10:00 because this seems the best weather prospect at this point (sun and up to 14 degrees) . But forecasts 8 days out are subject to all sorts of after effects from flapping butterfly wings over Hawaii or someplace. Of course things can change. I WILL MAKE AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION AND DECIDE WHETHER TO PROCEED LATE AFTERNOON Monday 18th AND INFORM EVERYONE OF THAT DECISION BY EMAIL BY 8:00 PM ON 18th. IF YOU CANNOT / DO NOT RECEIVE A MESSAGE, FEEL FREE TO PHONE ME AT 236-988-0800 before 8:30 pm that day or on Tuesday morning 8:30-9:00 am FOR CLARIFICATION.
Should we decide to postpone, Thursday 21 or Friday 22 (afternoon) may be the best prospects due to other commitments Wednesday.
As always, partners are welcome to join in and feel free to recruit other emeriti. E-bikes are welcome.
Film Group October 12
The Film Group will take advantage of the Vancouver International Film Festival taking place this year from October 1 to 11.
We are watching online and discussing three films showing as part of the online (VIFF Connect) version of the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival (Oct 1-11).
The three films chosen to watch online and then discuss in a zoom meeting are:
Havel (Czech Republic, 2020)
Directed by Slavek Horak: a liberally constructed bio-pic of the Czech writer turned activist and politician.
Zoom discussion on Monday, Oct 4 at 3:30pm
All My Puny Sorrows (Canada, 2021)
Directed by Michael McGowan: an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel about two lapsed Mennonite sisters – one a struggling writer grappling with divorce, the other a celebrated concert pianist who is suicidal.
Zoom discussion on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 1:30pm
Yuni (Indonesia, 2021)
Directed by Kamila Andini: a naïve yet manipulative Indonesian teenage girl’s dreams of an independent, fulfilling life are compromised by marriage proposals.
Zoom discussion on Tuesday Oct. 12 at 4pm.
To watch the films, go to the Vancouver International Film Festival home page ( viff.org ) and create an account, if you don’t already have an account with VIFF. Once you have an account, click on the Festival tab and then click on the VIFF Connect tab, listing the festival films showing online. Our suggestion is to purchase a package of 4 online films: the three films to be discussed and one other film of your own choosing.
To purchase the four films, click on the Festival tab, the Tickets and Passes tab, and the 4 Ticket Pack Tab (Regular $48 / Senior $44).
To purchase the three chosen films individually, simply click on the purchase tab under the description of the film.
Our suggestion is to purchase the films as soon as you decide to participate, as there is the slight possibility that the film may sell out.
Watch the film any time before the Zoom discussion takes place.
To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca
Tuesday, 12 October 2021 - 4:00pm