Past Events
Wall Catalyst Program | May 11
The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the UBC Emeritus College have assembled a cohort of Emeriti to participate in the 2022-23 PWIAS Catalyst Program.
The Wall Catalyst Emeriti cohort will meet monthly to share research experience and engage with guest lecturers on the topic of the "Climate and Nature Emergency".
For more information on this program and the list of participating Emeriti click here.
Members of the Emeritus College are invited to attend speaker lectures throughout the year.
Tipping Points: Climate Change, History, and the North
In this talk, Langston explores tipping points, caribou/reindeer restoration, and the possibility of hope in the Anthropocene. In climate models, tipping points are critical thresholds that, if crossed, can lead to self-perpetuating, runaway warming in an ecosystem. Societies may contain social tipping points, where small changes in behavior can trigger—or possibly slow--runaway warming. Reindeer (which are the same species as caribou in North America) are critical partners in the effort to prevent runaway Arctic warming, because their browsing can reduce brushy shrubs, increasing albedo effects and cooling local climates. But now, across the Arctic, reindeer and caribou populations are crashing. They have retreated from roughly half their 19th century range, and their populations have dropped by 56% in the past decade. Restoring them across the north may be critical for resilience in a warming world. Langston examines the history of caribou/reindeer translocations across the global north as a controversial tool for a green transition. She argues that moving wildlife about the world has never been just about taking an individual or herd and putting is somewhere else. Rather, it has always involved questions of power, social relations, and visions of a desired future. Langston ultimately asks: what can we learn from the past to sustain our fellow creatures and ourselves in a warming, politically-fractured world?
Nancy Langston is a Distinguished Professor of Environmental History at Michigan Technological University. In 2021, she was awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society for Environmental History, and she is the author of five books on climate history, Great Lakes history, forest and wetland history, and toxics history.
Langston's most recent book is Climate Ghosts: Migratory Species in the Anthropocene (Brandeis University Press), based on her 2019 Mandel Lectures in the Humanities at Brandeis University. You can find more information on her work on her website.
FORMAT Zoom
Co-sponsors
Emeritus College and Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Thursday, 11 May 2023 - 1:00pmWall Catalyst Program | May 4
The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the UBC Emeritus College have assembled a cohort of Emeriti to participate in the 2022-23 PWIAS Catalyst Program.
The Wall Catalyst Emeriti cohort will meet monthly to share research experience and engage with guest lecturers on the topic of the "Climate and Nature Emergency".
For more information on this program and the list of participating Emeriti click here.
Members of the Emeritus College are invited to attend speaker lectures throughout the year.
Political economy of extinction
with
Dr. Jessica Dempsey, UBC Geography
Dr. Rashid Sumaila, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
With guests
Dr. Louise Teh, Research Associate. Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Audrey Irvine-Broque, Graduate Student, UBC Geography
In this session, members of the UBC community will deliver short presentations on the political economy of biodiversity loss with a focus on underlying drivers of biodiversity loss, species decline, overfishing and harmful fishing subsidies. Speakers include Jessica Dempsey (Geography), Audrey Irvine-Broque (Geography), Rashid Sumaila (Oceans and Fisheries), Louse Teh (Oceans and Fisheries). Discussion will follow.
Jessica Dempsey, Associate Professor, UBC Geography.
My research and teaching focus on environmental politics. In geography this often goes under the label of political ecology, which refers to much more than the government or the state. It includes consideration of how environmental politics is shaped by and shapes
economics, science, culture, history, gender, racism, colonialism, social movements and more.
Rashid Sumaila, Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC.
Rashid Sumaila's research focuses on bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, marine protected areas, illegal fishing, climate change, marine plastic pollution, and oil spills. Sumaila has experience working in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the Southern African region, Ghana and the West African region and Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
Dr. Sumaila received his Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Bergen and his B.Sc. (Quantity Surveying) from the Ahmadu Bello University. Sumaila is widely published and cited. He won the 2017 Volvo Environment Prize and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2019. His interest in the environment started early in life when his grandfather used to say people should “walk as if the ground feels pain” – this is sophisticated environmentalism! His specific interest in ocean and fisheries was picked in Norway. Sumaila enjoys exploring novel ideas and mentoring future thinkers. He loves waking up each day thinking of how best to contribute to ensuring that we bequeath a healthy ocean to our children and grandchildren so they too can have the option to do the same.
FORMAT: IN-PERSON AND ON ZOOM
Members of the UBC Emeritus College and the general public are invited to attend a lecture by the guest speaker. There will be a question period following the presentation.
Location: Seminar Room at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
University of British Columbia, University Centre, 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
CO-SPONSORS
Emeritus College and Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Co-sponsors Emeritus College and Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Thursday, 4 May 2023 - 1:00pm
UBC Retirement Seminar | May 3
May Retirement Seminar for UBC faculty and librarians. Let your colleagues know about this informational session.
When: Wednesday, May 3, from 8:30 to 12:30 pm
Where: Zoom
This seminar is hosted by Faculty Relations. Please refer to the link below for the most up-to-date information.
Wednesday, 3 May 2023 - 8:30am to 12:30pm
University of Manitoba Symposium | May 1
Centre on Aging 40th Annual Spring Research Symposium
This year's sessions will reflect on the Centre's history at the University of Manitoba over the past 40 years. Additional sessions will focus on cannabis and the older adult, COVID's effects on older people and in personal care homes, and cohort studies in aging. Sessions will take place in person and will simultaneously be streamed live online.
Scheduled presenters:
Dr. Daniel Sitar, Professor Emeritus, Max Rady College of Medicine University of Manitoba
Dr. Sandra Webber, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Manitoba
Dr. Jamison Falk, College of Pharmacy, University of Manitoba
Dr. Megan Davies, Professor Emerita, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Department of Social Science, York University
Dr. Laura Funk, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Manitoba
Dr. Mary Shariff, Robson Hall Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
Dr. Philip St. John, Max Rady College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba
Groves of Academe | April 25
READING: Elif Batuman, The Idiot
If you would like to join the group please contact convenor, Graeme Wynn (wynn@geog.ubc.ca).
*Details of this in-person event will be confirmed through the group's email communications closer to the date. Please contact the convenor for more information or to be added to the group. By nature of the intimate sharing format of the group, membership size is limited.*
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 - 3:30pm
Healthy Aging Program Seminar | April 25
with Dr. Aric A. Prather, University of California, San Francisco
Aric A. Prather, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Prather’s research centers on the causes and consequences of insufficient sleep, with a focus on how poor sleep impacts the immune system to increase one’s risk for infectious illness and inflammatory disease. His work also focuses on social determinants of sleep and sleep disparities. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Prather helps run the UCSF Insomnia Clinic and treats patients with insomnia using cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Dr. Prather is an elected fellow to the Academy for Behavioral Medicine Research and the American Psychosomatic Society, has published more than 100 empirical papers, and is the recent author of The Sleep Prescription (Penguin Life), which provides practical, research-based guidance for improving one’s sleep.
This lecture may be viewed in-person at the Rudy North Lecture Theatre in the Centre for Brain Health at UBC or over Zoom.
Tuesday, 25 April 2023 - 12:00pm