CUWFA Conference June 5-7, 2013 - Senior College · ARC News June 13 Page 5 of 11 ARC Speakers...

transcript

http://www.faculty.utoronto.ca/arc/

Faculty Retirement: A Canadian/US View

Walter Sharrow, Doug Creelman, Ken Rea

Left to Right:

Doug Creelman,

Ken Rea,

Jean McLaughlin,

Walter Sharrow,

Sara-Jane Finlay

CUWFA Conference June 5-7, 2013

Held at University of Toronto and in Canada for the first time, the College and University

Work-Life-Family Association‘s 19th

Annual Conference addressed issues around the

theme ―Building Bridges: Sharing Pathways to Work-Life Progress.‖

Two well-known, active UofT retirees

took part in a panel discussion on

Thursday, June 6th

at the Chestnut

Conference Centre. Doug Creelman and

Ken Rea were joined by American

emeritus colleague Walter Sharrow of

Canisius College.

The session was moderated by Jean

McLaughlin, Associate Director of the

American Council on Education.

IN THIS ISSUE:

HOW SHOULD WE FEED OURSELVES? ............................................................................................... 2 UNHEARD OF—MEMOIRS OF A CANADIAN COMPOSER ............................................................. 3 KNOX COLLEGE SUMMER PROGRAM ............................................................................................... 5 NEW RETIREE RECEPTION .................................................................................................................... 6 DOUG CREELMAN‟S ................................................................................................................................. 6 IN MEMORIAM ........................................................................................................................................... 6 SENIOR COLLEGE ..................................................................................................................................... 7 MY RETIREMENT ...................................................................................................................................... 8 THE ARC SPEAKERS BUREAU ............................................................................................................... 9 ARC BOARD OF MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................... 11 CREDIT DUE .............................................................................................................................................. 11 ABOUT THE ACADEMIC RETIREE CENTRE .................................................................................... 11

ARC’s Bi-Monthly Newsletter • Volume 4, Issue 4 • June 2013

ARC News

ARC News June 13 Page 2 of 11

How Should We Feed Ourselves?

Report on the Senior College Colloquium of May 9, 2013

Philip Sullivan, Moderator

The topic was How Should We Feed

Ourselves, with emphasis on:

(i), the locavore question;

(ii), the value and risks of using

genetically modified (GM) food.

The term locavore is usually taken to

mean food that is produced within about

100 mile (160 km) radius, with

an emphasis on both home-

grown foods and farmers‟

markets.8 The term GM food

refers to food products obtained

using genetic engineering

techniques to insert a specific

gene into a genome, this being

much more precise than

selective breeding and inducing

mutations by radiation.9 An

example is the insertion of an antifreeze

gene from a cold water fish into the

potato genome.4 At the time of writing

all GM foods are made from plant

material.

Although attendance at this first

colloquium was modest, the informed

discussion proved revealing: we

unanimously concluded that locavore

advocacy was misleading at best and

seriously ill-informed at worst; and that

GM foods confer many advantages, such

as resistance to climate variation and

pests, thus allowing increased

productivity together with reduction in

the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Ruth Pike provided a useful critique of

CBC Radio food columnist and locavore

advocate Sarah Elton‟s book.2 Ruth

described it as overly precious—

contrived to charm—being long on

advocacy and short on facts, including

ignoring completely the opposite side of

the question. Ruth also described an

interesting counter-example: at one stage

Haiti was completely locavore, and thus

was unable to feed itself. She also

observed that widespread use of farmers‟

markets has problems: for example,

packaging techniques can lead to food

waste. In this regard Peter Russell noted

that, owing to economic pressures, the

operation of farms as a family business

is becoming increasingly impractical.

Having read U of T Geography professor

Pierre Desrochers and his wife‟s book1

Peter commented that, while caricaturing

the locavore to a certain extent, the book

nevertheless provided extensive data on

such aspects as energy consumption.

This can be reduced by transporting

certain foods such as fruit and vegetables

long distances from locations where

climate conditions are favourable for

their production. This point is also

succinctly made in a New York Times

opinion piece.5

With regard to GM foods, although these

have been in use since 1994,9 there

seems to be widespread fear of what has

been termed „Frankenfoods.‟ But there

has never been a “single substantiated

case of harm,” as the former British anti-

GM activist Mark Lynas observed in a

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY ASSOCIATION Promoting the welfare of

current and retired faculty and librarians

at the University of Toronto, St. Michael‘s College,

Trinity College, and Victoria University

and advancing the interests of teachers, researchers and librarians

in Canadian universities

VISIT US at www.utfa.org

for the latest on salaries · benefits · pensions ·

new proposals for an expanded fair bargaining framework

JOIN US as a retired member for only $50 a year and enjoy:

timely information about important events and developments in the faculty and librarian community

full voting rights at any General Meeting

a chance to represent Retired Members on UTFA Council

720 Spadina Avenue, Suite 419, Toronto ON M5S 2T9

tel (416) 978-3351 faculty@utfa.org

Maclean’s interview.7 However,

intellectual property consequences—as

illustrated by Monsanto‟s aggressive

stance on wind-blown accidental

seeding—may become a major concern.

Peter Russell also suggested that, given

population growth, climate change and

other factors, we may need GM foods to

feed us.

Peter also reviewed U of T philosopher

Paul Thompson‟s book, which focuses

on GM organisms. This book provides a

rational discussion of the issues,

including giving the necessary

background scientific information and a

discussion of legal and ethical concerns.

Texts Cited

1) Desrochers, P., and H. Shimizu. 2012. The

Locavore’s Dilemma; In Praise of the 10,000-

mile Diet. New York: Public Affairs.

2) Elton, S. 2011. Locavore: From Farmers’

Fields to Rooftop Gardens. How Canadians are

Changing the Way We Eat. Toronto:

HarperCollins Canada.

3) Thompson, R. P. 2011. Agro-Technology: A

Philosophical Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Articles Cited

4) Whitman, D. B. 2000. Genetically Modified

Foods: Harmful or Helpful?

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/ov

erview.php

5) Budiansky, S. 2010. Math Lessons for

Locavores.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20

budiansky.html.

6) Desrochers, P. And H. Shimizu. 2012. The

Locavore‟s Delusion. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fras

er-ca/Content/research-

news/research/articles/locavores-delusion.pdf.

7) Gillis, C. 2013. A founder of the anti-GM

food movement on how he got it wrong.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/18/a-founder-

of-the-anti-gm-food-movement-explains-how-

he-got-it-wrong-all-wrong/

8) — . Locavore.

En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locavore. Accessed May

13, 2013.

9) — . Genetically modified food.

En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically

_modified_food. Accessed May 14, 2013.

Unheard Of—Memoirs

of a Canadian

Composer

John Beckwith, Waterloo ON: Wilfrid

Laurier University Press, 2012.

Submitted by Germaine Warkentin

John Beckwith was born in 1927, to a

lawyer and his wife in Victoria, B.C. He

claims there was little in the way of a

musical tradition in his family

background, but his parents were keenly

interested in music as well as theatre.

John and his sisters were taken to

concerts, participated when the family

entertained itself (as families did in those

days) and were well-educated. From his

youth onwards Beckwith‘s life has been

an intensely musical one: in due course

he came east as a young music student,

became a performer, a musical

administrator, a teacher, a writer on

music, the Dean of the Faculty of Music

at the University of Toronto, and a

distinguished composer of choral and

chamber music and opera. Now he has

written his memoirs of that long life in

Canadian music, and it‘s a great read.

Beckwith‘s title, Unheard Of, plays

mockingly with the prevailing notion

that there are no – or few – composers of

classical music in Canada, but his own

immensely productive career, and the

respect he has garnered (including the

Order of Canada) shows how what a

misconception that is. In nearly 400

pages (with lots of illustrations and

musical examples, and superb index) he

pulls together a family history with all

its ups and downs, and a professional

biography that chronicles step by step

and in rich detail the musical life,

personalities, and performances in

Toronto and Canada from the mid-1940s

to the present day. In the best tradition of

serious musical scholarship he also

includes a catalogue, with detailed

analysis, of each of his compositions.

Beckwith seems to have known

everyone who performed, composed,

and even listened to music in Canada

over the past sixty-five years: Louis

Applebaum, Jean Coulthard, Ray

Dudley, Lois Marshall, Glenn Gould,

Harry Freedman, Helmut Kallman, R.

Murray Schafer, the wonderful baritone

James Milligan, who died too young, the

critical and marital pair Pearl McCarthy

and Colin Sabiston – the list goes on and

on. In the index, an extensive entry

testifies to Beckwith‘s long collaboration

with the poet James Reaney, working

with whom he composed operas, lyric

cycles, and the music for some of

Reaney‘s stage plays. I first met

Beckwith in the early 1970s when I was

editing a

comprehensive

collection of

Reaney‘s

poems, and the

material here

on their

collaboration

is both

intensely

readable and a

fine scholarly

resource. As a

young man Beckwith spent a year

studying in Paris with the famed Nadia

Boulanger, and throughout his

professional career he‘s also had many

acquaintances in international music

circles.

As writer, academic, administrator, and

(occasional) controversialist Beckwith

has also been involved with many of the

institutions that made that Canadian

musical life possible: the Royal

ARC Speakers Bureau

If you are willing to be

a member of the ARC

Speakers Bureau, please

volunteer by email to

academic.retiree@utoronto.ca,

indicating:

(1) Your name and phone number(s)

(2) A brief description (keywords) of

your fields of interest, indicating some

of the topics on which you wish to

(3) Any restrictions regarding your

availability—such as days of the week

or times during the year.

Conservatory, Toronto‘s Faculty of

Music, the League of Canadian

Composers, and of course the CBC,

whose music programmes (of fond

memory) once educated so many of us in

the classics and, eventually, modern

Canadian music as well. One non-

musical institution in his life has been

RALUT, where he was a member of the

Senior Scholars Committee that

eventually led to the founding of the

university‘s Senior College, and he

makes sure to mention the beginnings of

that project.

One of the pleasures of Unheard Of is

that Beckwith has organized it so that

readers with different interests – musical

or academic history, life writing, or the

rigorously compositional – can take the

book up and read it for their own

purposes. The analytical catalogue is

demanding for a non-musical reader, but

it is exactly what a musician of the

future will need. I found the story of

musical life in Toronto totally absorbing,

and immediately began to imaginatively

cross-reference it with the biographies of

musicians like Sir Ernest MacMillan,

and literary figures like Northrop Frye

and Robertson Davies, to add to my

accumulating ―memory archive‖ of

Canadian culture from 1935 to the

present day. John Beckwith‘s splendid

memoir is an important contribution to

the chronicle of a period that was

vigorous, productive, and fascinating,

and to our understanding of what it was

like to be a serious composer in Canada

in the twentieth century.

Click here for more information or to

order a copy of John Beckwith‘s

―Unheard Of.‖

Knox College Summer

Program

Formerly in conjunction with

Elderhostel

Minobimaatisiiwin: Aboriginal

Knowledge Systems & a Way of Life

That is Good for All

Lecturer: Jill Carter

Religion and Ideology

Lecturer: Alan Davies

Science and Faith in Galileo

Lecturer: Domenico Pietropaolo

McLuhan Misunderstood: Setting the

Record Straight

Lecturer: Robert K. Logan

Register Online

New Retiree Reception

This fall‘s event to welcome recent retirees from the UofT community of faculty,

librarians and senior administrators will be held 12noon to 2pm on Tuesday, October 1st

here at 256 McCaul Street.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Samir K. Sinha, MD, DPhil, FRCPC, Provincial Lead,

Ontario‘s Seniors Strategy. Dr. Sinha is author of Living Longer, Living Well, a report

submitted to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and the Minister Responsible

for Seniors with recommendations to inform a Seniors Strategy for Ontario.

Click here to access the Full Report and Highlights and Key Recommendations.

Please inform your recently retired colleagues about the event – and invite them to join

the ARC listserv to receive news from the Academic Retiree Centre on a timely basis.

The reception is co-sponsored by ARC, RALUT and Senior College.

An invitation with a request for RSVPs will be issued closer to the date.

Doug Creelman’s

In addition to the Pension and Benefits help

that the University offers for retirees,

(http://www.faculty.utoronto.ca/arc/help/RALUT (Retired Academics and Librarians at

the University of Toronto) are offering some one-on-one assistance. On Friday mornings,

Doug Creelman, Vice-President and former RALUT Benefits Committee Chair, will be

available for helpful, confidential consultation. Come to the Academic Retiree Centre any

Friday morning, 9:30 to noon, 256 McCaul Street, just south of College, Suite 412. Or

call on a Friday morning (416-978-7553) to talk to Doug.

In Memoriam

Graham, G. Scott Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematical and

Computational Sciences UTM Obituary May 2, 2013.

Hume, James Nairn Patterson (Patt) Professor Emeritus, Department of Computer

Science and former Master of Massey College Globe and Mail May 9, 2013.

Munk, Linda Professor Emerita, Department of English Globe and Mail April 16,

Smith, Gary Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Education Globe and Mail

notice Obituary May 6, 2013.

Details are posted on the ARC website: http://www.faculty.utoronto.ca/arc/in_memoriam/.

Senior College

he University of Toronto‟s Senior

College supports and fosters the

scholarly, professional and

creative activities of retired faculty,

librarians and senior administrators. Its

mission is to serve as a beacon for

intellectual exchange, academic and

cultural activities for collegial

interaction among members of the

university‟s retiree community. Senior

College accepts membership

applications in two categories: (1)

Fellow or (2) Associate. The

membership year begins in January.

Senior College currently has about 120

Fellows and Associates and looks

forward to its fourth year of weekly

programs. Please check the website or

call us at (416)978-7553 for more

details:

http://www.faculty.utoronto.ca/arc/college/

SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW

ABOUT U OF T

anted by the Senior College

Encyclopaedia Project: stubs

or “overview” articles of

approximately 250-500 words on topics

relevant to the history or present status

of academic life at the University of

Toronto. Almost 5,000 stubs have been

created to date. A stub is defined as “an

article which is clearly too short, but not

so short as to be useless. In general, it

must be long enough to at least define

the article’s title, which generally means

3 to 10 short sentences.” The articles

submitted do not have to be “finished”

as they can be modified or expanded

easily, and there is no minimum or

maximum length. Contributors are asked

to send their material by email to the

editor at sce.college@utoronto.ca.

All are encouraged to contribute.

PROVISIONAL FALL 2013

PROGRAM

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 10AM: Brock Fenton

“Echoes of Bats: Their Lives and Perils”

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 10AM: Stephen Ralls

& Bruce Ubukata “Opera; Alderburgh

Connection”

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 10AM: Peter Victor

“Economic Development and the

Biosphere”

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 10AM: Alison Fleming

“Why Mothers Want to Mother:

Neuropsychology and Effects of Early

Experience”

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 10AM: James Bacque

& General Merritt “„Other Losses;‟

Historical Account, World War II”

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 10AM: Natalie Davis

“„Leo Africanus‟ Discovers Comedy: A

16th-Century Mediterranean Adventure”

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 10AM: Giuliana Katz

“Italian Art: A Psychoanalytic

Interpretation of Giorgio de Chirico‟s

Life and Works”

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 10AM: Milton

Charlton “Snails, Snakes and SNAREs:

Natural Nerve Toxins in Basic Science

and Medicine”

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 10AM: Jon Cohen

“New Ways to Measure Technical

Change and Why Getting It Right

Matters”

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 10AM: David Foot

“Demographics”

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 10AM: Bernie Frolic

“Political Developments in China”

SHARE YOUR OWN PERSONAL

UOFT STORY

Be inspired to write your own short

memoir by browsing pieces written by

retired faculty specifically for a Memoir

Category of the Encyclopaedia. http://sce.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/Category:Memoir

My Retirement

The exhibit‘s opening reception was

held Wednesday, May 22, 2013.

Featuring photographs and text on the

theme of retirement, it was a retiree

community project.

With many of the 19 contributors in

attendance, Dr. Sara-Jane Finlay,

Director of the Office of the Vice-

Provost, Faculty and Academic

Life, provided words of welcome

and thanks. Professor Peter Russell,

a contributor to the show as well as

Co-Chair of the ARC Board of

Management, also gave a short

address.

An accompanying booklet is

available online (click here) or at

the centre. The six posters will

remain on display until October

Photo: Ken Rea

Professor Emeritus Ben Schlesinger, Faculty of Social Work, speaks at The Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre on April 29, 2013.

The ARC Speakers

Bureau

UofT professors keep on giving

after retirement

Drawing from volunteer retired faculty,

librarians and senior administrators who

are willing to give talks or lead

discussions sharing their expertise,

Speakers Bureau services offered by the

Academic Retiree Centre (ARC) are

available free of charge to schools,

seniors‘ homes, service clubs and other

organizations in the GTA community.

The ARC Speakers Bureau began

operating in 2010 and represents over 40

speakers, and has served a variety of

groups from Annex Retirement

Residence to MENSA.

In the fall of 2012, Naomi Schafler,

Executive Director, The Fairlawn

Neighbourhood Centre, contacted the

ARC Speakers Bureau to book speakers.

Schafler was so pleased with the quality,

content, and delivery of presentations

that her third series (May-June 2013)

was called ―Meet The Profs‖ and

featured ARC Speakers Bureau

volunteers exclusively. Schafler says

that the audience at Fairlawn includes ―a

changing demographic of younger

seniors who want important and

interesting information that broadens

their world.‖ She has attended many of

the talks and says that speakers from the

ARC Speakers Bureau are skilled in

presenting to a non-specialist audience

with varying levels of background

knowledge of a subject.

Schafler finds that the mandate of ARC

Speakers Bureau dovetails with

Fairlawn‘s mission to offer wellness and

education programming to all ages in the

community. With the ―Meet The Profs‖

series, continuing activity and learning

in retirement applies equally to both

speakers—who share their knowledge

and passion—and listeners—who are

engaged in learning and discussion.

Professor Ben Schlesinger, who

presented ―Canadian Families in the 21st

Century‖ at Fairlawn on April 29, on

agrees.

His lunchtime presentation took place in

an informal setting on the second floor

of the Fairlawn Avenue United Church

(Lawrence/Yonge), which houses the

The Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre.

Light refreshments were available, and

chairs were grouped around square

tables set with flannel-backed plastic

tablecloths. Schlesinger spoke from a

podium without amplification or

projection equipment. Schlesinger‘s

presentation tone was relaxed and warm;

he encouraged the sharing of examples

and stories throughout the talk.

Discussion followed, and the event

wrapped up about 1:30pm.

In the audience that day was Margaret

Deeth, aged 88, a retired teacher and

former coordinator for early childhood

programs for the Toronto School Board.

She came to the talk especially to hear

Schlesinger speak. She remembered his

workshops from early in her career

(inservice additional training for

teachers), and said ―He could just work a

group, and he was so warm with

everybody.‖ She was enthusiastic after

the talk, describing it as ―stimulating and

terrific. Just wonderful.‖ Margaret

participated in the discussion at length,

sharing her own family upheavals when

her husband died suddenly while she

was pregnant with her third child. She

said that witnessing the evolving family

of the 21st century has led her to

acceptance of many non-nuclear family

arrangements.

Other attendees made comments and

brought up their own stories, from the

changing family dynamic brought about

by a death, to the ideal of fairness in

dealing with ‗natural‘ versus ‗step‘

children and grandchildren.

After the talk, Schlesinger was asked

why he likes to present to community

audiences. He said, ―After retirement, I

don‘t lie down and give up: I can use my

skills. All these years I‘ve studied the

family, and written about it, and so I feel

very comfortable in talking about it. And

I learn all the time I‘m talking to people.

When I talk to seniors, I am talking to

people who have lived a rich life, who

know all about family life, who have

issues, and who connect with some of

the stuff that I try to share with them.‖

The sharing of stories is what interests

him the most. ―I‘m here to share… out

come family stories. I think I‘m more of

a family storyteller,‖ he said. He

strongly encourages his audiences to

record their family history as a legacy

for future generations.

―My focus has always been on Canadian

families,‖ says Schlesinger. He came to

the UofT in 1960 when professors here

used American texts. His mission, he

said, was to introduce a Canadian text.

He wrote the first high school text on

Canadian families. It was translated into

French, and is still used in grade 12 in a

course on family life across the country.

Not one to sit idle, Schlesinger recently

earned a Certificate in Voluntary

Chaplaincy from Baycrest. His new role

is sure to benefit from his wide

experience: as a professor, a therapist,

and a man deeply committed to the

importance of family in its many forms.

Schlesinger is one who keeps on giving.

(An edited version of this article, co-written with

Kelly Rankin, was published at Our Faculty &

Staff at www.news.utoronto.ca)

ARC Board of Management

Chair: Edith Hillan, Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic

Life Co-Chair: Peter Russell, University Professor

Emeritus, Political Science David Cook, Principal, Victoria College

John Dirks, President and Scientific Director, The

Gairdner Foundation; Professor Emeritus of Medicine Sara-Jane Finlay, Director, Faculty & Academic Life

Esme Fuller-Thomson, Professor, cross-appointed to

faculties of Social Work, Medicine and Nursing Scott Prudham, President, University of Toronto

Faculty Association TBA, Academic Librarian, OISE Library

Tom Alloway, President, RALUT

Robin Healey, Retired Librarian, University of Toronto

Library

Pat Doherty, Administrator

Volunteers

Henry Auster, Don Burwash, Tristan Castro Pozo, Douglas Creelman, Cam Easto, Alexander Ma, Nancy (Nasrin) Mohasses, Mary Vohryzek

ARCNews Submissions

To submit items for publication in ARCNews, forward to Pat Doherty, editor, at academic.retiree@utoronto.ca.

ARCNews is issued bimonthly:

October

December

February

August

All issues of ARCNews are available online at http://www.faculty.utoronto.ca/arc/newsletter_arc_news/.

Academic Retiree Centre

University of Toronto

256 McCaul Street, Suite 412

Toronto, ON M5T 1W5

Tel. (416) 978-7553

email academic.retiree@utoronto.ca

Credit Due

ARC operates with much community effort

and support, and gratefully acknowledges

with thanks:

Annette Zakuta for donation of a signed

copy of “Leo Zakuta: Reminiscences,

Raves, and Rants” to the centre.

Gwynneth T. Heaton for donation of a

signed copy of “All about Me, or is it I?

Beware the Wild Pronoun!” to the centre.

RALUT for stocking the kitchen with

coffee, tea, sugar and milk on an ongoing

basis.

Our neighbours, the International

Pharmacy Program, for sharing use of

their meeting rooms with us.

About the Academic Retiree

Centre

ARC has comfortable study carrels, secure

lockers, and a lounge with kitchenette. It‟s a

friendly and comfortable space created for

UofT retired academics, librarians, and

senior administrators. The Centre is open

from 9am to 4:00pm daily with assistance

from volunteers.

Keep in touch by subscribing to the ARC

listserv! Email academic.retiree@utoronto.ca to

request to be subscribed.

CUWFA Conference June 5-7, 2013 - Senior College · ARC News June 13 Page 5 of 11 ARC Speakers...

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