SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014Metro Toronto Convention Centre

ONE DAY. COOL PROFS. HOT TOPICS.

MAY 4, 2014 9:30am-4:15pmMETRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE

PROGRAM

To The Attendees of ProfTalks Lectures: A hearty welcome to all our valued Guests. This is the inaugural session of ProfTalks Lectures. Today you will embark on a venture of the intellect. You will be stimulated, amazed, provoked and gladdened. We have assembled an outstanding roster of Canadian and two American university and college professors. These sages will give fascinating talks on everything from health to astronomy to a great South American novelist to enduring popular music - and much more. These teachers have won top awards for the impressive quality of their courses, for not just conveyingimportant and useful learning but also captivating the mind. We have all heard a son, daughter or grandchildtalk about a “great” or “inspiring” prof: this is the kind of talent we have assembled today for you. ProfTalks Lectures’ helps to keep you young by being engaged and thinking - not of the ephemeral or superficial, but on subjects which form part of our Western intellectual tradition. That doesn’t mean the lectures are weighty or “dull”: au contraire! After this day is over you will feel exhilarated and revived, you will have the mental equivalent of a good work-out or a long walk. After each lecture, time will be allotted to ask questions. If you do not get a chance to ask a question, feel freeto go up to the podium and speak to our lecturers before the next session starts. For “logistical” matters regarding the day, please see page 12 of this Program. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask one of the ProfTalks representatives identified by the white, green and orange ProfTalks Lectures t-shirt. We wish you a great day of learning, mental reward and satisfaction. Enjoy! Libby Gillman,President and Founder, ProfTalks Lectures

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 3

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

9:30AM-

10:30AM

“Aging: Fact and Fancy”Joe Schwarcz,

McGill University

“Theatre in the 21st Century: Touchstone to

Humanity”Rod Carley,

Canadore College

“The Early Life and Career of Winston

Churchill”Michael Shelden,

Indiana State University

“The Search for New Earths”

Rupinder Brar, University of Ontario Institute of

Technology

10:45AM -

11:45AM

“Try A Little Tenderness: Otis Redding, Bing

Crosby and the Location of Meaning in Music”

Rob Bowman, York University

“Gabriel García Márquez: Vendor of Miracles”

Nick Mount, University of Toronto

“The Widening Gap between the Top 1%

and Everyone Else: An Economic Analysis”

David Gray, University of Ottawa

“Guarding the Border: National Security and Canada’s Immigration

System”Arne Kislenko,

Ryerson University and University of Toronto

12:00PM-

1:00PM

“Nutritional Advice - Is There A Solution to the

Confusion?”Joe Schwarcz,

McGill University

“How Ancient Art Reverberates”Diana K. McDonald,

Boston College, College of Arts and Sciences

“The Early Life and Career of Winston

Churchill”Michael Shelden,

Indiana State University

“Why Sex: The Evolution of a Paradox”Monika Havelka,

University of Toronto

1:00PM - 2:00PM LUNCH BREAK

2:00PM -

3:00PM

“Try A Little Tenderness: Otis Redding, Bing

Crosby and the Location of Meaning in Music”

Rob Bowman, York University

“Gabriel García Márquez: Vendor of Miracles”

Nick Mount, University of Toronto

“The Search for New Earths”

Rupinder Brar, University of Ontario Institute of

Technology

“Guarding the Border: National Security and Canada’s Immigration

System”Arne Kislenko,

Ryerson University and University of Toronto

3:15PM -

4:15PM

“The Widening Gap between the Top 1%

and Everyone Else: An Economic Analysis”

David Gray, University of Ottawa

“How Ancient Art Reverberates”Diana K. McDonald,

Boston College, College of Arts and Sciences

“Adapting Shakespeare within a Canadian Political Context”

Rod Carley, Canadore College

“Why Sex: The Evolution of a Paradox”Monika Havelka,

University of Toronto

CLASS SCHEDULE

Program / Class Schedule4

ROOM 1 Aging: Fact And FancyJoe Schwarcz, McGill University

Everybody wants to live long but nobody wants to get old. Can science solve this conundrum? What are we to make of claims which suggest that the secret of longevity lies in human growth hormone injections, or some dietary supplement? Can testosterone or estrogen keep us young? Can we live longer just by eating less? Are antioxidants like beta carotene or vitamin E the key to happy golden years? A look at the science behind these issues can be a real eye opener!

ROOM 2 Theatre in the 21st Century: Touchstone to HumanityRod Carley, Canadore College

Today, the death of the theatre is predicted almost on a daily basis and, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports are always greatly exaggerated.

Cockroaches have been around for over 300 million years. There is something of the scrappy cockroach in every actor that has managed to survive since the Ancient Greeks. Theatre has survived religious persecution, war, the rise of television, AIDS, funding cuts, but beginning in the late 20th century, new technologies have facilitated a rapid-fire information flow that continues to become faster with each passing day. Can theatre survive this future? How we do engage the new Millennials who are theatre’s future audience and guardians of its survival? Might there be a backlash? Is a technological meltdown coming as we look for deeper meaning in our lives?

Theatre has always been about rekindling the soul and discovering what makes each of us human – it is the touchstone to our humanity. It is immediate and speaks to something within each of us that is fleeting and intangible. And we feel less alone.

The cockroaches are on the move.

ROOM 3 The Early Life and Career of Winston ChurchillMichael Shelden, Indiana State University

In an Edwardian era full of grand statesmen and stunning society beauties, young Winston Churchill was the brightest political star—the youngest minister in the British cabinet in half a century, and a surprisingly progressive leader. Cunningly ambitious and almost recklessly self-confident, he wanted to become prime minister before he was forty, and he nearly succeeded. It is impossible to understand the older, triumphant Churchill of the Second World War without knowing the story of the other Winston—the young “upstart” whose spectacular rise to power ended with an equally spectacular fall in the early months of the First World War. It would take him decades to recover from the sudden collapse of his career, but what he learned from failure was crucial to his success in the 1940s.

ROOM 4 The Search for New EarthsRupinder Brar, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Humankind sits on the threshold of discovering the very first Earth-like planets outside of our own. The search for new worlds throughout our galaxy is the fastest growing and most exciting field in Astronomy today. Join Dr. Rupinder Brar for an exciting lecture as he discusses the methods that astronomers use to detect these “exoplanets” – worlds orbiting stars other than the sun- as well as the strange new planets that have already been discovered and…. what the very near future promises.

9:30AM - 10:30AM

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 5

ROOM 1 ‘Try A Little Tenderness’: Otis Redding, Bing Crosby and the Location of Meaning in MusicRob Bowman, York University

The song “Try a Little Tenderness” was written and published in 1933. Its lyric content, harmonic progression, melody and structure place it squarely within the tradition of the North-Eastern urban pop publishing enclave known as Tin Pan Alley. Recordings of the song made in 1933 by artists such as the Ted Lewis Orchestra, Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby project a level of detachment altogether typical of urban white popular music of the time. Given the origins of “Try a Little Tenderness” as outlined above, it is curious that a soul singer such as Otis Redding would elect to record such a song over thirty years later for Memphis-based Stax Records. Redding’s impassioned recording became a #4 hit on Billboard’s rhythm and blues charts in December 1966. This paper will discuss the history of the song, investigate why Redding decided to record it, and analyze what differences there are in potential meaning in a number of different performances of the song. With the published version of the song (i.e., its lyrics, melody and chord progression) serving as a “control” factor, the results of this investigation should shed light on the relative roles of notated composition vis a vis performance style in determining the ultimate meaning/impact of a given “popular” music performance. In the process, issues of ownership and copyright will be broached.

ROOM 2 Gabriel García Márquez: Vendor of MiraclesNick Mount, University of Toronto

This illustrated lecture introduces readers to (or re-acquaints them with) Latin America’s most beloved novelist and a world-acclaimed writer: Gabo at home, Gabriel García Márquez to the world. After a look back at his most celebrated novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, we’ll explore examples in paint and print from around the world of the style that the novel made famous, magic realism. The lecture will then consider two of García Márquez’s best known short stories, “The Handsomest Drowned Man in The World” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, as examples of magic realism. The presentation will ask, and try to answer, the question we’ve been asking of art pretty much since we scratched its first examples on the walls of our caves: What’s it good for?

ROOM 3 The Widening Gap between the Top 1% and Everyone Else: An Economic AnalysisDavid Gray, University of Ottawa

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement that took flight in North America and subsequently petered out in 2012 was motivated by some indisputable facts, namely, that those at the “upper 1 %” of the income distribution have realized tremendous gains over the past 25 years or so. Meanwhile, it is only somewhat of an exaggeration to claim that the incomes of the “lower 99 %” have on average been fairly stagnant, and they have lost ground relative to those at the top of the income ladder. In addition, the labour markets in Canada and the USA have undergone a period of radical transformation, of which one outcome is this phenomenon of widening income inequality. This has in turn induced a wealth of research by labour economists and spurred a new sub-strand of the scientific literature called “the economics of inequality”. In this lecture, Dr. Gray will present statistics that document this phenomenon as well as his analysis of why this has occurred and its potential consequences. To give us all hope (or not) of climbing the income ladder (and avoiding slipping down it), Dr. Gray will also discuss the topic of income mobility.

ROOM 4 Guarding the Border: National Security and Canada’s Immigration SystemArne Kislenko, Ryerson University

Within the rubric of “national security”, this lecture will examine connections between the immigration system writ large and patterns of terrorist activity, criminal organisations, and other nefarious enterprises in Canada. It will focus on the application and enforcement of immigration laws and policies, as well various means employed to safeguard the country while balancing individual freedoms and honouring Canada’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law. The lecture will also examine the complex border security relationship between Canada and the United States, affecting not only immigration processes but also much larger political and economic issues. Drawing from official sources, a wide range of academic sources, and personal experience working inside the Canadian law enforcement and intelligence community, this talk addresses head on the complexities and controversies of immigration, the border, and Canada’s national security priorities.

10:45AM - 11:45AM

Program / Class Schedule6

ROOM 1 Nutritional Advice-Is There A Solution to the Confusion?Joe Schwarcz, McGill University

Eating has become a confusing experience. Virtually every day bring news about some “miracle food” that we should be gulping down. One day it’s tomatoes to prevent cancer, then flaxseed against heart disease or soybeans for menopause. Then there are the worries: genetic modification, aspartame, MSG, the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements. We need proper science to guide us through this nutritional maze.

ROOM 2 How Ancient Art ReverberatesDiana K. McDonald, Boston College, College of Arts and Sciences

What can we learn from the Art of the Ancient World? The themes & concerns of much of ancient art around the world can be surprisingly similar, but style and expression vary tremendously. What role do fertility, death, rulership & state formation play in the art of the earliest societies & empires? How do many of these artworks intertwine to support political & social control? How does ancient art differ from contemporary art, in both subject matter & role in the society? We’ll look at both ancient & modern works & see how the modern works derive a great deal of inspiration from the ancient – whether it is Henry Moore’s blocky sculptures as compared to PreColumbian stone figures, or Gauguin’s masterpiece, “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” which drew visual elements from around the non-Western world, including Peruvian mummy bundles.

ROOM 3 The Early Life and Career of Winston ChurchillMichael Shelden, Indiana State University

In an Edwardian era full of grand statesmen and stunning society beauties, young Winston Churchill was the brightest political star—the youngest minister in the British cabinet in half a century, and a surprisingly progressive leader. Cunningly ambitious and almost recklessly self-confident, he wanted to become prime minister before he was forty, and he nearly succeeded. It is impossible to understand the older, triumphant Churchill of the Second World War without knowing the story of the other Winston—the young “upstart” whose spectacular rise to power ended with an equally spectacular fall in the early months of the First World War. It would take him decades to recover from the sudden collapse of his career, but what he learned from failure was crucial to his success in the 1940s.

ROOM 4 Why Sex: The Evolution of a ParadoxMonika Havelka, University of Toronto

Sexual reproduction is one of the “facts of life” – or is it? Although sex is common along the tree of life, it is by no means the only way to reproduce, and actually represents a significant evolutionary paradox. For an organism, sexual reproduction entails significant costs – survival costs, mating costs, and genetic costs. So, why did sex evolve and persist? This lecture explores the costs and benefits of sex from an evolutionary perspective.

NOON - 1:00PM

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 7

ROOM 1 ‘Try A Little Tenderness’: Otis Redding, Bing Crosby and the Location of Meaning in MusicRob Bowman, York University

The song “Try a Little Tenderness” was written and published in 1933. Its lyric content, harmonic progression, melody and structure place it squarely within the tradition of the North-Eastern urban pop publishing enclave known as Tin Pan Alley. Recordings of the song made in 1933 by artists such as the Ted Lewis Orchestra, Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby project a level of detachment altogether typical of urban white popular music of the time. Given the origins of “Try a Little Tenderness” as outlined above, it is curious that a soul singer such as Otis Redding would elect to record such a song over thirty years later for Memphis-based Stax Records. Redding’s impassioned recording became a #4 hit on Billboard’s rhythm and blues charts in December 1966. This paper will discuss the history of the song, investigate why Redding decided to record it, and analyze what differences there are in potential meaning in a number of different performances of the song. With the published version of the song (i.e., its lyrics, melody and chord progression) serving as a “control” factor, the results of this investigation should shed light on the relative roles of notated composition vis a vis performance style in determining the ultimate meaning/impact of a given “popular” music performance. In the process, issues of ownership and copyright will be broached.

ROOM 2 Gabriel García Márquez: Vendor of MiraclesNick Mount, University of Toronto

This illustrated lecture introduces readers to (or re-acquaints them with) Latin America’s most beloved novelist and a world-acclaimed writer: Gabo at home, Gabriel García Márquez to the world. After a look back at his most celebrated novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, we’ll explore examples in paint and print from around the world of the style that the novel made famous, magic realism. The lecture will then consider two of García Márquez’s best known short stories, “The Handsomest Drowned Man in The World” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, as examples of magic realism. The presentation will ask, and try to answer, the question we’ve been asking of art pretty much since we scratched its first examples on the walls of our caves: What’s it good for?

ROOM 3 The Search for New EarthsRupinder Brar, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Humankind sits on the threshold of discovering the very first Earth-like planets outside of our own. The search for new worlds throughout our galaxy is the fastest growing and most exciting field in Astronomy today. Join Dr. Rupinder Brar for an exciting lecture as he discusses the methods that astronomers use to detect these “exoplanets” – worlds orbiting stars other than the sun- as well as the strange new planets that have already been discovered and…. what the very near future promises.

ROOM 4 Guarding the Border: National Security and Canada’s Immigration SystemArne Kislenko, Ryerson University

Within the rubric of “national security”, this lecture will examine connections between the immigration system writ large and patterns of terrorist activity, criminal organisations, and other nefarious enterprises in Canada. It will focus on the application and enforcement of immigration laws and policies, as well various means employed to safeguard the country while balancing individual freedoms and honouring Canada’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law. The lecture will also examine the complex border security relationship between Canada and the United States, affecting not only immigration processes but also much larger political and economic issues. Drawing from official sources, a wide range of academic sources, and personal experience working inside the Canadian law enforcement and intelligence community, this talk addresses head on the complexities and controversies of immigration, the border, and Canada’s national security priorities.

2:00PM - 3:00PM

Program / Class Schedule8

ROOM 1 The Widening Gap between the Top 1% and Everyone Else: An Economic AnalysisDavid Gray, University of Ottawa

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement that took flight in North America and subsequently petered out in 2012 was motivated by some indisputable facts, namely, that those at the “upper 1 %” of the income distribution have realized tremendous gains over the past 25 years or so. Meanwhile, it is only somewhat of an exaggeration to claim that the incomes of the “lower 99 %” have on average been fairly stagnant, and they have lost ground relative to those at the top of the income ladder. In addition, the labour markets in Canada and the USA have undergone a period of radical transformation, of which one outcome is this phenomenon of widening income inequality. This has in turn induced a wealth of research by labour economists and spurred a new sub-strand of the scientific literature called “the economics of inequality”. In this lecture, Dr. Gray will present statistics that document this phenomenon as well as his analysis of why this has occurred and its potential consequences. To give us all hope (or not) of climbing the income ladder (and avoiding slipping down it), Dr. Gray will also discuss the topic of income mobility.

ROOM 2 How Ancient Art ReverberatesDiana K. McDonald, Boston College, College of Arts and Sciences

What can we learn from the Art of the Ancient World? The themes & concerns of much of ancient art around the world can be surprisingly similar, but style and expression vary tremendously. What role do fertility, death, rulership & state formation play in the art of the earliest societies & empires? How do many of these artworks intertwine to support political & social control? How does ancient art differ from contemporary art, in both subject matter & role in the society? We’ll look at both ancient & modern works & see how the modern works derive a great deal of inspiration from the ancient – whether it is Henry Moore’s blocky sculptures as compared to PreColumbian stone figures, or Gauguin’s masterpiece, “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” which drew visual elements from around the non-Western world, including Peruvian mummy bundles.

ROOM 3 Adapting Shakespeare within a Canadian Political ContextRod Carley, Canadore College

“Shakespeare is a drunken savage with some imagination whose plays please only those in London and Canada.”~ VOLTAIRE There is only one reason to adapt a Shakespearean text to another setting, and that is to illuminate it more clearly for today’s audience. The question to ask when adapting a Shakespearean text is, “Does the transfer work?” Only when the political, social, and historical elements of the original setting match with the new context is the adaptation on the right track. Adaptation in Canada is part of our history – it is in our bones as we adapt to the winter each year and as a former colony of France and Britain. Canadian journalism has a world-wide reputation for excellence. As chroniclers of our times, the Canadian perspective is very close to Shakespeare’s.

In choosing to transpose Shakespeare to Canada, Mr. Carley is articulating a history that is exciting and interesting enough to be used as a relevant context for interpreting Shakespeare. As examples of this sort of transposable history, the inherent drama of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the FLQ and Black October in 1970 is a particularly good match for adapting Julius Caesar, the 1967 Stanley Cup final between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens serves up Shakespeare on ice with Henry V, and The Tempest , transplanted to Northern Ontario, when Champlain and his protégé, Etienne Brule, were first exploring the wilds of Canada.

ROOM 4 Why Sex: The Evolution of a ParadoxMonika Havelka, University of Toronto

Sexual reproduction is one of the “facts of life” – or is it? Although sex is common along the tree of life, it is by no means the only way to reproduce, and actually represents a significant evolutionary paradox. For an organism, sexual reproduction entails significant costs – survival costs, mating costs, and genetic costs. So, why did sex evolve and persist? This lecture explores the costs and benefits of sex from an evolutionary perspective.

3:15PM - 4:15PM

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 9

ABOUT THE LECTURERS

Rob BowmanAssociate Professor, Department Of Music, York University, Toronto, Ontario

Rob Bowman is an associate Professor at the Department of Music at York University. Rob Bowman has been writing professionally about rhythm and blues, rock, country, jazz and gospel for over a quarter century. Nominated for five Grammy Awards, in 1996 Bowman won the Grammy in the “Best Album Notes” category for a 47,000 word monograph he penned to accompany a 10-CD box set that he also co-produced, The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles Volume 3: 1972-1975 (Fantasy Records). He is also the author of Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records (Schirmer Books), winner of the 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor and ARSC Awards for Excellence in Music Research. On top of his popular press and liner note work, Bowman played a seminal role in the founding and creation of The Stax Museum of American Soul Music (opened in Memphis in 2003), wrote the four-part television documentary series The Industry and has helped pioneer the study and teaching of popular music in the world of academia. A tenured professor at York University in Toronto, Bowman regularly lectures on popular music around the world.

Dr. Rupinder BrarSenior Lecturer, Physics And Astronomy, University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto native Dr. Rupinder Brar is a Senior Lecturer of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, Ontario. He earned his Honours BSc from the University of Toronto, his MSc from the University of Waterloo, and his PhD from Queen’s University in Extra-Galactic Astrophysics.

After graduation, Dr. Brar was hired by the University of Massachusetts to transform and teach their freshman Physics courses. In 2008, he returned to Canada to take a position as a Lecturer at UOIT. At UOIT, Dr. Brar teaches hugely popular introductory courses in Physics and Astronomy for both science and engineering students and students in the humanities and social sciences. He has a reputation for effectively communicating complex topics in physics and astronomy to undergraduate students of varying backgrounds. His lecturing style has been described as engaging, entertaining, and interactive.

In 2010, Dr. Brar won the title of Ontario’s Best Lecturer in TVO’s Big Ideas Best Lecturer Competition. During the course of the competition, 692 professors from 37 post-secondary schools were nominated. Ten short-listed candidates gave a lecture that was filmed and broadcast on TVO, and the television audience voted for their favourite. Since winning this prestigious competition, Dr. Brar has been in-demand; he has given numerous public lectures through scientific institutions like the Ontario Science Centre and the David Dunlap Observatory, and often appears on television as an astronomy educator and expert.

Rod CarleyCoordinator, Theatre Arts Program, Canadore College, North Bay, Ontario

Rod Carley is a professional theatre director, actor, playwright, teacher, adaptor, dramaturg, designer, adjudicator and producer. He is Coordinator for Canadore College’s Theatre Arts program and a professor with Nipissing University. He was the 2009 winner of TV Ontario’s Big Ideas /Best Lecturer Competition. Rod has directed and produced over 125 productions to date, both nationally and internationally, ranging from the classics to the development of new Canadian work. He has a particular passion for the works of Shakespeare having adapted 15 of his works (featured on www.canadianshakespeaers.ca). He was the first recipient of the Stratford Festival’s Jean Gascon Director’s Award and has been nominated for the 2011 Ontario Arts Council’s K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Theatre, the 2013 Premier Award for Excellence in the Arts, the inaugural John Hirsch Director’s Award and was short-listed for the Pauline McGibbon Award. He has been a guest speaker for Centennial College, Seneca College, Sault College, the Ontario University and Colleges Library Association, and Colleges Ontario. He also did two tours of duty as Master of Ceremonies for the Colleges Ontario Premier Awards.

Program / Bios10

David Gray, PhDFull Professor, Faculty Of Social Sciences, Department Of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario

David Gray was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. He received his BA at Kalamazoo College in the state of Michigan, and received his PhD in economics at the University of Michigan in 1990. Shortly thereafter, he joined the economics department at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are in the areas of labour market policy – particularly unemployment insurance and programs for displaced workers – and earnings mobility and inequality. He has worked on research projects for Employment and Social Development Canada continuously over the past 15 years as well as the for Social Research and Demonstration Corporation. His teaching activities include the standard introductory courses, probability and statistics, econometrics, and labour economics. He is the author of the study guide for the dominant undergraduate labour economics textbook in Canada. In 2010 he was nominated as a finalist for TVOntario’s best Lecturer Competition – the first economist and the first University of Ottawa Professor to attain that status. Although he did not win the grand prize, he went on to win the best teacher award at the faculty of Social Sciences.

Monika HavelkaSenior Lecturer in the Environment Programs, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

Monika Havelka is a Senior Lecturer in the Environment Programs, Department of Geography at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. She completed her MSc and PhD in zoology at the University of Western Ontario, studying the evolution of life history patterns in small mammals. She has taught a wide variety of courses in evolutionary biology, ecology and environmental science, and was a twice a semi-finalist and once a finalist in the TVO Best Lecturer Competition. A big fan of experiential learning, she has taught field courses in Ontario, the Arctic, and Ecuador. Her current student projects focus on the spatial ecology of small mammals in urban and fragmented landscapes. When not in the field or in the classroom, she can usually be found on the back of her horse.

Dr. Arne KislenkoAssociate Professor of History, Ryerson University & Instructor, International Relations Programme, University of Toronto

Arne Kislenko is an Associate Professor and the Undergraduate Programme Director of History at Ryerson University, and an instructor in the International Relations Program at Trinity College/the Munk School for International Studies at the University of Toronto. His teaching focus is on 19th and 20th century international relations, and includes courses on the two world wars, the Cold War, the history of espionage/intelligence services, comparative foreign policy, modern Southeast Asia, and culture/identity/nationalities.

He has won numerous awards for his teaching, including the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship (2011), Ryerson University’s first President’s Award for Teaching Excellence (2007), the inaugural Province of Ontario Leadership in Faculty Teaching (LIFT) Award (2007), and being named as an Honourary Member of the Golden Key Society (2006). In Fall 2005 he was named Ontario’s “Best Lecturer” by TV Ontario following its first “Academic Idol” contest. In the summers of 2011 and 2008 he was a Visiting Professor at the Freie Universitat Berlin International Summer programme (FUBIS). In 2006 he served as a Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universitat Berlin.

He appears regularly in the media commenting on current affairs, including U.S. foreign policy, national security, terrorism, immigration, and modern diplomatic history. He has also served as a consultant on national security matters for the federal government and as an historical advisor for several news and television programmes. Recently Arne hosted the National Geographic television documentary series “Living in the Time of Jesus” (2010-11), and he is currently working on other television documentary projects.

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 11

Dr. Diana K. McDonaldArt Historian and Lecturer, Boston College, College of Arts And Sciences, Boston, MA, USA

Dr. Diana Krumholz McDonald is an art historian and lecturer at Boston College. She earned her B.A. in Fine Arts from Harvard University and Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she concentrated in ancient Near Eastern and Pre-Columbian art.

At Boston College, she teaches courses on the art of ancient America and the ancient Mediterranean, and specializes in animal symbolism and the origins of art. She frequently lectures at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Indonesian National Museum in Jakarta and other preeminent organizations. She also taught at Columbia University in NY. In 2013, The Great Courses released Dr. McDonald’s 36 lecture DVD, “30 Masterpieces of Ancient Art.” Recently she lectured on Insight Cruises in South America rounding Cape Horn and will be a featured speaker on a New York Times journey to Maya monuments in Central America in 2015.

Professor McDonald was a Henry Luce Scholar in Indonesia, a Presidential Scholar at Columbia and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard. She serves on the Collections Committee of the Harvard Art Museums and the Visiting Committee of the Art of the Ancient World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has visited the archaeological sites and museums of over 40 countries.

Nick MountAssociate Professor & Associate Chair Department of English, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

Nick Mount is a professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of English. Besides courses in Canadian literature, he teaches the popular first-year course, ENG140 Literature for Our Time. His lectures for this class have been broadcast and podcast on TVO’s Big Ideas and used in other courses across Canada. He regularly gives public talks and interviews on the arts in Canada, with appearances at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, the Toronto Public Library, the Drake Hotel, and on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition. He is also fiction editor for the Walrus, and host of the public authors’ series embedded in his first-year course of the same name.

Professor Mount won the Gabrielle Roy Prize for the best book in Canadian literary criticism in 2005, and a National Magazine Silver Award in 2009. He is a two-time finalist in TVO’s Best Lecturer Competition, a province-wide search for the best lecturer in a post-secondary institution. In 2011, he was awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship, the country’s highest teaching award. He is regularly invited to speak with faculty and administrators at other post-secondary institutions about teaching.

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, PhDDirector at McGill Office For Science And Society, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Dr. Joe Schwarcz is Director of McGill University’s “Office for Science and Society” which is dedicated to demystifying science and separating sense from nonsense. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging. Professor Schwarcz has received numerous awards for teaching chemistry and for interpreting science for the public. He is the only non-American ever to win the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Grady-Stack Award for demystifying chemistry. He hosts “The Dr. Joe Show” on Montreal radio, has appeared hundreds of times on television and is the author of 13 best sellers. Also an amateur conjurer, Dr. Joe often spices up his presentations with a little magic.

Dr. Michael SheldenProfessor of English, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana

Michael Shelden is the author of five biographies, including Mark Twain: Man in White, which was chosen as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2010 by the Christian Science Monitor. His biography of George Orwell was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times Notable Book, and his most recent work, Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill, was published on both sides of the Atlantic in March. The film rights for Young Titan have been optioned to Carnival Films, the UK producers of Downton Abbey. For a dozen years Shelden was a Features Writer for the London Daily Telegraph. Currently, he is Professor of English and Distinguished Faculty Lecturer at Indiana State University. Three sets of his audio lectures are available in the Modern Scholars series produced by Recorded Books, including The Lost Generation: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s.

Program / Class Schedule12

LOGISTICS

Here are some things you need to know about the day:

1 Each lecture will be 50 minutes in length. There will be a 10 minute Q&A period at the end of each lecture. There will be a 15 minute break between each lecture.

2 Water coolers are available in each room.

3 Washrooms are located near Room 701 and 718.

4 For those who have purchased lunch vouchers, lunch will be available in Room 718 between noon and 2:30, although the formal lunch break is between 1 and 2 p.m. Please note that vouchers can only be redeemed in Room 718. In addition, the “700 Café” at the east end of the 700 Level of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre serves hot and cold beverages as well as a selection of pastries, salads and sandwiches. You are welcome to eat your lunch in Room 718.

5 Please present your voucher to the lunch staff to obtain your lunch. Lunch consists of your choice of one of three varieties of a sandwich or a salad, cookie and fruit and cold beverage. For those who have not purchased lunch vouchers, you may still do so at the registration desk. However, quantities of vouchers are limited.

6 Please turn off your cellphones as this presents a distraction to the speakers and to others around you.

7 If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to a ProfTalks representative at the registration desk.

ENJOY THE DAY!

ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 13

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Program / Notes Pages14

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ProfTalks Lectures / Toronto / May 4, 2014 15

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SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014Metro Toronto Convention Centre

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