September 8, 2026, (Tuesday) 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Please note: Because Monday, September 7 is Labour Day, this meeting will occur on the following day. Permanent Astonishment: […]
Speaker: Domenico Pietropaolo, Drama and Italian, U of T Title: “The Colours of Harlequin: Costumes, Cultural Adaptability, and Popular Culture” Abstract: Harlequin is by far the most famous character of […]
Speaker: Brian Levine, Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences; Professor of Psychology and Medicine (Neurology), U of T Title: “Beyond the Average Mind: Individual Differences in Memory and Imagery” […]
Speaker: Andrés Jiménez Monge, Executive Director, Ontario Nature Title: “Environmental Problem Solving: A Wicked Thing” Abstract: Environmental problems are people problems. This presentation traces two decades of conservation work — […]
Speaker: Bruce Kidd, Sports Policy, Kinesiology, U of T Title: “The Challenges of Sports Betting” Abstract: Canada legalized sports betting in 2021, but did so without guardrails, despite the abundant […]
October 5, 2026, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee (2024) Discussion Leader: Lisa Steele From the […]
Speaker: Jim Phillips, Law, U of T Title: “’I Did Not Commit Adultery’: A Unique (Parliamentary) Divorce from in the 1870s” Abstract: An analysis of the marital breakdown of Robert […]
Speaker: Jacalyn Duffin, Hannah Chair of History of Medicine, Queen’s U Title: “Canada on Easter Island: The Secret History of a Blockbuster Drug” Abstract: In 1964 Canada led an international […]
Speaker: Reuben Gaetani, Strategic Management, Rotman Title: "Location and Innovation: Why Geography Still Matters" Abstract: Innovation does not happen uniformly across space. Some places consistently produce ideas that open entirely […]
Speaker: Karina Vernon, English, U of T Title: “Cowboy Songs and the ‘Alternate Archives’ of the Black Atlantic” Abstract: In this talk, I draw methodologically from musicology, agrarian studies, and ecological […]
November 2, 2026, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows The Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome by Venki Ramakrishnan (2018) Discussion Leader: Eaton Lattman […]
Speaker: Helmut Reichenbächer, English, OCAD U Title: “Mendelssohn, Shakespeare, and the Politics of Race: Cultural Programming in the Third Reich” Abstract: This lecture explores how Nazi racial ideology reshaped cultural […]
Speaker: Roberto Verdecchia, TV director, writer, producer Title: “The Real World of Science Communication” Abstract: Theoretical models of science communication certainly have their place, but what are the “real world” […]
Speaker: J.D.M. Stewart, historian, author Title: Prime Ministers and the Presidents Abstract: J.D.M. Stewart will talk about his book, The Prime Ministers: Canada's Leaders and the Nation They Shaped. In this […]
Speaker: Daniel Bender, CRC in Food and Culture, U of T Title: "Typicity’s End: Tasting Wine in the Anthropocene” Abstract: Even taste has a climate change tipping point. Legal regulations […]
December 7, 2026, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History by Moudhy Al-Rashid (2025) Discussion Leader: Martin Klein This is […]
January 4, 2026, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Garbage by A. R. Ammons (1993) Discussion Leader: Malcolm Woodland At last, a selection that allows you to say without […]
February 1, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (2024) […]
March 1, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt (1958) Discussion Leader: David Milne As the title suggests, this book looks at what […]
April 5, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (2024) Discussion Leader: Mary O’Connor This beautifully written novel, with inventively […]
May 3, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Strata: Stories from Deep Time by Laura Poppick (2025) Discussion Leader: William Logan Why is Earth not like other bodies […]
June 7, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China by Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li (2025) Discussion Leader: Peter Alberti The […]
July 5, 2027, 2-4 pm - Fellows and External Fellows Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century […]
