Public talks a highlight of UC alumni reunion week
university-of-canterbury
Thu Sep 30 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Public talks a highlight of UC alumni reunion week
Thursday, 30 September 2010, 5:59 pm
Press Release: University of Canterbury
Public talks a highlight of UC alumni reunion weekend
A public seminar series, which will teach you how not to write a biography and reveal the antics of a University toxicologist, is one of the highlights of this year’s UC Alumni Reunion Weekend.
The University of Canterbury will hold its third annual campus-wide Alumni Reunion Weekend from 8 to 10 October. This year’s reunion weekend celebrates the graduating classes of 1970 and preceding years, with special anniversary celebrations also being held to mark the 10th anniversary of the National Centre for Research on Europe and the 160th anniversary of College House.
On Saturday 9 October four talks, open to the wider public, will be held on campus throughout the day.
First speaker up is Associate Professor Paul Millar from the College of Arts, whose biography of novelist, critic and academic Bill Pearson - No Fretful Sleeper: A Life of Bill Pearson – was published earlier this year to critical acclaim. However, Professor Millar says the book took four years longer to complete than he had anticipated and the first complete draft was 70,000 words longer than his publisher was prepared to accept.
In his lecture Professor Millar will discuss biography as a genre, talk candidly about some of the problems he encountered writing No Fretful Sleeper and discuss the steps he took to find solutions to those problems. He will also talk about some of the things he will and won’t be doing on his next project, a biography of poet and literary editor Charles Brasch.
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Professor Millar will also give his opinion, and invite discussion, on some of the issues that vex all biographers.
Professor Ian Shaw from the College of Science will deliver the day’s second lecture, titled “Poisons and poisoning – the antics of a university toxicologist”.
Professor Shaw says he will amble though a myriad of chemicals that, if exposed to, will leave you feeling “rather the worse for wear, if not dead”.
His talk will cover the classic poisons, including arsenic and cyanide, explore some of the ingenious toxins produced by plants and animals, and show how many bacterial diseases are actually caused by the evil poisons that bacteria produce.
He will also delve into the “friendly poisons we call medicines” and end by touching on endocrine disrupting chemicals, the “emerging and very devious group of toxins” that can fool our bodies due to their similarities to the natural hormones.
Professor John Everatt from the College of Education will present an overview of UC’s involvement in research on dyslexia (or literacy learning difficulties) that has been conducted in different parts of the world.
Looking at the condition in children and adults, Professor Everatt’s discussion will focus on the skills and weaknesses associated with dyslexia and the potential similarities and differences in these characteristics across varying language groups.
“Dyslexia is a fascinating subject and, when considered from the perspective of the differences that occur around the world, its ability to intrigue increases,” says Professor Everatt, adding he hopes his talk will stimulate further interest in, and collaboration on, dyslexia world-wide.
Wrapping up the public talks is Karen Scott from the School of Law whose lecture, “Who owns Antarctica”, will centre on the activities of New Zealand in the Antarctic, the background to its claim to the Ross Dependency and its role within the Antarctic Treaty system.
“In particular, I will be asking whether, in the 21st century, it is appropriate that New Zealand maintain its claim to Antarctica or whether it, and indeed the other six claimant states, should relinquish their claims and work towards developing a non-territorial regime for the management of what constitutes the largest wilderness area on earth.”
ENDS
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