Coming up next week at SFU Vancouver:

 

Thursday, October 8: Being the Change: Women, Policy and Making a Difference
Time: 7pm   Place: Rm. 1400, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Tickets $10. $5 for students and seniors.

The School of Public Policy is launching this SFU 50th Anniversary Speaker Series with a talk by former Texas state senator Wendy Davis who will share her insights on what happens when you put your feet into the shoes of someone whose challenges may be different than your own and you use your voice to speak on their behalf.

 

Thursday, October 8: Triple A Transit: Affordable, Available, and Accessible  
Time: 7pm   Place: Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

People who are homeless and destitute frequently have no way to use transit due to the cost. The Transit Working Group (TWG) is working to increase the financial and social accessibility of the Metro Vancouver public transit service for people who are homeless. Many major cities in Canada and Washington State have homeless transit programs or policies and we are working on developing one for Metro Vancouver.

 

Friday, October 9: State Logic, Institutional Diversity, and Performance Persistence of Business Group Affiliated Firms in China and India
Time: 2:30pm   Place: Rm. 2800, Segal Graduate School, 500 Granville St.   Cost: Free with registration.

Preet S. Aulakh argues that elements of the institutional environment comprising the state’s approach to organizations and the political context of state–organization interactions influence business groups’ resource allocation strategies, as reflected in the persistence of affiliated firms’ superior performance.

Preet S. Aulakh is Professor of Strategy and the Pierre Lassonde Chair in International Business at the Schulich School of Business, York University.

 

Friday, October 9: Still Policing The Crisis: A Seminar And Panel Discussion On Stuart Hall’s Relevance In The Current Conjuncture
Time: 4pm   Place: Rm. 2270, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist and one of the founders of Cultural Studies and the "New Left Review" in Britain. He left a lasting international legacy on discourses on culture, race, identity and media that is particularly resonant at this moment in time.

Featured speakers in this panel: Scott Timcke, Grant Farred, Ben Carrington, and Sut Jhally.

 

Saturday, October 10: The Occupation Of The American Mind: Israel’s Pr War In The U.S.
Time: 4pm   Place: Rm. 7000, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

While recent polls have shown global public opinion turning sharply against Israeli policy, public support for Israel in the U.S. has held firm, Sut Jhally’s talk "The Occupation of the American Mind” looks at the information wars Israel and its supporters have been waging in the U.S. for decades. From PR offensives designed to manage perceptions of the occupation in the 1980s, to government-run social media campaigns today, this multi-media lecture provides an analysis of Israel’s ongoing efforts to win the hearts and minds of the American people.

 

Tuesday, October 13: The Nora And Ted Sterling Prize In Support Of Controversy
Time: 7pm   Place: Rm. 1400, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free with registration.

Our democratic system is vulnerable and has been slowly dismantled by those in power, most egregiously by the Harper Conservatives. Citizens today must wrestle with the contradiction of participating in a broken system - voting,  supporting parties and candidates, participating in public debate, even running for office — at the same time, recognizing that the most pressing issues we face (such as climate change, the geographical displacement of populations, and Indigenous rights and land claims), require us to take direct action outside of the electoral and representative apparatus of governance.

The Sterling Prize may be awarded for work in any field, including - but not limited to - the fine arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and education. The selection of the annual prize winner is the responsibility of the Sterling Prize Committee.

 

Wednesday, October 14: An Evening with Tim Flannery – Reality Check: Climate Change, The Resource Economy and the Road to Paris
Time: 7pm   Place: The Playhouse  600 Hamilton St   Cost: Tickets $20.

At this special lecture Professor Tim Flannery, recipient of SFU’s 2015/16 Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue, will discuss global climate issues with local thought leaders and will tackle the thorny topic of how to reconcile climate action with economic growth and resource development. Audience members will also witness the Canadian launch for Professor Flannery’s latest book,  Atmosphere of Hope: Searching for Solutions to the Climate Crisis, which follows his past international bestseller The Weather Makers.

 

Wednesday, October 14: Reel Causes: Screening of The Price We Pay
Time: 7pm   Place: Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required. Donations welcome at the door.

This incendiary documentary by Harold Crooks is about the dark history and dire present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens. Tax havens, originally created by London bankers in the 50s, today put over half the world’s stock of money beyond reach of public treasuries.

 

Thursday, October 15: City Conversations – Politics and Planning: Vancouver’s Next Planning Director
Time: 12:30pm   Place: Rm. 7000, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

As Vancouver prepares to hire a new planning director, SFU City Conversations will explore the relationship and inevitable tension between elected officials and staff leaders who, for the past 40 years, have shaped Vancouver to what it is. Who decides what? How do you get continuity when projects are proposed individually? Where does (and should) the planning director sit within the citystaff hierarchy? Where does the public fit in? How do we deal with neighbourhoods that do not want to take their share of new development? Elected officials hear from those who are already here, but who represents those who want to be here?

Framing the issue will be former city councillors Marguerite Ford and Peter Ladner, and urban affairs journalist and blogger Frances Bula. Then it’s your turn to question, observe, and offer your perspective and opinion.

 

Thursday, October 15: The Future Of The Agricultural Land Reserve (Alr), Climate Change, And Food Security
Time: 7pm   Place: Rm. 7000, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is the foundation for the business of agriculture in BC. It protects the limited physical land resource (5% of the provincial land base) on which food can be grown and raised. However, BC currently grows only 50 percent of what it consumes and imports the remainder. Why is that and how does that leave British Columbia’s food security vulnerable? Climate change, access to water, border and trade issues, and plant and animal disease all threaten our ability to feed ourselves. What animal can survive when the food habitat nearest to its shelter is destroyed? Population and urban pressures on ALR land in the south coast of BC are constant. In rural BC, pressure on ALR land such as resource development, human settlement, major power projects and an ‘I can do whatever I want with my rural property’ attitude prevail. What needs to be done to ensure we continue to protect our precious land base, support agricultural use of those lands, and thus our future food security in BC?

 

October 14- 15: Continuing Conversations – Stuart Hall’s Legacy
Time: 12:15pm   Place: Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings St.   Cost: Free. No registration required.

Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist and one of the founders of Cultural Studies and the "New Left Review" in Britain. He left a lasting international legacy on discourses on culture, race, identity and media that is particularly resonant at this moment in time.

 

October 8-9: Fall Convocation
Time: See schedule for details   Place: 8888 University Drive, Burnaby   Cost: Free. No registration required.

Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 mark Simon Fraser University's 50th Convocation! Watch SFU's 50th class make a visually stunning procession across the reflecting pond and down the grand stairway to Convocation Mall in October and June.

 

September 18 – October 16: Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures: Circa 1948
Time: 1pm   Place: Westbank Woodward’s Atrium at Abbott and Cordova Street   Cost: Free with registration.

This remarkable collection of culturally dynamic exhibits has been curated to showcase the best in comparative interactive technologies. Step into three dimensional worlds and be transported to heritage sites a world away. Tour guides will speak to the technology, art, and narrative of each exhibit. This collected experience that will allow you to imagine how immersive technologies might be used in our future. 

Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures: A Festival of Immersive Arts is offered as three site-specific tours. Circa 1948, created by the NFB Digital Studio and Stan Douglas, is situated in the Woodward’s Atrium. Two additional tours  Place-Hampi + and Pure Land+, are offered on alternating days at SFU's Goldcorp Centre. 

 

Philosopher’s Cafes

 

Friday, October 9: Privilege

Thursday, October 15: Sustainability and Perpetual Economic Growth