University of British Columbia (UBC) Podcasts

Hear Professor Stephen J. Toope talk about what the University has been doing over the last few years followed by Head of the Voice and Opera Division Nancy Hermiston during Focus UBC: New York featuring Opera 101. Don’t miss the opera performances by UBC student and New York Met award recipient Simone Osborne. (Sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 22-Apr-2008)

Hear Socilogy and Women's Studies Professor Becki Ross talk about the complex world of professional female burlesque/ striptease in postwar Vancouver.

Hear Forestry Professor, John McLean discuss the destruction caused by the pine beetle and options for future forest management.

Hear Academic Director of the UBC Ch'nook Aboringinal Business Education, Dr. John Claxton talk about the innovative program.

Even wondered what it's like behind the scenes of a popular TV show? Panel participants, Cal Shumiatcher, BA'81, Mark McGuckin, BA'04, and Calum MacLeaod, BA'03, of Road Hockey Rumble fame, provide insights into "the biz" of running your own TV program.

Hear UBC Finance Professor Maurice Levi talk about the recent appreciation of the loonie and what is behind the major movement in our nation's currency.

For many centuries, thinkers have been trying to unravel the source of a happy and fulfilling life. Hear UBC Psychology Graduate Student, Lara Aknin, BA' 05, talk about why people often misunderstand what makes them happy. Please note, due to a technical error the first part of this lecture is missing.

Hear UBC President, Prof. Stephen Toope and two of his predecessors, Dr. Martha Piper (UBC's 11th President & Vice-Chancellor) and Dr. David Strangway (UBC's 10th President & Vice-Chancellor) discuss their experiences as leaders of UBC. Hear about their inspirations, challenges, successes, memories and hopes for the future.

After 9/11, the US pressured other states to integrate their police, intelligence and military with US security systems and policy. According to Maureen Webb, Canada has been in the forefront of complying states. She shares her views on how measures such as Project AO Canada (which left Maher Arar and other Canadians exposed to torture), the Anti-terrorism Act, the Smart Border Agreement, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the Safe Third Country Agreement, the Security Certificates system, global surveillance initiatives and the military mission in Afghanistan have resulted in Canada violating international legal obligations to refugees, immigrants, criminal suspects, prisoners of war and Canadian citizens. Ms. Webb also discusses consequences for Canadians and the cost to democracy. (A special lecture offered by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and UBC Continuing Studies, originally presented on 15-March-2008.)

Professor Marjorie Cohn analyzes the six major ways she feels the Bush administration has violated US and international law. In her view, since 9/11 the Bush administration has used the "war on terror" as an excuse for the illegal invasion of other countries, torture, illegal spying on Americans, summary executions and willful killing, the Guantánamo Gulag and refusal to execute the law. Professor Cohn also discusses political responses and explains legal remedies. (A special lecture offered by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and UBC Continuing Studies, originally presented on 23-Feb-2008.)

The Honourable Claire L'Heureux-Dubé traces the development of international human rights and humanitarian law from the early days of the League of Nations, to the formation of the United Nations and the historic signing of the UN Charter, to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and on to the creation of the major human rights instruments and their incorporation into domestic legal systems around the world. (A special lecture offered by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and UBC Continuing Studies, originally presented on 26-Jan-2008.)

On March 7, 1908, the University Act was signed in Victoria. 100 years later fellow UBC alumni join in Victoria to celebrate. Dr. Patricia Roy (BA'60, PhD'70), Professor Emerita, Department of History, University of Victoria delivers the keynote address. Dr. Roy speaks about Victoria in 1908 - the political and social environment that created a provincial university. (A special event sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 07-Mar-2008)

At the AAAS news briefing in Boston, MA, UBC Professor Daniel Pauly joins Stanford's Barbara Block, World Wildlife Fund's Jose Ingles, and UBC Professor Rashid Sumaila in arguing that tuna may follow cod to possible extinction unless we change how we approach managing both migratory species and the broader ecosystem they inhabit. Pauly introduces the overall issues, Block argues that the "sushi economy" is pushing tuna to the brink of collapse, Ingles asks governments and NGO's to help protect juvenile tuna in the Coral Triangle by removing fish aggregation devices and implementing trans-boundary marine parks, and Sumaila posits the question, "Whose fish are we eating – ours or our grandchildrens'?", and says we must act now as if we are negotiating with future generations on catch levels in order to tackle the problem of overfishing. For more information on the AAAS Conference, visit www.ubc.ca/aaas. (Originally presented on 18-Feb-2008)

Prof. Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of British Columbia, discusses the Geoff Plant report on higher education, Campus 2020, and why three of its recommendations to the provincial government in particular require urgent attention. (Originally presented at the Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon on 30-Oct-2007)