University of British Columbia (UBC) Podcasts

Why do homicidal psychopaths talk about food when they confess their crimes? Psychopaths are cold and callous individuals who often mimic appropriate emotional behaviour to ease interactions with others. Join UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Woodworth for this insightful lecture which considers both the criminal behaviour of psychopathic offenders as well as their own accounts of these incidents. (A special Alumni Weekend 2007 presentation sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 15-Sep-2007)

Arts One, begun in 1967 as an experimental seminar- and tutorial- based program in the humanities, quickly became an established institution at UBC, one chosen by some of the university’s most promising and academically successful first-year students….but can it survive? Professor Hundert, an Arts One veteran professor of more than 12 years and past director of the program will explore how Arts One fits – or doesn’t fit – into the transformed academic environment of a research-based university. (A special Alumni Weekend 2007 presentation sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 15-Sep-2007)

Dr. Evans, UBC Engineering professor, will tackle the prospect of global climate change brought about primarily by our prolific energy use and heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Learn how all of our energy needs are supplied from just three primary energy sources, why some proposed solutions are more sustainable than others and how the link between energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions can be broken. (A special Alumni Weekend 2007 presentation sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 15-Sep-2007)

Dr. Max Cynader is Director of the Brain Research Centre, a Canada Research Chair in Brain Development, and a Professor of Ophthalmology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a Fellow of the Order of British Columbia. Come hear him speak on how to age successfully, diseases of the aging brain, and what you can do to cope. (A special Alumni Weekend 2007 presentation sponsored by UBC Alumni Affairs, originally presented on 15-Sep-2007)

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)

This book chronicles Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon's attempt to feed themselves for a year on food grown and produced within 100 miles of Vancouver. The publishers describes The 100-Mile Diet as "The remarkable, amusing and inspiring adventures of a Canadian couple who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment. When Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon learned that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate, they decided to launch a simple experiment to reconnect with the people and places that produced what they ate. For one year, they would only consume food that came from within a 100-mile radius of their Vancouver apartment. The 100-Mile Diet was born. The couple’s discoveries sometimes shook their resolve. It would be a year without sugar, Cheerios, olive oil, rice, Pizza Pops, beer, and much, much more. Yet local eating has turned out to be a life lesson in pleasures that are always close at hand. They met the revolutionary farmers and modern-day hunter-gatherers who are changing the way we think about food. They got personal with issues ranging from global economics to biodiversity. They called on the wisdom of grandmothers, and immersed themselves in the seasons. They discovered a host of new flavours, from gooseberry wine to sunchokes to turnip sandwiches, foods that they never would have guessed were on their doorstep. The 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, attracting media and grassroots interest that spanned the globe. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating tells the full story, from the insights to the kitchen disasters, as the authors transform from megamart shoppers to self-sufficient urban pioneers. The 100-Mile Diet is a pathway home for anybody, anywhere." Call me naive, but I never knew that flour would be struck from our 100-Mile Diet. Wheat products are just so ubiquitous, “the staff of life,” that I had hazily imagined the stuff must be grown everywhere. But of course: I had never seen a field of wheat anywhere close to Vancouver, and my mental images of late-afternoon light falling on golden fields of grain were all from my childhood on the Canadian prairies. What I was able to find was Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill, about 60 miles up the Fraser River valley. I called, and learned that Anita’s nearest grain suppliers were at least 800 miles away by road. She sounded sorry for me. Would it be a year until I tasted a pie? (A Talk of the Town public lecture originally presented on 14-May-2007)

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life. "Why did you leave Sierra Leone?" "Because there is a war." "You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?" "Yes, all the time." "Cool." I smile a little. "You should tell us about it sometime." "Yes, sometime." This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived. Beah came to the United States when he was seventeen and graduated from Oberlin College in 2004. He is a member of Human Rights Watch Children's Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations on several occasions. He lives in New York City. In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now 26 years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty. (A UBC Talk of the Town public lecture originally presented on 29-Mar-2007)

In this special podcast compilation of audio clips, a number of 2007 University of British Columbia graduating students speak on how their time at UBC has influenced their personal and professional growth. Each of the graduates is featured in the May 2007 edition of UBC Reports, the university's monthly news publication. To read these graduates' complete stories, or to learn about the latest research and teaching achievements at UBC via e-mail subscription, visit www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports.

Learn about the architectural challenges facing the UBC Vancouver Campus through a case study of the University of California Los Angeles featuring UCLA campus architect Jeffrey Averill. Using the development of the distinctive and visually-unified architectural style of the UCLA campus, Mr. Averill presents techniques for improving the architectural image and urban design using a prescribed pallette of building materials. Following the lecture component of this presentation, UBC respondents consisting of architect Bryce Rositch, chair of the UBC Board of Governors' Property and Planning Committee, architect Joyce Drohan, who chairs the UBC Advisory Urban Design Panel, and art history and design professor Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe provide their viewpoints on the comparisons and contrasts between UBC and UCLA campuses. Jeffrey Averill is the Campus Architect for the University of California, Los Angeles, and has been practicing architecture for over 25 years as a member of numerous offices around the World. A graduate of the Master's of Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Averill was also a Principal with Johnson Fain Partners where he managed a number of large design projects, including the new MGM Tower in Sacremento. He joined UCLA Capital Programs in early 2001 as a Project Manager responsible for a new laboratory building, and in June 2003, he was formally appointed Campus Architect and Director of Design Services. He currently serves as vice-chair of the City of Los Angeles Westwood Design Review Board. (A Vancouver Campus Plan Speakers Series lecture originally presented on 22-Mar-2007)

Local UBC Toronto Alumni and Great Trekker award recipients, John Turner, BA'49, LLD'94, Allan Fotheringham, BA'54, and the late Pierre Berton, BA'41, DLit'85, connected through UBC and kept their UBC spirit alive in Toronto. Years ago, they created a tradition with an annual luncheon which we brought back with the Great Trekker Alumni Luncheon. Hear Professor Stephen Toope "in conversation" with UBC Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Frank Iacobucci (BCom'61, LLB'62, LLD'89). A Justice of the Supreme Court until his retirement in 2004, Frank Iacobucci has shared his professional insight broadly, providing guidance to private practice, academia and government as well as the judiciary. He has stated that the noblest attribute of membership in a profession is service to both clients and the public, and in this he has been exemplary. He was a law professor and Dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, then a high-ranking university administrator, including a period as the interim president of the University of Toronto. During the 1980's, he was Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada before being appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada. Frank Iacobucci is current holder of the Walter S. Owen (visiting) Chair, the first endowed chair in the Faculty of Law at UBC. In 1993, he was appointed Commendatore dell'Ordine Al Merito by the Republic of Italy. In 1999 he became an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge University (where he completed his Masters and a diploma in International Law), and also of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has received eleven honorary doctorates, including one form UBC, and received the UBC Law Alumni Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and the UBC Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. (A UBC Alumni Association luncheon event originally presented on 26-Mar-2007)