The establishment of a separate UVic Faculty of Humanities on July 1 this year provided an opportunity for UVic humanists to shape their own future. That future will unfold in an environment of funding cuts and increasing pressure on universities to provide more career-oriented training&emdash;an environment that many see as inhospitable to the humanities.
Basic questions about the humanities are emerging. What is the place of the humanities within the university? What is the future of humanities education? Why is humanist inquiry important now? How do the humanities relate to other ways of knowing?
These are some of the matters that will be addressed in a series of six public lectures and panel discussions sponsored by the Vice-President Academic and Provost and the Humanities Centre. The public lectures will be free and open to the public, and all interested students, faculty members and staff are welcome at the panel discussions.
The first instalment will be on the theme of cultural value. It will explore how the humanities should conceive and conduct themselves in an environment where the meanings of "culture" and "values"&emdash;concepts central to the traditional practice of the humanities&emdash;are contested and shifting. Dr. Len Findlay, Professor of English and Director of the Humanities Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan, will deliver the first public lecture on Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in HSD A240 followed by a panel discussion on Sept. 26 from 2-4 p.m. in the Senate Chambers. Panelists will include Findlay and Drs. Smaro Kambourelli (English), Monika Langer (Philosophy), and Toby Foshay (English).
In October the theme will be technology challenges, with a public lecture Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in HSD A240 by Dr. Randall Jones, Dean of Humanities at Brigham Young University, with panelists the next day including Drs. Elizabeth Grove-White (English), John Lutz (History), and Michael Roth (Social & Natural Sciences in Education).
Further details on the upcoming events will be published in future issues of The Ring.
Members of the colloquium organizing committee reflect a variety of perspectives and methodologies and the natural alliance between the humanities and the fine arts. They are: Drs. Toby Foshay (English), Lloyd Howard (Hispanic & Italian Studies, acting dean), Peter Liddell (Germanic Studies, Academic Director of the Language Centre), Leslie Saxon (Linguistics), Ian MacPherson (History, dean), Terry Sherwood (English, Assistant Vice-President Academic), Lianne McLarty (History in Art), and John Osborne (History in Art).