Happy Birthday, Abe!
To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, Feb. 12, 1809, images of Lincoln, of Lincoln and his family, and of Lincoln and his Cabinet are on display in the McLennan Library along with various items, including Lincoln busts, bookends, plaques and china.
The Nathanson Lincoln Collection is one of the most unusual research collections housed in Rare Books and Special Collections. In 1986, Dr. Nathanson donated to his alma mater, the contents of his eclectic Abraham Lincoln collection. For almost 50 years, Dr. Nathanson avidly collected Lincolniana from Ithaca, N.Y., where he taught Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University for five decades. The collection is comprised of approximately four thousand items including books, pamphlets, prints, manuscripts, ephemera and realia.
Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln!; Jan. 22 to Mar. 31, 2009; Rare Books and Special Collections Lobby; McLennan Library Building, 4th floor, 3459 McTavish Street.
The human dimensions of climate change: Is it time to go deeper?
If modern science’s predictions on climate change turn out to be even remotely accurate, then society faces overwhelming challenges in the coming decades – challenges that raise ethical questions, and issues of equity, social justice and human security. Responding to climate change in a way that successfully prevents or minimizes ecological and social disasters will require societal transformations at a breadth, depth, and speed that are probably unmatched in human history.
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) will present a free public lecture by Karen O’Brien, a sociologist and human geographer from the University of Oslo. She will explain why it’s time for the human dimensions of climate change research to go deeper in exploring how culture, values and world views influence systems and behaviours and why an integral approach can help us better understand and address some of the contradictions and paradoxes impeding action toward a sustainable future.
The GEC3 free public lecture, The Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Is it Time to Go Deeper?, with Karen O’Brien, Dept. of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, will take place in Burnside Hall, Room 426, on Wednesday, Feb 18 at 11:45 a.m. For more information, please contact angela.mansi@mcgill.ca.
Meet me at the operetta
The McGill Savoy Society, the non-profit, student theatre group that has been presenting Gilbert & Sullivan’s light operas to Montreal audiences since 1963, returns with its production of The Yeoman of the Guard (or, The Merryman and his Maid), the 11th of the 14 collaborations between the famed librettist (Gilbert) and composer (Sullivan). The production will include a 30-piece orchestra led by conductor Alexandra Fol, the Savoy’s Music Director, and features choreography by Jonathan Patterson.
The McGill Savoy Society’s production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Yeoman of the Guard; February 12 – 14 and 19 – 21; Moyse Hall, 853 Sherbrooke West, Arts Building, McGill University. For more information visit
The floor is yours at Town Hall
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum invites students, faculty and staff to a Town Hall meeting to discuss issues of relevance to the McGill community. Unlike previous such meetings, this Town Hall will have no set theme or topic – just an open forum to engage in a healthy exchange of ideas that, ideally, will make McGill a better place to work and study. A question and answer period will follow the Principal’s opening remarks.
Principal’s Town Hall Meeting; Feb. 10; 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.; Desautels Faculty of Management, MBA Lounge – 3rd Floor, Bronfman Building, 1001 Sherbrooke St W. All are welcome. For more information visit www.mcgill.ca/townhall/ or email townhall@mcgill.ca.
Justice for landmine victims
Canada was instrumental in bringing about the landmark 1997 Ottawa Convention prohibiting the use and stockpiling of landmines, which has been signed by 158 countries and earned Lloyd Axworthy, who was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, a nomination for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
But what has happened since? What role is Canada currently playing in implementing the convention? And while landmines may be disappearing, their victims still have pressing needs. What are some of the unique health requirements of countries with large numbers of amputees and landmine survivors?
These and other questions will be addressed in the Faculty of Law Moot Court on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m, when the student group Disability & the Law hosts The Ottawa Convention Banning Antipersonnel Landmines: Disability Perspectives, a panel discussion on the Convention and how it relates to tackling disability issues in countries plagued by landmines. Speakers will include Christa McMillin, Program Manager at Mines Action Canada, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, Cameron MacCauley, Health Education Specialist at Survivor Corps, a global network of people helping each other overcome the effects of war, and Anne Woodbridge, Senior Program Officer at the Canadian International Development Agency’s Peace, Security and Mine Action Group.
Panel discussion; Feb. 17; Moot Court; New Chancellor Day Hall; 3644 Peel St.; 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For info: www.disability-law.mcgill.ca.