Spring 2018 | Issue #10From the Dean
The Sound of Moosic Welcome back. I trust everyone had a good holiday. Over December I read a delightful book, passed on to me by friends from UofT: Moo, written by Jane Smiley. Moo is a satirical look at a midwestern university, affectionally known a Moo U for its large agricultural college. Some suggest it represents Iowa State; others UC Davis. Whatever the case, it is a wickedly funny novel that explores university life. As one reviewer notes (Alfred Knopf, Publishers Weekly), Moo is “a satire of university life that leaves no aspect of contemporary academia unscathed … whose faculty and students Smiley depicts with sophisticated humor, turning a gimlet eye
on the hypocrisy, egomania, prejudice and self-delusion that flourish on campus, and also reflect society at large. Everybody at Moo U has an agenda”. On several occasions, as I was reading, I could be heard chuckling, as I caught glimpses of myself and others I have known over the years. As I read, I thought to myself, “I could have benefited from such a book early in my career” (it was first published in 1995), but then thought, “I took myself much too seriously back then”. Now having been in the academy close to 25 years, and not taking myself so seriously anymore, I can appreciate the novel’s humour and how it laughs at our academic foibles. As Jane Austen put it in Pride and Prejudice, “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” And that is what the book does. Moo opens with “Old Meats”, an abandoned building on campus, where Dr. Bo Jones is surreptitiously conducting an experiment on Earl Butz, a Landrace Boar, to see how big a hog can get. As one reviewer notes, Earl Butz is “Smiley's landlocked Midwestern version of Moby Dick, an innocent embodiment of isolation, stupidity and greed” (Alison Lurie, New York Times). Some have suggested that he is a metaphor for gluttony and represents Smiley’s “critique of our system of education [which] is symbolized by the rotund hog Earl Butz, gleefully gobbling up whatever is handed to him by a naive undergraduate student too caught up in his own personal life to ask why” (David Louis Edleman) Dr. Bo Jones is himself singularly minded; someone, we are told, who “was not in the habit of
introspection”, who hoped that when he died “they’re going to say that Dr. Bo Jones found out something about hog” (p. 5). By the end of the novel he is back-packing in Kyrgyzstan, looking for boar. There are cast of similar characters in this novel. Chairman X of Horticulture is completely eccentric, a die-hard socialist, who bemoans the collapse of communist Eastern Europe. He hates the Dean of Ag Extension, Dean Harstad, and fantasizes about killing the dean, preferably with his bare hands, “staring right into the eyes, forcing him, at the last moment, to recant, to regret, to know his life as worse than bankrupt” (p. 40). And in fact, at one point in the novel the two come to blows. What is infuriating to Chairman X is Dean Harstad’s “unbounded patience”, which he uses as
a weapon: “At meetings, when Dean Harstad was delving deeply into his patience, he would close his eyes. It was a remarkably infuriating gesture, especially to Chairman X, who probably never closed his eyes voluntarily in his whole life” (p. 40). I have always thought of patience as a “virtue”, never a “weapon”, something for me to think about, next time I close my eyes in a meeting. Then there is Associate Professor of English, Dr. Tim Monahan, who teaches creative writing at Moo U. He spends his summers on the east coast attending the creative writing circuit, and over New Year’s, at the New York publishing scene, resenting the fact that he is not at Yale, Princeton, Duke, the University of Michigan or even Wisconsin or Iowa, but at a “revered agricultural and technical institution of
higher learning”. He consoles himself by the fact that the job he won eight years earlier at Moo U attracted 213 other applicants, 72 of whom had one book, like him, and 12 of whom had two: “These were figures he was always cognizant of, never mentioned, but also never forgot, reciting them to himself was his charm against his besetting sin of envy” (p. 15). Then there is the Homo Economicus, Dr. Lionel Gift, who has raised his first principle, “that all men had an insatiable desire for consumer goods”, into a theology, in which exists a divine Maker “Who was so Prodigious and Prodigal in His production of goods that His inner purpose” was limitless desire, a divine spark which He has placed in each person (p. 31). Dr. Gift made his fame as an economist for his work in Costa Rica (was even given a summer home there), and in the novel,
produces for a corporate conglomerate, which promises to invest in the university, a cost-risk analysis on mining the last rain forest in Costa Rica. The report is leaked, no less by the Provost’s assistant, Mrs. Walker, whom everyone knows, holds the real power (apparently, she knows where the dead bodies are buried on campus). The leak nearly brings the institution to it knees. Then there is Dr. Dean Jellinek, who receives a large grant from Western Egg and Milk (part of the corporate conglomerate) to work on calf-free lactation, something that will revolutionize the dairy industry. But as quickly as the money comes, it is withdrawn (the leaked report). The real villain of the novel, is someone who never appears in person but always looms large off stage, the governor of the state, O.T. Early, who seems to share the common wisdom of
the citizens of the state “that the university had pots of money and that there were highly paid faculty members in every department who had once taught Marxism and now taught something called deconstructionism which was only Marxism gone underground in preparation for emergence at a time of national weakness” (p. 19). The legislators also know well “that the faculty as a whole was determined to undermine the moral and commercial well-being of the state, and that supporting a large and nationally famous university with state monies was exactly analogous to raising a nest of vipers in your own bed” (p. 19). And the faculty also know well “that the governor and the state legislature had lost interest in education some twenty years before” (p. 19). Budget cuts come, and the university is forced to find outside-money to bridge the gap. There
are provocatively titled chapters as “The Provost Is Tempted” (Chapter 14); but once the corporate money disappears, budget constraints introduced, “Old Meats” demolished as part of cost-cutting measures, and Earl Butz collapses and dies as he tries to escape the demolition, leading inevitably to unwanted media attention, come equally provocative chapters as “The Ripple Effect” (Chapter 65) and “The Provost Reflects” (Chapter 66). In Chapter 66, a poignant chapter in my mind (and there are poignant moments throughout the book) we learn that Dr. Jones hog-fattening experiment cost $233.876.42, with no grants to defray the costs, and Ivar, the Provost, begins to reflect on “what is a university?” Dr. Bo Jones, he mused, like “everyone around the university had given free rein
to his or her desires, and the institution had, with a fine, trembling responsiveness, answered, ‘Why not?’ It had become more than anything, a vast network of interlocking wishes” (p. 386). As he reflects, he notes that his institution “had made serious noises to all sorts of consistencies: Students would find good jobs, the state would see a return on its educational investment, businesses could harvest enthusiastic and well-trained workers by the hundreds, theory and technology would break through the limits … At the very least, the students could expect to think true, beautiful, and profound thoughts and thereafter live better lives” (p. 386). But even this last, idealized sentiment seems somewhat belied by earlier comments in the novel about liberal education: Marly, a character in the book, who was once a student at Moo U, learned from her
freshmen English teacher that “critical thinking is to liberal education as faith is to religion”; by the end of her one semester at Moo U, Marly came to the realization that the converse was also true that “faith is to liberal education as critical thinking is to religion, irrelevant and even damaging” (p. 24). Consequently, she throws her lot in with faith and abandons liberal education. Needless to say, she does not live the better life so promised. But then again, she left university too soon. By the point of Chapter 66 the university has reach an Euripidean dilemma, from which it could only be recused by divine intervention, a “Deus Ex Machina”, the title of Chapter 67. Fortunately for the university, an eccentric farmer, who believed the CIA, the FBI and the large Ag companies were out to get him,
upon his death bequeathed his invention to the institution, a revolutionary piece of farm machinery, and by Chapter 68, in response to this bequest, which promises to be a windfall for the university, the governor has relaxed his budget cuts, allowing the university to avert layoffs and program cuts. Some have noted that Smiley lets her characters off too easily, and this is possibly true. There is a degree of redemption for Chairman X and Dr. Monahan by the end of the book. The only one, in my mind, who receives no form of redemption is Homo Economicus, Dr. Gift; he blithefully continues as before, self-assured in his importance. But the Deus ex Machina, by which Smiley lets the university and its cast of characters off the hook, for me seems to speak of the resiliency of universities, which despite our best efforts always manages to continue on, doing what it does
best, teaching and researching. All in all, I would say, a delightful read, Enjoy the term and let the moosic begin!
The PUBlic Professor Series has three upcoming lectures this semester that are sure to be thought-provoking and encourage open conversation. No matter what, there will be something for everyone. Each talk takes place from 7:00pm - 9:00pm at our new location: Lethbridge Lodge, 320 Scenic Dr S, Lethbridge, AB.
If you missed a talk, or just want to hear it again, you can visit After The Talk, where you will find research stories and videos for each of our PUBlic Professor lectures. Sign-up for the mailing list and never miss a thing!
PUBlic Professor 2018/2019
The following dates have been reserved for the upcoming PUBlic Professor 2018/2019 season. The full line up will be released in the coming months.
- Sept 20, 2018
- Oct 25, 2018
- Nov 22, 2018
- Jan 24, 2019
- Feb 28, 2019
- Mar 21, 2019
Using/Producing Images as DataFEBRUARY 1, 2018
3:30pm | Markin Hall Atrium
Chris Hopkinson | Geography
Leanne Elias | Fine Arts Research Chair in Terrestrial Ecosystems Remote Sensing and LIDAR Chris Hopkinson will speak on how he uses remote sensing data in support of sustainable development of various ecosystems. New Media scholar Leanne Elias describes her work exploring experimental visualization of agricultural data in interactive 2D and physical environments. Both scholars produce and use visual data to support environmental sustainability.
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Taking Gender, Sex, and Sexuality into AccountMARCH 15, 2018
3:30pm | Andy’s Place
Paul Vasey | Psychology
Suzanne Lenon | Women and Gender Studies Board of Governors Research Chair Paul Vasey will discuss his work on gender and sexual expression amongst the Samoan Fa’afafine and Zapotec Muxe communities, while Board of Governors Research Chair Susanne Lenon speaks to her legal scholarship on marriage equality and polygamy in Canada. Both scholars examine the ways that cultural, social and political forces shape sex, gender and sexuality.
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Spring Open HouseSaturday, Feb 3
11:00AM - 3:00PM Spring Open House is once again centralized in the PE Foyer and will be significantly smaller than Fall Open House. We are looking for volunteers to represent the Faculty at one of our booths (Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences). This Open House will be open to all prospective students, with a focus on grades 10 & 11. If you would like more information or to volunteer, please email Catharine Reader.
Directory Photo DaysCommunications is hosting directory photo days again on February 12 & 13 in AH158. A registration link will be sent out soon, so keep an eye out for this if you are interested in having photos taken.
Modern Languages Film SeriesThis semester's theme is Crime! Come out and join us for free films from around the world, subtitled in English, with viewings twice a month. Click for locations and times.
Modern Languages Speaker Series
January 22, 2018
2:00 - 3:00PM B660
Esther de Bruijn
Augmenting Affect Theory with Léopold Sédar Senghor’s Aesthetic Theory: Sensation in Ghanaian Market Fiction
February 26, 2018
2:00 - 3:00PM B660
Nick Morwood
From Deconstruction to Posthumanism: the Legacy of Jacques Derrida
March 26, 2018
11:00AM - 12:00PM TH241
Gabrielle Houle
Wood, Paper, Leather, and More: Creators of Masks and their Materials of Choice
January 26th
Poster presentations will run from 9am-12pm in the PE Atrium and research talks will take place in the afternoon in TH241 from 1-5pm. The symposium will feature research ranging from graduate to PhD level. This is a great opportunity to see original research conducted by U of L science students. Light refreshments will be provided. All are welcome to attend.
Stabilizing Indigenous Language Symposium (SILS2018)June 7 - 9 The University of Lethbridge is partnering with the Peigan Board Of Education to host the 25th Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS 2018) on June 7-9, 2018. This world-renowned symposium brings together national and international Indigenous language activists, teachers, students, community members and linguists to exchange ideas and best practices around the maintenance and revitalization of Indigenous languages. For more information email inge.genee@uleth.ca.
Symposium on Migration and DevelopmentMarch 28 | AH100
11:00AM - 12:00PM Students in WGST 3020 meet the public to present global issues on migration and development.
Limited Edition Swag SaleScarf $10 Hat $10 All proceeds go to Supporting our Students, limited quantities available. Contact alix.redmond@uleth.ca or visit AH151 to purchase.
UL50 Golden Jubilee Award recipients - where are they now?We caught up with the students to see how their first semester was going.
Launch Conference of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts UniversitiesModernity, Friendship, and the Purpose of Liberal Education Dr. John von Heyking presented at the launch conference for the East Asian Alliance of Liberal Education universities and colleges in November. He was the only scholar from a Canadian school and his talk on the figure of Socrates and East Asian political order was well-received.
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U of L chemistry student’s research published in top tier journalDaniel Stuart, an M.Sc. student from the Gerken group and a student member of C-CRAFT, published his most recent research results about the solid-state structure of protonated ketones and aldehydes in the top-tier chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie with an impact factor of 12. As soon as the contribution was published online, the results were featured in a Research Highlight in Nature, reflecting the broad international impact of the work. This research is a result of an emerging collaboration between two PIs of C-CRAFT: Michael Gerken and Stacey Wetmore. Profs Gerken and Wetmore joined forces to exploit their complementary expertise in experimental synthetic chemistry and computer modeling to tackle an open question in the literature.
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Dr. John von Heyking's book "Comprehensive Judgment" and "Absolute Selflessness”: Winston Churchill on Politics as Friendship comes out this year. The Finest Hour, the journal of the International Churchill Society, excerpted the book a few months ago.
Dr. Maura Hanrahan's book 'Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett ' is out in Feb. Based on archival research in three countries, Unchained Man is a biography of Robert Bartlett, one of the central figures in international polar exploration and Arctic history.
Raising Spirit is a collaborative transmedia project between the University of Lethbridge’s Institute for Child and Youth Studies and Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society dedicated to supporting Indigenous children and their families. This project has evolved from its beginning as a photo-elicitation project on local child-rearing values
among Blackfoot families to include a digital storytelling library, as well as arts-based education and an exhibition. The project has included the training of middle-school, high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the protocols of scholarly research and work with culturally significant land-based knowledge.
After a successful initial Fall 2017 pilot in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Crowdmark online grading platform is being made available campus-wide for further testing in Spring 2018. Crowdmark (https://crowdmark.com/) is a Canadian company that provides an online grading platform used at many Canadian universities, including U of C and U of A. The basic premise is that student work is scanned and uploaded to their website, and grading is done on the computer. The benefit of doing this is that their software assists with all the administrative tasks that faculty usually have to handle, such as sorting
tests, assigning work to graders, entering grades, and returning work to students.
Parkland Institute, which directly involves two University of Lethbridge faculty members – Trevor Harrison as director and Linda Many Guns as a member of the board – held its 21st annual conference on November 17-19 at the University of Alberta campus. The title of this year’s conference was “Collapse: Neoliberalism in Crisis.” The keynote speaker this year was popular author and critic, Linda McQuaig; the closing address was given by Dr. Jamie Peck of the University of British Columbia. The three day event attracted several hundred attendees.
U of L researchers awarded more than $907,000 in research fundingCongratulations to the University of Lethbridge researchers who were recently the recipients of several Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grants.
Dr. Suzanne Lenon is the recipient of a research grant from the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, to conduct archival research into gender and the legal history of wills in southern Alberta, 1880-1930. Publications- Chasmer, L., C. Hopkinson, R. Petrone, M. Sitar. Using multi-temporal and multi-spectral airborne lidar to assess depth of peat loss and correspondence with a new active normalized burn ratio for wildfires. Geophysical Research
Letters. 2017GL075488. Accepted.
This research presents a new and highly accurate methodology for observing depth of peat burn associated with wildfire following the Fort McMurray fire. Peat burn contributes to significant amounts of pollution during wildfire as well as massive release of greenhouse gases. - Chasmer, L. and C. Hopkinson, 2017. Threshold loss of discontinuous permafrost and landscape evolution. Global Change Biology. 23(7):2672-2686.Doi:10.1111/gcb.13537.
Here we found that rates of
permafrost thaw within the southern discontinuous permafrost zone, NWT, have increased rapidly over the last 20 years, triggered by a climate anomaly, not previously observed. This has significant implications for large area boreal ecosystem change, greenhouse gas fluxes, water resources and wildfire. - Helbig, M., L. Chasmer, A. Desai, N. Kljun, W. Quinton and O. Sonnentag, 2017. Direct and indirect climate change effects on carbon dioxide fluxes in a thawing boreal forest-wetland landscape. Global Change Biology. 23: 3231–3248. doi:10.1111/gcb.13638.
- Helbig, M., L. Chasmer, N. Kljun, W. Quinton, C. Treat, and O. Sonnentag, 2017. The
positive net radiative greenhouse gas forcing of increasing methane emissions from a thawing boreal forest-wetland landscape. Global Change Biology. 23(6):2413-2427 Doi:10.1111/gcb.13520.
These two papers by Manuel Helbig, a recent PhD graduate of University of Montreal, examined the impacts of thawing permafrost on carbon dioxide and methane fluxes and the implications for positive feedbacks to the climate system.
Thanks for reading! We wish everyone an excellent semester. If you have suggestions regarding content to include in future newsletters, or to submit to the Fall 2018 issue, please send an email to: alix.redmond@uleth.ca
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