2009–2010 guest speaker overview...leadership development program 2009–2010 guest speaker...

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

2009–2010

Guest Speaker Overview

p r e s e n t e d b y

Allan Grant Drew Dudley416-208-2705 416-208-4759

[email protected] [email protected]

FACT OR FICTION LITERARY LEADERSHIP SERIES

The Fact or Fiction Literary Leadership Series is a new initiative that will provide students with the

opportunity to engage in discussion on real-world issues, insights and experiences that are presented by

award-winning authors through their works. The anticipated audience for each event is 30—40 students.

This year, the Fact or Fiction Literary Leadership Series is pleased to present:

ANTHONY DE SA & PRISCILA UPPAL

Wednesday, September 16, 2009Anthony De Sa grew up in Toronto’s Portuguese commu-

nity. His short fiction has been published in several North

American literary magazines. He attended The Humber

School for Writers and now heads the English department

and directs the creative writing program at a high school for

the arts. His debut short story collection, Barnacle Love, was a

shortlisted nominee for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Priscila Uppal is a Canadian poet and novelist. She was

one of three Canadian writers on the 2007 shortlist for the

prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize. She is the author of five

collections of poetry and the internationally acclaimed novel, The Divine Economy of Salvation. Uppal com-

pleted her Ph.D in English Literature at York University in Toronto, where she is a professor of English

Literature. The American Library Association named her a “Canadian Writer to Watch.”

Mr. De Sa and Ms. Uppal will be taking part in a facilitated discussion about the various challenges

(dating, relationships with parents and family, relationships at school, competing cultural expectations) that

arise from balancing two cultures: that of their parents, and that which they learn themselves growing up

and sharing a community with other Canadians.

DENISE CHONG

Tuesday, October 13, 2009Denise Chong is a Chinese-Canadian economist and writer. She has

published two novels including The Concubine’s Children for which she

was acclaimed as a “renowned writer and commentator on Canadian his-

tory and on the family.” Her upcoming book, Egg on Mao, will be

released in September 2009. This book tells the story of a man who

humiliated a repressive regime in front of the entire world by defacing a

portrait of Mao Zedong during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square.

Prior to her writing career, Denise worked in the Department of Finance, where she was employed

until 1980. She then worked for one year as a special advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office, dealing with

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issues pertaining to British Columbia. In 1981 she became a senior economic advisor and worked closely

with the late Pierre Elliot Trudeau until the end of his term in 1984.

In addition to continuing her career as a writer, Chong serves on the boards, task forces, and commit-

tees of several organizations including the ‘‘Task Force on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the

Federal Public Service,” the “National Advisory Board on Culture Online,” and the “McGill Institute for

the Study of Canada.”

Ms. Chong will be discussing the role of China in today’s world, as well as the developments in the

world’s newest superpower during and since the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989.

CATHERINE GILDINER

Thursday, January 14, 2010Catherine Gildiner was born in 1948 in Lewiston, New York, and came to Canada

in 1970. After completing an M.A. and a Ph.D. in psychology, she established her

private practice, and has worked as a clinical psychologist for more than 25 years.

She also writes journalistic pieces for various newspapers and a monthly column

for Chatelaine magazine.

In 1999, Ms. Gildiner published her first book, a humorous memoir of her

childhood called Too Close to the Falls. The story is told through the eyes of young

Cathy McClure (Gildiner) who, at the age of four, is put to work assisting the

deliveryman who works for her father’s pharmacy, in order to curb what the local

pediatrician considers her hyperactivity. In her upcoming release, titled After the

Falls, Catherine Gildiner recounts her remarkable coming-of-age in the 1960s through the same charac-

ter—as a cheerleader, vandal, HoJo hostess, civil rights demonstrator—with the same wit, candor and

exhilarating storytelling that has made Too Close to the Falls a modern classic.

Ms. Gildiner’s extraordinary personal story will provide the backdrop for this Fact or Fiction event

focusing on youth and activism (particularly in the 1960s) and the role both play today.

WAYSON CHOY

Thursday, February 25, 2010A former “Perspectives on Leadership” Lecturer, Wayson Choy is an award-winning

novelist, memoirist, short-story writer and social activist. Although he experienced

some success with his early short stories, Choy begin did not begin writing in

earnest until 1977. One of his short stories, The Jade Peony, was later expanded into

a full-length book, and was published as a novel in 1995. The Jade Peony is an inti-

mate portrait of an immigrant family living in Vancouver during WWII. After

spending six months on The Globe and Mail’s bestseller list, it won the 1996 City of

Vancouver Book Award. Mr. Choy also shared he 1996 Trillium Book Award with

Margaret Atwood.

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Following the success of his first novel, Choy published his second book, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown

Childhood, in 1999. Winner of the Edna Staebler Creative Non-Fiction Award in 2000, Choy's memoir was

also nominated for the Governor General’s Award, and was named as a 1999 notable book of the year by

The Globe & Mail. His third book, All That Matters, revisits the story of the Chen family, this time from the

eldest son's point of view. Kiam-Kim immigrates to Canada as a small boy, and grows up struggling to

contend with the intergenerational pressures and cultural anxieties that come with his new life in

Vancouver. All That Matters was awarded the Trillium Book Award for 2004, and was shortlisted for the

2004 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Choy’s fifth novel, Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying was released in Canada on March 31,

2009, and was the inspiration for his extraordinarily well-received “Perspectives on Leadership” Lecture in

March of 2009.

Mr. Choy will be returning to UTSC to discuss systemic racism, and the role that the youth of today

can play in the battle for equality.

DIALOGUES

Dialogues features presentations and discussions by experts, critics and commentators on topics and issues

affecting the local community, broader society and the world in general. This series will offer students the

opportunity to enhance their understanding of critical issues and to share their insights and experiences as

they relate to these issues. The objective of the series is to provide students the opportunity to learn new

perspectives, challenge their own assumptions and engage in expressive, respectful dialogue over potentially

contentious issues. Through discussion, it is our hope that students will work towards collective solutions

to macro- and micro-level challenges that affect us all everyday.

Each event will feature a 60-75 minute presentation by a respected authority on a particular issue, followed

by break out discussions (10-12 people in each) facilitated by student leaders and/or graduate students.

The anticipated audience for each event is 100-150 students.

Dialogues is featured as part of the Global and Community Leadership Series, which is dedicated to

examining contemporary issues that are sure to challenge young leaders as they move into the future. The

series aims to provide students with a deeper understanding of global and community issues and a way to

relate those issues to their own values and goals within an anti-oppressive framework.

This inaugural Dialogues Series will feature:

MONIA MAZIGH

Thursday, October 15, 2009Monia Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991.

She holds a Ph.D. in finance from McGill University and speaks Arabic, French and

English fluently. She has worked at the University of Ottawa and taught at

Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia.

On September 26, 2002, Maher Arar (Mazigh’s husband) boarded an American

Airlines plane bound for New York, returning early from vacation with his family

because of work commitments. Arar was detained by immigration officials at JFK airport in New York on

suspicions of links to terrorism. Subsequently, he was questioned, held without access to a lawyer and ulti-

mately deported to Syria. He would remain there, tortured and imprisoned for over one year.

Upon her return to Canada from Tunisia, Monia began a tireless campaign to bring public attention

and government action to her husband’s plight, eventually turning the tide of public opinion in Arar’s

favour and gaining his release and return to Canada. Her experiences are accounted in her memoir, Hope

and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar.

Ms. Mazigh will share her remarkable story of personal courage and discuss the ease with which sup-

posedly “developed” countries can, and will, deny and discard human rights.

THOMAS HOMER-DIXON

Tuesday, November 3, 2009Thomas Homer-Dixon holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation

Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo,

Canada, and is a Professor in the Centre for Environment and Business in the

Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo.

He was born in Victoria, British Columbia and received his B.A. in political

science from Carleton University in 1980 and his Ph.D. from MIT in international

relations and defense and arms control policy in 1989. He then moved to the

University of Toronto to lead several research projects studying the links between

environmental stress and violence in developing countries. Recently, his research

has focused on threats to global security in the 21st century and on how societies adapt to complex eco-

nomic, ecological, and technological change.

His books include The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, which won

the 2006 National Business Book Award, The Ingenuity Gap, which won the 2001 Governor General's Non-

fiction Award, and Environment, Scarcity, which won the Caldwell Prize of the American Political Science

Association. He has also twice briefed Al Gore during his tenure as Vice President of the United States.

Dr. Homer-Dixon will come to UTSC to discuss the issues raised in his most recent book, Carbon

Shift: How the Twin Crises of Oil Depletion and Climate Change Will Define the Future. Dr. Homer-Dixon

argues that the twin crises of climate change and peaking oil production are really one: a carbon problem.


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JOHN IBBITSON

Tuesday, February 11, 2010John Ibbitson is the Washington columnist and correspondent for The

Globe & Mail, and the author of three earlier works of political analysis,

including The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream. His writ-

ing has been shortlisted for the Donner Prize, the Governor General's

Award, the National Newspaper Award, the Trillium Award and the City

of Toronto Book Award.

In November of 2008 America elected its first black president.

Canada, too, went to the polls that month. Ibbitson argues that the result of the US election was electric,

energizing, and represents a profoud changes in American politics. Barack Obama may well be just the

man to rescue the republic from its many serious woes. The result of the Canadian election was, he says, as

flaccid as the campaign itself: another Conservative minority government that shortly afterward tripped

over its own hubris, causing a major political tempest in the Ottawa teapot. The elections and their after-

maths tell us two crucial things: One, America is still capable of slamming on the brakes and putting itself

back on the right track. Two, in Canada, something has gone so seriously wrong with our leadership it's

time to sound the alarm. These arguments are expanded in his recent book, Open & Shut: Why America Has

Barack Obama and Canada Has Stephen Harper.

Mr. Ibbitson comes to campus this February to engage the UTSC community in some tough ques-

tions about our national leadership.

ARNE KISLENKO

Mid-March 2010Arne Kislenko is Associate Professor of History at Ryerson University and Adjunct

Professor in the International Relations Program at the Munk Centre for

International Studies at the University of Toronto. His teaching focus is on 19th

and 20th century international relations, and includes courses on the two world

wars, the Cold War, the history of espionage, comparative foreign policy, globaliza-

tion, and culture/identity/nationalities.

He has won several awards for his teaching, including Ryerson University's first

President's Award for Teaching Excellence (2007), the inaugural Province of

Ontario Leadership in Faculty Teaching (LIFT) Award (2007), and being named as an Honourary Member

of the Golden Key Society (2006). In Fall 2005, TV Ontario named him Ontario’s “Best Lecturer.”

Dr. Kislenko was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He graduated with an Honours B.A. in

History and Politics (1987) and an M.A. in History (1988), both from the University of Western Ontario.

Arne completed his Ph.D. in History at the University of Toronto (2000) while teaching at Ryerson and

U of T and working with Canada Immigration at Lester B. Pearson Airport. He served there for 12 years

as a Senior Officer, dealing with many high profile and national security cases.


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He appears regularly in the media commenting on current affairs, including U.S. foreign policy, national

security, terrorism, immigration, and modern diplomatic history. He will be visiting UTSC to discuss

national security in a changing world, drawing on his decade of experience with Immigration Canada.

JEFF RUBIN

Late March 2010 Jeff Rubin was the chief economist and chief strategist at CIBC World Markets. He

was one of the first economists to accurately predict soaring oil prices back in

2000, and is now one of the world’s most sought-after energy experts. His newest

book, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, was the #1 best-selling

book on Amazon.com in the spring of 2009.

What do subprime mortgages, Atlantic salmon dinners, SUVs and globalization

have in common? According to Rubin, they all depend on cheap oil. And in a

world of dwindling oil supplies and steadily mounting demand, there is no such

thing as cheap oil. Oil might be less expensive in the middle of a recession, but it

will never be cheap again.

Rubin claims that if you eliminate cheap oil, the global economy is going to get the shock of its life.

Interest rates, carbon trading, inflation, farmers’ markets and the wave of trade protectionism washing up all

over the world in the wake of various economic stimulus and bailout packages—they all hinge on the

new realities of a world where demand for oil eventually outstrips supply.

In his new book, Rubin also claims there will be no energy bailout. The global economy has suffered

oil crises in the past, but this time around the rules have changed. And that means the future is not going

to be a continuation of the past. For generations nations have built wealth by burning more and more oil.

Our cars, our homes, our whole world has been getting bigger in the cheap-oil era. Now it is about to get

smaller.

One of the world’s most dynamic minds will be coming to UTSC to demonstrate why, whether we

like it or not, our world is about to get a whole lot smaller.

INSIDE THE LEADERS’ CIRCLE

Through one-on-one interviews, Inside the Leaders’ Circle explores the amazing stories, experiences, and

insights of individuals with diverse life and leadership experiences, while also asking for their input on the

critical issues affecting our society. The purpose of Inside the Leaders’ Circle—like the Leadership

Development Program as a whole—is to inspire participants to make a positive impact on their own lives

and the lives of others.

Moderated by Drew Dudley, Coordinator of the Leadership Development Program, this series can be

structured in one of the following formats:


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1) A question-and-answer format in which the moderator leads a discussion with the guest(s)

from start to finish, and asks pre-arranged/discussed questions regarding their experiences and

insight.

2) A 20- to 30-minute presentation by the guest, which provides context to their experiences

and insights. The moderator follows the presentation by asking the guest(s) pre-

arranged/discussed questions about their comments as well as other aspects of his or her life.

The Leadership Development Program will welcome the following guests Inside the Leaders’ Circle in

2009-2010:

JAN WONG

Tuesday, October 6, 2009Jan Wong was the much-acclaimed Beijing correspondent for The Globe and Mail

from 1988 to 1994. She is a graduate of McGill University, Beijing University and

the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is the recipient of a

(US) George Polk Award, the New England Women’s Press Association

Newswoman of the Year Award, the (Canadian) National Newspaper Award and a

Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Silver Medal, among other honors for her report-

ing. Wong has also written for The New York Times, The Gazette in Montreal, The

Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal.

Her first book, Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now, was named

one of Time magazine’s top ten books of 1996 and remains banned in China. It has

been translated into Swedish, Finnish, Dutch and Japanese, and optioned for a feature film.

In 1972, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Wong was one of only two Westerners permitted to

enroll at Beijing University. There, she renounced rock music, wielded a pneumatic drill at a factory and

hauled pig manure in the paddy fields. She also met and married the only American draft dodger from the

Vietnam War in China. During those six years in China, she learned fluent Mandarin and earned a degree

in Chinese history.

From 1988 to 1994, Jan Wong returned as China correspondent for The Globe and Mail. In reporting

on the tumultuous new era of capitalist reforms under Deng Xiaoping, she reacquainted herself with old

friends and enemies from her radical past. In 1989, she dodged bullets in Tiananmen Square, fought off a

kidnapping attempt and caught the Chinese police red-handed driving her stolen Toyota as a squad car.

She returned to China in 1999 to make a documentary and to research her second book, Jan Wong’s

China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent. It tells the story of China’s headlong rush to capitalism

and offers fresh insight into a country that is forever changing.

Her most recent book, Beijing Confidential, was released in 2009.


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KAY REDFIELD JAMISON

Thursday, November 5, 2009Kay Redfield Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins

University School of Medicine as well as Honorary Professor of English

at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Jamison began her study of clinical psychology at University of

California, Los Angeles in the late 1960s, receiving both B.A. and M.A.

degrees in 1971. She continued on at UCLA, receiving a Ph.D. in 1975,

and became a faculty member at the university. She went on to found

and direct the school's Affective Disorders Clinic, a large teaching and

research facility for outpatient treatment. She also took sabbatical leave to

study zoology and neurophysiology at the University of St. Andrews.

It was during her time at UCLA that Jamison's manic depression took serious hold of her life and

helped determine her career path. Jamison would go on to discover a family history of manic depression

on her father's side, who himself was a likely sufferer of the illness. While a member of the psychiatry

department at UCLA and under treatment for her illness, Jamison attempted suicide.

She is the author of the national best sellers An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, Night

Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, and Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.

She is coauthor of the standard medical text on manic-depressive illness and author or coauthor of more

than one hundred scientific papers about mood disorders, creativity, and psychopharmacology. She has

been named one of the “Best Doctors in the United States” and was chosen by Time magazine as a “Hero

of Medicine.” She was also chosen as one of the five individuals for the public television series, “Great

Minds of Medicine.”

PETER MANSBRIDGE

Tuesday, November 24, 2009Born in London, England and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Peter Mansbridge

dropped out of high school and served in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1966 and

1967. However, it was while working as a luggage boy at an airport in Churchill,

Manitoba in 1968 that his future came calling.

A local radio executive heard his voice make a flight announcement, and

recruited Mansbridge to work at his station. From there, Mansbridge moved to

CBC Radio's northern service, still in Churchill, before moving to Winnipeg,

Manitoba in 1971 to continue as a reporter for CBC Radio and later as a reporter

for CBC Television.

In 1975, he became The National's reporter for Saskatchewan, and in 1976 he

became parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. Following a decade of political coverage, Mansbridge had


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become a substitute anchor for Knowlton Nash and, in 1988, was reportedly being recruited by U.S.

broadcaster CBS for a prominent position. Nash, in fact, voluntarily gave up his position as anchor later

that year, specifically so that Mansbridge would be promoted and remain in Canada.

During his tenure as anchor of The National, beginning May 1, 1988, he has covered Canadian news

stories including federal elections, party leadership conventions, the Meech Lake Accord negotiations, the

Charlottetown Accord and its referendum, the 1995 Quebec referendum, floods in Manitoba in 1997, ice

storms in Ontario and Quebec in 1998, the six days in September 2000 that marked the death and state

funeral of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the 2003 blackout across much of Eastern North America.

He has also anchored coverage of many world events, both in the studio and on the scene. In the

studio, he anchored coverage of the Gulf War, the War in Kosovo and the events surrounding September

11, 2001. He was on the air live when the 2003 invasion of Iraq began and anchored coverage of it. On

the scene, he anchored coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales and

Pope John Paul II, numerous royal, papal, and U.S. presidential visits to Canada, numerous Olympic

Games, and the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama. In 1999, he launched a new program,

Mansbridge One on One, in which he interviews global newsmakers including Desmond Tutu, Bill Gates

and Bill Clinton.

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Peter Mansbridge has interviewed most of the world’s most notable

leaders, and covered some of the most important national and global events of the past half century.

L ISA GABRIELE

Tuesday, December 1, 2009Lisa Gabriele is the author of the critically acclaimed Canadian bestseller Tempting

Faith DiNapoli. Her essays and fiction have appeared in several anthologies, includ-

ing The Best American Non-required Reading, Sex and Sensibility, Don’t You Forget About

Me, When I Was a Loser and 2033: The Future of Misbehavior.

Her writing has appeared in The New York Times,The Washington Post, Vice

magazine, Salon, Glamour and Babble, among other publications. She’s a regular con-

tributor to Nerve, wrote CBC Radio’s The Current for several years and is currently

the Senior Producer on CBC Television’s The Dragons’ Den.

Gabrielle is from Belle River, Ontario, and has lived in Dawson City, Buenos

Aires, New York City and Washington, D.C. She currently lives in Toronto.


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GABOR MATÉ

Tuesday, February 9, 2010Gabor Maté, M.D. is the author of the bestselling books Scattered Minds and When

the Body Says No, which have been published in ten languages on five conti-

nents–and co-author, with Gordon Neufeld, of Hold On To Your Kids. His most-

recent book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, sheds light on the confusing and often

terrifying world of addiction.

Dr. Maté is the former medical columnist for The Globe and Mail, where his

byline continues to be seen on issues of health and parenting. Dr. Maté has had a

family practice, worked as a palliative care physician and, most recently, with the

addicted men and women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. There his

patients are challenged by life-threatening drug addictions, mental illness, Hepatitis

C or HIV and, in many cases, all four.

In his books, Dr. Maté looks at his own history of compulsive behaviour, and weaves the stories of real

people who have struggled with addiction with the latest research on addiction and the brain. He is able

to provide a bold synthesis of clinical experience, insight and cutting edge scientific findings, and in doing

so, shed light on this most puzzling of human frailties: addiction. He proposes a compassionate approach

to helping drug addicts and, for the many behaviour addicts among us, to addressing the void addiction is

meant to fill.

ELIZABETH MAY

Early February 2010Elizabeth May is an environmentalist, writer, activist and lawyer. She is the author

of seven books and the recipient of numerous awards, including being named an

Officer of the Order of Canada. Since her 2006 election as leader of the Green

Party of Canada, she has led the party to an unprecedented level of support among

Canadians.

Ms. May recently released her new book, Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and

the Crisis in Canadian Democracy. In it, she offers an insider’s view of the ills that

beset our federal politics and the changes wrought over the past three decades that

created this present state.

She explains that a presidential-style Prime Minister now exists without the

checks and balances of either the US or the Canadian systems. Attack ads run all the time, not just during

elections. Backbenchers and cabinet ministers alike are muzzled. Committees, the workhorses of govern-

ment, are deadlocked. Civility has completely disappeared from the House of Commons, replaced by

juvenile cat-calling. And the RCMP have run roughshod over a federal election and never been properly

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ALANNA MITCHELL

Tuesday, March 9, 2010Alanna Mitchell was the science and environment reporter at The Globe and Mail

for 14 years, until she left daily journalism to devote herself to writing on science.

In 2000, she was named the best environmental reporter in the world by the

Reuters Foundation and, in 2002, was invited to undertake a guest fellowship at

Oxford University. Out of this came her first book, Dancing at the Dead Sea, pub-

lished in 2004. Mitchell is an associate at the International Institute for Sustainable

Development and is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on environmental issues.

Alanna Mitchell’s most recent book, Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis, exam-

ines the current state of the world’s oceans—the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet—and the

fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation

and, of course, the life within them.

Ms. Mitchell will join us to discuss her experiences joining the crews of leading scientists in nine of

the global ocean’s hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening around the world. Whether it’s the

impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of

Mexico, or the shocking implications of the changing Ph balance of the sea, Mitchell will explain the

science behind the story in what is sure to be an engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.

ADRIA VASIL

Tuesday, March 23, 2010Adria Vasil has been writing the Ecoholic column for NOW Magazine since the

spring of 2004 and has covered environmental issues for NOW’s news section for

four years. Vasil has a degree in development politics and cultural anthropology from

the University of Toronto and a degree in magazine journalism from Ryerson. An

advocate for the earth, women’s issues and human rights since her teens, Vasil has

appeared on MTV Canada and CBC’s Newsworld to promote environmentalism.

Adria Vasil's lectures are fun, informative and well-attended. Her typical audi-

ence is comprised of urbanites and suburbanites, young and old and environmen-

talists and the uninitiated alike. Bright, optimistic and plainspoken, she doesn't just

talk about buying smarter products. She highlights the power in each of us to affect

change, both as consumers and as citizens—to look critically at the world, to ask questions (she'll show us

which ones, and to whom to ask them) and to act accordingly.

Adria Vasil's book, Ecoholic, has become a surprising national bestseller—a nifty, enjoyable and authori-

tative go-to guide for the thousands of us who are making the conscious effort to live greener, smarter,

healthier lives. Through her simple, readable and comprehensive book, her green advice column, her public

lectures and her appearances on television, Vasil helps regular people decipher legitimately green products

and choices from the marketing greenwash now flooding store shelves.


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PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP LECTURE SERIES

The Perspectives on Leadership Lecture Series features high-profile, award-winning guest speakers whose

perspectives, experiences, and messages reinforce the belief that we can all make a difference in our own

lives and the lives of others.

From high-profile business and political leaders to fellow students who are making a difference in the

world – the Perspectives on Leadership Lecture Series gives students the opportunity to hear and be

inspired by some of Canada’s most dynamic leaders.

Since the inception of the Series in January of 2007, students have had the chance to hear stories of

overcoming adversity in the form of sexism, a faulty set of heart and lungs, war torn countries and the

immensity that is the Canadian countryside. They’ve heard perspectives on how to more effectively engage

in the democratic process, save the planet, and lead a massive corporation.

The Department of Student Life is thrilled to be able to continue to offer students the opportunity to

hear from some of the world’s most incredible people in 2009-2010:

DOUGLAS COUPLAND

Thursday, September 24, 2009A writer, sculptor, designer, architect and social commentator, Douglas Coupland is

one of the great Canadian minds of the past half-century. He has written 12 novels,

some of which are currently being used as case studies in classes taught at the

University of Toronto Scarborough.

Born on a Canadian Air Force base near Baden-Baden, Germany in 1961,

Coupland moved to Vancouver in 1965 with his family, where he continues to live and

work. He has studied art and design in Vancouver, Canada, Milan, Italy and Sapporo,

Japan. His first novel, Generation X, was published in March of 1991, and gave rise to

such pop-culture terms as “McJob” and “Generation X.” Since then he has published

ten novels and several non-fiction books in 35 languages and most countries on earth.

He has written and performed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England, and in 2001

resumed his practice as a visual artist, with exhibitions in spaces in North America, Europe and Asia. 2006

marked the premiere of the feature film Everything’s Gone Green, his first story written specifically for the

screen and not adapted from any previous work. In 2007 Coupland’s novel, jPod, was adapted into a series

of thirteen one-hour episodes for the CBC. In April of 2009 a new clock tower designed by Coupland

was opened at the Don Mills Shopping Centre, and the ribbon will be cut on the Coupland-designed

“Toronto Park” near the Gardiner Expressway in September of 2009

His next novel, Generation A, will be published in the UK, Canada and US in fall of 2009. Mr.

Coupland rarely makes public addresses, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear one of Canada’s

most influential and interesting authors share his perspectives on life and leadership.


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MICHAEL “PINBALL” CLEMONS

Late JanuaryRenowned as one of pro football's most electrifying players, Toronto Argonauts running back Michael

“Pinball” Clemons was the CFL's all-time all purpose yardage leader. However, it is his exceptional charac-

ter, in addition to his outstanding athletic ability, which has made him the remarkable fan favourite he is

throughout Canada. Pinball’s tireless community involvement and participation in countless charitable

causes exemplify the qualities he possesses, which are so rarely found in today's professional athletes.

He has used his superb leadership and communication skills in his former roles of Coach and

President of the Toronto Argonauts—and now as the CEO of the franchise. In September 2008, Clemons

was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Pinball’s presentations are at once captivating and empowering, and clearly demonstrate the capabilities

of teamwork. At only 5' 6" and 170 pounds, he also inspires his audiences by illustrating what is possible

and what it means to beat the odds. Michael Clemons communicates his heartfelt stories with a passionate

spirit and his patented, contagious smile. Join us during the cold of January to be energized by the conta-

gious spirit of one of Canada’s most beloved leaders.


2009–2010 guest speaker overview...leadership development program 2009–2010 guest speaker...

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