University of Regina hosting Humanities Summit

News Release Release Date: April 9, 2013 3:00 p.m.

The University of Regina is hosting a summit on the Humanities and Social Sciences, with leaders from across the Prairie Region meeting to discuss the need for economic development in balance with the need to support cultural awareness, meaningful employment and education. More than 30 leaders from the public, private and educational sectors will be taking part in the discussions. 

The summit - Balance and Change in the 21st Century - will be held in Regina on April 17, 2013. The summit includes ‘town-hall’ presentations, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Campion Auditorium, by Dr. Chad Gaffield and Dr. Antonia Maioni on the vital importance of the Humanities and Social Sciences in today’s rapidly changing world. The event is followed by a roundtable discussions with invited leaders from government, industry, and academia from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Hotel Saskatchewan.

“Many of the challenges facing our world, such as race relations, will be solved not by technology, but by leaders from the Humanities and Social Sciences – and that’s why it so important that there is more discussion,” explains Dr. David Malloy, associate vice-president of research at the University of Regina, the lead organizer of the summit.

The summit is being supported by the Prairie Regional Consortium, which includes 11 universities across the Prairie region, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS) and the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Regina.

The roundtable discussion will be led by Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of SSHRC, and will include brief presentations on the state of the humanities and social sciences in Canada.

In conjunction with the summit, the Dr. Barbara Powell Memorial Lecture on the evening of April 17, at 7:30 at the University of Regina (Campion Auditorium). The guest speaker will be by Dr. Antonia Maioni, the President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Maioni’s lecture will raise awareness of the fundamental importance of the Humanities in creating a society that is balanced, empathetic and tolerant.