Published on October 18, 2016 | by Krystin Lucas Photography by courtesy of Humber College

President’s Lecture Series student appeal

Despite the student population at the University of Guelph-Humber and Humber College being over 30,000 students combined, the President’s Lecture Series seem to attract audiences between only 60 and 70 people.

The President’s Lecture Series are seminars that are held by the school of liberal art’s and sciences at Humber College. They bring in public figures to speak about educational topics that respond to the interests of the school community.

On Sept. 29th, Professor Keith Vanderlinde’s lecture series on his work in astronomy and physics drew in a small crowd of 45 people.

The President’s Lecture Series committee attempt to select guest speakers that will appeal to the interests of the entire student body however, “We pick speakers more for specific programs…but we do hope that our speakers have a general appeal…we think about which programs at the college will be interested.” said Ian Gerrie, chairman for the President’s Lecture Series committee.

Students can pitch ideas for guest speakers, however, the Lecture Series Committee, consisting of five members, ultimately makes the final decision. They choose after reviewing the guest speaker’s intellectual appeal and presentation abilities, according to Gerrie.

“The next talk is a business one, so I’m not really sure I’ll be that interested…I’m definitely more into science” said Janani Jeyaraman a web design student at Humber who attended Keith Vanderlinde’s seminar. “But because I’m not in physics anymore…I felt like this [talk] was something I had to see…since I did my undergrad degree in math and physics.”

The committee does a lot in terms of promotion for these events. The events are promoted through posters, mass student and faculty emails, professors’ suggestions in classes as well as on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

“I found out about it from my program coordinator. She announces things like that,” said Trisha Ocaba, a general arts and science student at Humber. “I got interested in things like this from the discovery of gravitational waves, so I thought I might as well see what’s out there…”

Though there is a lack of physical presence during these lecture series, there has been a significant gain in the online audience through the use of live streams and archived videos.

“I’ve noticed we’ve had an increase since we’ve made those platforms more accessible to people, and more people seem to be using it…so even if we have talks that have smaller numbers at them, I’m always pretty confident that our online viewership is still reasonably high.” Gerrie said. “Sometimes professors tie these talks in with an assignment or something like that, so you’ll see a big spike in views for certain speakers, where you won’t see that with others.”

Whether the low attendance is due to lack of interest or because it is easier and more convenient for students to access talks online, the Lecture Series Committee continues to widen its variety of speakers in hope of attracting more students.

About the Author

Krystin Lucas is a journalism student with a passion for everything music, pop culture and entertainment. Krystin hopes to one day work as an entertainment television personality.