Distinguished lectures

Under the auspices of the Office of the President, the President's Distinguished Lectures Committee brings speakers of international renown to campus to speak on issues of interest to the community. Speakers have included Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis; former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson; academic writer and broadcaster Michael Ignatieff; international affairs expert Lloyd Axworthy; Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar; First Nations leader Georges Erasmus; Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi; experimental physicist and peace activist Ursula Franklin, and author Doris Lessing.

Earlier President's distinguished lectures

• Jean-Bosco Butera
• Ronald Wright
• Maher Arar, Monia Mazigh and Stephen Toope, moderated by Andrew Petter
• Shirin Ebad
• Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond

In the Fall of 2006, the President's Distinguished Lectures were transformed into the "Centennial Lectures Series" in celebration of the centennials of the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich. Lectures were held on 12 October by Roy Romanow (former Saskatchewan Premier), 7 November by Dr. Wade Davis (noted Anthropologist and Ethnobotanist) and on 17 November by Stephen Lewis (Politician, Broadcaster and Diplomat). All ticket proceeds went ot the Oak Bay and Saanich Centennial Scholarship Fund at UVic.  

View the Distinguished lectures archive.