President's Speakers Series

The annual President's Speakers Series brings noted speakers from across Canada and around the globe to campus to address issues of current interest or importance.

Open to Mount Allison students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members.


2023-2024 Academic Year

Doug Murphy

Thursday, March 7, 2024, 7 p.m.
Windsor Grand Room

How storytelling shapes culture to deliver success and happiness

Doug Murphy is President and Chief Executive Officer of Corus Entertainment Inc. Corus is a leading Canadian-based media and content company with a portfolio of multimedia offerings encompassing 33 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a suite of digital assets, a full-service social digital agency, animation software, technology and media services.

Corus is an established creator of globally distributed content through Nelvana animation studio, Corus Studios, and children’s book publishing house Kids Can Press. The company also owns innovative full-service social digital agency so.da, and lifestyle entertainment company Kin Canada. In 2016, Doug led the company’s transformational acquisition of Shaw Media.

Doug has over 30 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. He joined Corus in 2003 and has held numerous senior management positions at the company.

Previously, Doug served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the company’s Radio and Television divisions. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and President of Corus Television, where he oversaw the company’s portfolio of television brands.

Earlier in his tenure at Corus, Doug served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Corus Kids, and President of Nelvana and Nelvana Enterprises.

Before joining Corus, Doug spent ten years with the Walt Disney Company in a variety of senior executive positions in Canada, the United States, and Japan.

Doug is a member of the Business Council of Canada. He attended Mount Allison and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an HBA from the Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario.

Supported by the Botsford-Westmorland Lecture Fund.

Kim TallBear

Thursday, March 14, 2024, 7 p.m.
Windsor Grand Room and virtual (Teams)

Restoring Indigenous Land and Life via Critical Indigenous Genomics

Kim TallBear is a prominent academic and public figure, deeply rooted in her Indigenous heritage. Hailing from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate in present-day South Dakota, USA and eligible for citizenship in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Kim's upbringing was shaped by her ancestral lands and family ties.

Raised on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe reservation and in St. Paul, Minnesota by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Kim's early years instilled in her a strong sense of identity and community.

In 2015, Kim embarked on a new journey, immigrating to Canada to join the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta as a Professor.

Recognized for her expertise, she was appointed as a Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment, later elevated to a Tier I CRC in the same field. Alongside her colleagues in the Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society (I-STS) research group, Kim focuses on Indigenous peoples' interactions with science and technology, prioritizing Indigenous sovereignty.

Before her academic career, Kim trained in community and environmental planning, working on various projects related to tribal government interests and human genetic research implications.
 
She holds a PhD in History of Consciousness from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she explored the intersection of Native American DNA and genetic ancestry testing.

Kim's research spans the colonization of Indigenous peoples by science and technology, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous governance in the face of technoscientific advancements. Her advocacy extends beyond academia, co-founding the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING) Canada and the Oak Lake Writers, amplifying Indigenous voices and narratives.

In recent years, Kim's work has expanded to include colonial disruptions to Indigenous sexual and kin relations, challenging compulsory marriage and heteronormative constructs in settler-colonial societies. She co-founded the Tipi Confessions, an Edmonton-based storytelling and cabaret show, to address these issues in a culturally relevant manner.

As a respected public intellectual, Kim contributes to global academic and popular discourse on Indigenous affairs, cultural politics, and decolonization.

Whether through her Substack newsletter, Unsettle, her regular appearances on the Media Indigena podcast, or her engaging presence on Twitter, she continues to champion Indigenous perspectives and advocate for meaningful change.

Supported by the Wilford Jonah Lecture Fund.