Lectures by Topic
Since 2013 HTAL has been offering high quality lectures for retired citizens who espouse lifelong learning. The lectures offer diverse perspectives under the umbrella of Understanding the 21st Century and focus on defined categories supporting this theme.
The Arts and Humanities
- Alvin Lee: The Humanities in the 21st Century - Fall 2013
- Patrick Deane: Answering the University’s Critics - Spring 2014
- Louise Dompierre: The Future of Art Galleries - Spring 2014
- James Sommerville: Live Music in the 21st Century - Spring 2014
- Jackie Maxwell: Theatre in the 21st Century - Fall 2014
- Barry Hughson: An Innovation Agenda for the National Ballet - Spring 2015
- Antonio Cimolino: Victory and After - Fall 2015
- Heather Bambrick: Jazz: Music of the People - Fall 2016
- Gemma New: Subject to Interpretation - Spring 2017
- Don Thompson: Irrationalities, Nudges and Bubbles in the Contemporary Art Market - Fall 2018
- Vivian Lewis: Putting Bertrand Russell in His Place - Spring 2019
- Abigail Richardson-Schulte: From Silence to Full Orchestra: My Life & Music - Fall 2019
- Gabriella Marceau: Motion Picture Censorship - Winter 2021
- Adam Nayman: Contradictory Morality and Humour of the Coen Brothers’ Movies - Winter 2021
- Tim Carroll: The Shaw Festival’s Next 60 Years - Fall 2021
- Dr. Ellen Ryan: Late Life Creativity for Artists and Amateurs - Winter 2022
- Astrid Hepner: An Instrument for Every Child - Spring 2022
- Nathan Fleet: The Filmmaking Scene in the Hammer - Winter 2023
- Tobi Bruce: Tom Thomson? The Art of Authentication - Spring 2024
- Gary Draper: Life on the Page: Reflections on the Joys of Reading - Spring 2024
- Graham Rockingham: Hamilton, City of Music? - Spring 2025
Biology, Medicine and Health Care
- Dan Dunsky: Social Media Revolution - Spring 2013
- Jack Pasternak: High Hopes for Personalized Medicine - Spring 2013
- Sandra Witelson: Sex Differences in the Brain: Their Consequences - Spring 2013
- Geoff Norman: How Doctors Think - Fall 2013
- Mick Bhatia: Human Stem Cells - Spring 2014
- Francesca Grosso: Navigating the Health Care System - Fall 2014
- Laurel Trainor: Music and the Brain - Fall 2014
- Jack Pasternak: Understanding Human Diversity in the 21st Century - Fall 2015
- Mehran Anvari: Robots in Surgery - Spring 2015
- Kevin Smith: The Elusive Pursuit of Integrated Care and Caring - Spring 2015
- Jean Clinton: What’s the Fuss about the Early Years? - Spring 2016
- John Buttars: Medical Assistance in Dying - Fall 2016
- Ann Herring: The Coming Plague - Fall 2016
- Norm Buckley: Patient Engagement in Chronic Pain Research - Spring 2017
- John Bienenstock: Bacteria and Behaviour - Fall 2017
- Ellen Ryan: Fostering Resilient Aging - Fall 2017
- Richard Heinzl: From Hamilton Mountain to the Frontlines of Humanitarian Aid & the Frontiers of Medicine - Spring 2018
- Alison Sekuler: Vision, Aging and the Brain - Spring 2018
- Stanley Zlotkin: Solving a Global Nutritional Challenge - Fall 2018
- Anne Martin-Matthews: The Future is Aging - Spring 2019
- Mark Poznansky: How Synthetic Biology will Change the World - Spring 2019
- Peter Beiling: The Kids are all Right? Innovations in Youth Mental Health & Services - Fall 2019
- Karen Kidd: What Happens Once We Flush the Toilet? Impacts of our Drugs on Aquatic Life - Fall 2019
- Dr. Greg Rutledge: Covid-19 Experience - Fall 2020
- Dr. Bill Scarth: The Aging Population, the Pandemic and Fiscal Policy - Fall 2020
- Dr. Gerry Wright: Are We Approaching a Post-Antibiotic Era? - Fall 2020
- Sharron Johnston: Humour Your Stress; plus documentary “Laughing and Crying” - Winter 2021
- Karen Mossman: Viruses: Friend or Foe- Fall 2021
- Dr. Jennifer Heisz: Move the Body, Heal the Mind - Winter 2022
- Dr. James McKillop: Medical Cannabis – How Effective? - Winter 2022
- Kristen Parise: Sex, Chocolate and Your Pelvic Floor - Winter 2022
- Zain Chagla: Coronavirus: Past, Present and Future - Spring 2022
- Dr. Sheila Singh: Developing Novel Immunotherapies for Patients With Glioblastoma - Spring 2022
- Sean Wharton: Managing Elevated Weight As We Age - Spring 2022
- Dr. Harriet MacMillan: Recognizing and Responding to Family Violence - Fall 2022
- Andre Picard: Neglected No More - Long Term Health Care - Fall 2022
- Hendrik Poinar: The Causes and Consequences of the Black Death - Fall 2022
- Dr. Gerry Wright: Infections and Society: The McMaster Global Nexus Initiative - Fall 2022
- Dr. Norm Buckley: Coping with Chronic Pain - Winter 2023
- Dr. Randi McCabe: Coping with Anxiety - Winter 2023
- Dawn Bowdish: The Perils of Being Born in the Fall: How Infectious Disease and Vaccines Impact Life from Birth to Death - Fall 2023
- Christina Walton: Good Grief! – We all live With Loss - Winter 2024
- Dr. Sammy Winemaker: Hope for the Best, Plan for the Rest - Fall 2024
- Dr. Sarah Lepage: Transforming Healthcare: The Groundbreaking Impact of Cell and Gene Therapies - Spring 2025
- Jon Stokes: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Antibiotic Discovery Fast and Cheap - Fall 2025
- Mark Poznansky: The Future of Food - Fall 2025
- Lori Letts: NORCs: Creating Supports for Aging in Place - Fall 2025
- Dawn Bowdish: Are Gut Microbes the Key to a Long, Healthy Life? - Spring 2026
- Dr. Parminder Raina: Canada Is Getting Older – and More Diverse. What That Means for the Future of Healthy Aging - Spring 2026
Cities
- Joe Berridge: Living in the Big City - Spring 2014
- Terry Cooke: Hamilton in the 21st Century - Spring 2015
- Paul Johnson: A City is not Great…Until It Is Great for Everyone - Spring 2016
- Richard Harris: Hamilton on the Cusp - Spring 2017
- Matti Siemiatycki: Infrastructure Decision-Making in Ontario - Fall 2017
- David Crombie:Greater Golden Horseshoe (Next 25 Years) - Fall 2017
- Nancy Bouchier & Ken Cruickshank: People and the Bay: Hamilton Harbour Then and Now - Spring 2018
- Doug Saunders: Maximum Hamilton: The Past, Present and Future Of the Region’s Population History - Spring 2018
- David Galbraith - Cultural Landscapes and Sense of Place: RBG as a Case Study - Fall 2018
- Steven Buist: Code Red: What do the Vital Signs Tell Us About Our City? - Spring 2019
- Ty Shattuck: Vision for MIP in the Coming Years - Spring 2022
- Paul Takala: The Evolution of the Library in the 21st Century - Fall 2022
- Bill Curran: The Idea of North - Contemporary Canadian Architecture - Spring 2023
- Tom Rand: The Case for Climate Capitalism – Economic Solutions for a Planet in Crisis - Spring 2024
- Ian Hamilton: Past Currents, Future Waves: The Evolution of Hamilton’s Port - Winter 2025
- Karla Boluk: Last Chance Tourism: How Do We Create Positive Impacts in Destination Communities? - Winter 2025
- Rochelle Bush: Escape to Niagara: Exploring people, places and events along the Freedom Trail. - Winter 2025
- Paul Armstrong: Mohawk College: Our Community’s Hidden Gem - Winter 2026
- Keanin Loomis: Hamilton’s Past, Present and Future in Steel: Is This Tradition Worth Preserving? - Winter 2026
Climate Change
- Andrew Miall: An Earth Sciences Perspective - Fall 2013
- Gordon McBean: Climate Change - Fall 2014
- Savitri Jetoo: Avoiding the Ostrich Syndrome to Climate Change - Fall 2015
- Bob McNutt: Fracking: Its Character and Consequences - Spring 2016
- Simon Donner: Living Islands - Spring 2017
- Catherine McKenna: Issues pf the Environment and Climate Change - Fall 2018
- Manzoor Qadir: Looking Beyond Conventional Water Resources - Spring 2019
- David Novog: Confronting Climate Change - Identifying the Pathways to Net Zero 2050 - Fall 2021
- Judy Major-Girardin: A Watershed Moment: Greening McMaster’s Campus for Teaching and Research - Spring 2023
- Jim Willwerth: Implications of Climate Change on Niagara’s Grape and Wine Industry - Fall 2023
- Eric Kennedy: A Country Aflame: Learning to Live with Wildfire - Winter 2024
- David Crombie: Ontario Greenbelt – Yours to Defend - Fall 2024
- David Phillips: After 50 years, Finding Hope in the Climate Crisis - Fall 2025
General Interest
- Tyson Lambert: Recipes for Valentines - Winter 2021
- Paul Zammit: Gardening for the Soul - Winter 2022
- Paul Zammit: Container Gardening - Winter 2023
- Antonio Nicaso: Hamilton Underworld: Unmasking the Mafia’s Hidden History. - Winter 2024
- Lorraine Sommerfeld: Electric Cars: Sorting Out the Hype from the Facts - Winter 2024
- Michael Ridley: Artificial Intelligence 101: New Friend or Robot Overlord? - Winter 2024
- Rhoda Howard-Hassmann: Reparations to Africa and African Americans/Canadians - Spring 2024
- Kelly Daynard: The Changing Face of Food and Farming in Canada - Fall 2024
- Stephen Heathorn: Unhooding the Hangman: Honest Applicants for an Odious Job - Fall 2025
- Drew Hayden Taylor: Surfing Down the White Water of Indigenous Literature - Winter 2026
- Marcie Jacklin: Birding: Counting The Life Lessons - Winter 2026
Global and Canadian Politics and Economics
- Martin Horn: Understanding the Economic Crisis - Spring 2013
- Virginia Aksan: Turkey in a Dangerous Neighbourhood - Fall 2013
- Atif Kubursi: The Arab Spring - Fall 3013
- David Mulroney: China and Canadian Foreign Policy - Fall 2014
- Bill Scarthe: Income Inequality - Spring 2015
- Charlotte Yates: Sticks and Carrots: Government and Labour In the Canadian Auto Industry - Spring 2015
- Matthew Mendelsohn: The 2015 Federal Election: The Stakes for Ontario - Fall 2015
- Kasi Rao: India’s Rise: Implications for Canada - Spring 2016
- Jennifer Clapp: Trade: Opportunity or Threat for Global Food Security - Fall 2016
- Stephen Heathorn: The Ruin of the 20th Century Returns: Brexit and the Revival of European Exclusionary Nationalism - Spring 2017
- Hugh Segal: Canada and the Two Freedoms - Spring 2017
- Renu Mandhane: Current Issues in Human Rights - Fall 2017
- Bob Rae: Moving from Truth to Reconciliation – and Making it Real - Spring 2018
- George Soleas: Transformation at the LCBO & the Future of our Market - Fall 2018
- Sunil Johal: The Past, Present and Future of Work -Spring 2019
- Stephen Heathorn: Walking Through the Rubble of Brexit: Understanding the Exposed Social & Political Fractures - Fall 2019
- Lucan Way: Can Western Democracy Survive the Loss of White Dominance - Fall 2019
- Joseph Wong: Why China Needs to Democratize Sooner Rather than Later: Lessons from its Democratic Neighbours - Fall 2019
- Dr. John Mighton: Extreme Equality: How to Use Math to Create a More Equitable and Prosperous Society - Fall 2020
- Diana Fu: China’s Rise to Power - What This means to Canada - Fall 2021
- John Veugelers: Rise of the Political Right in France - Fall 2021
- Judy Fudge: Governing Forced Labour in Supply Chains: Canada in a Global Context - Spring 2022
- Paul Berton: Consumerism, consumption and Capitalism - Spring 2023
- Bonnie Ibhawoh: Can Human Rights Exist Without Human Duties - Spring 2023
- Leo Nupolu Johnson: Foundations of the Future: What We Build Ends UP Building Us - Spring 2023
- Viviana Patroni: Enduring Inequality in Latin America – the Unravelling of Democracy - Spring 2023
- Rick Monture: Indigenous Education at the Mohawk Institute, McMaster University, and the Woodland Cultural Center - Fall 2023
- Stephen Heathorn: Still shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic? Britain, post Brexit - Fall 2023
- Brian Doucet: The Housing Crisis: Root Causes and Transformative Solutions - Fall 2024
- Don Abelson: The Challenges and Opportunities for Effective Leadership - Fall 2024
- Nate Hendley: Atrocities on the Atlantic - Winter 2025
- George Takach: Cold War 2.0 - Winter 2025
- Jon Allen: The Shifting Sands in the Middle East circa 2025 - Spring 2025
- Dr. Roseann Runte: Innovation and Creative Thinking: The Keys to a Better Future for Canada - Spring 2025
- Daniel Hoornweg: Sustainability; the Next 100 years - Spring 2026
Media Revolution
- Dan Dunsky: Social Media Revolution - Spring 2013
- Robert Harris: Where Have All the Mass Media Gone? - Fall 2013
- Ron Deibert: Cybercrime - Fall 2014
- John Preston: The Promise and Perils of Nanotechnology - Fall 2015
- Ron Deibert: The Internet After Snowden - Fall 2015
- Norm Archer: On-Line Health Management Systems - Spring 2016
- Janice Neal: How The World of Journalists Is Changing - Spring 2016
- Dan Dunsky: The Effects of Digital Disruptions on Society - Fall 2016
- Steve Paikin: Fighting the Good Fight against ‘Alternative Facts’ - Spring 2018
- Jim Magahey: How Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Is Transforming Healthcare - Fall 2018
- Dr. Tim Davidson: Understanding 5G - Fall 2020
- Adam Nayman: History of Toronto Cinema - Winter 2021
- Steve Paikin: My Own Agenda - Spring 2026
Religious Fundamentalism
- Graham Roebuck: Religious Martyrdom - Spring 2013
- Lorne Dawson: Why Have Some Canadians Become Terrorists? - Spring 2014
- Liyakat Takim: Sectarianism in the Muslim World - Fall 2016
- James Reilly: Religion, Nationalism and Political Polarization in the Modern Middle East - Fall 2017
Sciences
- Cliff Burgess: What Is the Universe Made Of? - Spring 2013
- Harvey Levenstein: Fear of Food: a History of Why We Worry About What We Eat - Fall 2014
- Faizan Rehnatullah: Retrieving Samples From Mars - Fall 2021
- Blake Ledger: Out of This World: Perspectives and Stories From an Astrophysicist - Winter 2023
- Myriam Nafte: Forensics in Crime Solving - Fall 2023
- Virginia Heffernan: What's at Stake in Ontario's Ring of Fire? - Spring 2024
- Dr. David Novog: Hamilton’s Nuclear Reactor: Past, Present and Future of the McMaster Nuclear Reactor - Spring 2025
- Cathy Mondloch: In Your Face: The Science of Face Recognition and First Impressions
- Michael Dixon: Space Exploration: A Source of Technology Transfer in Canadian Agri-Food Sectors - Spring 2026
Covid Cancellation Spring 2020
- Jennifer Heisz : Physically Fit, Mentally Flexible
- Ted Barris: That Others May Live: More Than a Motto Among Military Medical Personnel
- Diane Saxe: Climate Changes Everything
- Joe Berridge: Perfect City: Toronto, Hamilton and the World in the Age of Cities
- Shannon Kyles: People or Places: Can We Have Both?
- Gary Draper: Alice in Wonderland; the 21st Century Stories of Alice Munro
I wanted to take a moment and thank you and the Board for putting together this program. I am new to HTAL and had been waiting for the in person sessions to resume. It has been an engaging and thought-provoking experience, something many of us seek at various levels.
Thank you very much for all the time you and the speakers devote to making an interesting lecture series!
Very engaging speaker. Very strong ideas and messaging, He made me want to look for ways to build up the community.
Thought this was a very inspirational and informative talk. Thought provoking. Kept talking about it with friends after.
Another highly engaging session with a passionate speaker.
Absolutely fantastic. WOW! What a great speaker.
Superb and thought-provoking.
I loved this lecture. I could have listened to it for at least two more hours!
Good topic and timely-thinking about our world and local issues too.
It’s fun to go to something you’d never pick yourself because it’s part of a series.