The MScSM Program is excited to announce that we will have two speakers in this year's series. Lectures will be delivered online and recordings will be made available afterwards.

Join us for one or both of the talks offered this year. You will be able to select the date of the lecture you would like to attend upon check out. Please ensure you select the correct ticket date in order to receive the corresponding Zoom link.

Please see below or visit our website for more information on our speakers.

Both lectures will be an hour in length, but the speakers will be available until 2:15PM for anyone who can and would like to stay for additional Q&A.

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November 5, 1:00 to 2:00PM

Leroy Little Bear

Leroy Little Bear is a Blackfoot researcher, professor emeritus at the University of Lethbridge, founding member of Canada's first Native American Studies Department and recognized leader and advocate for First Nations education, rights, self-governance, language and culture. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including the Officer Order of Canada, and the Alberta Order of Excellence.

Sustainability From a Blackfoot Perspective

Little Bear was born and raised on the Kainai First Nation, one of the member Nations of Blackfoot Confederacy which is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people. Little Bear challenges western academic cultural metaphysics and draws parallels between Blackfoot cultural metaphysics and quantum physics. He discusses contrasts between the concepts of western science and Blackfoot (Indigenous) science, and similarities between various concepts of quantum physics and Indigenous science; such as the similarities between energy waves and spirit and spirituality, the living nature of electrons and the concept of everything being animate in Indigenous science, and the double-slit experiment and relationships. He explains sustainability in the terms of the concept of renewal and the existence of human life in very narrow ideal conditions.

November 12, 1:00 to 2:00PM

Bruno Dyck

Bruno Dyck is an organizational theorist at the Asper School of Business, where he holds the Norman Frohlich Professorship in Business Sustainability. His research looks at sustainability, international development, organizational learning, and how values affect organizational behaviour and practice (more information at https://brunodyck.weebly.com). He has won international awards for his teaching and writing in the area of sustainable management.

People and Planet Ahead of Profits: Business Ethics, Theory, and Best Practices

This presentation will provide examples, and describe theory and best practices, of business who place people and planet ahead of profit. The presentation is based on Dyck’s research in the Social and Ecological Thought (SET) approach to business. SET businesses seek to optimize social and ecological well-being, while ensuring they remain financially viable (i.e., the SET approaches relaxes the need to maximize profits). He will describe implications of a SET approach for ethics and for different business functions (e.g., strategy, accounting, marketing, finance). He will compare and contrast the SET approach to the profit-first Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and Financial Bottom Line (FBL) approaches to business.