McDonald-Currie Lecture 2015

Event Recap

450 students from diverse disciplines packed the Centre Mont Royal in Montreal to hear Kim Samuel ‎deliver the 2015 McGill University McDonald-Currie lecture on the evening of October 15, 2015.

An inspiring call to action, her speech “Bridging Divides – Building Connectedness” combined personal reflections of her family business heritage, her work and research and the responsibility to engage in new conversations to address the most pervasive challenges facing Canada and the world. Through her work and reflection on Indigenous knowledges and the imperative for change – Kim offered an approach grounded in what she calls a new three R’s: respect, recognition and reciprocity. A rich dialogue followed her speech where students welcomed the opportunity to engage asking intriguing questions and important reflections.

This lecture sets the context for further dialogue and work including research-to-policy papers that will be conducted jointly with Kim Samuel as Professor of Practice and students at McGill’s Institute for the Study of International Development. Most importantly, Kim contributes enormously to the global movement for social connectedness through this speech and outreach to young scholars and many others.

For more recap about this event, please visit:

http://www.socialconnectedness.org/bridging-divides-building-connectedness/

Background

Generously supported by:

The McDonald, Currie Fund for International Management and Development

Established by George N. M. Currie, BEng ‘51

Now called the McDonald-Currie Lecture, these lectures were initiated in 1965 by the chartered accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand as a memorial to the late George Cross McDonald, a former partner in the chartered accounting firm of McDonald Currie & Co.  In 1975, George Selkirk Currie’s name was added.  Sponsored by the Institute for the Study of International Development in the Faculty of Arts and the Major in International Management in the Desautels Faculty of Management, the lectures are presented once or twice a year.  They feature distinguished speakers nominated by the University community whose work crosses at least two disciplines.

Co-sponsored by the Desautels Faculty of Management.

Featured Speaker: Kim Samuel

Professor of Practice, Institute for the Study of International Development

President & Chair, Samuel Foundation

Ms. Kim Samuel has over two decades of leadership experience in business, philanthropy, development of multi-stakeholder partnerships and academic research.

A pioneer in the field of social isolation and connectedness, Ms. Samuel combines academic research, writing and lecturing with direct programmatic and partnership building experience supporting communities across the globe facing diverse challenges. Her work focusing on social isolation as a critical experiential and measurable component of multi-dimensional poverty underscores the importance of social connectedness to human dignity and human rights struggles globally.

Ms. Samuel is Professor of Practice at the Institute for Studies in International Development, McGill University. Ms. Samuel also serves as a Policy Advisor to the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) where she was a Visiting Scholar (2013 and 2014).

As President of The Samuel Family Foundation, Ms. Samuel has actively engaged in a number of collaborative partnerships directed toward global poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, youth empowerment, Indigenous rights and human rights advocacy, preservation of traditional arts and wisdom, disability rights and family support. As a Director of The Samuel Group of Companies, founded in 1855, Ms. Samuel has advanced corporate leadership within Canada and internationally and in particular with regard to corporate social responsibility.