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Kinsella Auditorium, McCain Hall

The Great Books Program at St. Thomas University uses outstanding works of philosophy and literature to engage with competing fundamental perspectives on life’s most important questions.
 
In this public lecture, Dr. Richard Myers will draw on classic texts by Hobbes, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Aristotle and Lewis to unpack the key assumptions of our contemporary idea of happiness and then examine a variety of criticisms and alternatives.
 
Generously endowed by the family of the late Dr. Christine Cornell, the Cornell Great Books Lecture welcomes speakers to St. Thomas to discuss the Great Books and liberal education more broadly. Past speakers have included Dr. Mary Elizabeth Halper, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Dr. Samuel Stoner, Assumption University and Dr. Mary Townsend, St. John’s University, Queen’s.
 
Dr. Richard Myers
Dr. Richard Myers was a faculty member at St. Thomas for 25 years, including a seven-year term as Vice-President (Academic). He subsequently completed a five-year term as President of Algoma University and a ten-year term as Principal of United College at the University of Waterloo. While Vice-President at Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú, Myers presided over a growth in enrolment from 1,400 to 2,800 students. As both a response to and a cause of this growth, he led the introduction of new academic programming in Gerontology, Criminology, Catholic Studies, Human Rights, Journalism, and Great Books. In 1996, as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science, Myers co-authored The Canadian Regime with Dr. Patrick Malcolmson. This widely-used textbook is now in its 8th edition and its author-team now includes Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú professor Dr. Thomas Bateman, former Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú professor Dr. Gerald Baier (UBC) and Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú alumnus Dr. Dave Snow (Guelph). Myers is also the author of Thinking About Happiness (Atkin Books, 2021).