Dr Carl Amrhein, Provost and Vice President Academics, University of Alberta, Canada, was the speaker at AKU's Special Lecture Series (SLS) programme in November 2005. He presented an eloquent discourse titled 'Thinking Globally, Developing Locally: General Education in Society through the Arts, Humanities and Sciences.' Elaborating on the evolution, concept, characters and purpose of a university, Dr. Amrhein said he was reminded of the installation address given by his president, Dr. Indira Samarasekera, who said, “Creativity thrives in an intellectual climate of breadth. A university should be a place of great conversations between engineers and philosophers, biologists and historians, physicians and linguists. They should be presented with societal challenges and encouraged to seek solutions through discourse and debate.” The Special Lecture Series is part of AKU’s multidisciplinary and broad-based approach to education that aims to enrich students’ understanding of the humanities and social sciences. The general public also benefits from this one-to-one interaction with scholars and other personalities of national and international repute.
During the lecture, Dr Amrhein elaborated on the evolution, concept, characters and purpose of a university. Citing the examples of the pioneering institutions such as 'The Academy' of Athens and Al-Azhar University of Cairo, and scholars John Cardinal Newman and Wilhelm Humboldt, he advocated that, "A university should teach universal knowledge as an end in itself and provide students with an all-round humanist education."
Dr Amrhein interestingly quoted Clark Kerr's concept of 'multiversity', which supports an outward-expanding institution that touches the lives of all citizens and is far removed from the cloistered community of scholars. He also provided a detailed description of collegial governance at the University of Alberta, explaining the infrastructure as partnership among administration, teaching faculty, and students in the institution's governance.
Earlier in his welcome address, Mr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President AKU, commented that Dr Carl Amrhein embodies the qualities required of an educator in the world's pluralistic environment. "The planned Faculty of Arts and Sciences of AKU is inspired by, among other things, pluralistic values and this is exactly what this Faculty will seek to promote within its student body. Dr Amrhein, who happens to be the first guest from Canada to speak in the AKU Special Lecture Series, is very well-positioned to shed light on this, from the perspective of having hands-on experiences as former Dean Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto and from his current post as Provost and Vice President Academics at the University of Alberta," Mr Kassim-Lakha observed.
Dr Amrhein has received many honours and awards including the 1998-1999 International Directory of Distinguished Leadership Award, the Joan E. Foley Quality of Student Experience Award in 2003, and the 2003 Urmila Sarkar Service Award from the University of Toronto Arts and Science Student Union, and has published several papers and articles in professional journals. His speech was followed by a vote of thanks by Dr Nadir Ali Syed, Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education, AKU, and Convener of Special Lecture Series, as well as a question-and-answer session that saw active participation from an enthusiastic audience.
AKU's Special Lecture Series programme, which started six years ago, has so far organised lectures by prestigious speakers such as His Royal Highness Prince Hasan of Jordan; the historian Stanley Wolpert; Zia Mohyeddine; Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan, former foreign minister of Pakistan and the former Chairman of the AKU Board of Trustees; and Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Maliha Lodhi.
Dr Carl J Amrhein, and Vice President Academics, University of Alberta, Canada, was the guest speaker at AKU's Special Lecture Series programme.
