Since Concordia hosted the largest Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in its 79-year history, the massive conference has become one of Concordia’s defining moments – one that has signaled a new era of awareness about what we do and who we are.
“From many people, I’ve heard Congress has helped put Concordia on the map,” says Congress Academic Convenor Ronald Rudin.
From May 28 to June 4, Concordia welcomed 8 880 delegates from 70 academic associations. The previous record was set by the University of British Columbia in 2008 when it hosted 8 840 delegates.
“Internally and externally, people have gone out of their way to say what a positive experience it was and how much they learned about Concordia,” says Rudin, who has now returned to his life as a history professor and documentary filmmaker. “Academics are quick to complain. I’ve had none of that.”
The conference achieved its goal of improving Concordia’s reputation and raising awareness of the university’s strengths in the academic community, according to Rudin. He sees the elevated profile as a way to attract outstanding students and to encourage partnerships, both externally and internally.
While it’s been more than six months since Rudin evoked the conference theme or even used the words “Connected Understanding” (“I used to say it every thirty seconds,” he says), the concept itself continues to reflect life at Concordia.
First presented at Congress, the Nexus music project is expanding. The brainchild of Concordia’s Canada Research Chair in Inter-X Art, Sandeep Bhagwati, Nexus (which links musicians remotely via a specially-designed network and allows them to present simultaneous improvisations on a musical composition from significant distances) is currently being adapted to allow five musicians in separate cities across North America to play together.
Bhagwati is also planning to take the project to Mumbai, India, where several local folk musicians will perform in socially diverse neighbourhoods, connected over a wireless phone network.
Another initiative unveiled at Congress, Research@Concordia also continues to evolve. The prototype web application – one that uses intuitive word clouds to draw connections between apparently unrelated researchers – was featured at the multimedia exhibit at the Grande Bibliothèque this fall (see page 7). Via touch screen and dedicated computer, Research@Concordia displayed an updated cross section of those involved with research/ creation at Concordia.
The application is being adapted for the Internet, where producers David Ward and Prem Sooriyakumar hope it will facilitate more extensive and richer interdisciplinary collaboration in the future.
“One of the nicest things that happened as a result of Congress was the connections that were made between people in the humanities and social sciences and fine arts,” Rudin says, pointing to the programming of the President’s Conference Series at the Grande Bibliothèque as a perfect example.
“If others at Concordia are going to run with these connections, I’m interested to see what will come of them.”
Related links:
• Congress 2010
• Largest Congress ever – from Concordia Journal, June 10, 2010
• Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences
