2025 Hagey Lecture - Dr. Edward Doolittle
Edward Doolittle is Kanyen’kehake (Mohawk) from Six Nations in southern Ontario. He earned a PhD in pure mathematics (partial differential equations) from University of Toronto in 1997. From then until 2001, he worked for Queen’s University’s Aboriginal Teacher Education Program, helping to administer the program and teaching Indigenous mathematics education, and from 2000 to 2001 he studied the Mohawk language in immersion with Onkwewenna Kentsyohkwa (Our Language Group) on Six Nations. Since 2001, he has been on the faculty of First Nations University and University of Regina, currently as associate professor of Mathematics and associate dean, Research and Graduate Programs. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS), a recipient of the Adrien Pouliot Award from the CMS in recognition of significant contributions to mathematics education in Canada, and recipient of a Governor General’s Gold Medal.
Indigenous Mathematics: Foundations
To develop Indigenous Mathematics as a coherent subject distinct from mathematics, ethnomathematics, and Indigenous studies, we must consider the discipline’s foundations. As with global mathematics, Indigenous mathematics is founded in logic, philosophy, and culture, but differs in detail. Indigenous logic allows for the coexistence of contradictory statements: Indigenous philosophy is grounded in creation and the land; Indigenous culture is inextricably bound with spirituality, ceremony, and oral tradition. Efforts to “Indigenize” mathematics will fail without taking these differences into account.
Waterloo's premier invitational public lecture series since 1970, the Hagey Lectures – named after the university's first president – are a free, annual series of lectures intended to challenge, stimulate, and enrich not only the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Waterloo, but also all members of the community.
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2024 Hagey Lecture by Wanda Dalla Costa
Decoding meaning in Indigenous design
TAWAW is a design-research firm dedicated to advancing Indigenous architecture. Our current research centers on the meaning found in original structures – the tipi, hogan, longhouse or wigwam - which we have come to understand as a microcosm of a larger world. Each project we undertake, offers behavioral, social and ideological meanings, that we integrate into contemporary form. Our work is not about replicating traditional designs but about understanding the meanings they hold, to bring meanings forward, making culture visible, but also stable. Join us as we explore the work of encoding and decoding Indigenous environments.
Video: 2023 Hagey Lecture by Nalini Nadkarni
The University of Waterloo Hagey Lectures Committee is thrilled to announce that this year’s Hagey Lecture will be delivered by Nalini Nadkarni, Professor of Biology at the University of Utah, on October 5, 2023, at 8pm in the Theatre of the Arts.
Jointly sponsored by the Faculty Association and the University, the Hagey Lectures are a free, annual series of lectures intended to challenge, stimulate, and enrich not only the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Waterloo, but also all members of the community.
Video: 2022 Hagey Lecture shines a spotlight on the value of theatre
The 2022 Hagey Lecture featuring Antoni Cimolino, artistic director of the Stratford Festival, is now available to watch online.