David Suzuki to speak at WWU May 6

Environmentalist and activist David Suzuki will give a lecture titled “Time is Running Out: Ecology or Economics?” at noon on May 6 at Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center Concert Hall, as part of Western’s annual Japan Week Celebration.

The event is co-sponsored by Japan Week, Western’s Office of Sustainability and Huxley College of the Environment, and is free and open to the public.

Suzuki is best known for his work as a radio and television host dealing with natural sciences in an easy to understand way, and has won numerous awards throughout his career in broadcasting. He has also received 25 honorary degrees from institutions in the United States, Canada and Australia and written 52 books, 19 of which are children’s books. He also a co-author of “An Introduction to Genetic Analysis,” one of the most widely used textbooks on Genetics in the United States.

Suzuki graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and received his doctorate in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. He is currently a professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.

Japan Week runs from May 2-9 and all events are free and open to the public. Other Japan Week activities include:

Thursday May 2

A faculty symposium titled “Identity Construction Across Time and Cultures” will open Japan Week from 4-7 p.m. in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education (SMATE) building room 130. Massimiliano Tomasi will preside over the symposium. Professor Leith Morton from the Tokyo Institute of Technology will give the keynote address titled “Yosano Akiko and the Construction of Female Identity in Modern Japan.”

Other presentations will include Janice Kam’s “Fraternity and Fratricide in Early China,” Petra Fiero’s “German-Jewish Identity in Barbara Honigmann’s Work,” Hugo Garcia’s “The Image of Our Lady of Charity and the Negotiations of Cuban Identity” and Madoka Kusakabe’s “Challenging the Confinement of ‘Women’ in Earthy 20th Century Japan.”

Tuesday May 7

Michiko Yusa will preside over a faculty symposium titled “The Tohoku Earthquake Disaster of 2011: Response, Legacy, and International Significance” from 4-6 p.m. in SMATE 110.

Presentations will include Ed Vajda’s “Across the Ring of Fire: Japan and the Pacific Northwest,” Karen Bradley’s “Disastrous Context: Probabilities and Preparedness” and Seiko Purdue’s “Lost and Found: Artists Respond to the Tohoku Earthquake.”

Thursday May 9

Western’s Asia University in America Program will present “Japan Night” from 7-9 p.m. in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room. The event will have Japanese themed booths and activities including a tea ceremony, sushi-rolling, origami, card games and Japanese calligraphy.

For more information about the lecture or Japan Week 2013 please contact Professor Michiko Yusa at Michiko.yusa@wwu.edu or at (360) 650-4851.