Our guest for episode four of the Ways of Knowing podcast is 2019 Wall Scholar Tara Mayer, a Professor in the Department of History at UBC, as well as a former Wall Institute Distinguished Scholar in Residence. Mayer is a cultural historian who is working on new forms of teaching that use discomfort in the classroom to advace learning, for which she recently received a Killam Teaching Prize. 

She also recently organized am International Research Roundtable on visual literacy at the Peter Wall Institute. Today's conversation is about diversity in classrooms, safe spaces in universities, and new forms of pedagogy.

Our guest for episode three of the Ways of Knowing podcast is Hannah McGregor, an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University's Publishing Program and host of the Secret Feminist Agenda Podcast.

In October of 2019, Hannah co-authored an open letter to cancel a controversial SFU panel discussion titled “How Media Bias Shapes the Gender Identity Debate.” SFU didn't cancel the event, citing its commitment to academic freedom. But the event was relocated to a hotel in downtown Vancouver due to perceived security concerns.

Hannah joins us today to talk about the concept and practice of academic freedom, especially as it affects, for better or worse, public conversations around complex and emotionally charged issues.

Our guest for episode two is Dr. Max Cameron, a Professor in the Department of Political Science at UBC and Acting Director of the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. His research focuses on comparative politics, constitutionalism, democracy, and political economy. His book 'Political Institutions and Practical Wisdom: Between Rules and Practice' was published in 2018. Today's conversation is about the way good institutions depend on wise practitioners, especially at a time of excessive partisanship and the hollowing-out of democratic deliberation.

Our guest for episode one is Dr. Michelle Stack, an associate professor in the department of educational studies at UBC. Her research centres on the role of media in education. Her book 'Global University Rankings and the Mediatization of Higher Education' was published in 2015. Today's conversation is about university rankings and the pervasive yet often unappreciated role they play in higher education.

Welcome to the Ways of Knowing, a podcast produced by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia, housed on the unceded territories of the Musqueam people. On Ways of Knowing, we make sense of the world through conversations with scholars and artists.

The podcast is hosted by Kalina Christoff, a professor of psychology at UBC and the director of the Peter Wall Institute.