The Ottawa Society for the Arts and Science is delighted to announce that its 2026-2027 season has been expanded and will once again be co-sponsored with the Carleton University Association for Lifelong Learning (CUALL https://www.cuall.ca/). Please see the following for details on confirmed events and check back for further information on lectures not already listed.
Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
COMING IN FALL 2026
Dr. Peter Fried
In person in Room 12 of the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre
Paid parking ($5 flat fee after 6pm) and the CDCC main entrance are located at 290 Lisgar Street.
Wednesday, November 19, 2026
7 pm ET
Does your brain have a CEO?
Do you ever wonder why you strike your forehead with your hand when you have an idea or make a mistake? Perhaps, subconsciously, you are aware that it is the region of the brain – the prefrontal area, lying behind that part of the skull that is responsible for your insight. In his talk, Dr. Fried will make the argument (including audience participation) that this area of the brain operates very much like the CEO of a company in that it, among other roles, chooses among conflicting decisions, predicts future consequences of actions, works towards a defined goal and integrates past and present information. In other words, the prefrontal lobes allow us to respond, not simply react. In fact, it is that part of our brain that is the essence of our humanity. Intriguingly, frontal lobe development continues right up until young adulthood, and, as a result, behaviors that are ascribed to this part of the brain, are absent in young children and limited in teenagers. Dr. Fried will discuss the ramifications of this prolonged maturation – even its role in the consideration of the age of legalization of marihuana.
Peter Fried joined the Department of Psychology at Carleton University in 1968 and became Full Professor in 1979. He retired in July 2006. For over 45 years he has studied the effects of marijuana on pregnancy, assessing such brain functioning as cognition, perception and problem solving in the offspring of cannabis users from birth until young adulthood. This research has yielded a wealth of information that has formed the basis of several books, over 200 scientific articles and hundreds of talks. In retirement Dr. Fried has continued to pursue his lifelong passion of research and teaching. He has received several awards for both his instructive and entertaining style of teaching and his scientific investigations. He continues to speak on brain functioning to various professional and non-professional organizations.
Josh Beer and Gail Larose
via Zoom – Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
Wednesday, December 16, 2026
7 pm ET
A Reading of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is one of Charles Dickens’s most famous works. The story follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted and greedy old man who is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley warns that Scrooge will be haunted by three spirits representing Christmas past, present, and yet to come. As they guide Scrooge through incidents from his life, they show the importance of kindness and generosity.
Never out of print since its publication on December 19, 1834, A Christmas Carol became one of Dickens most popular stories. In 1849 he undertook public readings of the novella of which he gave hundreds in the UK, the US and Canada until his death in 1870.
This reading is an abridged version of Dickens’ own “prompt-copy” published in 1853.
Josh Beer is an adjunct professor at Carleton University, after having taught there for 50 years. On his retirement he founded and is currently a co-chair of OSFAS. His book Sophocles and the Tragedy of Athenian Democracy was published in 2004. For the past three years he has written articles on tragedy for a more general audience in the magazine Argo, published by the Hellenic Society in the UK. These have included ‘A Pot of Surprises’ and ‘Plagued by Love’. For over twelve years, he directed students of the College of Humanities in dramatic readings of Greek tragedy which were highly praised, not least by His Excellency Eleftherios Anghelopoulos, the former Greek Ambassador to Canada.
Gail Larose holds a B.A. and M.A. in French from Carleton University, was President of its Alumni Association in 1994 and a member of its Board of Governors for 11 years. Before embarking on a career in international academic relations, Gail spent a number of years in theatre and television, acting in mainly leading roles in the classics (Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest) as well as contemporary drama (The Glass Menagerie, Crawling Arnold). She is currently a member of the advisory council of the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre and co-chairs OSFAS with Josh Beer.
COMING IN SPRING 2027
Larry Kardish
via Zoom – Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
Thursday, February 4, 2027
7 pm ET
This season, its 15th, OSFAS introduced a new type of presentation in which distinguished Ottawans, eminent leaders in their fields but not necessarily known to a wider public, are interviewed about their lives. We continue on Thursday, February 4, 2027 with an interview by Ken Larose of film curator and historian, Larry Kardish.
After graduating from Carleton and Columbia universities in the 1960s, Larry Kardish spent the next 44 years at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, retiring in late 2012 as Senior Curator of Film. A native of Ottawa, during his career Mr. Kardish became a fixture at film events and festivals in New York, Canada and worldwide, serving on film festival juries, launching many new programs and curating some 60 showings and exhibitions annually at MoMA. He has received numerous awards, including the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as well as an honorary doctorate from Carleton University in 2011. He is currently the artistic director of FilmColumbia, a regional international festival in Chatham, Columbia County, New York, and the author of the recently-published University Press of Kentucky biography, “Up on the Roof: Shirley Clarke, Her Times, Works and Words”.
The Periodic Table
via Zoom – Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
Wednesday, March 17, 2027
7 pm ET
Michael Allen
Join us for an explanation and exploration of the Periodic Table, an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements. The first periodic table to be generally accepted was created by the Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, in 1869 but it has been augmented since then by the finding of “new” elements as well as the discovery of atomic numbers and research in quantum mechanics. An iconic component of chemistry, the periodic table is also widely used in physics and other sciences.
Michael Allen worked as a family physician in Nova Scotia for 17 years before joining Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine in 1994. In 2022 he fully retired as full professor in the Faculty’s Office of Continuing Professional Development where he was Director of Evidence-based Programs. In retirement he has been taking courses and reading popular books on mathematics and physics. Dr. Allen is no stranger to OSFAS having given a number of popular talks on fascinating topics from the world of science.
Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage: a brief history of acting
via Zoom – Please contact Gail Larose at glarose0@gmail.com for Zoom link details.
Wednesday, April 14, 2027
7 pm ET
Gail Larose
From the re-telling of successful hunts around a neolithic campfire to digitally enhanced performances in the latest “comic book” movies, acting has been part of the human (and animal) condition from time immemorial. Gail Larose will briefly sketch out a history of acting, focusing on aspects of the profession and some of its notable practitioners from Thespis to Bernhardt.
Gail Larose holds a B.A. and M.A. in French from Carleton University, was President of its Alumni Association in 1994 and a member of its Board of Governors for 11 years. Before embarking on a career in international academic relations, Gail spent over a decade in theatre and television, acting in mainly leading roles in the classics (Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest) as well as contemporary drama (The Glass Menagerie, Crawling Arnold). She is a past member of the advisory council of the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre and a current member of its lifelong learning advisory committee. She co-chairs OSFAS with Josh Beer.
May 2027
To Be Announced
