Humanities Research Group

The Humanities Research Group presents Domenico Pietropaolo delivering a free public lecture entitled “Text and the Impromptu Tradition,” Thursday, February 9, at 7 p.m. in Assumption University’s Freed-Orman Centre.

Dr. Pietropaolo is principal of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, holds the Goggio Chair in Italian Studies and is chair of the Italian studies department. He is also a professor of drama and is cross-appointed to the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, the Centre for Comparative Literature and the Centre for Medieval Studies.

In some ways, the Germanic epic Beowulf fits one definition of tragedy, says Lois Smedick: as a fight to the death in a narrow place against odds.

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with its interplay between the ridiculous and some deadly intentions, may speak more readily to our take, nowadays, on the world,” she says.

Wherever there is a need to manage and have relationship with people, there will always be a place for the humanities, says Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler Group LLC.

Recipient of a UWindsor BComm in 1979 and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2005, he spoke with Humanities Research Group director Antonio Rossini for an interview in the group’s newsletter, Athena. Marchionne’s first degree was a BA in philosophy, and he said his humanistic education opened his mind.