Posted on March 19: Albert Lager Lecture Series celebrates life-long learning

Life-long learning was important to Albert Lager. He never stopped continuing his education, ultimately becoming one of McMaster's oldest students.

Even after his death in 1992, his zest for knowledge continued through a lecture series named after him. Now, celebrating 20 years of lectures on topics from dance, to forensic science to history and scotch, the Albert Lager Series epitomizes the man himself.

“Albert had a wide variety of interests and continuing education was part of his life until he died,” says McMaster vice-president, University Advancement, Roger Trull. Trull and Lager visited with each other on a weekly basis when Lager was a McMaster student. “He used to come by my office about once a week and we would chat about the University,” says Trull. “I know that offering a variety of programs was something he would have been very pleased about.”

“McMaster was his first love,” his sister Lillian Miller says. “And he felt that McMaster was like his second home.”

Lager was a member of the University Senate and a volunteer on the McMaster Alumni Association (MAA) Board of Directors. After his death, his estate created the Albert Abrum Lager Foundation and this foundation supports a handful of organizations whose work he valued, including the MAA.

The annual series of educational lectures and seminars is planned by a group of alumni volunteers. Each lecture costs about $5 and are generally held on campus. Occasionally, off-campus events are organized, such as a lecture on the War of 1812 held at Dundurn Castle.

“I think the most important aspect of the Lager series is that it provides an opportunity for alumni to reconnect to McMaster and to other alumni,” says volunteer Anne Plessl, library development officer with McMaster University Library.

Because the events are representative of various academic disciplines, they allow alumni to learn more about the discipline they studied or explore new or unfamiliar academic areas of interest, she explains. “There's something for everyone.”

The structure of the series has changed over the years to meet the needs of alumni. In 2001 and 2002, the committee began to focus on providing events that would appeal to young alumni and in 2002, they introduced programming aimed at alumni with families.

“The most recent addition to the series has been family events, which are a great way for alumni to introduce their children to McMaster in a way that combines learning and fun,” Plessl says.

Initiated in 1982 as the McMaster Alumni Continuing Education, the series has undergone several name changes. In 1988, it was renamed Alumni Adventures in Continuing Education (AACE) to better reflect the program and in 1994, due to support from the Albert Lager Foundation, the series was named the Albert Lager Lecture Series. The renaming of the series did not change the mandate of the program or the name of the volunteer committee, rather is was seen as a naming opportunity for the AACE program, explains Karen McQuigge, associate director of Alumni Advancement.

In 1994-95, the formal senior alumni program was rolled into the AACE program as volunteer and staff evaluation indicated that significant overlap existed between the two programs and it was further suggested that both programs would be of interested to similar target groups of alumni.

“The proposal for a speaker's series has accomplished everything we hoped it would,” Trull says. “It provides a wide variety of programs for alumni, faculty and staff and it has proven the test of time.”

Upcoming events:

• Behind the Plate: The Economics of Professional Sport — Dinner/lecture with Don Dawson on March 19
• Fuelling Your Home for Less with Alumni Gallery member Barna Szabados, 69 on March 27
• Gardening For People On The Run with Dennis Eveleigh on May 8
• Alumni Adventures Family Events on April 26 and Saturday, May 10

For further information about events, visit http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/alumni/Lager%20Brochure%20Spring%202003%20.pdf