The University Learning Centre has four more multi-disciplinary panels scheduled to take place over the next two weeks. The first panel took place Oct. 19 on the topic of sustainable energy, featuring four University of Saskatchewan professors. The panels are part of the ULC’s Learning Communities.

“We aim to get perspectives from humanities, social sciences, the sciences and a professional perspective as well,” said Erin Delathouwer, program director for Learning Communities.

A learning community is a small group of first-year students who choose to register in a common set of two or three classes, forming a study group of sorts. Each learning community has an area of focus, such as neuroscience or human rights and law. The panel discussions then try to cater to several different learning communities at a time.

Delathouwer says the panels aren’t just beneficial to students.

“These multi-disciplinary panels have an impact on the professors we invite as well,” she said. “Getting people together from all different disciplines in one space to talk about the same topic can have a pretty impressive impact on the broader university community.”

The remaining four panels will address issues ranging from reproductive rights to whether Internet access is a human right; they take place on the ground floor of the Murray Library. For a full schedule, visit usask.ca/lc.

The Learning Communities program started in 2007 and there are 22 learning communities this year.

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