The topic of the second Dave Barrett lecture at TRU is The Changing Face of Fatherhood in the Small City. Held Monday, September 20 at St. Andrew’s on the Square, this year’s featured scholar is Dr. Brid Featherstone, from the National University of Ireland at Galway.

Open to all, Dr. Featherstone’s talk runs from 7 pm to 9 pm and is free. Dr. Featherstone, Director of Social Work at NUI Galway, has an international profile as a researcher and theorist on gender relations, family support and child welfare. Her most recent book is “Contemporary Fathering: Theory, Policy and Practice”. She was born in County Galway and completed her first degree in sociology at Trinity College Dublin. She worked as a community worker in London after graduation and then went onto qualify as a social worker. Her early social work experience was with young offenders in Nottingham. She has also worked as a social worker and team manager in generic teams. In 1992 she became a full-time social work academic at the University of Bradford before she moved to Galway in 2009.

On Tuesday, September 21, Dr. Featherstone will also speak about Contemporary Fathering: Health, Education and Social Services in the Small City at the TRU Culinary Arts Cafeteria, 1130 am to 1:30 pm. Lunch Provided RSVP to ntallon@tru.ca for lunch reservation. This talk, is focused towards students and practitioners in nursing, social work and education, but is also free and open to all.

Dr. Christopher Walmsley, chair of the organizing committee commented:“Brid Featherstone is a passionate, intelligent, and thoughtful person. She believes there are effective ways to include men/fathers in health, education and social services, but, at the same time, gender inequities need to be addressed. Father involvement can be very beneficial to children, she believes, but one has to look at the whole family—mothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles– to ensure its success.”

The lecture series started in 2008 to honour Dave Barrett, social worker, MLA, MP, Premier of British Columbia (1972—1975), and Officer of the Order of Canada.

Co-sponsored by “Mapping the Cultural Future of Small Cities CURA Project”, the TRU Schools of Education, Nursing, Social Work and Human Service, Boys and Girls Club of Kamloops, Kamloops and District Elizabeth Fry Society, John Howard Society Thompson Region, TRU CUEF Lecture Fund and the Thompson-Nicola Branch of the BC Association of Social Workers