Allan Hutchinson, professor and associate dean at York's Osgoode Hall Law School, is ready to take on the competition on Saturday, Feb. 10 as a finalist in TV Ontario's 2007 Best Lecturer Competition.
TVO’s Big Ideas will broadcast Hutchinson’s lecture tomorrow at 4pm, and again on Sunday at 4pm. Following the Saturday broadcast, in which Hutchinson is paired against one rival, viewers can vote for their favourite online. At the end of the competition, the winning lecturer's university will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship from TD Meloche Monnex. One online voter will also win a 50-inch plasma TV.
To vote for Hutchinson, go to www.tvo.org/bigideas. Voting opens at 5.45pm Saturday and will run until Monday at noon.
In a message circulated yesterday, Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan exhorted the York community to support "Hutch." He added: "In case you don’t get a chance to vote this weekend, there will be a
computer set up on Monday morning in the Bear Pit in Central Square for that purpose. We’ll also be showing a video of Professor Hutchinson’s lecture."
Monahan noted that Hutchinson "certainly knows his subject material (Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms) and there’s no denying he’s an eloquent and engaging teacher and public speaker."
A member of Osgoode Hall Law School's faculty since 1982, Hutchinson teaches tort law, constitutional law, jurisprudence and civil procedure.
For more information about the competition, visit the TVO Best Lecturer Web site. To view a video clip of Hutchinson in action, click here.
See the July 14, 2006 issue of YFile for a profile of Hutchinson.