A Cantabrian Commerce Centenary

July 21, 2006

A Cantabrian Commerce Centenary

I ought to shill once for my home institution while guest blogging for Bryan. 2006 marks the Centenary of the Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Canterbury; our centennial celebrations take place in October.

Other fun Canterbury facts:

• Karl Popper wrote The Open Society and Its Enemies during his stay at Canterbury (1937 - 1946)
• Ernest Rutherford is likely our University's most celebrated alumn. His lab has been preserved as part of the historic campus.
• Founded in 1873, the University spent its first hundred years in a downtown campus modelled on Cambridge and Oxford. After its move to the Ilam campus, the historic campus became the Arts Centre.
• Dennis Dutton, editor of Arts & Letters, lives over in the Philosophy Department.
• Heavenly Creatures was based on a true story that happened here: the Rector's daughter and a friend murdered the friend's mother in the 1950s. An FAQ is available here. The Rector's house has since become the University's Staff Club, where much of the movie was filmed. I'm often to be found there on a Friday evening.
• Visiting the Economics department seems to Granger cause the winning of Nobels: Sir Clive was visiting here when he won in 2003. Other Nobel visitors have included:
  • Tjalling Koopmans, 1968
  • Joseph Stiglitz, 1969
  • Gerard Debreu, 1969, 1975, 1987
  • Paul Samuelson, 1978
  • Milton Friedman, 1987
  • James Buchanan, 1990
  • Sir Clive Granger, 2000-2005
  The Erskine Bequest funds about three visitors to the Department per year; recent visitors are listed here. I'm currently serving as the Department's Erskine coordinator.