University of Quadra November 2026 Class Schedule
Join us Tuesday evenings at 7pm in the HBI Pub for University of Quadra. UofQ is a free speaker series where island neighbours share ideas, innovation and knowledge!
November 3rd
Immunology 101: Vaccines, Cancer and more with Dr. Kelly McNagny
Dr. McNagny leads a research team at the University of British Columbia that investigates the immune system and cancer biology. His lab studies newly discovered immune cells, develops improved vaccination approaches, examines how certain antibiotics influence disease development, and designs novel immunotherapies to better treat cancer.
His talk will provide an introduction to the immune system—our body’s defence network that detects and eliminates infections and damaged cells—and explain how it distinguishes friend from foe.
Dr. McNagny will also cover treatments that harness immune cells, including vaccines that prevent disease and immunotherapies that help the immune system fight cancer. He’ll explore common immune disorders, such as allergies and autoimmune diseases, where the immune system misfires.
November 10th
How to Talk to Ghosts with Paula deMontigny Montgomery
Join Paula for an introduction to raising your vibration and connecting with your intuition, highest self, and the Spirit World. All that’s needed is an open mind and a willing heart!
Paula is a spirit communicator, also known as a medium, who has been seeing spirits since childhood. She has been offering professional readings since 2016, along with workshops on intuition and connecting with Spirit. She also offers integrated healing sessions that combine Spirit healing, Reiki, and mediumship. Paula finds her work with Spirit uplifting and healing, and loves sharing it with others.
November 17th
Making a Musical with George & Anna Nickoloff
Father-daughter duo Anna and George Nickoloff, co-wrote BOO! The Musical and will share a behind-the-scenes look at bringing a musical to life. This special UofQ presentation will be held in Herons Dining Room.
George has called Quadra home since 1994. A lifelong songwriter and musician who loves performing fun, shout-along rock and roll anthems with his bands The Campfire Boys, Love Handles Messiah, Sack O Hammers, and GoDogGo—a familiar favourite at the HBI Pub on Friday nights—and wrote songs for Theatre Quadra’s Murder at the Queenie in 2025. Anna has been involved in Quadra Theatre for years, contributing to productions in a variety of roles. She developed her love of performing through Carihi musicals and continued her theatre journey with the UVic Drama and Musical Theatre Club. Working together on BOO! gave the pair a chance to bring their creative interests together.
November 24th
Getting Your Story into the World: preparing, publishing, and promoting your writing with Thea Bowering
This talk is for anyone interested in the culture of writing and publishing in Canada. Whether you’ve got a completed work, restless in drawer, are at the exciting planning stages of writing, or are just a curious and avid reader, this talk aims to build confidence toward completing a project, while offering key resources and insight into the publishing world on a regional and national level.
Thea will share her experience as an Alberta and BC author and as a board member for NeWest Press (one of the oldest literary small presses in Western Canada). She will share her editorial knowledge of what makes a great full-manuscript or magazine/journal submission and talk about the arc of the submission process: fine-tuning your fiction or creative non-fiction, sending it to a publisher (versus publishing it yourself), turning rejection into a re-write, and building a readership!
Thea has published both fiction and creative non-fiction, is the author of an award-winning collection of short fiction, Love at Last Sight. She has taught creative writing and creative non-fiction at Concordia University in Edmonton and at The University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extention.
