Intellectual commons: COVID-19, Emily Dickinson, Climate
The Lisska Center provides thought-provoking programming and intellectual conversation for both students and faculty. In the spring of 2021, these programs included:
February 15, 2021
Placing the Covid-19 Vaccines in Context: A Monday Musings conversation with a faculty panel including Associate Professor and Director of the global Health program Fareeda Griffith, Associate Professor and microbiologist Chris Weingart, and Associate Professor and cell biologist Lina Yoo
The panel will discuss how the COVID-19 vaccine was developed so quickly and how long the vaccines will last. In addition, they address how decisions about distribution and allocation get made and why there is vaccine hesitancy. The panel also considers what life may look like after people are vaccinated.
March 3, 2021
Encountering the World with Emily Dickinson: A Conversation with Sandy Runzo
Professor and Chair of the Department of Education Karen Graves and Professor of English Fred Porcheddu hold a conversation with Associate Professor and Director of Queer Studies Sandy Runzo about her new book, Theatricals of Day: Emily Dickinson and Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture. In the book, Runzo examines the relationship of 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson to the popular entertainments of her time, exploring how popular culture and entertainments are seen, heard, and felt in Dickinson’s writing. Runzo proposes that noticing the presence of popular entertainment in Dickinson’s life opens our eyes to new dimensions of the poems.
March 8, 2021
Climate Science and the Public: A Monday Musings conversation moderated by Adam Davis.
How can science, big data, and technology be harnessed to tell compelling stories about climate change? What are some of the challenges in disseminating scientific findings to the general public? Dr. Benjamin Strauss, CEO and Chief Scientist of Climate Central, a nonprofit organization of leading scientists and journalists, discusses how his organization seeks to make climate science local, immediate, and personal. Strauss is the author of numerous scientific papers and reports on sea-level rise and is the architect of the Surging Seas suite of maps, tools, and visualizations. He has testified before the U.S. Senate and presented to state and local officials, and his past work has been cited by the White House and the secretary-general of the U.N.
March 31, 2021
Let’s Talk: COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Racism: moderated by Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion K. Christine Pae
In the wake of the shootings in Atlanta that claimed eight people’s lives including six Asian and Asian American women, the Faculty of Color and International Faculty, 必博娱乐,比博娱乐网址 ######### Asian Student Union, Lisska Center: Scholarly Engagement, and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs co-sponsor a virtual panel discussion. The panel includes Clare Jen (Director of Women and Gender Studies), Yen Loh (Assistant Professor of English), Karen Powell Sears (Assistant Professor of Sociology), and Joan Do-Truong ‘23 (Education and Women’s and Gender Studies major).
April 19, 2021
Education and Democracy: A Monday Musings conversation with Tamara Mann Tweal (Teagle Foundation) moderated by Adam Davis
The discussion will focus on how the liberal arts are vital for democracy and how civic education can be a form of social activism. Tweal will also share how the ideas about the relationship between democracy and education have evolved, from Socrates to John Dewey to Martha Nussbaum. Tamara Mann Tweel is a Program Director at The Teagle Foundation specializing in civic initiatives. In this role, she is focused on efforts to strengthen the civic dimension of undergraduate education.