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CAS/MillerComm series launches Sept. 5 with lecture by food policy expert
Craig Chamberlain, News Editor
(217) 333-2894; cdchambe@illinois.edu
8/29/2002
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Food
security, climate change, urban sprawl and alternatives to prisons –
as well as the physics of dance and the social history of the bagel.
These and other topics will be the subjects of discussion this fall
in the Center for Advanced Study/MillerComm lecture series at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The series, begun in 1973 and supported with funds from the George A.
Miller Endowment and several co-sponsoring campus units, provides a
forum for discourse on topics spanning the university’s many disciplines.
CAS/MillerComm talks are free and open to the public.
The series opens Sept. 5 with a lecture on "Food Security and Poverty
Eradication as a National Security Goal for the United States,"
presented by Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of the International
Food Policy Research Institute. Pinstrup-Andersen will explore links
between economic inequalities, international instability, terrorism
and other issues common in developing countries, such as poverty, hunger
and hopelessness. His talk begins at 4 p.m. in Room 149 of the National
Soybean Research Laboratory, 1101 W. Peabody Drive, Urbana.
Subsequent lectures:
Sept. 9,
"Is Climate Change Too Uncertain for Policy?" by Stephen Schneider,
a professor of environmental biology and global change at Stanford University.
Schneider will discuss what is well-established and what is uncertain
about global climate change, as well as "win-win" opportunities
for energy planning. His talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in Room 190 of the
Engineering Sciences Building, 1101 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana.
Schneider also will participate in a free, communitywide workshop, "Meeting
Energy Requirements and Demands While Responding to Concerns About Climate
Change," at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11 in the auditorium of the Beckman
Institute, 405 N. Mathews, Urbana.
Sept. 20,
"The Physics of Dance," by Kenneth Laws, a professor emeritus
of physics at Dickinson College, an amateur dancer, and the author of
several books on the subject. Laws will explore the interplay between
natural law and the art and illusions of dance. His talk begins at 7
p.m. in the Colwell Playhouse Theatre, in the Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.
Oct. 2, "The
Bagel: A Social History of an Edible Icon," by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett,
a professor of performance studies, and of Hebrew and Judaic studies,
at New York University. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, considered one of America’s
pre-eminent folklorists, will uncover the cultural and culinary secrets
of this popular food item. Her talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. on the third
floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.
Oct. 10,
"Parking Lot Nation," by James Howard Kunstler, an outspoken
critic on the state of America’s suburbs and cities, and the author
of "The Geography of Nowhere" and, more recently, "The
City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition." Kunstler will discuss
remedies related to the "new urbanism," which advocates more-compact
and walkable cities, like those before the rise of what he terms the
"automobile slum." His talk will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the
Plym Auditorium in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign.
Oct. 10,
"Facing Atrocity: Revenge, Justice and Reconciliation in Bosnia
and Herzegovina," by Svetlana Broz, director of the Sarajevo office
of Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide and author of "Good People
in an Evil Time." Broz, a cardiologist and granddaughter of the
late Josip Tito, long-time ruler of Yugoslavia, volunteered for service
in the war zone during Bosnia’s ethnic conflicts.
Broz will recount stories she brought back of "enemies" crossing
ethnic borders to help each other, and share her views on the potential
for understanding and reconciliation, even in the midst of atrocity.
Her talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty
Center.
Oct. 17,
"Scenes From the Pacific Rim: Gender, Globalization and the Asian
Diaspora," by Evelyn Hu-DeHart, a professor of history and director
of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, at Brown
University. Hu-DeHart will discuss the movement of people from Asia
to the Americas, the difficulties they have endured in the process,
and how the migrants shape the societies and cultures of their new countries.
Her talk will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 314 of the Illini Union, 1401
W. Green St., Urbana.
Oct. 31,
"Architectures of Intelligence: The Technologies of Mind From the
Alphabet to the Internet," by Derrick de Kerckhove, director of
the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto,
and a George A. Miller Visiting Professor at Illinois. De Kerckhove,
considered a pioneer and futurist in digital technology and virtual
reality, will discuss the future of cyberspace and explore whether human
cognition might allow for a mental space distinct from physical space
and mediated by virtual space. His talk will begin at 4 p.m. in the
auditorium of the Beckman Institute.
Nov. 14,
"Punishment and Democracy: Prison Abolitionism in the 21st Century,"
by Angela Davis, a professor in the History of Consciousness program
at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Davis will discuss the
history of prisons and how they came to be viewed as inevitable and
permanent, and how advocates for radical democracy are urging the elimination
of prisons in favor of other alternatives. Her talk will begin at
7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Smith Memorial Hall, 805 S. Mathews Ave.,
Urbana.
Nov. 15,
"Creating Health Care in the 19th Century, Saving Health Care in
the 21st Century," by journalist Suzanne Gordon, author of "Life
Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines," and Sioban Nelson, historian
of nursing at the School of Postgraduate Nursing, University of Melbourne.
Gordon and Nelson will discuss the critical role that nursing has played,
and continues to play, in the development of the American health-care
system – especially in light of a national and global crisis in
nursing. Their talk will begin at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis
Faculty Center.
More detailed information about the speakers and their topics is available
on the Center for Advanced Study Web site (www.cas.uiuc.edu)
or by calling the CAS Events Line, 333-1118.
