Center for Advanced Study - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign : events : millercomm lecture series : fall 2005

CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series

Fall 2005

Support for this series as a whole is provided by:
Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Programs Committee and Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans, and The Graduate College.

		Social Networks and Social Dynamics in a Small World August 29, 2005 Monday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana Duncan Watts Department of Sociology, Columbia University and author, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (2003)
We've all heard of the small world phenomenon—the idea that each one of us can be connected to everyone else through only "six degrees of separation." But where did this idea come from? Is it true? And if it is, what implications does it have for the problems of society? Duncan Watts sketches out a brief history of the small world problem, and discusses its relevance to a range of issues, from individuals searching for jobs to the cascade-like dynamics of cultural fads. He argues that understanding the modern world means understanding the structure of the networks in which we live, and how they drive our individual and collective behavior. Sponsored by: Center for Advanced Study In conjunction with: Beckman Institute, College of Business, College of Law, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Anthropology, Department of Computer Science, Department of Sociology, Department of Speech Communication, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Neuroscience Program, Office of the Chancellor, Program in Science, Technology, Information, and Medicine, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program This lecture is held in conjunction with the CAS Initiative Age of Networks: Social, Technological and Cultural Connections which examines the workings of networks across the sciences, arts, and humanities. For more information visit www.cas.uiuc.edu/networks.php Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required)

		A Shot at the American Dream September 12, 2005 Monday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana Jason DeParle Senior Writer, The New York Times
DeParle provides a probing analysis of the consequences for poor Americans of the 1990s policies 'ending welfare as we know it.' His widely acclaimed book, American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, And A Nation's Desire To End Welfare, weaves together the political story of welfare reform, poverty, and race in the US. He helps us grasp the complex unfolding of the most significant change in social policy in the last 30 years. Sponsored by: School of Social Work In conjunction with: College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, College of Business, College of Law, College of Fine and Applied Arts, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Medicine Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois Library, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Jason DeParle was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Painting Out of Conflict: Velázquez, the Dutch, and Painting in the Time of War September 14, 2005 Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Room 62, Krannert Art Museum 500 East Peabody Drive, Champaign Svetlana Alpers Professor Emerita, History of Art, University of California, Berkeley and Visiting Scholar, Department of Fine Arts, New York University
How have artists dealt with war? Has art served to encourage conflict? Should artists be blamed if they don't deal with war? Svetlana Alpers will examine striking instances when attention to the medium of art offered an alternative to strife. Painting can, literally, give us reason to pause. The Phillipp Fehl Annual Lecture Sponsored by: Art History Program In conjunction with: Campus Honors Program, Center for Global Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Landscape Architecture, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Krannert Art Museum, Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts, Program in Comparative and World Literature, School of Art and Design, "Theorizing the Early Modern" Reading Group, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory

		After Iraq: U.S. Diplomacy and the Crisis of International Legitimacy September 22, 2005 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign John Brady Kiesling Independent scholar and U.S. Foreign Service / State Department official 1983 - 2003
Career U.S. diplomat John Brady Kiesling's February 27, 2003 resignation letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell—published in the New York Times—represented a rare voice of dissent as war with Iraq loomed. Kiesling will discuss strategies for repairing America's damaged international legitimacy and influence in the wake of Iraq and the "Global War on Terror." Sponsored by: Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security In conjunction with: Center for Global Studies, College of Law, Department of History, Department of Journalism, European Union Center, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, Program for the Study of Religion, Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, University YMCA at the University of Illinois Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) John Brady Kiesling was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Marriage as a Human Rights Battlefield October 6, 2005 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Evan Wolfson Executive Director, Freedom to Marry Project, and Adjunct Professor of Law, Columbia University
Evan Wolfson addresses current questions surrounding marriage and its history for gays and non-gays in the U.S. and in western culture. He also examines the current fight to end discrimination in legal marriage and how this fight is being used as a political baton to implement a backlash that is aimed not just at gays and lesbians but also at nontraditional families all across the country. Sponsored by: Office for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns McKinley Memorial Presbyterian Church In conjunction with: Counseling Center, Department of Human and Community Development, Department of Political Science, Division of Community and Clinical Psychology-Psychology Department, Division of Counseling Psychology-Educational Psychology Department, Gender and Women's Studies Program, Office of Women's Programs, Office of the Dean of Students, School of Social Work, Student Affairs, University Housing, Unit One, C-U at the Altar, 85% Coalition, Episcopal Church Foundation, Unitarian Universalist Church Social Action/Interweave, United Church of Christ Campus Ministry, University YMCA at the University of Illinois Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Evan Wolfson was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Tennessee Williams: Radical of the Heart October 7, 2005 Friday, 2:00 p.m. Studio Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing arts 500 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Christopher Bigsby Professor of American Studies and Director, Arthur Miller Center, University of East Anglia, England
1930s St. Louis was stirred by labor organizers and leftists when Tom Williams began his career voicing progressive concerns to a bourgeois society using the fiery rhetoric of the Depression Age. But the young playwright also created emotionally complex characters for an ensemble of amateur actors. Christopher Bigsby will trace the growth of the young political writer into the dramatic poet, Tennessee Williams, author of Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named Desire. Sponsored by: Department of Theatre In conjunction with: Campus Honors Program, College of Fine and Applied Art, Department of English, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Station Theatre Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Christopher Bigsby was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Embryonic Stem Cell Research: A Scientific Overview October 17, 2005 Monday, 7:30 p.m. Foellinger Auditorium South End of the Quadrangle University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign James Thomson Professor of Anatomy, Obstetrics, and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison
James Thomson, discoverer of the embryonic stem cell procedure, will discuss the scientific dimensions of this new and exciting research agenda. He will go on to highlight, during a question and answer session, the ethical, legal, and political aspects of that agenda both in the United States and abroad. Sponsored by: Department of Animal Science Department of Political Science Institute for Genomic Biology In conjunction with: Campus Honors Program, College of Law, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, College of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, Neuroscience Program, Program for the Study of Religion, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required)

		Zoot Suit Riots Revisited: Meditations on the Politics of Style October 25, 2005 Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Kathy Peiss George A. Miller Endowment Visiting Professor, UIUC and Roy F. and Jennette P. Nichols Chair of American History, University of Pennsylvania
The zoot suit—an oversized suit with broad shoulders, a 'drape shape,' and pegged pants popular among young men in the 1940s—was infamous for its role in the 1943 Los Angeles riot, in which white servicemen attacked Mexican-American zooters and literally tore the clothes off their backs. What is the relationship between fashion and social action, style and resistance? This lecture revisits the zoot suit, as clothing and as cultural and political symbol. Sponsored by: Graduate School of Library and Information Science In conjunction with: African American Studies and Research Program, Asian American Studies Program, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Department of Theatre, Gender and Women's Studies Program, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Institute of Communications Research, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Latina/Latino Studies Program, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Kathy Peiss was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Journalism and Social Justice October 27, 2005 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Room 100, Gregory Hall 810 South Wright Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Nicholas Lemann Henry R. Luce Professor and Dean, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
For generations, journalists have used gritty, realistic methods to uncover and describe social conditions. Their stories helped Americans as disparate as abolitionists and welfare reformers to craft new notions of social justice and to get their ideas written into law. Can a journalism of social justice survive in our current media environment? If so, what directions might it take? This lecture is given in conjunction with the donation of the Leon Dash Papers to the University Archives. A ceremony marking this occasion will be held in the University Library's Marshall Gallery starting at 6:00pm prior to Nicholas Lemann's talk. Leon Dash won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his Washington Post series, "Rosa Lee: Poverty and Survival in Washington." He holds both a Center for Advanced Study Professorship and a Swanlund Chair. Sponsored by: University Library In conjunction with: African American Studies and Research Program, Center for African Studies, Department of History, Department of Journalism, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Institute of Communications Research, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, School of Social Work, University Press Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Nicholas Lemann was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		The Slow-Motion Suicide of the American Empire November 3, 2005 Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ted Rall Journalist, columnist and cartoonist, Universal Press Syndicate and author of Generalissimo El Busho
Ted Rall is an internationally known syndicated journalist and cartoonist whose work appears in over 140 newspapers. An outspoken opponent of the current administration, Rall will provide cogent analyses of recurring problems—including border control and social security—with deep insights into the ideological divides in the United States, and first-hand knowledge of a number of international issues. He will also touch upon themes from his upcoming book on central Asia and the region's increasing importance to the United States. A question and answer session will follow. Sponsored by: Art History Program College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of English Department of History Department of Political Science Department of Sociology Department of Speech Communication Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities International Programs and Studies Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security Program in Comparative and World Literature Russian, East European and Eurasian Center Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Ted Rall was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		Corresponding Naturalists November 10, 2005 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Janet Browne George A. Miller Endowment Visiting Professor, UIUC and The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London
Letters were once an essential component in natural history research and one of the main means by which men and women actively participated in transforming private ideas into public knowledge. This talk explores the role of correspondence networks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, their role in the exchange of specimens and the way that groups of naturalists used them to create and validate results. Charles Darwin's correspondence is a particularly striking case and this will be compared with the letters of other contemporary figures. Sponsored by: Campus Honors Program Center for Advanced Study College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of History Office of the Provost Spurlock Museum This lecture is held in conjunction with Naturalist Voyagers, a CAS Symposium held in honor of Chip Burkhardt, November 11 at Spurlock Museum. For more information see www.cas.uiuc.edu/burkhardt/. Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required) Janet Browne was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

		From Troy to Baghdad. Can the US Military Learn from Homer's Epics? November 17, 2005 Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Room 407, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jonathan Shay Staff Psychiatrist, Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic, Boston and author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America

Jonathan Shay is a psychiatrist with long experience in treating the psychological damage that combat inflicts on soldiers. His work with Vietnam veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder led him to ponder the lessons of Homer's poems. Dr. Shay brings his expertise in modern psychological analysis to the examination of leadership and, guided by his familiarity with the ancient Greek epics, draws key lessons about military leadership and leader ethics.

Sponsored by:
Department of the Classics

In conjunction with:
Campus Honors Program, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of History, Department of Psychology, Department of Sociology, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Medical Scholars Program, Military Education Council, Program for the Study of Religion, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials, Unit One, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, Hellenic Student Association

Streaming video of this event is available here. (RealPlayer required)

Jonathan Shay was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.

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