George A. Miller
When George A. Miller died in 1951 he left an estate of almost a million dollars to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "to be used . . . for educational purposes . . . other than current general operating expenses." More Information
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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.
Culture and Politics in Mexico: The Symbolism Behind Political Campaigns
September 6, 2006
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center
919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Larissa Adler Lomnitz
Researcher Emeritus of Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Department of Applied Mathematics and Systems, Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City
Many countries in Latin America are holding presidential elections this year. On the aftermath of the recent election in Mexico, Professor Adler Lomnitz offers a rich interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary political culture in Mexico, focusing on the structure, beliefs and practices of political parties, especially the last campaign of the PRI, the dominant party for the past 75 years, and the nature of Mexican democracy at the turn of the 21st century.
In conjunction with:
Center for Global Studies, Center for International Business Education and Research, Department of Anthropology, Department of Business Administration, Department of History, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Latina/Latino Studies Program, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program
How Our Genes Shape the Way We Respond to Our Environment
September 11, 2006
Monday, 8:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Beckman Institute
405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana
Avshalom Caspi
Professor of Personality Development, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London and Professor of Psychology, Developmental Program on Personality and Psychopathology, University of Wisconsin at Madison
A gene environment interaction occurs when an environmental pathogen (for example, poor diet, pollution, life stress) has an effect on health depending upon a person's genotype. Avshalom Caspi suggests that successful collaboration between genetic epidemiologists and neuroscientists can solve the biggest mystery of the human psychopathology: how does an environmental factor external to the person get inside the nervous system and alter its elements to generate the symptoms of a disordered mind?
In conjunction with:
Beckman Institute, College of Medicine, Counseling Center, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Entomology, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Institute for Genomic Biology, Neuroscience Program, Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, School of Social Work
Analogy as the Core of Cognition
September 14, 2006
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Theatre, Lincoln Hall
702 South Wright Street, Urbana
Douglas Hofstadter
Director, Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, Indiana University
The widely known author of Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid argues that every
concept in our minds arises from an accumulation of analogies stretching back to our earliest childhood, and that thinking — the pinpointing of the right concept at the right time — is the result of a relentless swarm of unconscious analogy-makers competing with each other. He will offer many examples, including errors of diction, expanding spheres of word meanings, proverbs as situation labels, the sudden bubbling-up of buried memories, and counterintuitive leaps that constitute the pinnacle of creative human thought.
In conjunction with:
Beckman Institute, Campus Honors Program, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Computer Science, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of English, Department of Mathematics, Department of Philosophy, Department of Physics, Department of Psychology, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Krannert Art Museum, Neuroscience Program, Program in Science, Technology, Information, and Medicine, School of Music, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
Bioethical Challenges in a 21st-Century World
October 05, 2006
Thursday, 4:00 p.m.
Ballroom, Alice Campbell Alumni Center
601 S. Lincoln Avenue, Urbana
Mark Siegler
Director, MacLean Ethics Center, University of Chicago
Dr. Siegler will present an exploration of today's bioethical issues and the future challenges facing modern medicine in societies around the world. The dilemmas that clinicians face will not go away and will be compounded by the widening gap between the universality of values and the increasing inequities in global health.
This lecture is held in conjunction with the College of Medicine's 35th Anniversary Celebration. For more information visit www.conferences.uiuc.edu/medicine.
In conjunction with:
Beckman Institute, Campus Honors Program, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, College of Applied Life Studies, College of Law, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Philosophy, Department of Political Science, Department of Psychology, Institute for Genomic Biology, Institute for Government and Public Affairs, Office of Continuing Education, Program for the Study of Religion, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology
The Historical Origins of Open Science
October 30, 2006
Monday, 4:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Room 1122, NCSA
1205 West Clark Street, Urbana
Paul A. David
Professor of Economics (Emeritus), Stanford University, Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Senior Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
The emergence of open science practices during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a distinctive and vital organizational aspect of the Scientific Revolution. From those developments crystallized a new set of norms, incentives, and organizational structures supporting cooperative rivalries in the revelation of reliable knowledge. Analyzing the role of asymmetric information in the economics of late Renaissance court patronage illuminates this historical break from secrecy in the pursuit of Nature's secrets, and its modern-day significance.
In conjunction with:
College of Law, Coordinated Science Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Department of Economics, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Illinois Program in Law and Economics, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Alpha Omega Epsilon, Engineering Sorority, Association for Computer Machinery, Intellectual Property Legal Society
Serene Shadows: Aura and Icon in Postcolonial Senegal
November 6, 2006
Monday, 4:00 p.m.
Room 62, Krannert Art Museum
500 W. Peabody Drive, Champaign
Allen F. Roberts
George A. Miller Endowment Visiting Professor, UIUC and Department of French and Francophone Studies, University of California at Los Angeles
This illustrated lecture presents the arts of the Mourides, a contemporary mystical Islamic movement in the west African republic of Senegal, and focuses on imagery associated with the Mourides' founding Sufi saint, Sheikh Amadou Bamba (1853-1927). As a pacifist, poet, and mystic, Bamba has become a postcolonial hero in a nation known for its stability and industriousness. Artists honor Bamba's memory through art forms ranging from public wall murals and glass paintings to devotional calligraphy and contemporary installation art.
Allen F. Roberts discusses how features of a 1913 photograph of Bamba taken by French colonial authorities as an instrument of surveillance provide visual piety to several million Mourides in Senegal and around the world in an ever-expanding diaspora.
This presentation is given in conjunction with A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal, an exhibition on view at UIUC's Krannert Art Museum October 27 through December 31.
In conjunction with:
Center for African Studies, Collaborative for Cultural Heritage and Museum Practices, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Department of Anthropology, Gender and Women's Studies Program, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Office of the Provost, Program for the Study of Religion, School of Architecture, School of Art and Design
Indigenous Rights in a Global Arena: Globalization From Below
November 14, 2006
Tuesday, 4:00 p.m.
Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center
919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Luis Macas
President, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador and director, Scientific Institute of Indigenous Cultures, Quito, Ecuador
Dr. Luis Macas has long been at the forefront of the struggle for political rights for indigenous peoples in Ecuador as a founder and then president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). He is now reaching beyond borders to make intercontinental alliances in the emergent pan-global indigenous peoples’ movement.
In this talk he discusses this grassroots form of globalization, pointing to challenges and successes of indigenous people’s movements across the Americas and beyond.
A member of the Saraguro indigenous community (part of the Quichua-Kichwa nation), Luis Macas is the Ecuadorian presidential candidate for Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement, the political branch of CONAIE, in the 2006 elections.
Luis Macas' talk will be given in Spanish and simultaneously translated by Professor Linda Belote, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota at Duluth.
In conjunction with:
Asian American Studies Program, Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Center for Global Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of History, Department of Linguistics, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Environmental Council, Global Crossroads Living/Learning Community, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Native American House, Office of Continuing Education, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
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This icon represents that streaming video is available for this lecture. Real Player is required
This icon represents that streaming audio is available for this lecture. Real Player is required.
This icon represents that the individual appear on WILL FOCUS 580's radio show. Click the icon to be taken to the page of that week's broadcasts.