|
Conversations About our Scholarly Lives
Fall 2008
Fall 2008 kicks off the newest initiative from
the CST--Conversations About our Scholarly Lives. Every Monday at
noon, CASL provides Macalester faculty with an opportunity to learn
about our colleagues’ scholarly work while joining together
for lunch and informal conversation. Presenters have 20 minutes
to discuss their research in progress, the excitement and challenges
of doing research at a small liberal arts college, or their fully
formed research products. The rest of the hour will be spent discussing
the issues raised in the presentation. Bring your curiosity, collegiality,
and your questions; we provide the lunch (no RSVP necessary). 12:000-1:00
at the CST, Room 338 in the Library .
September 8 - Julie Dolan, Political Science
Whether you’re curious or furious about voter perceptions
and media treatments of Hillary Clinton, Professor Dolan explains
it all. Recent co-author of the text, Women and Politics: Paths
to Power and Political Influence, Julie Dolan brings her unique
insight and evidence to illuminate this historically significant
moment in American political life.
September 15 - Beth Severy-Hoven, Classics
Scholarship and small children – how can faculty best nurture
both? Beth Severy-Hoven promises no answers, but will share personal
experiences, reflections and strategies to lead off a conversation
about maintaining a research program while parenting young children.
Participants are encouraged to bring their particular challenges
and insights to the table as well.
September 22 - Danny Kaplan, Math/Computer
Science
Thank goodness it's too late to hold me strictly to account for
the "professional development plan" I filed for tenure;
my intention was sincere but the goals were never reached. By dropping
my enthusiastic plans for competitive, groundbreaking research,
I've been much more productive and effective. What was key, for
me, was to recognize unapologetically my own limitations of talent
and time and energy and resources.
September 29 - Ruthann Godollei, Art
According to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), Ruthann Godollei
is a printmaker as well as contemporary satirist in the spirit of
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Like John Stewart, Godollei
takes the media and the administration head-on. She will talk about
her newest exhibit at the MIA, and discuss art as politics and scholarship.
October 6 - Martin Gunderson, Philosophy
What is human subjects research? The answer is not as obvious as
it might seem and is not merely an interesting philosophical issue.
A thicket of regulations govern research with human subjects, and
these regulations are applied by the various panels of Macalester's
Institutional Review Board. Martin Gunderson will discuss how Macalester's
IRB works as well as some of the underlying value issues.
October 13 - James Dawes, English
In September, James Dawes will travel to Japan to interview a group
of convicted war criminals as part of a larger research project
on human rights and humanitarianism. He will collaborate with a
photographer whose work can be found as part of the New York Times
article, "In Myanmar, Fear Is a Constant Companion" at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/world/asia/21myanmar.html.
October 20 - Chad Topaz, Math/Computer
Science
From locust swarms to fluid waves to the chemical reactions responsible
for zebra stripes, the spontaneous emergence of pattern and organization
in nature is a widespread and arguably surprising phenomenon. In
this non-technical presentation, Professor Topaz will provide an
introduction to the study of pattern formation, illuminate with
numerous examples (and pictures) of pattern-forming systems, and
discuss different approaches that may be used to study them.
October 27 - Karen Saxe, Math/Computer
Science
Can mathematics can be used to analyze problems of social choice,
decision-making, and conflict resolution—particularly in politics?
Professor Saxe will look at some problems, and mathematicians' approach
to resolving them, in voting power, the apportionment problem, redistricting
and gerrymandering from the field of mathematical game theory.
November 3 - Mark Mazullo, Music
Mark Mazullo will discuss his forthcoming book on the piano music
of Dmitri Shostakovich, the most celebrated composer of the Soviet
era. An active performer as well as a musicologist, Mazullo combines
his dual professional interests to explore the social-historical
context in which Shostakovich's work was created.
November 10 - Jim Doyle, Physics
Concern about global warming and energy independence has stimulated
interest and investment in photovoltaic (solar cell, PV) energy
sources. Although PV sales are growing at a rate of over 30% per
year, a very small fraction of our energy need is supplied by PV,
and the price of PV is still 4-6 times more costly than conventional
fossil fuel. Jim Doyle will discuss the current status of PV development
and research (including his own) and discuss the challenges to be
overcome so that PV can contribute a significant fraction of our
electricity needs.
November 17 - Sonita Sarker, Women’s,
Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Professor Sarker will describe her three current book-projects that
focus variously on modern literature, political practices, transnationalism,
and higher education. She plans to explain how the projects interconnect.
She may also narrate why tennis is one of many impossible but useful
catalysts and cures for her scholarly life.
November 24 - Frank Adler, Political Science
Professor Frank Adler recently traveled to Palestine and Israel
as part of the Macalester Faculty Development International Seminar
(FDIS). While there, he researched the role of Israel's Mizrahim,
Jews who for millennia were deeply rooted in the region, but were
summarily expelled from Arab states after the state of Israel was
founded in 1948. In this talk, Professor Adler examines the "orientalist"
discrimination that Mizrahim suffered in Israel, but also raises
the possibility that both as Jews and Arabs, the Mizrahim might
serve as a bridge to regional reconcilliation.
|
