PROGRAMS | GAEDE INSTITUTE Archive: Spring 2016
Whatever Happened to Adam and Eve?
Denis Alexander
Director Emeritus, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, University of Cambridge
Pascal Society Lecture
Thursday, January 21, 7:00 pm
Winter Hall 210
Dr. Denis Alexander is the Emeritus Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmunds College, Cambridge, where he is a Fellow. He was formerly head of the molecular biology program at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, and has delivered the internationally esteemed Gifford Lectures. Dr Alexander writes, lectures and broadcasts widely in the field of science and religion. From 1992-2013 he was Editor of the journal Science & Christian Belief, and currently serves as a member of the executive committee of the International Society for Science and Religion. (faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk)
Sarah Jirek
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Westmont College
Gender Studies Lecture
Monday, January 25, 7:00 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge, Kerrwood Hall
Dr. Jirek, a Westmont alum, has been teaching at the college since 2014. Her current research project explores the sociological factors—elated to social context, intersectional identities, structural systems of privilege and oppression, and cumulative adversity—that impact trauma recovery and the development of posttraumatic growth. Dr. Jirek’s other teaching and research interests include gender, social inequalities, identity, violence, deviance, prison re-entry, meaning-making, narrative, and resilience. (westmont.edu)
Doubt: The Mystery of God in the Messiness of Life
Ken Wytsma
Pastor, Antioch Church of Bend, Oregon
Westmont in San Francisco Lecture
Wednesday, January 27, 7:00 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge, Kerrwood Hall
Minister and entrepreneur Ken Wytsma is lead pastor of Antioch Church in Bend, Oregon and president of Kilns College. He frequently consults with churches on justice, church, and culture. His first book, Pursuing Justice: The Call to Live and Die for Bigger Things, was released in 2012 and hi is second book, The Grand Paradox: The Messiness of Life, the Mystery of God and the Necessity of Faith, was released in January 2015. (kenwytsma.com)
Art from Art, Art from Life: Reflections on Monet's Modernism
Paul Tucker
Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Ridley-Tree Museum of Art Lecture
Monday, February 1, 6:00 p.m.
Porter Theater
Paul Tucker, Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is among the world's leading experts on Claude Monet and Impressionism. Tucker’s career at UMass Boston, which began in 1978, is studded with academic awards and honors, including three Chancellor’s Awards: one for Distinguished Service and two for Distinguished Scholarship. A prolific writer, he has authored numerous books, book chapters, articles, and museum catalog entries. (umb.edu)
Laid in Earth / Consumed by Fire: Female and Male Bodies in Two Stories About Dido
John Blondell
Professor of Theater Arts, Westmont College
Gender Studies Lecture
Tuesday, February 2, 7:00 p.m.
Porter Theater
Dr. John Blondell is Professor of Theatre Arts and Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Westmont. He is the cofounder of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, and his productions of classic and contemporary plays have received local, regional, and international acclaim, securing his reputation as one of Santa Barbara’s most progressive, adventurous directors. (westmont.edu)
"Slow Learning" and Social Transformation
Jon Isham
Director, Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Middlebury College
Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts Lecture
Monday, February 8, 3:30 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge, Kerrwood Hall
Jon Isham is the director of the Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) at Middlebury College, which he co-founded in 2012. The CSE, a recognized leader in the integration of social entrepreneurship and the liberal arts, helps students use tools and strategies of entrepreneurs to bring about positive social change. Dr. Isham joins us in conjunction with the Gaede Institute's 2016 Conversation on the Liberal Arts, "From Inquiry to Impact: Social Transformation through Liberal Learning." (middlebury.edu)
Reel Talk Screening: "Ode to My Father"
Hosted by Provost Mark Sargent
Thursday, February 18, 7:00 p.m.
Porter Theater
Following a war in the early 1950s that divided their nation, Koreans north and south experienced decades of dramatic social, cultural and economic change. "Ode to My Father" powerfully depicts one family's journey through sixty years of upheaval and personal displacement, following their narrative from the Korean peninsula to Western Europe to California. Join host Mark Sargent and panelists Helen Rhee and Charlie Farhadian for a screening and discussion of this moving film.
Ethical International Volunteerism and Service: Moral Responsibility or More Harm than Good?
Cynthia Toms
Director, Office of Global Education, Westmont College
Paul C. Wilt Phi Kappa Phi Lecture
Monday, February 22, 7:00 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge, Kerrwood Hall
Cynthia Toms is the Director of Global Education at Westmont College. Prior to coming to Westmont, she served as Assistant Director of the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, and her research emphasizes the role of volunteerism in community development. A specialist in food systems, Dr. Toms is transitioning into a new faculty role in Westmont's department of kinesiology, where she will integrate interests in public health and global studies. (westmont.edu)
Reel Talk Screening: "Citizenfour"
Hosted by Mark Sargent
Thursday, March 3, 7:00 p.m.
Adams 216
Two years ago, US federal contractor Edward Snowden copied and revealed thousands of classified National Security Agency documents. For good or ill, his actions brought to light previously obscure government programs, including ambitious efforts to surveil ordinary Americans, and changed the way we think about security, confidentiality, and personal privacy. Join members of Westmont's communication studies and computer science faculty for a screening of "Citizenfour," Laura Poitras's 2014 documentary about Snowden's decision and its effects. Free admission; open to the Westmont community.
Prefiguring Future Pasts: Imagined Histories in Victorian Poetic-Graphic Texts, 1860-1910
Linda Hughes
Addie Levy Professor of Literature, Texas Christian University
Erasmus Society Lecture (English)
Monday, March 7, 3:30 p.m.
Winter Hall 210
Linda Hughes is the Addie Levy Professor of Literature at Texas Christian University. Her research and teaching in nineteenth-century British studies embrace all genres and a variety of approaches, but she is especially interested in historical media studies (illustrated poetry, periodicals, publishing history, serial fiction); gender and women’s studies; and, increasingly, inter- or transnationality. (eng.tcu.edu)
Beyond the Calm Waters: Some Musings on Women and Christian Higher Education
Lauren F. Winner
Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality, Duke Divinity School
NetVUE Lecture
Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 3:30 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge
Lauren F. Winner writes and lectures widely on Christian practice, the history of Christianity in America, and Jewish-Christian relations. Her books include Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, a study of household religious practice in 18th-century Virginia, A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, and, most recently, a book on overlooked biblical tropes for God, Wearing God. She is completing a book called Characteristic Damage, which examines the effects of sin and damage on Christian practice. She is an ordained Episcopal priest, and serves as vicar of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Louisburg, NC. (divinity.duke.edu)
Reel Talk Screening: "Inequality for All"
Hosted by Mark Sargent
Thursday, March 17, 7:00 p.m.
Porter Theater
Among other results, the 2008 global financial crisis revealed a lopsided American economy that increasingly rewards the ultra-rich. In the years since, many economists have given attention to the now-apparent costs of that imbalance. In this film, economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich argues that growing inequality threatens not only the economic fortunes of most Americans, but the very survival of our democracy.
Marriage Law Reform, Singleness, and Middlemarch
Cheri Larsen Hoeckley
Professor of English, Westmont College
Gender Studies Lecture
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m.
Hieronymus Lounge, Kerrwood Hall
Cheri Larsen Hoeckley is a professor of English at Westmont College, where she has taught since 1997. Specializing in Victorian studies and gender studies, her current projects concern the intersection of faith, gender, and sexuality. A graduate of UC Berkeley and UT Austin, she is the editor ofShakespeare's Heroines (Broadview, 2005) and the author, most recently, of "The Dynamics of Forgiveness and Poetics in Adelaide Procter's 'Homeless'" (Literature Compass 11.2, 2014). (westmont.edu)
Oxytocin, Culture, and Prosociality
Heejung Kim
Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, UCSB
Natural and Behavioral Sciences Lecture
Friday, April 8, 2016, 3:30 p.m.
Winter Hall 210
Heejung Kim is interested in the cultural influences on psychological processes. In particular, her research examines cultural differences in the perception and the effect of speech, cultural differences in the use of social support, and the role of emotion in the acculturation process. She is also interested in the role of culture and genetics in shaping social behaviors. Dr. Kim holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from Stanford University and currently serves as associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at UC Santa Barbara. (psych.ucsb.edu)
Augustine's Discovery of the Natural World
Stan Rosenberg
Executive Director, Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford
Pascal Society Lecture
Monday, April 11, 3:30 p.m.
Winter Hall 210
Stan Rosenberg is a member of the University of Oxford's Theology and Religion faculty where he teaches early Christian History and Doctrine. Dr. Rosenberg also co-directs a Templeton research project on science and religion, is a senior academic member on Wycliffe's current research projects, and is on the advisory board of the Green Scholars Initiative. His research and teaching interests focus on Augustine’s works (the sermons in particular), early Christian cosmology, Greco-Roman science, culture and philosophy, and the interplay between intellectual and popular thought during this period. A dual national of the UK and USA, he has lived in Oxford for 13 years with his wife and two children. (wycliffehall.org.uk)
Play Performance: "Mr. Darwin's Tree"
Written and directed by Murray Watts
Starring Andrew Harrison
Sponsored by the Pascal Society and the Westmont Science and Faith Club
Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m.
Winter Hall 210
"Mr. Darwin's Tree," a one-man play produced by Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford and funded by the Templeton Religion Trust, explores Charles Darwin's journeys of biological discovery and his struggles to come to terms with religious belief--his own and others'. This performance begins the play’s first tour of the U.S. since its 2009 premiere at Westminster Abbey. The production has had highly successful runs at the Edinburgh Festival in 2011 and at the King’s Head Theatre, London, in 2012. Since then, it has traveled to Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, and many other universities, colleges, and theatres in the UK.
Cultures and Societies Shaped by Fear? Central Europe's Response to Recent Migration Flows
Juraj Majo
Assistant Professor of Human Geography and Demography, Comenius University, Bratislava
Office of Global Education Lecture
Wednesday, April 13, 3:30 p.m.
Winter Hall 210
Born in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, Juraj Majo earned a PhD in human geography and demography in 2010 at Comenius University, where he now works as an assistant professor. His research and teaching interests include historical demography, geography and demography of religions and ethnicities, cultural geography, and computer mapping. Dr. Majo serves as a close associate for the Westmont in Northern Europe program.
Reel Talk Screening: "Prison State"
Hosted by Mark Sargent
Thursday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.
Winter 210
In recent decades, Americans have increasingly turned to mass incarceration to redress social ills; today, the United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation on earth. "Prison State" tells the story of four people—two children and two adults—who have served time in custody, posing troubling questions about the means and ends of American criminal justice.
Film Discussion: "The Greenhorns"
Sponsored by the Garden and Sustainability Club
Sustainability Week 2016
Thursday, April 21, 6:30 p.m.
Adams 216
"The Greenhorns," completed after almost 3 years in production, explores the lives of America’s young farming community—its spirit, practices, and needs. It is the filmmaker’s hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can build the case for those considering a career in agriculture—to embolden them, to entice them, and to recruit them into farming. (thegreenhorns.net)