Monthly Archives: September 2014

Jerry’s Picks #2: Oct. 1 – 13

Dear Colleagues,

Happy almost October! Highlighted below are general interest campus events across a range of topics of possible interest to alumni, donors, and prospects. This is a headline listing only and highly selective — regrettably, much more is omitted than featured. For ticket availability and other details, follow the links.

October 15
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Narrative Medicine Rounds with D.T. Max
New Yorker writer D.T. Max’s most recent book, Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (2012, Viking Penguin), was a New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery. Faculty Club of Columbia University Medical Center.

October 2 – Double-header
6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Composer Portraits: Chou Wen-chung at Miller Theatre
CAA Arts Access reception with the composer, a GSAS alumnus, longtime Columbia music professor and mentor to generations of students, as well as Fred Lerdahl, the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition. 6 p.m. reception at Columbia Alumni Center and 8 p.m. performance at Miller Theatre.

6:15 p.m.
Liberalism and its Critics with Fred Siegel, Eric Foner, Ira Katznelson, Anne Kornhauser, and Judith Stein
In his recent book The Revolt Against the Masses, Fred Siegel indicts modern American liberalism for elitism toward ordinary Americans, their values and culture, and blames liberals for many of the problems plaguing American society today. The panelists will respond to his critique, discuss liberalism’s history, and evaluate its future prospects. The Heyman Center.

October 7
6:30 p.m.
Zuckerman Institute Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture, “We Are What We Remember: The Biology of Memory & Age-Related Memory Disorders” featuring Dr. Eric R. Kandel. Join the Nobelist and Zuckerman Institute co-director for this public lecture at Miller Theatre.

October 8 Another two-fer
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Committee on Global Thought Global Think-In, “Rethinking Knowledge: Global Governance” with historian Mark Mazower, political theorist and historian Partha Chatterjee, and law professor Katharina Pistor. Heyman Center.

7 p.m.
School of the Arts
Creative Writing Lecture Series with fiction writer Karen Russell (’06SOA). Dodge Hall.

October 13
6:30 p.m. 
Café Columbia “Cameras, Lights, … Income!” with Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economic Development
In the Welcome Center’s own Café Columbia, hear a dynamic economics professor discuss research on non-R&D innovation and measuring the income of poor families in emerging economies. Columbia Alumni Center

If you know of great general interest events on any of our campuses, please pass along to me at [email protected]. Wishing you all the best for stimulating weeks ahead! Jerry

Jerry’s Picks #1: Off We Go!

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Friday. This is the first of many messages highlighting events coming to our campuses. The format is rough and will surely evolve, but next week’s events are simply too compelling to wait.

Please note: this is a headline listing only and highly selective. For ticket availability and other details follow the links. And remember there are many more than these!

MORNINGSIDE FIVE FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22

September 22
5:30 p.m.
Brown Institute “Gaia Intrudes” – This public lecture by French philosopher, anthropologist, and sociologist Bruno Latour on Furnald Lawn in front of Pulitzer Hall will be held in conjunction with performances of Latour’s play “Gaia Global Circus” at The Kitchen in Chelsea. Sponsored by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, with assistance from Alliance (Columbia, École Polytechnique, Sciences Po, and Panthéon-Sorbonne University), The Center for Science and Society, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Maison Française. More information.

September 23 – What a Night!
5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Women Creating Change
Women and Politics: A Turning Point? with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Mara Liasson, Katha Pollitt, moderated by Alondra Nelson co-sponsored by Women Creating Change and CAA. Lerner Hall.

7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Heyman Center
The Writing Lives Series An Evening with Novelist Ta Obreht and Mark Mazower East Campus East Gallery, Buell Hall.

6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Earth Institute
Book Launch: The Big Ratchet by MacArthur Award-Winning Ruth DeFries Italian Academy.

September 26
9 a.m.
World Leaders Forum
Children in the Age of Sustainable Development, featuring Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden, The Honorable Bill de Blasio, Mayor, New York City, and Helena Thybell, Global Manager, H&M Conscious Foundation. World Leaders Forum events this week also include appearances by the Tunisian president, the Japanese prime minister, the president of the Philippines, the president of Poland, and the Norwegian prime minister. See all World Leaders Forum events.

That’s a good start, anyway. Future listings will come more in advance. If you know of great general interest events on any of our campuses, please pass along to me at [email protected].

Wishing you all the best for a restful weekend and a stimulating week ahead! Jerry