Monthly Archives: February 2015

Jerry’s Picks 15.6

A couple of late-breaking picks (including one with Judith Rodin) from SIPA, plus an artist exploring the South, Jeffrey Sachs’s latest on sustainability, the improvisations of scientists, and the future of cybersecurity. What in the world is going on at Columbia? Just about everything! 

February 25
6 – 7 p.m.
School of International and Public Affairs
The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong
A conversation with Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, about her new book on the importance of resilient planning—among cities and organizations—in handling current and future threats and challenges. Moderated by Dean Merit E. Janow (SIPA). International Affairs Building, Room 1501

February 26
6 – 8 p.m.
School of International and Public Affairs
The UN at 70: Past Experiences and Future Opportunities
A discussion on the United Nations 70th anniversary. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson will reflect on the UN’s progress since its founding and discuss the road ahead in light of new challenges. There will be Q&A session followed by a reception. CUID and registration required. International Affairs Building, Room 1501.

February 27
6:30 p.m.
School of the Arts
Ralph Lemon Ceremonies Out of the Air
Lemon’s exploration of the American South in his interviews, publications, performances and exhibitions uncovers the complexity of geography, history, memory and the body. A Mellon Visiting Artist, Lemon will present new and old work about the South followed by a discussion with English and Comparative Literature Professor Saidiya Hartman. RSVP here. Schermerhorn Hall, Room 501.

March 2
4:30 – 6:00 p.m.
Earth Institute
Book launch: The Age of Sustainable Development with Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute. His latest publication is based on his twelve years as the director of the Earth Institute, his thirteen years advising the United Nations secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals, and his recent presentation of these ideas in a popular online course. Lecture followed by a reception. Morningside Campus, Casa Italiana.

March 10
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Wallach Art Gallery
Improvisation in the Sciences
A discussion with Martin Chalfie (biological sciences), George Lewis (music), and Michael Shadlen (neuroscience) about the universality of the two themes of Romare Bearden’s Black Odyssey – art and life as improvisation, and the urge, need, and desire to return home. The event will explore how these creative concepts apply to scientific research. Register here. Earl Hall.

March 12
6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Engineering | Columbia Alumni Association
NYC Entrepreneurship Night: Cybersecurity
A discussion on next generation security protocols and technologies. Moderated by Dean Mary C. Boyce (engineering) with Benjamin Fried, chief information officer at Google, Salvatore Stolfo, professor of computer science, and David Aronoff, general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. Followed by a reception with drinks and snacks and featuring new ventures by students, alumni, and faculty. Purchase tickets here. AXA Event & Production Center, 787 Seventh Ave.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events of possible high interest to alumni, donors, and prospects. This listing is highly selective by design — regrettably, much more is omitted than featured. For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. As always, I appreciate hearing from you about future events!

Jerry’s Picks 15.5

Stars and storms, decoding confidence or cancer, the arts and the art of governing–March will come in like a (Columbia) lion. 

February 18
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
University Programs and Events
A Discussion with Claire Shipman and Katty Kay
Journalists Claire Shipman ‘86CC and Katty Kay will discuss their New York Times best-selling book The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know. Moderated by Alondra Nelson, professor of sociology and gender studies and dean for social sciences. Followed by a Q&A session and reception where Shipman and Kay will be on hand to sign copies of their books (which will be available for purchase). RSVP required. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library.

February 19
3:30 p.m.
Columbia University Medical Center
How Cancer Research is Transforming Cancer Control with Harold Varmus, M.D.
Nobelist Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute, will speak on the frontiers of cancer treatment in the Distinguished Lectures in Precision Medicine series. CUMC Alumni Auditorium, 650 West 168th Street, 1st floor. (Reminder)

February 23
6 p.m.
The Earth Institute | Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory | Executive Vice President for Research
Preparing for Extreme Weather: Global Lessons from Sandy
This World Leaders Forum will launch the new Columbia Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate. With Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law; Lisa Goddard, director and senior research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and adjunct associate professor of earth and environmental sciences; Cynthia Rosenzweig, co-chair of NYC Panel on Climate Change, head of the Climate Impacts Group, and senior research scientist at the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Earth Institute; and Daniel Zarrilli, director of New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency. RSVP required. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library. (Reminder)

February 25
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Weatherhead East Asia Institute | Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
Birds of Metal in Flight: An Evening of Poetry with 5+5
This event is a goodbye to the much-beloved exhibit, “Phoenix: Xu Bing at the Cathedral” (on view through the end of February). Featuring readings by ten premiere poets: Bei Dao, Ouyang Jianghe, Xi Chuan, Zhai Yongming, Zhou Zan, Charles Bernstein, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Pierre Joris, Afaa Weaver, as well as the Cathedral’s poet in residence, Marilyn Nelson. Register here. The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue.

February 27
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Astronomy Department
Neutron Stars
The Stargazing and Lecture Series are public lectures complemented by a Q&A session with real astronomers, 3D Wall, astrophotography slideshows, and an observatory tour followed by guided stargazing with telescopes (weather permitting). Pupin Hall.

March 4
4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
School of International and Public Affairs
Global Mayors Forum with Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia
Mayor Michael Nutter will speak about his innovative approaches to school reform and community policing partnerships with vulnerable communities, and his longstanding commitment to making Philadelphia become the greenest city in America through GreenWorks. Register here. International Affairs Building, Room 1501.

March 13 – LOOKING AHEAD…
7:30 p.m.
Heyman Center for the Humanities
Art Spiegelman and Phillip Johnston: Wordless!
Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Art Spiegelman is a noted historian, Pulitzer prize-winning artist, and theorist of comics who changed the definition of comics forever. Phillip Johnston, the critically acclaimed jazz composer, will be performing live with his sextet in “WORDLESS!” — a program combining slides, talk, film, and musical performance. As Spiegelman explores “the battle between Words and Pictures,” he smashes at the hyphen between High and Low Art in a presentation featuring new work drawn specifically for this project called “Shaping Thought.” Purchase tickets here. Miller Theatre.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events of possible high interest to alumni, donors, and prospects. This listing is highly selective by design — regrettably, much more is omitted than featured. For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. As always, I appreciate hearing from you about future events!

Jerry’s Picks 15.4

A Valentine’s Day special for those in love, or at least in love with chocolate. And there’s plenty more on the menu if your passions run to history, medicine, science, or innovation. 

February 11
6 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Maison Française
Les Chocolats de Saint Valentin
This Valentine’s Day, join culinary historian and chocolate expert Alexandra Leaf for a tasting and talk in the Maison Française kitchen celebrating the French tradition of dark chocolate. Taste a selection of single origin French-made bars and handmade, award-winning bonbons from Chocolat Moderne, along with champagne. Tickets are $45 and seating is limited. To request a ticket, please e-mail [email protected]. Buell Hall, Morningside campus.

February 12
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Asian American Studies | Department of History
“The Chinese Question and Global Politics in the Nineteenth Century”
This University Lecture will consider the broader implications for thinking about the relationship between the local and the global. Mae M. Ngai, professor of history and Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies, will discuss local politics in the gold-mining regions of the United States, Australia, and South Africa, where Euro-Americans first encountered large-scale Chinese immigration, the differences in politics among them, and the dynamics that brought them together into an idea with global force and reach. Hosted by President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost John H. Coatsworth with a Q&A session followed by a reception. RSVP required. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library. (Reminder)

February 19
3:30 p.m.
Columbia University Medical Center
How Cancer Research is Transforming Cancer Control with Harold Varmus, M.D.
Nobelist Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute, will speak on the frontiers of cancer treatment as part of the Distinguished Lectures in Precision Medicine. CUMC Alumni Auditorium, 650 West 168th Street, 1st floor.

February 23
6:00 p.m.
The Earth Institute | Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory | Executive Vice President for Research
Preparing for Extreme Weather: Global Lessons from Sandy
This World Leaders Forum will launch the new Columbia Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate with a panel discussion on the risks to human life and property from extreme weather events and on developing solutions to mitigate those risks. Panelists include: Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law; Lisa Goddard, director and senior research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and adjunct associate professor of earth and environmental sciences; Cynthia Rosenzweig, co-chair of NYC Panel on Climate Change, head of the Climate Impacts Group, and senior research scientist at the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Earth Institute; and Daniel Zarrilli, director of New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency. RSVP required. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library.

March 2 – 3
Columbia Business School | Center on Global Brand Leadership
BRITE ’15 Conference: brands, innovation, and technology
BRITE ’15 will bring together over 500 leaders from business, technology, media, and marketing to discuss how innovation and shifting social trends are transforming the ways companies build and sustain great brands. Participants will come to think differently about the changing global landscape brands face today, and connect with a best-in-class group of innovators, marketers, entrepreneurs, and champions of social enterprise. Register here. Roone Arledge Auditorium, 1st floor, Alfred Lerner Hall.

March 3
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Zuckerman Institute
In Darwin’s Footsteps: Witnessing the Origin of a New Species in the Galapagos
Columbia journalism professor and Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Weiner tells of a team of biologists that has been observing the evolution of Darwin’s finches on a desert island in the center of the Galapagos archipelago for more than forty years. Their work throws light on many aspects of the science of life — including the science of the brain. The lecture is part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Brain Insight Lecture series of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. Register here. Graduate School of Journalism, Lecture Hall.

March 4
5 p.m. 7 p.m.
School of Continuing Education | College of Physicians and Surgeons
Narrative Medicine Rounds: Peter Nicks, Author
Narrative Medicine Rounds are lectures or readings presented by scholars, clinicians, or writers engaged in work at the intersection of narrative and health care. Nicks is an Emmy award winning documentary filmmaker whose projects for network, cable and public television explored topics such as immigration, journalism, and technology. Reception to follow. CUMC Faculty Club, Physicians and Surgeons Building, 4th floor.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events of possible high interest to alumni, donors, and prospects. This listing is highly selective by design — regrettably, much more is omitted than featured. For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. As always, I appreciate hearing from you about future events!

Jerry’s Picks 15.3

Green finance, writers and lives, the police and communities, Remnick and magazines, Fascists and art, global politics and Chinese immigration, two masters depict African-American migration, and Bob Dylan’s baffling genius, all blowin’ in the February wind.

February 4  a two-fer!
6 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
The Earth Institute | School of Continuing Education
The Field of Sustainable Finance: Foundations and Future Growth
The growing field of Sustainable Finance combines elements of corporate sustainability and financial principles including green accounting and carbon accounting, environmental markets, project finance, asset management and sustainable investment, and the impacts of environmental issues on capital markets. The following academics and practitioners will discuss how sustainable finance has developed and evolved: Steven Cohen, executive director and chief operating officer of the Earth Institute; Satyajit Bose, lecturer in the discipline of economics; Travis Bradford, director, energy and environment concentration, SIPA. Speakers: Frank Barbarino, vice president, Goldman Sachs; Michael Davis, director, institutional client relationships, Calvert Investments; Sonal Mahida, head of North America, networks and global outreach, the Principles for UN Responsible Investment Initiative; Kevin Parker, CEO, Sustainable Insight Capital Management; Amy Springsteel, director of corporate responsibility, Voya Financial. RSVP Required. The Columbia Club, 15 W. 43rd St.

7 p.m.
School of the Arts | Heyman Center for the Humanities
Creative Writing Lecture Series: Michael Cunningham
Author Michael Cunningham delivers a talk on his work and the art of writing as part of the School of the Arts’ Creative Writing Lecture Series and the Heyman Center for the Humanities’ Writing Lives Series. Cunningham is the author of the novels The Snow QueenA Home at the End of the WorldFlesh and BloodThe Hours (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and Pulitzer Prize), Specimen Days, and By Nightfall, as well as the non-fiction book, Land’s End: A Walk in Provincetown. Dodge Hall, Room 501. (Reminder)

February 5 – a tripleheader…
9 a.m. –12 p.m.
School of International and Public Affairs | Amadou Diallo Foundation (ADF)
Conference on Improving Police-Community Relations
A free event to discuss ways to restore trust between our communities and law enforcement. Welcome remarks from Dean Merit E. Janow and keynote speaker Hon. Eric L. Adams, Brooklyn borough president. The panelists include: Kadiatou Diallo, ADF president; Hon. David Dinkins, ADF board chair; Hon. David Paterson, ADF board member; Mr. Norman Siegel, ADF board treasurer; and Mr. Graham Weatherspoon, ADF board member. Q&A session will follow the panel discussion. Coffee and light breakfast will be served. RSVP required. International Affairs Building, 15th floor.

6:15 p.m.
Heyman Center for the Humanities
Music for Words: Bob Dylan
Christopher Ricks, the William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities at Boston University, and Sean Wilentz, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University, will discuss The Lyrics: Since 1962, the recently published comprehensive collected lyrics of Bob Dylan. Ricks collaborated with Dylan to complete the publication of the massive 960 page tome. In the words of Ricks, “For fifty years, all the world has delighted in Bob Dylan’s books of words and more than words: provocative, mysterious, touching, baffling, not-to-be-pinned-down, intriguing, and a reminder that genius is free to do as it chooses.” Heyman Center, 2nd floor, Common Room.

5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
The Italian Academy
Music, Fascism, and the Holocaust 
Each winter, Europe and the United Nations commemorate the victims of the Holocaust on the date of Auschwitz’s liberation in 1945. The Italian Academy presents an annual academic event exploring issues of discrimination and crimes against humanity. This year’s program includes author, Harvey Sachs (Curtis Institute of Music), and music professor, Michael Beckerman (NYU). The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Ave. (Reminder)

February 12  another two-fer!
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Asian American Studies | Department of History
University Lecture with Mae M. Ngai
Mae M. Ngai, Professor of History and Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies, will give a lecture on the local politics in the gold-mining regions of the United States, Australia, and South Africa, where Euro-Americans first encountered large-scale Chinese immigration, the differences in politics among them, and the dynamics that brought them together into an idea with global force and reach. This lecture, “The Chinese Question and Global Politics in the Nineteenth Century,” will consider the broader implications for thinking about the relationship between the local and the global. This event is hosted by President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost John H. Coatsworth with a Q&A session followed by a reception. RSVP required. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library. (Reminder)

6 p.m.
Graduate School of Journalism
The Delacorte Lectures: David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker
David Remnick speaks as part of the spring 2015 Delacorte Lecture Series. The series examines aspects of magazine journalism by a leader in the field of magazine publishing. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since 1998. Under his direction, the magazine has garnered 149 nominations for National Magazine Awards and has won 37. In addition, Remnick was named Advertising Age’s Editor of the Year in 2000. The Delacorte Lectures is headed by Victor Navasky, the George T. Delacorte Professor in Magazine Journalism and director of the Delacorte Center. Pulitzer Hall, 3rd floor, World Room. (Reminder)

February 1920
Department of Art History | Archaeology
Ghosts of the Past: Nazi-Looted Art and Its Legacies
An international conference co-organized by Columbia University’s Department of Art History and Archaeology and Deutsches Haus, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut and the Jewish Museum, New York. “Ghosts of the Past: Nazi-Looted Art and Its Legacies” convenes an international group of art historians, historians, curators, and scholars in provenance research and the history of German art dealership to explore an unexamined chapter of the legacies of the Third Reich. The conference opens with a keynote lecture at the Jewish Museum by Olaf Peters, a professor at Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg and curator of the recent exhibition “Degenerate Art” at the Neue Galerie. Register here. 501 Schermerhorn Hall, 8th floor.

February 20
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
Bearden and Lawrence: Migrations
In coordination with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York, ten speakers, in ten minutes each, will reflect on personal journeys or odysseys, black migration (both nationally and internationally), and the two great African American master artists of the twentieth century: Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence. “Bearden and Lawrence: Migrations” is inspired by the conjunction of Columbia’s current Bearden exhibition followed by MoMA’s new forthcoming presentation of Lawrence’s complete “Migration” series. An evening of reflections with Deborah Cullen, Leah Dickerman, Mel Edwards, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Robert O’Meally, Clifford Owens, Jodi Roberts, Robert Stepto, and Lowery Stokes Sims. Register here. 501 Schermerhorn Hall, 8th floor.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events of possible high interest to alumni, donors, and prospects. This listing is highly selective by design — regrettably, much more is omitted than featured. For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. As always, I appreciate hearing from you about future events!