From art and the brain to prison abolition and human immunity to how we talk about successful women and market health, Columbians and guests look at how we construct, and improve, reality. 

February 22
1 – 3 p.m.
The Center for Justice
Amend the 13th: A Conversation about Ending Legalized Slavery in the United States and Abolishing the Prison System As We Know It
A panel discussion about abolishing the prison system with Sheena Wright, president and CEO of United Way of New York City; Kendall Thomas, Nash Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Culture; Mika’il DeVeaux, founder of Citizens Against Recidivism; and moderated by Flores A. Forbes, associate vice president of Strategic Policy and Program Implementation in the Office of Government & Community Affairs. RSVP here. The Forum, Auditorium. (Just Societies)

SNEAK PEAK

April 3
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Data Science Institute
Data Science Day
Join innovators in academia, industry, and government for a day of demos and lightning talks by Columbia researchers presenting their latest work in data science. Keynote by Brad Smith, President of Microsoft. Admissions fees and RSVP here. Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall (Data and Society)

REMINDERS

February 13 – 16: Directing Thesis: The Woman / The Man: An Evening of Two One-Act Plays
February 14: Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon
February 20: Book Talk: Author Steve Luxenberg in Conversation with Professor Jelani Cobb and Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap

PICKS

February 18
6:15 p.m.
Arts and Sciences, Columbia Justice Lab and Multiple Sponsors
A discussion of Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison with the author, sociologist Bruce Western, joined by Adam Reich, Ronald B. Mincy, DeAnna Hoskins, and Shamus Khan. Presented by the New Books in the Arts & Sciences & Justice Forum. Columbia School of Social Work. Room 311/312. (Just Societies) 

February 19
12:10 – 1:10 p.m.
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Is Liberalism Making the World Less Fair?
Heading into the 2020 political cycle, what role do (or could) US institutions play in aggravating or lessening economic liberalism’s downsides? Three authors discuss their books, including Samuel Moyn, professor of law and history at Yale University and author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World; Todd N. Tucker, political scientist and fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and author of Judge Knot: Politics and Development in International Investment Law; and Tonya Putnam, associate professor of political science and author of Courts without Borders: Laws, Politics, and U.S. Extraterritoriality. Jerome Greene Hall, Room 105. (Just Societies, Global Solutions)

February 20
4:30 p.m.
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Human Immunity in Space and Time
The Dean’s Distinguished Lecture with Donna Farber, George H. Humphreys, II Professor of Surgical Sciences and professor of microbiology and immunology. Reception to follow in the Schaefer Awards Gallery. 650 West 168th Street, First Floor, Alumni Auditorium.

February 22
7 p.m.
Lenfest Center for the Arts
Woman in Language: Defining Success
Ten Columbia MFA Theatre students will pose questions that will explore how we use language to describe women and success. The conversation will be moderated by Leslie Ayvazian, adjunct associate professor in the Theatre program. RSVP here. Lenfest Center for the Arts, Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room. (Arts and Ideas)

February 28
12 – 1 p.m.
World Leaders Forum
European Parliament President, Antonio Tajani
An address by Antonio Tajani, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Registration will open here on February 21. Italian Academy, Teatro. (Global Solutions)

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Richard Axel and Sarah Sze: Neuroscience, Art, and the Construction of Reality
Artist Sarah Sze and neuroscientist Richard Axel discuss the construction of reality in the first of a new series of conversations between artists and neuroscientists on the Manhattanville campus. Moderated by Carol Becker, dean of Faculty and Professor of the Arts, and Rui Costa, professor of Neuroscience. RSVP here. Lenfest Center for the Arts, Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room. (Future of Neuroscience, Arts and Ideas)

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
School of Professional Studies
In Aroused: The Science and Ethics of Marketing Wellness, Chelsea Clinton, MPH, and Journalism School adjunct professor Randi Hutter Epstein, MD, will discuss how patient activism, contemporary attitudes of bioethics, and medical marketing have shaped scientific research, therapies, and public perceptions of the health industry. Space is limited; livestream option available. RSVP here. Pulitzer Hall. (Just Societies)

From surveilling mosques to selling the future, the daring of data to the music of mortality, a chorus of Columbia ideas in this week’s Picks.

REMINDERS

March 23: Struggling to Keep the Lights on: Understanding Why Energy Insecurity Matters for Health and Equity in the US and Keywords: Justice
March 28: Book Launch and Discussion: Making Sense of Science

SNEAK PEEK

April 7 – 9
Race, Violence, and Justice: The Need For Narrative
A narrative medicine workshop with George Yancy, author of Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race; Mindy Fullilove, community psychiatrist, author and urban planner; Sayantani DasGupta, writer, pediatrician, and professor of narrative medicine; and Topher Sanders, investigative journalist.

PICKS

March 28
4 – 6 p.m.
SIPA | The Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Book Talk – Selling the Future
Ariel Colonomos, senior research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research and research professor at Sciences Po in Paris, discusses his book, a look at  the modern marketplace of ideas where those who can predict revolution or state failure are highly sought. Moderated by Jack Snyder, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations. International Affairs Building.

March 30
7 p.m.
Heyman Center | Program in Narrative Medicine | Barnard Center for Research on Women | School of the Arts
Mortality Mansions
Donald Hall, the 2006 US Poet Laureate, and Grammy award-winning musician Herschel Garfein present Mortality Mansions. This song cycle explores themes of love, sexuality, and bereavement in old age. In this world premiere, tenor Michael Slattery and Metropolitan Opera pianist Dimitri Dover will perform the cycle accompanied by reflections on the work by poets, musicians, and scholars. Mortality Mansions was commissioned by Sparks and Wiry Cries, which funds the creation of new art song collaborations between poets and composers. Register here. James Room, Barnard Hall.

April 5
5 – 7 p.m.
School of Professional Studies
Narrative Medicine Rounds: On the Telling of Stories
A talk by Richard M. Zaner, Stahlman Professor Emeritus at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Zaner’s writing focuses on human life, pursued through a philosophy of medicine, biomedical research, and ethics in clinical life. Faculty Club, P&S Building, 630 W. 168th St., 4th floor.

April 5
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Data Science Institute
Data Science Day 2017
Demos and lightning talks by Columbia researchers presenting their latest work in data science. Keynote speech by Alfred Spector, CTO and head of engineering at Two Sigma, entitled Opportunities and Perils in Data Science. Purchase tickets here. Lerner Hall, Roone Arledge Auditorium. (Data and Society)

April 6 – 7
INCITE | The Mellon Interdisciplinary Fellows Program
The Fourth Annual Harriet Zuckerman Conference at the Mellon Biennial
Features panels entitled Non-Bureaucratic Logics in the Modern State, Culture, Difference and Globalization, Western Scholarship in Non-Western Lands?, Emergence of Knowledge, and Gendered Networks. Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Annex, Room 107.

April 7  
1 p.m.
GSAPP
Cities and Climate Action: New Orleans, Rio, NYC
A discussion about the critical role that cities play in driving the agenda on climate change and the steps federal governments must take to assist them in their efforts to respond to the vast environmental, economic, and cultural impacts. Featuring Adam Freed, principal at Bloomberg Associates and former Deputy Director of NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability; Jeffrey Hebert, deputy mayor and chief resilience officer at the City of New Orleans; Kate Orff, associate professor and director of the Urban Design program; Rodrigo Rosa, visiting research scholar and legislative consultant at the Brazil Federal Senate; and Weiping Wu, professor and director of the Urban Planning program. Moderated by Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic at the New York Times and adjunct professor. Avery Hall, Room 114. (Climate Response, Global)

April 7
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life
Surveillance and the Mosque
A discussion of the methods and strategies of surveillance and its role in constructing “good Muslim/bad Muslim” stereotypes. Includes artists, academics, activists, community leaders, lawyers, journalists, targets of surveillance, and those charged with conducting said surveillance. Venue TBA. (Just Societies)

For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. We always appreciate hearing from you about future events.

Populism, climate change, business leadership, race, women’s rights, the future of capitalism, and working class discontents: election issues remain Columbia issues. Write your event stories here and view on the Jerry’s Picks Blog.

REMINDERS
November 17: Negroland: A Memoir

PICKS

November 14
4 –  5:30 p.m.
Global Mental Health Program
Mental Health Impacts of Global Climate Change: Beyond a Disaster Framework
A University Seminar with psychologist Thomas Doherty ’87CC. Doherty s facilitates trainings on conservation psychology in the US and abroad. His ecopsychology work has been profiled in the New York Times. New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Room 6601. (Global, Climate Change)

November 14 – 28
The University Seminars and Columbia University Press
Fancy Sticks: The Action Art of Toni Morrison, Romare Bearden, and Jazz
Leonard Hastings Schoff Memorial Lecture to be given by Robert G. O’Meally, director of the Center for Jazz Studies. Coming lectures include “If the White Man Is Laughing at Me, at Least He’s Not Shooting at Me: Ralph Ellison and Jean-Michel Basquiat on Louis Armstrong’s Intercontinental Comedy”; The Open Corner—Space Is the Place: Romare Bearden, Toni Morrison, Duke Ellington”; and “Questions of Translation: Paris Blue—from Novel and Movie to Collage.” All lectures are held in Faculty House, 64 Morningside Drive, and followed by receptions.

November 15
4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Center for Gender and Sexuality Law | Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality
The Uncondemned: Film Screening and Panel Discussion
The Uncondemned tells the story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought to make rape a crime of war, and the Rwandan women who came forward to testify and win justice where there had been none. Followed by a discussion with the lawyers who worked on the cases discussed in the film. Includes Sara Darehshori, senior counsel in the US program at Human Rights Watch, and Consolee Nishimwe, author, journalist, and survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Moderated by Katherine Franke, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law. Jerome Greene Hall, Room 104. (Global, Just Societies)

November 18
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
The Sanford C. Bernstein and Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia University
Restoring Trust: New Realities and New Possibilities for Business Leadership
A conference to exchange ideas about how to restore confidence in the fairness, value, and productivity of our economic system, both in the US and abroad. Speakers include Roy Vagelos ’54PS ’83PS, chairman of the board, Regeneron, and former chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. Inc.; Donnel Baird ’13BUS, founder and CEO of Blocpower; Sunil Gulati ’86GSAS, president of US Soccer; and David Stern ’66LAW, former commissioner of the NBA. Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Ave.

November 18
9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The Center on Capitalism and Society | Roosevelt Institute | Common Good
14th Annual Conference: Agency, Prospering, Progress, and the Working Class
The conference will discuss the frustration and disaffection voiced by lower middle class workers and blue collar workers and determine what policies would be helpful. Includes J.D. Vance, (author of Hillbilly Elegy), Matthew Winkler (Bloomberg News), W. Bowman Cutter (Roosevelt Institute), Philip K. Howard (Common Good), David Weil (US Department of Labor), Saskia Sassen (Committee on Global Thought), Richard Sennett (London School of Economics), and Simon Head (New York Review of Books). International Affairs Building, Room 1501. (Just Societies)

November 18
6 p.m.
Heyman Center for the Humanities | European Institute | East Central European Center | Maison Française
What is Populism?
Populists are on the rise across the globe, but what exactly is populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are “the people” anyway and who can speak in their name? Includes Nadia Urbinati, Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory and Hellenic Studies, and Turkuler Isiksel, assistant professor of political science. Heyman Center, Common Room, 2nd floor. (Global, Just Societies)

November 29
3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Heyman Center for the Humanities
What Would it Mean to Understand Climate Change?
What kind of understanding is needed for climate change? Does “understanding” mean the same thing to concerned citizens as it does to scientists, humanities scholars, or policymakers? Isaac Held, senior research scientist at Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA; Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy; and Jonathan Weiner, Maxwell M. Geffen Professor of Medical and Scientific Journalism will be in discussion. Heyman Center, Common Room, 2nd floor.  (Climate Response)

For RSVP, ticket availability, and other details, follow the links. We always appreciate hearing from you about future events!

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 Queen, A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The 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 19–20
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!

Digital technology and health, kinesthetics and physics, New Yorker editor David Remnick on magazines, nursing experts on the future of health, scholars on music and the Holocaust–barely longer days bring much busier calendars as Columbia’s new semester kicks in.

January 28
4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Mailman School of Public Health
The Role of Digital Health in Population Health, with Dennis Schmuland, chief health strategy officer, Microsoft.
What does it take to ensure population health? This year’s Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health series addresses that question as renowned public health voices in technology, urban health, philanthropy, government, and more challenge our thinking on global challenges and help set the stage for the future of public health. Join Dean Linda P. Fried and Dennis Schmuland in considering and discussing what we must do as a society for the broadest possible manifestation of population health. Alumni Auditorium, 650 W. 168th Street. (Reminder)

February 3
7 p.m.
School of the Arts | Heyman Center for the Humanities
The Embodied Cognition Workshop: Dance and Physics
The intersection between kinesthetic imagination and scientific ideas is explored in this presentation by Yale University professors Emily Coates (dance) and Sarah Demers (physics). The presentation will include several outcomes of their collaborative venture, including excerpts of “Incarnations: Sketches for a Longer Work,” which Coates is currently developing for Dancespace’s Platform 2015, and a screening of their co-created short science-art film, “Three Views of the Higgs and Dance.” Michael Tuts, professor of physics at Columbia University, and Carrie Noland, professor of French and comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine and author of Agency and Embodiment: Performing Gestures/Producing Culture, will offer remarks in response to the presentation, followed by a conversation among the participants. Austin Quigley Black Box Theater in Lerner Hall. Please register for this event.

February 5
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
The Italian Academy
Music, Fascism, and the Holocaust with Michael Beckerman (NYU) and Harvey Sachs (Curtis Institute of Music). Europe and the United Nations commemorate the victims of the Holocaust each winter 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 a prominent author and a distinguished music professor. The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Ave.

February 10
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Center for Health Policy | School of Nursing Alumni Association
Leading Change: How Nursing Can Shape Health Care Policy moderated by Darlene Curley, executive director of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare. Panelists include Sheila Burke, adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and senior public policy advisor at Baker Donelson in Washington DC; Sally Dreslin, an alumna of the Columbia School of Nursing and executive deputy commissioner of the New York State Department of Health; and Stephen Ferrara, associate dean of clinical affairs at the Columbia School of Nursing. A reception will follow with alumni, students, and faculty. Faculty Club, College of Physicians & Surgeons, 630 W. 168th Street. RSVP here.

February 12
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Asian American Studies | Department of History
President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost John H. Coatsworth host the
University Lecture with Mae M. Ngai “The Chinese Question and Global Politics in the Nineteenth Century”
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, some dozen countries passed laws excluding Chinese immigrants from their shores. This lecture considers 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. The talk will consider the question, “[What] explains the emergence of Chinese exclusion in global politics and perceptions of the ‘Chinese Question’ as a global race problem?” The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience and a reception. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library. RSVP is required.

February 12
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 Delacorte Lectures examine aspects of magazine journalism by a leader in the field of magazine publishing. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and under his direction the magazine has garnered a 149 nominations for National Magazine Awards and has won 37. In 2001 and again in 2005, the magazine won an unprecedented five National Magazine Awards; in 2014, the magazine won four awards. In addition, in 2000 Remnick was named Advertising Age’s Editor of the Year. 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. Refreshments will be served.

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!

With venturesome thinking, affordable technologies, great writers, and some last thoughts (for now) on journalism post-Snowden — Columbia’s new year comes to life.

January 13
6:30 p.m.
Columbia Entrepreneurship | Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center
An Evening with Steve Blank at the Columbia Startup Lab
Interviewed by Professor Sheena Iyengar, faculty director, Columbia Business School Entrepreneurship Program. Steve Blank is a businessman, conservationist, investor, entrepreneur, and lecturer. Prior to his retirement, he founded or was a part of eight venture-backed companies. Blank moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, and UCSD. WeWork Soho West Lobby, 69 Charlton Street at Varick.

January 23
4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
The Earth Institute
The Convergence of Smart Phones, Data, and Development, featuring Vijay Modi
Vijay Modi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and an Earth Institute faculty member. He also led the UN Millennium Project effort on the role of energy and energy services in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Currently, he is focused on making consumer-scaled versions of technology that is normally super-sized available to developing countries. “These are projects that are not typically driven by large amounts of funding, but they occur in places that are in need of innovation.” International Affairs Building, Room 1512. Please register for this event.

January 24
8 p.m.
School of the Arts | Miller Theatre
Renee Rosnes Quartet
With an improvisation freedom that the New York Times compared to John Coltrane, pianist Renee Rosnes has made a name for herself as an innovative composer, virtuosic player, and band leader. Joined by vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington, and Lewis Nash on drums, the Renee Rosnes Quartet’s hard-bop sound pulses with infectious energy, whether they’re playing inventive originals or breathing new life into jazz standards. 2960 Broadway at 116th Street.

Two from the Writing Lives Series:

January 28
7 p.m.
School of the Arts | Heyman Center for the Humanities
The Nonfiction Dialogues: Wayne Koestenbaum
Koestenbaum’s first collection of poetry, Ode to Anna Moffo and Other Poems, was chosen as a Village Voice Literary Supplement’s Favorite Book of 1990. His other books include My 1980s & Other Essays, The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, Blue Stranger With Mosaic Background, Best Selling Jewish Porn Films, Model Homes, The Milk of Inquiry, and Rhapsodies of A Repeat Offender. Koestenbaum is widely known as a cultural critic for his books on Jackie Kennedy and opera. Dodge Hall, Room 501.

February 4
7 p.m.
Creative Writing Lecture Series: Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham is the author of the novels The Snow Queen, A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The Hours (winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award & Pulitzer Prize), Specimen Days, and By Nightfall, as well as the non-fiction book, Land’s End: A Walk in Provincetown. He lives in New York and is a senior lecturer in English and creative writing at Yale University. Dodge Hall, Room 501.

January 28
4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Mailman School of Public Health
Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health, with Dennis Schmuland, chief health strategy officer, Microsoft
What does it take to ensure population health? This year’s Grand Rounds on the Future of Public Health series addresses that question as renowned public health voices in technology, urban health, philanthropy, government, and more challenge our thinking on global challenges and help set the stage for the future of public health. Join Dean Linda P. Fried and Dennis Schmuland in considering and discussing what we must do as a society for the broadest possible manifestation of population health. Alumni Auditorium, 650 West 168th Street.

February 5
4:30 p.m.
Tow Center for Digital Journalism | Columbia Journalism Review
The Closing Event for Journalism After Snowden hosted by Tow Center director Emily Bell will feature the release of a major Pew/Columbia survey, a panel discussion on “Investigative Journalists and Digital Security Practices” with Amy Mitchell (Pew Research Center), David Sanger (the New York Times), Jesselyn Radack (Government Accountability Project), Trevor Timm (Freedom of the Press Foundation) Morgan Marquis-Boire (First Look Media), and a second panel on “National Security Reporting in the Age of Surveillance: A Conversation About Reporting Post-Snowden” with Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, Mary Baron, executive editor of the Washington Post, and Susan Glasser, editor of Politico, moderated by Steve Coll, Dean of Columbia Journalism School. At the Newseum in Washington D.C.

Highlighted above are (mostly) general interest campus or NYC events across a range of topics 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!

Taking on Ebola, riffing on Bearden, learning from Snowden, lecures on outer space and inner consciousness – so many reasons to be thankful for the Columbia community! Happy Thanksgiving!

December 1
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Columbia Club, multiple Schools, CAA
Strategies for Fighting Ebola: A Columbia University Summit
Leading experts from the University and other institutions will discuss specific strategies to end the Ebola epidemic. Panels address medical care and public health, containment and eradication, and public policy, economic, and business strategies. Faculty participants include Wafaa El-Sadr, MD(Mailman), Scott Hammer, MD (CUMC), Elaine Larson (Nursing), Stephen Morse, PhD (Mailman), Kathleen Crowley, AVP of environmental health and safety, Ranu Dhillon, MD (Earth Institute via Skype from Guinea), Irwin Redlener, MD (National Center for Disaster Preparedness), and Susan Michaels-Strasser (Nursing). Columbia University Club.

December 2
10 a.m.
Center for Jazz Studies
Improvisation in the Arts: A Symposium
Go if you can – and invite adventurous alumni and donors!
In this interactive program inspired by Columbia Explores A Black Odyssey, a luminary group of scholars and artists explore improvisation in music, literature, theology, cinema, dance, and critical theory. With author and humanities scholar Fred Moten; film director, writer, and theorist John Akomfrah Obe; professor and theologian J. Kameron Carter; dance and performance studies scholar Danielle Goldman; poet M. NourbeSe Philips; and musician Matana Roberts. Inspired by Bearden and, most importantly, together with the audience, the panel hopes to form a new experimental band. Faculty Room, Low Memorial Library.

December 3
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Journalism After Snowden – In Defense of Leaks, with Jill Abramson
Journalist Jill Abramson has spent the last 17 years in the most senior editorial positions at the New York Times, where she was the first woman to serve as Washington bureau chief, managing editor, and executive editor. Before joining the Times, she spent nine years at The Wall Street Journal as the deputy Washington bureau chief and an investigative reporter covering money and politics. She is currently a lecturer with the department of English at Harvard University. RSVP is required. Pulitzer Hall, 3rd floor, World Room.

6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Zuckerman Institute and Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Race Matters, but Not How You Think it Does: How Stereotypes Affect How We Live, Work, Play, and Pray with  Dr. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns
W.E.B. Du Bois used the term “double consciousness” to describe how societal structures shaped the ways in which African Americans viewed themselves, others, and their relations with American institutions. This talk will use the tools of psychology and neurobiology to show how “double consciousness” is experienced by many groups in American society, with implications for health and cognitive performance. Discussion includes recent findings in brain science that can be used by individuals to reduce stress and improve performance, and that could help bridge racial and gender disparities in the population. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard. (Reminder)

December 9
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
University Lecture
Why We Explore the Solar System: The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury with Lamont-Doherty director Sean C. Solomon 
For decades, the exploration of Mercury lagged behind that of Venus and Mars because of Mercury’s proximity to the sun. Given that each of the four rocky inner planets of our solar system represents a distinct outcome of common physical and chemical processes, we cannot claim to know the workings of our own planet until we are also able to understand why our planetary neighbors are different. Discoveries by the MESSENGER spacecraft, the first to orbit the innermost planet, have substantially challenged many of the leading theories for those differences. Rotunda, Low Memorial Library.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events across a range of topics of possible 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! Best, Jerry

Climate change, fossil fuels and funding; race in the brain, on the gridiron, and beyond; artists working at a certain age – Columbia keeps exploring.

November 20
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Center for Jazz Studies
Acting Homer: A Staged Reading of the Odyssey
Part of Romare Bearden-related events known as “Columbia Explores A Black Odyssey,” “Acting Homer” features prominent actors readings key passages from the Odyssey. With Devyn Tyler ’13CC, Ty Jones, Richard Habersham, and Sean Patrick Thomas. Earl Hall Auditorium. (Reminder)

November 21
8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Columbia Business School | Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program and the Healthcare Industry Association (HCIA)
Columbia Business School 11th Annual Healthcare Conference: Using Data and Technology to Innovate, Value, and Reengineer Healthcare
Speakers and panelists explore biopharmaceuticals, medical technologies, payers, providers, HCIT, venture capital/private equity, M&A/financing, and healthcare entrepreneurship, and related topics. Networking opportunities include a lunchtime career fair with healthcare employers and a closing reception. New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway. (Reminder)

November 24
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute
Should Universities and Pension Funds Divest From Fossil Fuel Stocks?
Mounting scientific evidence of the perils of climate change is bringing growing pressure on universities, pension funds, foundations, religious institutions, and others to divest from the stock of fossil fuel companies. Hear from proponents and opponents of divestment, and from experts on the effect of divestment on portfolio value and its place in the corporate social responsibility movement. With Bennett Freeman, senior vice president, sustainability research and policy, Calvert Investments; Stephen Heintz, president, Rockefeller Brothers Fund; John Willis, portfolio manager, Sustainable Insight Capital Management; Christianna Wood, president and chief executive officer, Gore Creek Capital, Ltd. Moderated by Michael B. Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School. Jerome Greene Hall, Room 103.

December 2
6:15 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.
Heyman Center for the Humanities, School of the Arts, Columbia University Libraries, the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies
Old Masters: Spiegelman, Feiffer, Melamid
Legendary artists and authors Jules Feiffer and Art Spiegelman and painter and performance artist Alex Melamid will discuss the history and achievements of aging artists, with a focus on artists whose best-known works were completed in the later years of their lives. This event is sold out, but you may be able to get in by arriving early. The event will be first come, first seated at event start time to accommodate attendees without an RSVP. Italian Academy.

December 3
11 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Earth Institute
Congress Today: The Role of Campaign Finance on Environmental Legislation
As senior staff members, Leon G. Billings and Thomas C. Jorling led the Senate environment subcommittee that developed major environmental legislation in the 1970s, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Superfund Act, a series of environmental laws that defined the direction and character of environmental policy in the U.S. and globally. Here Billings and Jorling discuss Congress today and why the federal government has not taken substantial action on environmental law for  several decades, with a look at the evolution of campaign finance laws and how campaign finance and fundraising impact policy and legislation. RSVP required. For further information, please contact Hayley Martinez: [email protected]. International Affairs Building, Room 407.

December 3
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Zuckerman Institute and Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Race Matters, but Not How You Think it Does: How Stereotypes Affect How We Live, Work, Play, and Pray with Dr. Valerie Purdie-Vaughns
W.E.B. Du Bois used the term “double consciousness” to describe how societal structures shaped the ways in which African Americans viewed themselves, others, and their relations with American institutions. This talk will use the tools of psychology and neurobiology to show how “double consciousness” is experienced by many groups in American society, with implications for health and cognitive performance. Discussion includes recent findings in brain science that can be used by individuals to reduce stress and improve performance, and that could help bridge racial and gender disparities in the population. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard.

December 8
6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Café Columbia
Breaking the Line: Black College Football and the Civil Rights Struggle
Come hear award-winning columnist, book author, and journalism professor Samuel Freedman discuss how student-athletes at historically black colleges and universities like Grambling and Florida A&M used the leverage of football to help crack segregation’s stranglehold – both on the gridiron and well beyond. Columbia Alumni Center.

Highlighted above are general interest campus or NYC events across a range of topics of possible 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! Best, Jerry