Faculty Colloquium: Sarah Bishop

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Sarah Clovis Bishop, Associate Professor of Russian, will talk at this Friday’s Faculty Colloquium on Performing the Poet: Elena Shvarts’s “The Visible Side of Life.” Dec. 2nd @ 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room. Treats will be provided.

In 2010, director Boris Pavlovich and actress Yana Savitskaya created and staged The Visible Side of Life, a one-woman show based on the prose and poetry of Elena Shvarts (1948-2010), a central figure in late Soviet and post-Soviet Russian literature. Then based in Kirov, Russia at the “Theater on Spasskaya,” Savitskaya and Pavlovich had been exploring Shvarts’s verse for over a year, delving into her autobiographical prose to understand it more fully. Just as they were ready to approach the poet about their work, they learned of her death. They abandoned their poetic etudes and turned instead to a dramatic work in which they imagined the last hours of the poet’s life. Pavlovich has described it as a “quasi-biography”; an image of “our Elena Shvarts whom we failed to meet.”

The performance has since traveled to St. Petersburg, Shvarts’s home, and is now part of the repertory at the Bolshoi Drama Theater (BDT). Most recently, the show received its American premiere at Princeton, Harvard, and right here at Willamette. I will discuss the performance in its various incarnations, highlighting the many boundaries that it tests–between reality and fantasy; the visible and invisible; prose and poetry; performer and audience.

All are invited to attend this talk. We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: Rethinking the Oregon Story

Please join us this week, Friday, November 18th at 3 pm. in the foss_smHatfield Room for our ninth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.  Treats will be provided.

Christopher Foss
, Adjunct Professor, Tokyo International University of America
 

Title:  Rethinking the Oregon Story: The Importance of International Affairs to Oregon’s Political History Since World War II

Oregon’s political history has traditionally been summed up by a self-confident, even triumphal, phrase: “The Oregon Story”.  In the narrative expounded by proponents of The Oregon Story, visionary political leaders—particularly Governors Tom McCall and Robert Straub—and a variety of like-minded grassroots politicians and activists saved post-World War II Oregon from the urban decay and environmental degradation that plagued many other states.  My work argues, by contrast, that the real Oregon story had less to do with innovations within the state, and more to do with the state’s relationship to the world.  By refocusing Oregon’s political history on elected officials who were active in international affairs, and by analyzing patterns of defense spending, trade, and immigration, this project encourages us to reconceive the Oregon story beyond state—and even national—boundaries.  I contend that after World War II, Oregon became not only a more livable state thanks to McCall and Straub, but, perhaps surprisingly, a more economically and culturally diverse place, thanks to a new focus by its civic, business, and community leaders on the ways it is interconnected with the globe.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: Doing Data Science

chengsmPlease join us tomorrow, Friday, November 4th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our seventh Faculty Colloquium of this semester.  Treats will be provided.

Haiyan Cheng
, Associate Professor of Computer Science
 

Title:  Doing Data Science

Computational Science and Engineering combines theory and experiments for scientific discovery. It is interdisciplinary in nature, requiring subject knowledge in 1) applied discipline, 2) mathematics and 3) computer science. With the evolutionary extension of statistics capable of dealing with the massive amount of data produced today, data science has becoming the new trend, and it helped scientific discovery extending from natural science to humanities and social sciences.

My research deals with designing new computational algorithms to make forecast models more accurate. Specifically, I optimally combine observational data with the model forecast data through a method called “Data Assimilation”.

In this talk, I will report how the amount of available observational data has changed and inspired my research. I will report two of my sabbatical projects that involving hands-on data science. The first one is my experience participating a Datathon (an intensive programming competition) at a computational social science conference; using social media data to answer U.S. election related questions. The second one is my experience participating a one-week workshop, using real criminal data to infer networks for predictive policing.

Finally, I will talk about the basics in doing data science and introduce commonly used tools.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: New Statistics

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us this Friday, September 30th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our third Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided.friedrich_sm

James Friedrich, Professor of Psychology

Title: The “New Statistics”: Improving Statistical Practices to Benefit Science and the Public

Abstract: Have you ever wondered what it means to say something is “statistically significant”? Would it surprise you to know that many professionals are nearly as confused as the general public? Natural and behavioral scientists have long relied upon the questionable practice of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), and its logic and language have come to permeate public (mis)understandings of statistical evidence. Newer data analytic approaches emphasizing margins of error, strength of relationship, and the synthesis of multiple studies through meta-analysis are moving from highly recommended to mandatory practices in scholarly outlets. This talk discusses some of the common abuses and misconceptions of the “old statistics” and highlights how the long-overdue transition to these “new statistics” will better serve science and the general public. Explanations will be more conceptual than mathematical, highlighting benefits both to data analysts and research consumers. The role of the QUAD center in supporting these best practice with students and faculty will also be discussed.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium, Ivan Welty

Please join us this Friday, September 16th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our second Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided.

Ivan Welty, Associate Professor of Philosophy

Title: My Semester in Hanoi

Abstract: Last year I spent 6 months in Hanoi as a Fulbright US Scholar. In this talk, I’ll describe the experience, concentrating on (1) the current scene in Vietnam as I came to understand it; (2) tips for colleagues weighing their own Fulbright applications, including practical matters like housing and children’s schooling; and (3) possibilities for future collaboration and exchange with partners in Vietnam. So my aim is both to report my experience and to arouse interest at Willamette in Fulbright and Vietnam.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.


Newly-Emerging Technologies and the Future of Humanity

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us tomorrow, Friday, September 9th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our first Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided.

Govindan Parayil, Mark and Melody Teppola Presidential Distinguished Visiting Professor

Title: Newly-Emerging Technologies and the Future of HumanityGovindan Parayil

Abstract: Recent advances in biological, computer and material sciences have made many thinkers to revisit the age-old warnings about the dangers of run-way technological change. This, in addition to the threat to all life on earth due to run away climate change, adds to the doomsday scenario. Computer pioneer Bill Joy’s famous article, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” in WIRED magazine is getting renewed attention with a slew of books and articles about the threat to humanity’ future (see for example books by Nick Bostrom, Yuval Harari and others) due to advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence. In this lecture I will go over these issues and see if humanity’s future is, indeed, doomed as claimed. I will argue that, yes, we must be concerned, but the “post-human” tomorrow waiting for us should be least of our worries when we should be worried about global poverty, increasing inequality, civil wars, and environmental problems.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: What I Learned in Prison

Dear Colleagues, buissm
Please join us this Friday, April 29th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our eleventh and final Faculty Colloquium of this semester.  Treats will be provided.

Melissa Buis Michaux, Associate Professor of Politics

Title: What I Learned in Prison

Abstract:  The United States currently incarcerates about 2.4 million men, women and children.  The number of incarcerated does not take into account how many people’s lives are touched by our extensive system of punishment, including those on parole or probation; children of incarcerated parents; and communities that support prison systems.  Furthermore, racial disparities in arrests, sentencing, and prison time call into question our guarantees of equal justice and fundamental fairness.  Inside the prison walls, many prisoners are subject to a system of control that prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation.  All of this I knew before I stepped inside a prison.  Come hear what I learned—about prison, the people behind the walls, and myself—once I went inside.  I will also be joined by some students from my “Reforming Criminal Justice” class that has been going inside the Oregon State Penitentiary this semester and working alongside prisoners.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.
Doreen Simonsen and Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: Injuring Yourself to Better Health: How Exercise Improves Cardiovascular

lockardsmDear Colleagues,

Please join us this Friday, April 22nd at 3 pm. in Collins 205 for our tenth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.  Treats will be provided.Michael Lockard, Associate Professor of Exercise Science

Title: Injuring Yourself to Better Health: How Exercise Improves Cardiovascular Health

Abstract:  Regular aerobic activity has long been associated with improved cardiovascular health and decreased risk for the development of cardiovascular disease.  While aerobic exercise training has been repeatedly associated with improvements in risk factors associated with CVD, it appears that training results in an additional reduction in risk independent of the more conventional risk factor.  It has been suggested that a causal link between regular physical activity and reduced CVD risk is mediated through the improvement of endothelial health and associated vascular function.  To this date, however, a specific mechanism for linking the repeated act of exercising and improvement in vascular function has not been established.  It is the goal of this research to elucidate the details of this mechanism.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: La Maldad de Martin Wong: Approximating Nuyorico

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us this Friday, April 15th at 3 pm. in the Hatfield Room for our ninth Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided.Roy Perez

Roy Perez, Assistant Professor of English and American Ethnic Studies

Title: La Maldad de Martin Wong: Approximating Nuyorico

Abstract: Nicknamed “Chino Malo,” gay Chinese-American painter and art collector Martin Wong lived in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1980s, where he circulated among and collaborated with a number of Puerto Rican artists and writers. In this talk, I explore how Wong’s proximity to Nuyorican (Puerto Rican New York) culture appears in and shapes his paintings. I also examine Martin Wong’s presence as a queer Asian American painter in the popular history of Latina/o arts and culture. Often depicting men of color in erotic positions and encounters, Wong’s paintings lurk on the margin of accepted Latino art history, challenging typical representations of Latino masculinity. What happens when we move Wong to the center of Latino art and cultural history? What does Wong’s vision of Nuyorico reveal to us about its people, landscape, and culture? I contend that Wong’s visual poetics enact a series of queer advances that unsettle Nuyorico’s “good” center. Mal movement or comportment—to defer fear of committing maldades and willfully do things badly, wrongly, or approximately—loosens racial identity practices from their toil toward completion and full knowing.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators


Faculty Colloquium: The Alexander Technique

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us this Friday, April 8th at 3 pm. in the Room 145 of Fine Arts West (Use West Entrance that faces Goudy Hall) for our eighth Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided.Anita King

Anita King, Professor of Music Emerita, Piano

Title: The Alexander Technique: How Our Daily Activities Can Make Us Freer!

Abstract: The Alexander Technique is a simple and practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement, balance, support, and improved coordination. Practice of the Technique refines and heightens kinesthetic sensitivity, offering people a fluid and lively control of their movement. It provides a means whereby the use of a part–a voice or an arm or a leg–is improved by improving the use of the whole body, indeed, the whole self. These benefits are accomplished through a process of self-observation where one becomes intimately aware of one’s movement habits so that one can suspend habitual, often unconscious, muscular tightening where it exists and gradually, consciously, replace it with constructive behavior.

I will lead participants in explorations and activities designed to shed light on several topics related to coordinate movement (and yes, sitting, standing and speaking are movement activities!). These include: becoming more fully embodied by waking up the tactile and kinesthetic senses; sitting and standing with ease by taking full advantage of the weight-bearing capacity of the bony structure; maintaining full-stature by eliminating the distorting effects of unnecessary muscular effort (tension); avoiding isolation and overworking of individual parts by keeping them in continuous relation to the whole body.

Please feel free to invite students to attend this talk.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Bobby Brewer-Wallin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators