October 3, 2011 USC DORNSIFE 2020 Science and Its Publics: Bridging the Divide 4 – 6 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library, 240 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu Walk-Ins Welcome

Recent debates around issues such as climate change, vaccination, and teaching evolution point to an apparent divide between scientific knowledge and public understanding. What strategies might scientists and concerned citizens adopt to mediate this divide? This panel features three distinguished faculty members from the USC Dornsife 2020 Research Cluster in Science, Technology & Society, K.C. Cole (journalism), Antonio Damasio (neuroscience) and Deborah Harkness (history). Each panelist has worked to link science to the public in original ways. Closing remarks will be given by Executive Vice Provost Michael Quick (biological sciences).

 

October 4, 2011 Facing Our Final Failure:  How to Talk About Death and Dying 4 – 6 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library, 240 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu Walk-Ins Welcome

We all are going to face death and the process of dying, but we as a culture are reluctant to talk about death. Why? Why do doctors so rarely talk about dying and end of life issues with their patients? How can we make informed decisions about end of life care? Why did the mere suggestion that a national health insurance plan cover doctors' conversations with their patients create hysteria about "death panels"? This event brings together a panel of experts including Susan Enguidanos, Hansen Family Assistant Professor (gerontology); Richard Brumley, a hospice and palliative care physician with Kaiser Permanente; and USC Dornsife’s Diana Blaine (writing program) for a dynamic conversation on life care options, what issues arise when talking about dying, and how close we were to having a policy in place to support end of life discussion.

 

October 11, 2011 Signs of Life: Decoding the Dead Body 4 – 6 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library, 240 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu Walk-Ins Welcome

Perhaps the most salient symbol in existence is that of the corpse, a human who is simultaneously recognizable as one of us and yet no longer human. Join Professor Thomas Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History at UC Berkeley and USC Dornsife’s Diana Blaine (writing program) as they examine how the cemetery became a public space — a “heterotopia” – a necropolis where the legal, aesthetic, political, social and economic practices of modern life could be both represented and, more importantly, reshaped by dead bodies.

 

Event Just Added October 12, 2011 The Believing Brain: From Ghosts, Gods, and Aliens to Conspiracies, Economics, and Politics -- How the Brain Constructs Beliefs and Reinforces Them as Truths   4– 6 p.m. Taper Hall, 101 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu

Ghosts, Gods and Aliens - Oh My!  Join us for an intriguing conversation with Michael Shermer, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Science Lecture Series at Caltech, and Adjunct Professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University -- as he entertains the inner skeptic in you!

 

EVENT CANCELED October 13, 2011 Meet USC Dornsife’s New Faculty

 

October 18, 2011 Conversations at Sunset Do Animals Have Souls? 5 – 6 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library, Herklotz Room To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu Walk-Ins Welcome

From animism to anthropomorphism, and back again, this short talk will present questions regarding the way that we conceive of the divine and the numinous, focusing on the idea of souls. Western religious thought holds that  only humans have souls.  Why is this, and what does this outlook imply?  We will cover how such spiritual outlooks interact with scientific discourse, which is increasingly documenting the remarkable cognitive and cultural worlds of many non-hominids. Also, we will discuss how such folk cosmologies may influence belief in evolution, ethical treatment of animals, and many other issues of our times. Material from Native American culture and spiritual views will be used as an instructive contrast, to open the discussion for the audience: do (non-hominid) animals have souls?

Speaker: Tok Thompson, Department of Anthropology

 

October 19, 2011 USC DORNSIFE 2020 Climate Change in the Southern California Coastal Region: Science’s Issues and Societal Implications 9 - 4 p.m. Davidson Conference Center, Boardroom To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu Walk-Ins Welcome

Morning Session

9 a.m.-12 p.m. — Sea Level Rise and Climate Policy in California
Speakers:
Reinhard (Ron) Flick (UCSD, Scripps Institution of Oceanography); Sea Level Rise in California
Daniel Mazmanian, (USC, School of Policy, Planning and Development); California Climate Policy

Discussants:
Douglas Capone (biological sciences, USC Dornsife)
Juliette Finzi Hart (USC Sea Grant)
Andrew Lakoff (sociology, USC Dornsife)

Afternoon Session

1-4 p.m. — Ocean Acidification and Communicating Science
Speakers:
Richard Feely ((NOAA, Pacific Environmental Marine Laboratory); Ocean Acidification
Larry Pryor (USC, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism); Communicating Climate Change

Discussants:
David Hutchins (biological sciences, USC Dornsife)
Stephen O’Leary (USC, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism)
Phyllis Grifman (USC Sea Grant)

Southern Californians have always had strong cultural, recreational and economic connections to our urban coastal ocean.  How will this vital relationship be affected by rapid climate change?  Come listen, learn and discuss issues like sea level rise and ocean acidification that cross the borders between science and sociology, research and public policy.  This colloquium is intended to foster a cross-disciplinary dialogue between students and faculty of USC Dornsife and the university on how our society can face the challenges of future climate change along the Southern California coastline. 

 

October 20, 2011 The 2011 Nobel Awards: Who/What/Why — Part I 12 – 2 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library Intellectual Commons, 233 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu

Each Fall, do you find yourself wondering who won the Nobel Prizes, what for, and why? Wonder what the Nobel Prize means anyway? Join us for a lunchtime chat about the prizes and make some new discoveries yourself! A lively exchange  led by faculty members from the various subject areas of the Nobel Prizes, this is a rare opportunity to share our collective knowledge, so come prepared to enjoy the lunch and share in the conversation.

 

October 25, 2011 The 2011 Nobel Awards: Who/What/Why: Part II 12 – 2 p.m. Doheny Memorial Library Intellectual Commons, 233 To secure your spot please RSVP to: tdc@dornsife.usc.edu

Join the second of two free-wheeling discussions centered around the year’s awards.  Come prepared to enjoy lunch and participate in a lively conversation.

 

October 27, 2011 Lunch Discussion on the Future of USC Dornsife 12 – 2 p.m. University Club, Banquet Room

Come join us for the second luncheon discussing what USC Dornsife ought to be. Ideas arising from the discussion will be communicated to the dean of USC Dornsife.

 

 

Events and details subject to change. For more information, email tdc@dornsife.usc.edu.