Enrich Your Life - GREAT CONVERSATIONS
The series continues...
Inspiration strikes
can be like lightning – sometimes unexpected, always illuminating the
horizon in a sharp, new light. In today’s world, inspiration is a
precious commodity. Most often we need something to spark our imaginations.
The sources are endless – the Internet and the library, movies and books.
But the most sure-fire way to ignite a brain-storm is to engage in a passionate
discussion with a powerful force.
Since its inception in 2002, Great Conversations has connected more than 12,000 Minnesotans with thought-leaders, risk-takers, and peace-makers for energetic conversations that bring issues into sharp focus.
Join us for five evenings of electric exchanges. Leave with a new spark.
Great Conversations 2004-05 Season
With the flame of the Olympics barely extinguished, champions of women's sports
will take the field to provide first-hand testimonials of the accomplishments
of Title IX. Just a week after U.S. ballots are cast, foreign policy insiders
will discuss the impact of Presidential and Prime Ministerial politics in world
affairs. Medical experts will take race and gender to heart when examining the
debate on how social distinctions govern access to health care. Curious minds
will sketch a blueprint for how the hidden stories behind the engineering of
everything from pencils to bridges can inspire creativity. And a historican
will be joined by an impassioned advocate for the needs of children in countries
devastated by war to tell the inspiring story of struggle and hope for Southern
Africa.
A Revolution in Women's Sports
An International Perspective on Politics
Gender and Race in Medical Treatment
The Struggle and Hope for Southern Africa
A REVOLUTION IN WOMEN'S SPORTS
Mary Jo Kane and Donna Lopiano Monday, October 11, 2004, 7:30 p.m.; Science
2950
After 32 years, two of this country’s leading figures in women’s
sports look back on the hard-won accomplishments of Title IX and discuss their
hopes and dreams for the future. Mary Jo Kane is Professor and Director of the
University’s Tucker Center for Research in Sport. Donna Lopiano is the
Executive Director of Women’s Sports Foundation (founded by Billie Jean
King.)
Mary Jo Kane is Professor and Director of the University's Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, the first interdisciplinary center of its kind in the country. Recipient of the U's first Distinguished Professorship related to women in sport, Kane is an internationally recognized scholar who has published extensively on the media's stereotypic treatment of female athletes. In 2003 Professor Kane received the Scholar of the Year Award from the Women's Sports Foundation for her significant contributions to the study of women's sports and physical activity. Dr. Kane was inducted into the American Academy of Kinesiology, the highest honor in her field.
Donna Lopiano is the Executive Director of the Women's Sports Foundation. Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Foundation ensures gender equity in athletic activities and compliance with Title IX throughout the country. Lopiano's extraordinary athletic career includes participation in 26 national championships in four different sports. She has coached collegiate basketball, volleyball, and softball winning 18 national championships in six sports and producing more than 300 All-Americans. A member of the Softball Hall of Fame, Dr. Lopiano was named one of the 100 most influential people in sports by Sporting News.
AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
ON POLITICS
J. Brian Atwood and Clare Short, M.P. Wednesday, November 10, 2004, 7:30
p.m.; Science 1020
Major figures in U.S. and U.K. politics discuss the results of the American
Presidential election and the war in Iraq.
J. Brian Atwood is Dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the U of M. His career in foreign policy dates back to 1966 when he joined the Foreign Service and served in the American Embassies in Cote d'Ivoire and Spain. He served as Assistant Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter and for six years as head of the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Clinton administration. In 2001, Atwood served on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's Panel on Peace Operations and was the only American on the ten-member "Brahimi" panel that recommended major changes in the U.N.'s peacekeeping operations. His work promoting human rights and democracy around the world has been recognized with numerous awards including the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award.
The Right Honorable Clare Short is a member of the British Labour Party who has served as a Member of Parliament since 1983 representing Birmingham-Ladywood in the House of Commons. She became Secretary of State for International Development in 1997 when the ministry was created to promote sustainable development and the elimination of poverty and to manage Britain's program of assistance to developing countries. She resigned that post in 2003 in protest over her country's participation in the war in Iraq without the involvement of the United Nations. Known as the "straightest talker in the cabinet," she earned the support of feminists in the 1980s with her battle against pornography in the British tabloids and a large following for her work to help the poor in Southern Africa. Most recently she has been engaged in a fierce critique of Prime Minister Tony Blair for his role in taking the country into the war in Iraq.
GENDER AND RACE IN MEDICAL TREATMENT
Anne Taylor and Vivian Pinn Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 7:30 p.m.; Science
1020
Two leading figures in women's health discuss the debate over the
relevance of race in determining preventive medicine and the disparities in
access to quality health care for patients determined by gender and ethnicity.
Anne Taylor is Professor of Cardiology, Associate Dean of the Medical School, and Director of the University of Minnesota's National Center for Excellence in Women's Health. From 2001-2004, she was Director of the Association of Black Cardiologists Women's Health Center. She chaired the first national clinical study on heart failure in African Americans which lead to the first drug developed specifically for a single ethnic group and ignited a debate on the relevance of race in determining medical treatment. She is the author of The Black Women's Guide to a Healthy Heart, which addresses gender and race disparities in access to quality healthcare.
Vivian Pinn is the Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health, a post she has held since 1991. She came to the NIH from Howard University College of Medicine where she had been Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology since 1982. Dr. Pinn has long been active in efforts to improve the health and career opportunities for women and minorities. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for distinguished contributions in preventive medicine from The American College of Physicians, the Athena Award from the Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia University, and the Catherine McFarland Award from the University of Pennsylvania for distinguished service in women's health.
DESIGN OF EVERYDAY LIFE - THE
WAY THINGS WORK
Wendy Pradt Lougee and Henry Petroski Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 7:30 p.m.;
Science 1020
Two leading thinkers discuss how curiosity and research can unravel
the extraordinary stories behind ordinary objects.
Wendy Pradt Lougee is University Librarian and McKnight Presidential Professor at the University of Minnesota. Prior to accepting this position in 2002, she served as Associate Director of the University of Michigan Library system. Well known for her pioneering contributions to the design and development of digital libraries and electronic publishing, she has been recognized by the Association of College and Research Libraries with the Hugh Atkinson Award and as a Computerworld Honors Program Laureate for technology innovation. A native Midwesterner, Lougee holds graduate degrees from the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Henry Petroski is the author of numerous fascinating books tracing the history of ordinary objects including The Book on the Bookcase; The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance; The Evolution of Useful Things and Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and The Spanning of America; Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing. He also wrote and hosted the BBC documentary "To Engineer Is Human" which was broadcast on PBS. He serves as a professor of Civil Engineering and History at Duke University. His work has been recognized in his field with the Ralph Coats Roe Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Civil Engineering History and Heritage Aard from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is also the recipient of three honorary degrees and the Alumni Centennial Award from Manhattan College where he received his bachelor's degree and an Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received his PhD.
THE STRUGGLE AND HOPE FOR SOUTHERN
AFRICA
Allan Isaacman and Graca Machel Tuesday, April 19, 2005, 7:30 p.m.; Science
1020
An inspiring advocate for human rights discusses the ravages of war on
its most innocent victims with a renowned scholar of African history.
Allan Isaacman is Regents Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. He has spent the past 30 years conducting research, writing, and teaching African history. A prolific author, his many publications include Cotton is the Mother of Poverty and Mozambique: The Africanization of a European Institution, winner of the Melville Herkovits Award for most distinguished publication in African studies. He is also the founding Director of the MacArthur Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change, Sustainability, and Justice which has brought graduate students to the University from all over the developing world. Among his many awards, Professor Isaacman was named Scholar of the College and received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts and a University Alumni Association Teaching Award.
Graca Machel is the former first lady of Mozambique. An internationally recognized human rights advocate, she was appointed by the United Nations to produce the groundbreaking study and subsequent book The Impact of War on Children. She is currently President of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique and Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
© 2004 by the Regents of the
University of Minnesota
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