Dennigan is the author of three books, including her most recent, Palace of Sub-Atomic Bliss (Canarium Books, 2016). Her work has appeared in Boston Review, Poetry Magazine and the Bennington Review. She teaches at the University of Connecticut.
Toraya (AKA Crankbunny) will discuss her work in illustration, animation and paper engineering as well as her journey as a freelance artist.
Being a fan usually starts with loving a given series, franchise, author, band, game, etc., but it rarely ends there. For many, fandom provides a sense of community, a catalyst for producing original creative content, or both. Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel, creators and hosts of Fansplaining, will discuss their adventures in podcasting and fan culture, and how, perhaps even with a little help from the two of them, fans and the creative industries may have learned to stop worrying and love each other.
Contemporary painter and mixed media artist Barbara Owen will talk about her career and her installation currently on display in the Weil Gallery. Owen, who works out of studios in Pawtucket, RI and Brooklyn, NY, studied sculpture and poetry, but has since focused on painting as her primary medium. Please join us for the opening reception of Simile + Metaphor: Red Necklace and Fiber/Paper/Love immediately following the lecture.
The History Department invites Associate Professor Suzy Kim from Rutgers University to deliver the semi-annual Helmreich Symposium lecture. She will deliver a talk entitled “North Korea: Beyond Fake News.”
The Departments of Biology and Religion are sponsoring a lecture by Dr Ken Miller, Professor of Biology at Brown University. Thurs April 5th at 5:00 PM in Hindle Auditorium, Science Center, Wheaton College.
A New Darwinian Humanism: How Evolution Fashioned the Earth’s Most Extraordinary Creature
Evolution has long been a controversial topic in the United States, primarily because Darwin’s account of the origin of species contradicts the Biblical narrative given in the Book of Genesis. But there are other reasons why “Darwinism,” as some describe a set of all encompassing scientific, social, and ethical beliefs, continues to be resisted among broad segments of the American public. The Darwinism they fear is more an ideology than science, and is perceived as a set of doctrines that minimize, dehumanize, and even trivialize the significance of human life. As I will argue, this view is based upon a profound misunderstanding of the actual nature of evolution. An authentic review of the actual science does quite the opposite, confirming human exceptionalism, and validating the idea that the human experiment matters for ourselves, the planet, and even for the Cosmos.
Kenneth R. Miller is Professor of Biology at Brown University. He did his undergraduate work at Brown, and earned a Ph D in 1974 at the University of Colorado. He spent six years as Assistant Professor at Harvard University before returning to Brown University in 1980. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced more than 60 scientific papers and reviews in leading journals, including CELL, Nature, and Scientific American. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of four different high school and college biology textbooks which are used by millions of students nationwide. He has received 6 major teaching awards at Brown, the Presidential Citation of the American Institute for Biological Science (2005), and the Public Service Award of the American Society for Cell Biology (2006).
In 2009 he was honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for Advancing the Public Understanding of Science, and also received the Gregor Mendel Medal from Villanova University. In 2011 he was presented with the Stephen Jay Gould Prize by the Society for the Study of Evolution, and in 2014 he received the Laetare Medal from Notre Dame University. He is the author of the popular books Finding Darwin’s God (A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution), and Only a Theory (Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul). On April 17, 2018 his latest book, The Human Instinct (How we Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will) will be published by Simon and Schuster.
Three-time Grammy Award-winning singer, activist, and humanitarian, Angélique Kidjo presents a lecture focused on her passion for freedom and social justice. With the strength of her voice, the power of her words, and the intensity of her performance, Angélique creates music that not only transcends language, it connects the entire world. One of The Guardian’s 100 most inspiring women in the world, she was the first woman on Forbes’s list of the Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and OXFAM campaigner, Angélique speaks out for human rights and female empowerment including in op-eds for CNN and The New York Times. Cole Memorial Chapel, 7:00 p.m.
Current scholarship on medieval stained-glass windows has allowed us to appreciate more fully how they were engaged in the devotional life of the buildings they illuminate. But rose windows, which are the very large circular apertures on the terminal arms of Gothic structures, have not been included in these analyses. The conservation currently taking place at Chartres Cathedral allows us to consider rose windows with new eyes, and grasp their materiality, legibility for their medieval beholders, and meaning within the larger glazing cycle.
How has “blindcasting”—casting a television show without specifying a character’s race—affected what we watch and how we watch it? What do shows like Scandal reveal about how Americans define social progress? Professor Kristen Warner will explore the intersection of primetime television and the concept of racial colorblindness, gauging whether strategies like blindcasting can bring about enduring racial progress or just the illusion of parity.
In this talk, Jer Thorp shares his beautiful and moving data visualization projects, helping audiences put abstract data into a human context. From graphing an entire year’s news cycle, to mapping the way people share articles across the internet, to the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan, Thorp’s cutting-edge visualizations use technology and data to help us learn about the way we use digital technologies, become more empathetic in the data age, and ultimately, tell the story of our lives. How can understanding the human side of data lead to innovation and effective change? What value is there in the novel and interactive approaches to data visualization? And what are the business applications of creative data-focused research? Thorp teaches audiences how adding meaning and narrative to huge amounts of data can help people take control of the information that surrounds them, and revolutionize the way we utilize data.