Political scholar and activist to give Hollingshead Lecture
The political reformer and scholar Frances Fox Piven will deliver the Hollingshead Lecture on Friday, Oct. 27.
Titled "Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America," the lecture will take place at 4 p.m. in Rm. 211, Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. Sponsored by the Department of Sociology, the talk is free and open to the public.
A professor of political science and sociology at the City University of New York, Piven has used the study of political science to promote democratic reform.
Her book "Regulating the Poor," co-authored with Richard Cloward, is considered to be a landmark historical and theoretical analysis of the role of welfare policy in the economic and political control of the poor and working class. She also co-authored "Poor Peoples' Movements," "The New Class War" and "Why Americans Still Don't Vote."
As a political scholar and activist, she collaborated with the late welfare rights advocate George A. Wiley to develop the strategy that led to a liberalization of welfare in the 1960s. She was a founder in 1983 of Human SERVE, an organization that promoted registering citizens to vote when they apply for government aid or drivers licenses. Human SERVE's approach was incorporated in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
Piven was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the political sociology section of the American Sociological Association, among other honors.
Steven M. Block, the Stanford W. Ascherman Chair in Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, will give the Department of Physics' Miller-Breit Lecture on Friday, Oct. 27.
Block will speak on "Breaking the Nanometer Barrier: Recent Progress in Biological Nanoscience" at 4 p.m. in Rm. 59, Sloane Physics Laboratory, 217 Prospect St. Tea will be served at 3:30 p.m. in the third floor lounge. The talk is open to the public free of charge.
A biophysicist with a joint appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Department of Applied Physics, Block is a senior fellow at Stanford's Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Block's interdisciplinary research lies at the interface of physics and biology, particularly the study of motor proteins, or mechanoenzymes. His laboratory has pioneered the use of laser-based optical traps, or "optical tweezers," to study the nanoscale motions of individual biomolecules.
Block is a strong proponent of nanoscience and the potential interplay between biology and nanotechnology. He led an influential study in 1997 on the impact of genetic engineering on biological warfare threats, and has testified before Congress and served on government advisory panels dealing with biosecurity issues.
John McPhee, staff writer for The New Yorker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of more than 25 books of non-fiction, will make a rare public appearance on Thursday, Nov. 2, under the auspices of the John Christophe Schlesinger Visiting Writer series.
McPhee will read from his new book, "Uncommon Carriers," about the people who drive eighteen-wheelers, tow barges and coal trains, at 7:30 p.m. in the Branford College common room, 74 High St. The reading is open to the public free of charge.
He began his writing career at Time magazine and The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. His books "Encounters with the Archdruid" and "The Curve of Binding Energy" were nominated for National Book Awards. In 1977, McPhee received the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. "Annals of the Former World," his tetralogy on geology, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1999.
McPhee has written on subjects as varied as the United States Merchant Marines, farmers' markets and the Alaskan wilderness. He teaches a renowned non-fiction writing seminar at Princeton.
The John-Christophe Schlesinger Visiting Writer Fund was established in 1999 by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Schlesinger of Pound Ridge, New York, as a memorial to their son. The fund enriches the experiences of student writers in Yale College by supporting annual visits to campus by distinguished or emerging authors.
Franz Wright will give a public reading of his work on Thursday, Nov. 2, as part of the Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale Divinity Student Book Supply's series "Literature and Spirituality."
The event will take place at 4:15 p.m. at the Divinity Bookstore, 409 Prospect St. For more information, call (203) 432-5062. The readings will also be webcast live at www.yale.edu/ism. A book-signing and reception will follow.
Wright is author of 13 collections of poetry. His most recent, "Walking to Martha's Vineyard," was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2004.
His other books include "God's Silence," "The Beforelife" and "Ill Lit: New and Selected Poems." He has translated poems by René Char, Erica Pedretti and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Wright's honors include the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry.
Janice Gruendel, senior adviser on early childhood to Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, will speak in the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy lecture series on Friday, Nov. 3.
Her talk, titled "Connecticut's Early Childhood Investment Framework: From Talk to Action," will be held at 11:30 a.m. in Rm. 116, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The talk is free and open to the public. For further information, e-mail sandra.bishop@yale.edu or call (203) 432-9935.
The co-chair of the newly established Connecticut Early Childhood Education Cabinet, Gruendel also serves as senior consulting fellow on youth systemic change initiatives through the United Way of Connecticut, Connecticut Office for Workforce Competitiveness and Connecticut Voices for Children.
Gruendel, who received her Ph.D. from Yale, recently published a chapter on research and policy change in the new book, "Child Development and Social Policy: Knowledge for Change."
From 1995 to 2004, Gruendel was co-founder and co-president of Connecticut Voices for Children (with Shelley Geballe). Prior to that, she served as vice president for Education and Technology at Rabbit Ears Productions Inc., a Connecticut children's multi-media production company. With Geballe, she co-edited the book "Forgotten Children of the AIDS Epidemic" and also was co-executive producer of the Emmy-nominated public broadcast documentary "Mommy, Who'll Take Care of Me?"
T H I S
Miller-Breit Lecture will focus on biological nanoscience
Pulitzer Prize-winning author to read from his work
Celebrated poet to give reading of his work
Adviser on early childhood to give Zigler Center lecture
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
With 31 winners, Yale has most Fulbright recipients this year
Grants to support research on adolescent parents and HIV/STI
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Joint Yale-Chile astronomy program has been renewed
Divinity School exhibit shows human impact of Iraq war
Three Divinity School faculty members appointed to endowed posts
Thomas Ogletree is designated Frederick Marquand Professor of Ethics
Leonora Tubbs Tisdale named the Clement-Muehl Professor
Willis Jenkins joins faculty as the Margaret Farley Assistant Professor
Scientist's molecular research yields clues about herbal therapies
V.P. Shauna King announces changes in Office of Finance and Administration
Using writing as a creative outlet brings benefits to medical residents
Nobel laureate to discuss the threat of nuclear proliferatio
Yale's Witt will help coach U.S. team at Four Nations Cup
Stomach hormone activates region of brain that controls reward . . .
Study by School of Medicine researchers shows low levels of oxygen . . .
Study shows genes and life stress interact in the brain
New concert series will offer fresh look at chamber music
Yale Cancer Center and YNHH offer free programs on cancer treatmen
Medical school and hospital honored for rapid response team in pediatric
Memorial service for Dr. Paul Beeson
U.N. official's talk rescheduled
Images of Autumn
Yale Books in Brief
Campus Notes
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