"Church in the Round, A Feminist Ecclesiology" is the title of a program that will be presented by Letty M. Russell, professor of theology at the Divinity School, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Hartford Seminary, 77 Sherman St., Hartford. In her talk, Professor Russell will explore the theme "Practicing Hospitality in a Time of Backlash," examining the biblical and theological principles of a feminist ecclesiology and their place within the church. A leader in the ecumenical movement with the World Council of Churches, Professor Russell is the author of 18 books, including "Church in the Round" and "Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective." The cost of the program is $10. Participants may register in advance or pay at the door. For information, call 860-509-9552.
Yale's Magavet singers will perform festive Jewish songs at the open house that will begin at noon on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 114 Whitney Ave. The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a Hanukkah celebration with a Latka Cook-off in the kitchen and traditional games for children. Decorations by area florists will also be on view. For information, call 562-4183.
Toys manufactured by the late Yale alumnus A.C. Gilbert are once again the focus of an exhibit at the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden. "Flyer at 50," on view at the museum Nov. 29-Jan. 26, celebrates the half-century anniversary of the creation of Gilbert's American Flyer. The proportionally scaled, two-railed toy trains were one of Gilbert's last inventions. The trains were introduced in 1946 in the wake of World War II and continued to be produced through 1966. For the exhibit, a track has been laid around a scale model of the Gilbert factory served by the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, and visitors are invited to take the controls. The Eli Whitney Museum is located at 915 Whitney Ave. For information on museum hours, admission fees and special programs, call 777-1833.
"Images of the Brain" will be the topic of a talk by Robert G. Shulman, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The talk is part of the Yale Luncheon Speaker Series sponsored by the International Center. It will take place noon-1:30 p.m. at the New Haven Lawn Club, 193 Whitney Ave. Lunch is included, and reservations are necessary. Admission is $25 for students and members of the International Center and the Lawn Club; and $30 for the general public. For information, call the center at 432-6460.
Several Yale-affiliated performers have joined with two professional New Haven area classical ensembles to create the Elm City Vocal Chamber Quartet, a new performance group. The Yale community members are: soprano Jill Soltero '85; baritone James Taylor, a student in the Yale Opera Program at the School of Music; cellist Hugh Porter, director of the Yale College Alumni Fund; violinist Wendy Sharp '82; and Douglas Dickson, who serves as an accompanist for the Yale Opera Program. The Elm City Vocal Chamber Quartet will hold its debut concert at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Church of the Redeemer, corner of Whitney Avenue and Cold Spring Street. The concert will include works by Monteverdi, Brahms, Massenet, Mozart, Rossini and others. Admission is free.
John Wargo, associate professor in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and in the department of political science, will be discussing his new book, "Our Children's Toxic Legacy," as well as recent news stories concerning pesticides, 4-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Book Haven, 290 York St. Refreshments will be served. For information or to reserve a copy of the book, call 787-2848.
William C. Brainard, the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, has been appointed as chair of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, one of 12 regional banks created in 1913 to coordinate and regulate federal banking policy. Professor Brainard, who currently chairs Yale's economic department, will head the nine- member board during a time when the Federal Reserve System's autonomy is being questioned by some members of Congress. A former Yale Provost, Professor Brainard is a coeditor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, a scholarly journal that closely follows issues of macroeconomic management.
Carla Horwitz, director of the Calvin Hill Day Care Center and Kitty Lustman-Findling Kindergarten at Yale, was presented with an Outstanding Service Award recently at the annual conference of the Connecticut Association for the Education of Young Children -- CAEYC. Ms. Horwitz, who is also a lecturer in the Yale Child Study Center and psychology department, was one of two individuals honored this year for their work with and for young children and their families. The CAEYC is the state chapter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the professional organization that sets many standards in promoting quality child care. A teacher for 28 years, Ms. Horwitz has been actively involved in public policy issues on the local, state and national levels. She is a past president of CAEYC and served as a commissioner of the NAEYC's National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. She is district facilitator of the teacher preparation program for the Connecticut State Department of Education and has served as an educational consultant to preschool and day care programs.
Patricia Goldman-Rakic, professor of neuroscience, received the Karl Spencer Lashley Award of the American Philosophical Society in recognition of her "seminal contributions to current understanding of the prefrontal cortex and its role in working memory and for effective application of insights from basic biological sciences to mental health." In her early work, Professor Goldman-Rakic analyzed the development of the prefrontal cortex and found that it develops slowly, maturing fully only during adolescence. She also discovered that different parts of the association cortex mature at varying rates, and these rates are different for males and females. The neuroscientist's later work opened the way for a detailed structural analysis of the association cortex. Finally, using a multidisciplinary approach, she was able to correlate functions of the prefrontal cortex with the working of memory, going on to analyze the cellular basis of memory at the level of single cells.
Roger E. Howe, professor of mathematics, and Robert G. Shulman, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, have been named as Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars for 1996-97. The program seeks to encourage the exchange of ideas by bringing scholars to different campuses to meet with faculty and students in a variety of formal and informal sessions. Professor Howe will travel to eight institutions: Centre, Illinois, Knox and Colby Colleges; the Universities of Arkansas, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Wyoming; and the State University of New York at Binghamton. His lectures will cover such topics as "Symmetry in the World" and "Computation, Mathematics and Philosophy," while his classroom discussions will cover a range of topics, from the nature of dimensions to complex numbers and Euclidean geometry, and more. Professor Shulman will travel to four institutions: Florida State and Wittenberg universities; and the Universities of Florida and South Carolina. His lecture will be titled "Magnetic Resonance Images of Brain Function" and his classroom discussions will examine the topic "Chemical Pathways in the Brain."