Chair of Enron International to speak at SOM
Rebecca Mark, chair and chief executive officer of Enron International, will discuss "Enron and the Challenge of Big Emerging Markets" on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. in the General Motors Room of Horchow Hall, 55 Hillhouse Ave. The event, which is part of the International Business Roundtable Lecture Series at the School of Management, is free and open to the public.
As chair and CEO of the Texas-based Enron International, the emerging markets arm of Enron Corp., Ms. Mark is responsible for project development activities, operating assets and joint venture management in emerging markets, and for Enron's interest in Enron Global Power and Pipelines L.L.C. In addition, Enron International is expanding Enron's merchant business in fuel, finance and risk-management products to third parties in emerging markets.
Ms. Mark joined Enron Corp. in 1982. She was appointed chair of Enron Development Corp. in 1991 when the unit was formed to pursue new international markets. She was promoted to her current position when Enron's international activities were consolidated into a single unit in 1996.
UMass sociologist to discuss 'sacred companies'
"Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations" is the title of a talk being presented on Tuesday, Oct. 28, by N.J. Demerath III, professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His talk, which is part of a bi-weekly seminar series offered by the Program on Nonprofit Organizations (PONPO) of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS), will begin at noon at ISPS, 88 Trumbull St. The event is free and open to the public; however, as seating is limited, those wishing to attend should call Karen Refsbeck at 432 -2121 no later than the Friday preceding the seminar.
Mr. Demerath's talk celebrates the publication of the volume "Sacred Companies," which he coedited with other affiliates of PONPO, including acting director Peter Dobkin Hall. The coeditors conducted a three-year interdisciplinary seminar exploring what religious organizations have to gain from secular organizational literature and, conversely, what secular organizations can learn from religious organizations. "Sacred Companies" is based on this seminar, which involved a number of current and past Yale faculty and students.
Mr. Demerath is also coauthor of "A Bridging of Faiths," a study of religion and politics in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a forthcoming volume titled "Crossing the Gods," which examines religion, politics, violence and the state in 15 countries. He is president-elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Covering Chechnya is topic of Russian war correspondent's talk
Award-winning Russian war correspondent Yelena Masyuk will be the guest of a tea on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 4 p.m. in the master's house of Pierson College, 231 Park St. She will discuss the topic "Reporting Live from Chechnya" at the event, which is sponsored by the Council on Russian and East European Studies of the Yale Center for International & Area Studies. The talk is free, and the public is invited.
Ms. Masyuk is a reporter for NTV, a leading private Russian network with an audience of 70 million viewers. She reports live on ethnic and political conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union, including recent military developments in Chechnya and Tajikistan. Last year, she and her television crew were kidnapped by armed Chechen men after covering a rally in the capital of Chechnya. She was released after 101 days in captivity when a $2 million ransom was paid.
Ms. Masyuk has received several honors for her work, including the Moscow Union of Journalists Award for covering Chechnya and the TEFI award, the highest honor for television journalists in Russia. She recently was one of six journalists from around the world awarded 1997 International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Scholar-activist to discuss the fate of African socialism
John S. Saul, a professor of social and political science at York University in Toronto, Canada, will give a talk titled "Whatever Happened to African Socialism Now That We Really Need It? Some Recollections and Reflections" on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 4 p.m. in Rm. 203 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of a series sponsored by the African Studies Council, part of the Yale Center for International & Area Studies.
Professor Saul taught at the University of Dar es Salaam 1965-72, during which time he witnessed firsthand the events of Tanzania's "Ujamaa" (African socialism) period. While there, he also established close contacts with many leaders of the southern African liberation movement, headquartered in Tanzania. Later, he visited the liberated areas of Mozambique with members of Frelimo, the Mozambican liberation movement. In the early 1980s, he returned to Mozambique and taught at the Frelimo Party school and the University of Eduardo Mondlane's Faculty of Marxism-Leninism. The author of a dozen books on eastern and southern Africa, he spent last summer in South Africa studying the struggle within the African National Congress-led alliance over development options.
Former Stanford president to deliver public lecture
Donald Kennedy, a former president of Stanford University who served as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 1977-79, will deliver a lecture titled "Climate, Disease, and Security: Some Connections" on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of Luce Hall,
34 Hillhouse Ave. The event is sponsored by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and is free and open to the public.
Mr. Kennedy is the Bing Professor of Environmental Science at Stanford and is codirector of the Global Environment Forum at Stanford's Institute for International Studies. When he joined the Stanford faculty in 1960, his research focused on animal behavior and neurobiology, but he became increasingly interested in regulatory policy regarding health and the environment. He served as chair of a National Academy of Sciences study on alternatives to pesticide use and was a member of the World Food and Nutrition Study before becoming FDA commissioner. After returning to Stanford in 1979, he served for a year as the school's provost and for 12 years as its president. During that time, he continued to work on health and environmental policy issues as a member of the board of directors of the Health Effects Institute, Clean Sites, Inc. and the California Nature Conservancy. His present research is focused on trans-boundary environmental problems, such as major land-use changes, economically driven alterations in agricultural practice, global climate change and the development of regulatory policies.
Art historian to lecture about Irish art
Fintan Cullen, lecturer in art history at the University of Nottingham, will present a lecture titled "Irish Art and the Old and the New Art History" on Wednesday,
Oct. 29, at 5 p.m. at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. His talk is free and open to the public.
Mr. Cullen has devoted his career to examining aspects of Irish art and Irish representation. His work has appeared in such publications as Art History, Oxford Art Journal, The Burlington Magazine and Apollo. He earned his doctorate in art history from Yale in 1992, and served as lecturer in the history of art department at Trinity College in Dublin and as convener of the 1990 annual conference of the Association of Art Historians, of which he is currently an honorary secretary. His publications include "Visual Politics, The Representation of Ireland 1750-1930" and the article "The Art of Assimilation: Scotland and its Heroes," published in Art History.
Noted chemist to deliver the Tetelman Lecture
British scientist Sir John Meurig Thomas, who is considered one of the world's leading solid-state chemists, will be the featured speaker this week at two campus events. On Wednesday, Oct. 29, he will discuss two British scientists credited with building the foundations of much modern chemistry and physics in a Tetelman Lecture titled "Davy and Faraday: A Tale of Contrasting Gen-iuses." The lecture will begin at 5:15 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Yale University Art Gallery (enter on High Street).
The following day, Mr. Thomas will be the guest at 4 p.m. at a tea in the Jonathan Edwards master's house, 70 High St. Both events are free and open to the public.
Mr. Thomas is professor of chemistry at (and former director of) The Royal Institution of Great Britain in London and is master of Peterhouse at the University of Cambridge. Known primarily for his work related to crystals, he and his research teams have pioneered many new techniques in solid-state chemistry, including the use of optical and electron microscopy, time-lapse microcinematography and etch-decoration, among other methods, to investigate the reactivity of minerals and the behavior of molecular crystals. Through hundreds of lectures broadcast on the BBC and delivered in person to schoolchildren and lay audiences, Mr. Thomas is also noted for helping to popularize chemistry. Knighted in 1991 for his services to chemistry and for making science understandable to a wide audience, his numerous other honors in-clude medals from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society.
The Tetelman Fellowship was endowed in 1979 by Damon Wells of the Class of 1958 in memory of his friend and classmate, Alan S. Tetelman, who died in 1978. Tetelman, a distinguished metallurgist, was professor and chair of the department of materials at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Nobel laureate to discuss viral immunity in Gershon Lecture
Nobel laureate Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel will deliver the 11th Richard K. Gershon Memorial Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 11 a.m. in Harkness Auditorium of the School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. His lecture, titled "Immunity against Viruses," will be followed by a reception. The event is sponsored by the section of immunobiology at the medical school, and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Zinkernagel is head of the Institute of Experimental Immunology in Zurich, Switzerland. He is renowned for having first discovered and promoted the idea that the antigen receptor of T lymphocytes recognizes antigen not as whole molecules on the cell surface or in solution, as antibodies do, but as complexes with self proteins encoded in the major histocompatibility complex, or MHC. This form of antigen recognition, which was rapidly shown to apply to all
T lymphocytes, is referred to as MHC-restricted antigen recognition. Since its discovery, much of immunology has been explained by this observation. For his work, Dr. Zinkernagel received the Lasker Award in 1995 and the Nobel Prize in 1996, among many other honors.
The Gershon Lecture is given in memory of Dr. Richard K. Gershon, a pioneer in the field of regulation of immune responses by T lymphocytes, who died in 1983.
Japanese drumming troupe to perform on Cross Campus
San Jose Taiko, a company of Japanese performers on the taiko drums, will perform on Thursday, Oct. 30, noon-1 p.m. on Cross Campus Lawn. The event, cosponsored by the Asian American Students Association and the Asian American Cultural Center, is free and open to the public.
Based in San Jose, California, San Jose Taiko was founded in 1973 by a group of third-generation Asian Americans interested in traditional Japanese drumming. The taiko, or drum, serves as symbol for the essence and spirit of Japan. It was used by priests to dispel evil spirits and insects from rice fields; by the Samurai, who used it to instill fear in the enemy and courage in themselves; and by Japanese peasants, who used it in prayers for rain or thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. San Jose Taiko has fused traditional Japanese drumming with American influences, creating a new Asian American art form. The group has toured annually throughout the Unites States and Japan.
Harvard economist will present the Kuznets Memorial Lectures
Zvi Griliches, the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of the Productivity and Technical Change Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, will deliver the 11th Simon Kuznets Memorial Lectures Thursday and Friday, Oct. 30 and 31. Titled "Productivity Growth: Where Did it Come From: Where Did it Go?" the two-part lecture series will survey the results of research on productivity over the last three decades and will review the empirical findings on the contribution of research and development to productivity growth. The lectures, sponsored by the Economic Growth Center, are free and open to the public.
On Thursday, Professor Griliches will discuss "Productivity Growth: The Quest for Explanations" 4-6 p.m. in Rm. B74 of the School of Management, 135 Prospect St. His second lecture, titled "Productivity and R&D: The Uncertain Future" will take place 2-4 p.m. in the same location.
Professor Griliches, a native of Lithuania, focuses his research on econometrics, productivity and technical change. He is currently a member of the U.S. Senate's Advisory Commission to Study the Consumer Price Index, as well as the Statistics Canada Price Measurement Advisory Committee. A past president of both the Econometric Society and the American Economic Association, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
The Kuznets Lectures honor the memory of Simon Kuznets, the Nobel laureate in economics and a pioneer in the use of statistics and economics to understand economic history and the process of modern economic growth. He helped found the Economic Growth Center at Yale in 1961.
Yale Hillel hosts talk by feminist theologian
Judith Plaskow, a feminist theologian, will speak on the topic of her work-in-progress, "Decentering Sex: Toward a Jewish Feminist Theology of Sexuality" on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall St. The event, cosponsored by Yale Hillel and the Judaic Studies department, is free and open to the public. A reception and book-signing will follow the lecture.
Ms. Plaskow has been studying, teaching, speaking and writing about feminist theology for 25 years. A professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, she is the author of several books, including the classic "Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism for a Feminist Perspective." She is cofounder of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and served as its coeditor for 10 years. Along with Carol Christ, Ms. Plaskow has edited two anthologies, "Womenspirit Rising" and "Weaving the Visions."
For further information, call 432-1134.
Federal education official to speak at Bush Center
Gerald Tirozzi, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education, will speak on Friday, Oct. 31, at noon in the weekly lecture series sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. His talk, titled "Education in the 21st Century: A Federal Perspective," will be held at Rose Alumni House, 232 York St. The event is free and open to the public.
Mr. Tirozzi is a nationally recognized leader in the education reform movement. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Department of Education in 1996. He formerly served for eight years as Connecticut's commissioner of education under the terms of Governors William O'Neill and Lowell P. Weicker and was president of Wheelock College in Boston 1991-93. As the commissioner of education, he played a role in developing and implementing the Connecticut Mastery Test, which received national recognition as an assessment model to promote high academic standards and expectations. He also initiated major teaching reforms which were at the core of a $300 million education improvement fund from the Connecticut General Assembly in 1986.
Mr. Tirozzi began his career as a science teacher in New Haven in 1959. He was the superintendent of the New Haven public school system 1977-83. An honorary member of the Parent Teachers Association, his public service has been recognized by Michigan State University, the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP and the Southwestern Connecticut Urban League.
For further information, call 432-9935.
Winslow Homer is subject of talk at the art gallery
The work of American artist Winslow Homer will be discussed by Elizabeth Johns, the Silfen Term Professor of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, in the lecture hall of the Yale University Art Gallery (enter on High Street). Her talk, titled "Winslow Homer and the Nature of Observation," is the seventh in the annual Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque Memorial Lectures in American Art. A reception will follow in the art gallery sculpture hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Professor Johns has written extensively on themes in American art and on such artists as Thomas Eakins, William Harnett and George Caleb Bingham. Her book "American Genre Painting: The Politics of Everyday Life" was published by the Yale University Press in 1991. She says of her work, "In the largest sense I am a cultural historian, arguing that works of art are historical as well as imaginative artifacts that come into being in complex networks of opinion, values and aspirations."
The memorial lecture series was established by the friends and colleagues of Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque '72, '75 M.A., a scholar of American painting and decorative art who died in 1989.