Herman Beavers Lecture Announced (note the date change)

The Philomathean Society Announces
a lecture by
Dr. Herman Beavers
entitled
"Bigger Goes to the Movies: Turbulence and Spectacle
in Wright's Native Son"

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
6:00 P.M.
The Philomathean Society Halls,
(see www.philomathean.org for directions)
Refreshments will be served.

Biography from Professor Beavers' website:
Herman Beavers came to Penn from Yale University, where he received his doctorate in American Studies in 1990 with a specialization in African American Literature. He is the author of Wrestling Angels into Song: The Fictions of Ernest J. Gaines and James Alan McPherson, which was published in 1995 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. He also has a chap-book of poems, A Neighborhood of Feeling (1986) from Doris Publications. His poems have appeared in Black American Literature Forum, Whiskey Island, Rain, Cave Canem I and II, Dark Phrases, and the Cincinnati Poetry Review. Professor Beavers teaches courses in African American and American literature, including courses dealing with the South and (along with Professor Elisa New) African- and Jewish-American literature. He values dialogue in classroom settings and thinks it is important for students to talk to one another about writing and literature. He also believes that his courses are much more about questions than static answers, especially when it comes to matters of race, gender, and class. And despite having very well-defined ideas about the kind of literature he enjoys, Professor Beavers likes to think he is open to persuasion.

"Dead Hoosiers" are re-animated at the Philomathean Society, April 2nd

The Philomathean Society Presents:
DEAD HOOSIERS

A Lecture by Dr. Daniel Traister,
Curator, Research Services, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library
on
April 2nd, 2008
at Six O'Clock P.M.
in the Philomathean Halls (4th Floor College Hall, see www.philomathean.org for directions)

Light refreshments will be served, as always

Daniel Traister, a curator in Penn's Rare Book and Manuscript Library, has long been interested in why some books live and others -- most of them -- die.

"Dead Hoosiers" concerns some books written by Indianans that didn't make it. Traister is not an Indianan. He comes from New York, and his degrees come from Colby College (Waterville, Maine), New York University, and Columbia University. He occasionally teaches classes for the Department of English at Penn and for the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.

For more information, one is directed towards Traister's home page: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~traister/

Symposium on Terrorism Announced

The Philomathean Society
presents

Terrorism: The Science, Weapons, and Politics of Fear

A multi-disciplinary symposium featuring:
Dr. M. Susan Lindee (History & Sociology of Science, Author of Suffering Made Real: American Science and the Survivors at Hiroshima.)
Dr. Ian Lustick (Political Science, Author of Trapped in the War on Terror)
Dr. Stanley Plotkin, M.D. (Wistar Institute, Author of "Vaccines")
Dr. Harvey Rubin, M.D. , (Director, Penn’s Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response)

February 20th
6:00 P.M.
in the Philomathean Halls (4th Floor of College Hall, see website for directions)

Dr. M. Susan Lindee is a native Texan who received her undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a journalist for ten years before she pursued graduate study at Cornell University, where she earned a Ph.D in History and Philosophy of Science. Her research focuses on twentieth-century biological and biomedical sciences, particularly radiation biology, human genetics and genomics. Her books include Moments of Truth: Genetic Disease in American Culture (2004), Genetic Nature/Culture: Anthropology and Science Beyond the Two Culture Divide (2003), The DNA Mystique: The gene as a cultural icon (1995), and Suffering Made Real: American Science and the Survivors at Hiroshima (1994). She teaches about science and gender, science and war, and the history of American science. She is a sea kayaker and birdwatcher.

Dr. Ian S. Lustick is Professor of Political Science and Director of Graduate Studies in the Political Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania where he holds the Bess W. Heyman Chair. He has authored or edited more than twenty books. His latest book is Trapped in the War on Terror (2006). His other books include Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank and Gaza (1993); and For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel (1994). His articles have been published in leading journals, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, World Politics, American Political Science Review, International Organization, Middle East Journal, Journal of Israeli History, and Middle East Policy. He is a recipient of awards from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, and the United States Institute of Peace. Dr. Lustick is a founder and past President of the Association for Israel Studies. He is the originator of the PS-I computational modeling platform and a leader in the application of agent-based modeling techniques to problems in the social sciences. He has worked in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and has been a consultant on Middle East and national security affairs for each of the last seven American administrations.

Dr. Stanley Plotkin is currently an advisor at the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur and is an emeritus professor at the Wistar Institute where he conducted research on the rubella vaccine. He is also an emeritus professor of pediatrics at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania. He has served senior assistant surgeon with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, United States Public Health Service; director of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and associate chairman of the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Plotkin investigated the last known outbreak of inhalation anthrax prior to the terrorist events of 2001 and helped demonstrate the efficacy of the current anthrax vaccine. He has also written “Vaccines,” a standard reference book. Over the course of his career Dr. Plotkin has been awarded the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the Sabin Foundation Medal, the French Legion Medal of Honor, the Clinical Virology Award, the Pan American Group for Rapid Viral Diagnosis, the Distinguished Physician Award, the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society and the Bruce Medal of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Harvey Rubin is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and holds secondary appointments as Professor in the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and as Professor of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the School of Medicine, Chair of the School of Medicine Committee on Appointments and Promotions, a member of the School of Medicine Curriculum Committee and won the Donald B. Martin, MD Teaching Service Award in 1996. He is also the Director of Penn’s Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (ISTAR). His research focuses on the genetics and metabolic networks of tuberculosis.

A Lecture by Professor Robert Vitalis, January 31st

The Philomathean Society announces a lecture by Professor Robert Vitalis of the Political Science department entitled:

Race, Empire, and the Origins of American International Relations

or

Why Do All the White Political Scientists Sit Together at the Professional Meetings?

January 31st 2008
6 o Clock PM
Refreshments will be served.

Professor Vitalis is the author of America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier and When Capitalists Collide. He teaches classes on American Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Politics, and International Relations. He is the recipient of fellowships from The American Research Center in Egypt, the Social Science Research Council, the Woodrow Wilson Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, The International Center for Advanced Studies, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center. In 1996, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations awarded him a Bernath Prize for his work on Egyptian political economy (from his website).

This is sure to be a fantastic event. Below are some articles on and by Professor Vitalis:

"No 'Miracles' in the desert" by Tim Hyland (Penn Current article on Vitalis' research on American empire)

"In Princes' Pockets" by Tariq Ali (London Review of Books review of America's Kingdom)

"International Studies in America" by Robert Vitalis (part of the Social Science Research Council's Roundtable on Rethinking International Studies in a Changing Global Context)

Dr. Mary Frances Berry Lecture Announced

Dr. Mary Frances Berry, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania will be giving a lecture in the Philomathean Society Halls at 6 O'Clock P.M. on January 29th, 2008. All are welcome to attend.

"[Dr. Berry] was appointed by President Carter and confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. After President Reagan fired her for criticizing his civil rights policies, she sued him and won reinstatement in federal district court. In 1993, President Clinton designated her Chairperson of the Civil Rights Commission. She was reappointed to a six-year term in January, 1999. She resigned from the Commission on December 7, 2004.

During Dr. Berry's tenure as Chairperson, the Commission issued a number of significant reports including 2000 Florida Presidential Elections, police practices in New York City, environmental justice, percentage plans and affirmative action, church burnings, and conditions on Indian reservations." -from her website.

This is sure to be a phenomenal event; all are encouraged to attend!

As always, refreshments will be served.

Sic Itur ad Oratio

Upcoming Lectures

The Philomathean Society Announces Some Upcoming Lectures

January 31st- Robert Vitalis- Professor of Political Science, Author of America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier and When Capitalists Collide

February 7th- Guthrie Ramsey- Associate Professor of Music, Author of Race Music

February 13th- Lawrence Bernstein- Professor of Music, specialist in Renaissance Music

All lectures will begin at 6:00 P.M. in the Philomathean Halls (University of Pennsylvania, College Hall, 4th Floor). As always, refreshments will be provided.

Check back for more information soon.

Documentation: An Examination for Critics

In 1917, the late Clayton Hamilton proposed that the following test be administered to dramatic critics.

1.) Have you ever stood bareheaded in the nave of Amiens?
2.) Have you ever climbed to the Acropolis by moonlight?
3.) Have you ever walked with whispers into the hushed presence of the Frari Madonna of Bellini?

To receive your free Philomathean Society Rosetta Stone decoder ring, submit your answers by post to:

The Philomathean Society
Attn: The Committee on Mediating with Clayton Hamilton's Spirit
Box H
College Hall
The University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Post the First: On Blogging

As the Second Censor of the Philomathean Society, it is my distinct privilege to bring you a phirst (and perhaps last?) experiment in Phi-blogging. Briefly, this blog will act as an online repository for up-to-the-minute information about events at Philo, complete with biographical sketches of upcoming lecturers, links to recordings of lectures (courtesy of our Audio Ministry), as well as--when possible--pertinent textual reproductions of events in the Halls. In addition, it is my hope that all visitors to the Halls will use the "comments" portion of this blog to voice their opinions about our lectures, initiate debates, and in general respond to the Society's offerings throughout the semester.