Lectures

Boris, Brexit and Europe: An Interpretation

Lecture | September 3 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Matt Beech, Founding Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull & Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Berkeley Law, International Group, Center for British Studies

Boris Johnson’s election as Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, and therefore, as Prime Minister was a foregone conclusion to close observers of British politics. Where there is a disruption in the business of Westminster is the fact that the United Kingdom has its first Eurosceptic Prime Minister since Mrs Thatcher delivered her Bruges Speech. The long and winding road to Brexit has...   More >

What López Obrador’s ‘Fourth Transformation’ Means for Mexico

Lecture | September 3 | 5-6:45 p.m. | Wheeler Hall, 315, Maude Fife room

Speaker/Performer:  Denise Dresser, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)

Sponsor:  Center for Latin American Studies

Public lecture - Prof. Dresser, a political scientist, public intellectual, and recipient of the Legion of Honor medal for her work on democracy, justice, gender equality and human rights, will lecture on this topic.

Dr. Stephanie Rotem lecture on Souvenirs from Utopia: Souvenirs from Utopia: The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem (1906-1932)

Lecture | September 3 | 5-7 p.m. |  Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life (2121 Allston Way)

Speaker/Performer:  Dr. Stephanie Rotem, Tel Aviv University

Sponsor:  Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

Dr. Stephanie Rotem (Tel Aviv Univeristy), will provide an introduction to the new exhibition, Souvenirs from Utopia: The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem (1906-1932). She will discuss the first three art museums in pre-state Israel - Bezalel, Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ein Harod Art Museum - introducing their histories, comparing their concepts and architecture, and examining their place...   More >

ARF Organizational Meeting: Kick-off meeting for 2019-2020 brown bag series

Lecture | September 4 | 12-1 p.m. | 101 2251 College (Archaeological Research Facility)

Sponsor:  Archaeological Research Facility

ARF graduate students, faculty affiliates, and research affiliates are welcome to attend an organizational meeting to kick-off the fall semester. Attendees will learn about the upcoming brown bags and other events, graduate student jobs, lab space, and other ARF-related information. This is also an opportunity for graduate students undertaking archaeological research in different departments...   More >

Zero Sum Politics? Austrian Government and Challenges to the Kelsenian Vision of Democracy

Lecture | September 4 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  David M. Wineroither, Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Sponsor:  Institute of European Studies

Hans Kelsen expressed his absolute acceptance of democratic rule at a time when most political parties, citizens and colleagues of his either openly rejected parliamentary democracy or embraced democracy as a means to prepare for imperfectly democratic means – in his own country, Austria, as well as in the majority of surrounding countries in Central Europe.
Kelsen demanded political actors to...   More >

Fung Institute presents: Engineering Leadership Speaking Series

Lecture | September 4 – November 20, 2019 every Wednesday with exceptions | 4-5:30 p.m. | 310 Sutardja Dai Hall

Sponsor:  Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership

Join UC Berkeley Master of Engineering students for an executive speaker series with leaders from different technology industries. The technology industry forms a vital part of the Northern California economy and these sessions provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding and connections. Engage with innovative leaders from top companies, deepen your industry and functional knowledge and...   More >

Poetic Thinking, or Why Germany's Best Writers Today are Poets

Lecture | September 4 | 5-7 p.m. | 3335 Dwinelle Hall

Sponsor:  German, English, Critical Theory, Comparative Literature

Christian Metz is Visiting Professor of German Literature and Aesthetics at Johann Goethe-University of Frankfurt, and August Feodor Lynen Fellow in German at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich; he has taught as well at Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Tromsø in Norway. Professor Metz is the author of Poetisch denken. Die Lyrik der Gegenwart [Poetic Thinking: Lyric...   More >

Purity and Pollution: Cannabis as Matter Out of Place

Lecture | September 4 | 6-7:30 p.m. |  Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Sponsors:  Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Botanical Garden

Anthropologist Dr. Michael Polson will share observations on cannabis and its journey from cultural pollutant to purified, legal substance.

Tickets required

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

Sara Dean: Environmental Exploits

Lecture | September 5 | 12-1:30 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Sarah Dean

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Sarah Dean

A talk by Berkeley-based architect and designer Sara Dean, whose work intersects digital and physical realms, designing new opportunities for urban equity and environmental agency in our Anthropocene cities. Dean is assistant professor and assistant chair of the design MFA program at California College of the Arts and codirector of IF/THEN Studio. She is also chief designer at...   More >

Artist Talk - Rina Banerjee

Lecture | September 5 | 4-6 p.m. | 10 Stephens Hall

Speakers:  Rina Banerjee, Artist; Atreyee Gupta, Assistant Professor of Global Modern Art and South and Southeast Asian Art, History of Art Department

Moderator:  Dipti Mathur, Chair, Advisory Board, South Asia Art Initiative; Collector, Contemporary South Asian art

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, South Asia Art Initiative, Department of History of Art, Department of Art Practice, Hosfelt Gallery

A talk by Artist Rina Banerjee followed by a conversation between her and Prof. Atreyee Gupta. The conversation will be moderated by Chair, Advisory Board, South Asia Art Initiative and Collector of contemporary South Asian art collector of contemporary South Asian art, Dipti Mathur.

Astronomy Night at UC Berkeley

Lecture | September 5 | 7-10 p.m. | 131 Campbell Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Wren Suess, UC Berkeley

Sponsor:  Department of Astronomy

Join us on September 5th for the next installment of our Astro Night series! PhD candidate Wren Suess will talk about the history of galaxies, both in human understanding and in cosmic time.

Come to Campbell Hall on the UC Berkeley campus for a FREE night of astronomy and stargazing on the roof with our fleet of telescopes.

Career Clinic: Finding a New Career Direction: Steps to Finding Work You Love

Lecture | September 7 | 9 a.m.-3 p.m. | UC Berkeley Extension (Golden Bear Center), Room 204

Featured Speakers:  Rebecca Andersen, Career Services at the UC Berkeley Information School; RuthAnn Haffke, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Sponsor:  UC Berkeley Extension

Do you feel like you are in a rut in your career and long to do something that feels more fulfilling, even if you have no idea what that might be? Do you know you're in the wrong job but feel stuck by fear or self-doubt when you think about trying to make a change?

This workshop is tailored to help you find direction and outline steps to find (and achieve!) work you love.

In advance of the...   More >

Registration required:$50 $50 plus Strengthfinder Assessment

Registration info:   Register online

Bing Concert Hall (at Stanford): SEMM Seminar

Lecture | September 9 | 12-1 p.m. | 502 Davis Hall

Speaker:  Raymond Pugliesi, S.E. P.E., Degenkolb Engineers

Sponsor:  Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

This presentation will outline the design and analysis of the new 844 seat Stanford Bing Concert Hall. The discussion will include the acoustic requirements, complex features of the structural skeleton and performance space, as well as seismic safety. The challenges faced during design and construction will also be discussed.

The Sincere Voice, or How Sincerity is Written and Read in Russian (and not only Russian) Poetry

Lecture | September 9 | 4-6 p.m. | B-4 Dwinelle Hall

Speaker:  Stuart Goldberg, Associate Professor of Russian, Georgia Tech

Sponsors:  Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

The first lecture in the Fall 2019 Slavic Graduate Colloquium Series.

Complicating the Countryside: Reflections on Land, Labor and the Law

Lecture | September 9 | 4:30-6 p.m. | International House, Sproul Rooms

Speaker/Performer:  Martha Lampland, University of California, San Diego

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

Keynote lecture of the Graduate Student Conference:
Understanding the Countryside. Rural Europe in a Post-Global World

Martha Lampland is a Professor of Sociology and a core member of the Science Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego. Her work touches on political economy, social history, and feminist science studies, and her research focuses on Hungary, and Central...   More >

Robots Are Creatures, Not Things with Madeline Gannon

Lecture | September 9 | 6:30-8 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Madeline Gannon

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Presented by the Berkeley Center for New Media

Madeline Gannon, Designer

After fifty years of promises and potential, robots are beginning to leave the lab to live in the wild with us. But how should we coexist with these intelligent, autonomous machines? In this lecture, multidisciplinary designer Madeline Gannon discusses how art and technology are merging to forge new futures for...   More >

From Bonfire to Firewire: Innovative Online Modules on Philippine Folklore

Lecture | September 10 | 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 370 Dwinelle Hall

Speaker:  Pia Arboleda, Associate Professor of Filipino and Philippine Literarure, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Sponsor:  Filipino and Philippine Studies Working Group

This talk will review current research on Ifiallig orature in Barlig, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, including the significance of Ifiallig oral traditions, the methods used in collecting orature, and the process of reviving tales through different media.

Omar Khan | Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj

Lecture | September 10 | 5-7 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room) | Note change in date

Speaker:  Omar Khan, Author, Distinguished scholar, & San Francisco based historian

Moderator:  Asma Kazmi, Assistant Professor of Art in the Department of Art Practice

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, South Asia Art Initiative, Department of History of Art, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Art Practice

A presentation by distinguished scholar and San Francisco based historian, Omar Khan, on his new publication Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj, a visual tour of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka through 500 vintage postcards (1892 to 1947).

Reports from the Field - Summer 2019

Lecture | September 10 | 5:30-7:30 p.m. | 370 Dwinelle Hall

Speakers/Performers:  Sara Eriksson, Anthropology; Erin Lawrence, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology; Abigail Hoskins, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology

Sponsor:  San Francisco Society of the Archaeological Institute of America

UC Berkeley graduate students report on their summer research and experiences at different ancient sites. Sara Eriksson is interested in household archaeology and gender in Hellenistic Greece. She will talk about her work with the Kalaureia Research Program at a Poseidon sanctuary on the Greek island of Poros. Erin Lawrence studies 5th and 4th century BCE Athenian sculpture and will discuss...   More >

Public Lecture by Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt: "Scaling up: is there a national vision for groundwater recharge?”

Lecture | September 10 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | Bancroft Hotel, Great Hall

Location:  2680 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Sponsor:  Center for Law, Energy & the Environment

Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will give a public lecture on water and environmental policy. The talk will discuss groundwater recharge as a way to help achieve sustainability for our water resources, and will link this emerging technique for water stewardship to its state and national implications, and to potential large scale policy actions.

Registration required:$0

Registration info:   Register online

Visualizing the Complexity of Past and Future Shoreline and Near-Shore Environments over Time: Examples from Australia, Vietnam, and California

Lecture | September 11 | 12-1 p.m. | 101 2251 College (Archaeological Research Facility)

Speaker:  Thomas G. Whitley, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Sonoma State University

Sponsor:  Archaeological Research Facility

By incorporating dynamic geomorphological processes into the environmental modeling it becomes possible to provide much more accurate depictions of the inundation and retreat of shorelines over time, their hydrodynamics, and the evolution of shoreline and near-shore ecosystems. Presented here are some examples of this approach using highly diverse datasets from Australia, Vietnam, and California.

Fung Institute presents: Engineering Leadership Speaking Series

Lecture | September 4 – November 20, 2019 every Wednesday with exceptions | 4-5:30 p.m. | 310 Sutardja Dai Hall

Sponsor:  Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership

Join UC Berkeley Master of Engineering students for an executive speaker series with leaders from different technology industries. The technology industry forms a vital part of the Northern California economy and these sessions provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding and connections. Engage with innovative leaders from top companies, deepen your industry and functional knowledge and...   More >

Why Cannabis? Why CBD? Why Now?

Lecture | September 11 | 6-7:30 p.m. |  Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Speakers/Performers:  Dr. Josh Meisel, Humboldt State University; Martin A. Lee, Project CBD

Sponsors:  Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Botanical Garden

This talk will examine the factors contributing to the current pro-cannabis cultural shift and the surge of interest in CBD.

Tickets required

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

Faculty Conversations on Design for Democracy

Lecture | September 12 | 12-1:30 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Faculty of UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley faculty join in a discussion of design and democracy.

For more information and updates, visit artsdesign.berkeley.edu.

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Arts + Design Thursdays @ BAMPFA is made possible thanks to support from the Big Ideas Courses Program in the College of Letters & Science at UC Berkeley and from...   More >

US, UK, EU: Brexit, Trump, Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Relations

Lecture | September 12 | 12-1 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Speaker/Performer:  David Whineray, Visiting Scholar, Center for British Studies, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Center for British Studies, Anglo-American Studies Program

Major geopolitical changes are taking place within Europe, and between the United States and Europe. Brexit is the biggest geopolitical shift in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. After 50 years of European integration—championed by successive US administrations—the UK’s exit from the EU is the first time a country has left the union. At the same time, European-US relations have become...   More >

Alinka Gearon: Voices of trafficked youth: critique of child trafficking policy and practice

Lecture | September 12 | 12:10-1:30 p.m. | Haviland Hall, Haviland Commons

Speaker/Performer:  Alinka Gearon, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath

Sponsor:  Social Welfare, School of

Alinka Gearon is an Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Bath, specializing in child trafficking and child protection social work. She holds a PhD in Social Work with considerable front-line practice experience working with children, abuse and exploitation. Her research explores children’s worlds, child protection and children’s rights. Her recent publication: Child...   More >

Politics and Poetry: a Reading and Conversation with Robert Hass

Lecture | September 12 | 4:30-6 p.m. |  Faculty Club

Speaker/Performer:  Robert Hass

Sponsor:  Department of English

Professor of the Graduate School Robert Hass reflects on his experience with the way the politics with which we live enters his poetry and that of his contemporaries.

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd | Caste in the Age of Modi

Lecture | September 12 | 5-7 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room)

Speaker:  Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, Political Theorist, Writer, & Activist for Dalit Rights

Moderator:  Robert Goldman, Professor of Sanskrit and Catherine and William L. Magistretti Distinguished Professor in South & Southeast Asian Studies

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Ambedkar-King Study Circle

Talk by Indian political theorist, writer and activist for Dalit rights, Dr. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd.

Playing the Part: Masks and the Performance of Identity in Iron Age Cyprus

Lecture | September 12 | 5-7 p.m. | Graduate Theological Union, Center for the Arts & Religion, Doug Adams Gallery

Location:  2465 LeConte Ave, Berkeley, CA

Speaker:  Dr. Erin Walcek Averett, Associate Professor, Archaeology, Creighton University

Sponsors:  Center for the Graduate Theological Union Arts & Religion, Bade Museum of Biblical Archaeology, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion

This talk reevaluates the evidence for masking rituals in Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Cyprus through close analysis of archaeological contexts to reconstruct masked performances.

Dark Humanisms | Surplus Visuality with Rizvana Bradley Lecture

Lecture | September 12 | 5-7 p.m. | Doe Library, Room 308A/Art History Slide Library

Speaker/Performer:  Rizvana Bradley, Yale University

Sponsor:  Arts Research Center

Dark Humanisms | Surplus Visuality
Rizvana Bradley
Professor of History of Art and African American Studies, Yale University
Thursday, September 12, 2019
5:00-7:00pm
308A Doe Library, Art History Slide Library

This talk explores the way visual art archives generate surplus material that work to both construct and interrogate an image of the human.

The State of Europe: A Conversation with Former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso

Lecture | September 13 | 12-1 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao Auditorium, Room 310

Speaker/Performer:  José Manuel Barroso, Former president of the European Commission

Sponsors:  European Union Center, Clausen Center for International Business and Policy

Please join UC Berkeley's Clausen Center for International Business and Policy and the European Union Center for a conversation with José Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission and former prime minister of Portugal. He also received a Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the European Union in 2012. Barroso will discuss economic and political changes and challenges facing...   More >

Princes of Plants, Trees of Life: How People Use Palms

Lecture | September 14 | 10-11:30 a.m. |  UC Botanical Garden

Sponsor:  Botanical Garden

Palms are the third-most economically important plant family, after grasses and legumes. But you'd never know it living here near the 38th parallel. Jason Dewees, palm expert at Flora Grubb Gardens and author of the award-winning Designing with Palms (Timber Press, 2018), will talk about the rich economic and cultural relationships between palms and people. In addition to their fascinating and...   More >

Tickets:$15,$10 members; price includes Garden admission (a $15 value)

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

Bank: with California State Treasurer Fiona Ma

Lecture | September 16 | 5:30-7 p.m. |  Alumni House

Sponsor:  Goldman School of Public Policy

Join California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, the Center for Environmental Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Berkeley Forum for a discussion on major finance policy issues facing the State of California, including green bonds and sustainable finance.

A reception will be held at 5:30pm, with the lecture beginning at 6:00pm.

Fiona Ma is California’s 34th State...   More >

Astrobiologist and Astronomer Jill Tarter at the Berkeley Forum: Technosignatures: What Are They, And How Might We Find them?

Lecture | September 16 | 6-7 p.m. | 125 Morrison Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Jill Tarter

Sponsor:  The Berkeley Forum

Arthur C. Clarke's third law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Since 1960, SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) researchers have been searching for that ‘magic’ in the form of radio, and now optical, electromagnetic signals. These searches need to continue and grow utilizing the exponentially increasing capabilities of computing, but...   More >

Tickets recommended:$0

Ticket info:  https://tbf-jill-tarter.eventbrite.com.

Excavations of Recent History

Lecture | September 16 | 6:30-8 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Patrick Martinez

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Presented by the UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice

Patrick Martinez, Artist

Patrick Martinez is a multidisciplinary artist who creates works that act as excavations of language, belonging, and the visual-cultural systems of the city of Los Angeles, in order to create dialogues concerning the ongoing residue of gentrification. Throughout his practice, he uses materials and modes of...   More >

The Power of Emotions. Germany 19 | 19: Exhibition and Talk with Ute Frevert

Lecture | September 16 | 6:30-7:30 p.m. | Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Auditorium

Location:  530 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

Speaker/Performer:  Ute Frevert, Director of the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin

Sponsors:  Institute of European Studies, Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Pacific Regional Office of the German Historical Institute Washington, Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany, "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" Foundation (EVZ), Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, San Francisco

Our politics are increasingly driven by emotions, so it would seem. We are living in an age of permanent agitation. Facts are being called into question by perceived truths. Radicals of every description are attracting more and more attention with simple answers to complex questions. The political center often does not know how to deal with heated emotions. It is characterized by the political...   More >

RSVP required

RSVP info:   RSVP online

The River Grew Tired of Us: New Flows along the Mekong River

Lecture | September 17 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 180 Doe Library

Speaker:  Andrew Alan Johnson, Visiting Scholar, CSEAS, UC Berkeley

Sponsor:  Center for Southeast Asia Studies

Along the Mekong River, where it creates the border between Thailand and Laos, hydropower projects have triggered a transformation. Strange floods and ebbs disrupt fish migrations, undercut riverbanks, and sweep away nets. Facing this new landscape, fishermen on the Mekong seek out new, hidden sources of potency that have revealed themselves at the same time as other powers fade in importance....   More >

Jisha Menon | Aesthetics of Waste: Consumer Desire and its Detritus in India

Lecture | September 17 | 5-7 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room)

Speaker:  Jisha Menon, Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies and Director of the Centre for South Asia at Stanford University

Moderator:  Munis Faruqui, Director, Institute for South Asia Studies; Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies; Associate Professor in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies

Discussant:  Sugata Ray, Associate Professor, History of Art Department, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, South Asia Art Initiative at UC Berkeley, Department of History of Art

Talk by scholar of postcolonial and performance studies Prof. Jisha Menon

Minner Distinguished Lecture: Can We Recover From an Attack on our Election?

Lecture | September 18 | 12-1 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao Auditorium, 3rd floor

Speaker:  Barbara Simons, EECS Ph.D. '81, Board Chair, Verified Voting

Sponsors:  College of Engineering, Society of Women Engineers, Women in Computer Science & Engineering

Verified Voting. Dr. Simons will discuss "Can we Recover from an Attack on our Election" with Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu.

Art/archaeology: a space beyond explanation - the Ineligible Project

Lecture | September 18 | 12-1 p.m. | 101 2251 College (Archaeological Research Facility)

Speaker:  Doug Bailey, Professor of Visual Archaeology, San Francisco State University

Sponsor:  Archaeological Research Facility

Doug Bailey presents results of his current art/archaeology project, Ineligible, in which he took artifacts from the excavations that preceded the construction of the Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco, sent them to artists, archaeologists, and creators around the world, to repurpose as raw materials with which they should make work of political and social impact.

Music: The Universal Language?

Lecture | September 18 | 3-5 p.m. | Dwinelle Hall, B-4 (Classroom side)

Speaker:  Charles Limb, Professor and Chief of Otology, UCSF

Sponsor:  Berkeley Language Center

Musical creativity has existed since the earliest days of human civilization. Until recently, how the brain actually produces musical ideas was poorly understood. Recent advances in brain imaging have allowed us to address questions of artistic significance that were previously felt to be inaccessible to scientific inquiry. Of the multiple creative processes that take place in music,...   More >

Fung Institute presents: Engineering Leadership Speaking Series

Lecture | September 4 – November 20, 2019 every Wednesday with exceptions | 4-5:30 p.m. | 310 Sutardja Dai Hall

Sponsor:  Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership

Join UC Berkeley Master of Engineering students for an executive speaker series with leaders from different technology industries. The technology industry forms a vital part of the Northern California economy and these sessions provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding and connections. Engage with innovative leaders from top companies, deepen your industry and functional knowledge and...   More >

Cannabis Neurobiology: More Complex than Black-Hole Astrophysics

Lecture | September 18 | 6-7:30 p.m. |  Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Speaker/Performer:  Dr. David Presti, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Botanical Garden

Join neurobiologist Dr. David Presti for a look into the complicated interactions between cannabis and the human brain.

About this Event:
Cannabis in Context is a series of talks co-sponsored by the Hearst Museum and the UC Botanical Garden and curated by Eric Siegel, aimed at raising awareness of the multi-faceted life of cannabis in our modern society across cultures. This four-part series...   More >

Tickets required

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

Christine Gaspar: Designing with People: The Work of the Center for Urban Pedagogy

Lecture | September 19 | 12-1:30 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Christine Gaspar

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Christine Gaspar, executive director

Christine Gaspar discusses her work as executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a New York–based nonprofit whose mission is to use the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement, particularly among historically underrepresented communities. Gaspar partners with designers and community organizations to create visually...   More >

View from the Top: Tom Siebel: Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction

Lecture | September 19 | 12-1 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao Auditorium, 3rd floor

Featured Speaker:  Tom Siebel, Founder, Chairman and CEO, C3.AI

Sponsor:  College of Engineering

Discussion of his new book “Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction” with Professor Shankar Sastry. Reception and book signing in the Kvamme Atrium to follow.

Bancroft Library Roundtable: The Makings of a Mutiny: Ghadri Poetry and Interrogations of Subjugated Knowledges in History

Lecture | September 19 | 12-1 p.m. | Faculty Club, Lewis-Latimer Room

Speaker/Performer:  Amrit Deol, PhD Candidate in Interdisciplinary Humanities, UC Merced

Sponsor:  Bancroft Library

How did a group of Indian laborers on the United States’ west coast almost bring down the entire British Empire in the early 1900s? Amrit Deol will discuss the history of the anti-colonial Ghadar Party, an Indian political organization, and their publication known as the Ghadar Gunj, or “Echoes of Mutiny."

Attendance restrictions:  The Lewis-Latimer Room has a maximum capacity of 28 people. The doors will be shut and no more attendees may enter once the room is at capacity.

Jonathan Biss

Lecture | September 19 | 2-3:30 p.m. | 125 Morrison Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Jonathan Biss

Sponsors:  Cal Performances, Department of Music

Jonathan Biss talks with Nicholas Mathew in a music department class "Topics in the history of European and American Music," which is focusing on the music of Beethoven. Open to the public for observation.

An Archeology of Hate. Writing the “Wars of Subjectivity” in Latin America.

Lecture | September 19 | 5-6 p.m. | 126 Dwinelle Annex

Speaker/Performer:  Gabriel Giorgi, New York University

Sponsor:  Center for Latin American Studies

Recent reconfigurations of political subjectivities in South America gave impulse to the new rise of the right, in which hate infuses the public sphere. These changes are inseparable from transformations in technologies, circuits, and publics of writing. Recent art installations in Argentina and Brazil explore the intersections between online writing, hate, and “wars of subjectivity. This talk...   More >

A Conversation with California's First Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris

Lecture | September 19 | 5:30-6:30 p.m. | Berkeley Way West, First Floor Colloquia

Sponsor:  Public Health, School of

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has seen firsthand the health effects of childhood stress. As a pediatrician and medical director of the Bayview Child Health Center in San Francisco, she began studying how childhood adversity translates to poor health in adulthood. In 2013, she founded the Center for Youth Wellness in order to push pediatric medicine to consider this correlation as she continued to...   More >

Registration required

Registration info:   Register online

Cartoonist and Author of American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang at the Berkeley Forum

Lecture | September 19 | 6-7 p.m. | C230 Cheit Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Gene Luen Yang

Sponsor:  The Berkeley Forum

Asians and Asian-Americans are often portrayed as upholding some or all of the stereotypes formed against them, such as being exotic, rich, smart, and/or wimpy with glasses. These are not true, of course – they are stereotypes after all. Come join us in hearing how Gene Luen Yang combats these and other similar negative representation and, instead, promote cultural awareness as an Asian-American...   More >

Tickets recommended:$0

Gyges’ Choice: Rationality and Visibility

Lecture | September 19 | 7 p.m. | 315 Wheeler Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Josiah Ober, Mitsotakis Professor of Classics and Political Science, Stanford University

Sponsor:  Department of Classics

The Sather Classical Lectures, part 1.

Science Lecture - Our changing atmosphere: Evidence that demand a Verdict?

Lecture | September 21 | 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 100 Genetics & Plant Biology Building

Speaker/Performer:  Jeff Reimer, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Sponsor:  Science@Cal

Many people are aware of climate change only by way of public discourse and social media. Drawing on recent scientific papers organized for a course he teaches at Berkeley, Jeff Reimer will show how the atmosphere is changing, that humans are the cause, and that there are consequences. These consequences may be viewed in the context of Earth’s historical carbon cycles, which demonstrate well what...   More >

Mozart Listening Party: In Conjunction with Mark Morris Dance Group's "Mozart Dances"

Lecture | September 21 | 5-6:15 p.m. |  Zellerbach Hall

Panelist/Discussants:  Mark Morris, Choreographer and Artistic Director, Mark Morris Dance Group; Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances, Cal Performances

Speaker/Performer:  Colin Fowler, Music Director, Mark Morris Dance Group

Sponsor:  Cal Performances

Cal Performances director Jeremy Geffen delves into Mozart's music with choreographer Mark Morris and Mark Morris Dance Group's music director Colin Fowler

Jonathan Biss: Pre-performance talk

Lecture | September 22 | 2-2:30 p.m. |  Hertz Concert Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Jonathan Biss

Sponsor:  Cal Performances

Prof. Nicholas Mathew of the Department of Music talks about Beethoven's sonata cycle. Free to ticket holders of the performance.

Toward a Simulation-Based Qualification Paradigm for Metal Additive Manufacturing: Support Design for Residual Stress and Process-Grain Structure Modeling: SEMM Seminar

Lecture | September 23 | 12-1 p.m. | 502 Davis Hall

Speaker:  Albert C. To, Ph.D. Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Sponsor:  Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

This seminar will present recent advances in models and methods developed for achieving a simulation-based qualification paradigm for laser-based metal additive manufacturing (AM).

BIDS Forum: Statistics and Machine Learning Forum

Lecture | September 23 | 1:30-2:30 p.m. | 190 Doe Library

Sponsor:  Berkeley Institute for Data Science

Full details about this meeting will be posted here: https://bids.berkeley.edu/events.

Experiencing Community: Residential Life Under the lnka Empire in Huarochirí (Lima, Peru): Anthropology 290 Series

Lecture | September 23 | 2-4 p.m. | Kroeber Hall, 221 (Gifford Room)

Speaker:  Carla Hernandez Garavito, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Riverside

Sponsor:  Department of Anthropology

I discuss how lnka imperialism was experienced by a small Andean community in the Peruvian Highlands. I argue that lnka imperialism in Huarochiri built upon existing local practices and rituals, as well as the appropriation and redefinition of community organization.

Towards an Artificial Intuition: Conversational Markers of (Anti)Social Dynamics

Lecture | September 23 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 202 South Hall

Speaker:  Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil

Sponsor:  Information, School of

Can conversational dynamics â the nature of the back and forth between people â predict outcomes of social interactions? This talk will describe efforts on developing an artificial intuition about ongoing conversations, by modeling the subtle pragmatic and rhetorical choices of the participants.

The resulting framework distills emerging conversational patterns that can point to the...   More >

Designing a Future with ML + UX

Lecture | September 23 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 210 South Hall

Speaker:  Michelle R. Carney

Sponsor:  Information, School of

As AI and ML shape technology, how do we ensure that products are designed by and for people?

Mongolia's Monastery Massacres: "The Green-Eyed Lama"

Lecture | September 23 | 5 p.m. | 180 Doe Library

Speakers:  Oyungerel Tsedevdamba; Jeffrey L. Falt

Moderator:  Brian Baumann, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS), UC Berkeley Mongolia Initiative, Center for Buddhist Studies

"The Green-Eyed Lama" (2008) is an award-winning and best-selling novel written by Oyungerel Tsedevdambaand Jeff Falt. Originally published in Mongolian, the book chronicles the romance between Sendmaa, a young belle in the countryside, and Baasan, a monk in the lamasery, as they try to cope with the turmoil of political purges, terrible massacres and mass executions of thousands of innocent lamas...   More >

The Copper in My Cooch and Other Technologies

Lecture | September 23 | 6:30-8 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Marisa Morán Jahn

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Presented by the Berkeley Center for New Media

Marisa Morán Jahn, Artist, Cambridge, MA and New York, NY

In her talk, artist Marisa Morán Jahn weaves together her interest in creative technology as myth-making and her practice of codesigning with and for historically underserved communities (specifically low-wage workers, immigrants, youth, and women). She draws from her background as an...   More >

Rebecca Whittington | Tug-of-Ear: The Play of Dialect in Modern Bengali and Tamil Literature

Lecture | September 24 | 5-7 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room)

Speaker:  Rebecca Whittington

Moderator:  Lawrence Cohen, Professor in Anthropology and South and Southeast Asian Studies and the co-director of the Medical Anthropology Program

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies

A talk by Dr. Rebecca Whittington on an understudied aspect of modern South Asian literature: the representation of dialect and colloquial language.

Engineering a Refreshing Solution: Hydro Flask Co-Founder Travis Rosbach at the Berkeley Forum

Lecture | September 24 | 6-7 p.m. |  N270 Chou Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Travis Rosbach

Sponsor:  The Berkeley Forum

Today, the Hydro Flask is one of the most used water bottles around the world, with its application of vacuum technology to an everyday, durable, and visually appealing product. During his talk, Travis will walk through his experience with the company and provide his insights for young entrepreneurs.

Speaker Bio

Hydro Flask, a maker of double-wall vacuum insulated stainless steel water...   More >

Tickets recommended:$0

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

Floods, droughts, and salmon-supporting vs cyanobacterial food webs in California North Coast rivers

Lecture | September 25 | 12-1 p.m. | 101 2251 College (Archaeological Research Facility)

Speaker:  Mary Power, Professor, Integrative Biology

Sponsor:  Archaeological Research Facility

About the Speaker:
Mary Power's research interests center on river food webs. She has studied interactions among fish, birds, invertebrates, and algae in temperate and tropical rivers, and has a particular interest in how attributes of species affect food web structure and dynamics, and how strengths of these interactions change under different environmental regimes. Her team has studied, for...   More >

The Kiutu incantation-prayers: Or a literary genre inspired by a single composition

Lecture | September 25 | 12-1 p.m. | 254 Barrows Hall

Featured Speaker:  Beatrice Baragli, Visiting Scholar, Near Eastern Studies

Sponsor:  Near Eastern Studies

The Sumerian Kiutu incantation-prayers addressed to the sun god Utu constitute a small genre of roughly 20 texts, but which includes compositions that are very different from each other. Since these texts were categorized as such according to ancient criteria, the modern reader would face the following question: Why were so different texts labeled in the same way? This talk will analyze the...   More >

Townsend Book Chat with Michael Lucey: Someone: The Pragmatics of Misfit Sexualities, from Colette to Hervé Guibert

Lecture | September 25 | 12-1 p.m. | Stephens Hall, Geballe Room, 220 Stephens

Sponsor:  Townsend Center for the Humanities

Imagine trying to tell someone something about yourself and your desires for which there are no words. Lucey examines characters from 20th-century French literary texts whose sexual forms prove difficult to conceptualize or represent.

Heather Boushey | Unbound: How Inequality Constricts Our Economy and What We Can Do about It: IRLE Speaker Series

Lecture | September 25 | 4-6 p.m. |  2521 Channing Way (Inst. for Res. on Labor & Employment)

Speaker/Performer:  Heather Boushey, Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Sponsor:  Institute of Research on Labor & Employment

Do we have to choose between equality and prosperity? Heather Boushey insists that rising inequality actually undermines growth. She will discuss how we can preserve the best of our nation’s economic and political traditions by pursuing policies that reduce inequality—and by doing so, boost broadly shared economic growth.

Rivera and the Detroit Murals: A Personal Journey

Lecture | September 25 | 4-5 p.m. |  2334 Bowditch (Center for Latin American Studies) | Canceled

Speaker:  Harley Shaiken, Director, UC Berkeley, Center for Latin American Studies

Sponsor:  Center for Latin American Studies

March 1932 was not a good time to come to Detroit. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo arrived in the city in the midst of a plummeting economy and social upheaval. The artists painted during grim economic times, yet Rivera’s dream of a popular international art has found an enthusiastic new audience, and Kahlo has become iconic throughout the world. In this talk, Harley Shaiken will explore the ways in...   More >

Fung Institute presents: Engineering Leadership Speaking Series

Lecture | September 4 – November 20, 2019 every Wednesday with exceptions | 4-5:30 p.m. | 310 Sutardja Dai Hall

Sponsor:  Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership

Join UC Berkeley Master of Engineering students for an executive speaker series with leaders from different technology industries. The technology industry forms a vital part of the Northern California economy and these sessions provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding and connections. Engage with innovative leaders from top companies, deepen your industry and functional knowledge and...   More >

Research Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics and Beyond: UC Berkeley Economics Departmental Seminar

Lecture | September 25 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. |  Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center

Speaker/Performer:  Ted Miguel, UC Berkeley Economics

Sponsor:  Berkeley Institute for Data Science

Full details about this lecture are posted here: https://bids.berkeley.edu/events/research-transparency-reproducibility-economics-and-beyond

Evolving Economies of Cannabis

Lecture | September 25 | 6-7:30 p.m. |  Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Speakers/Performers:  Dr. Beau Kilmer, RAND Corporation; Dr. Ann A. Laudati, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Botanical Garden

Two leading experts will speak about the economic and social implications of a growing global cannabis industry.

Tickets required

Ticket info:   Buy tickets online

The Distinguished Lecture in Astronomy: From Spinning Black Holes to Exploding Stars: New Views on the Energetic Universe

Lecture | September 25 | 6:30-7:45 p.m. | 105 Stanley Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Fiona A. Harrison, Benjamin M. Rosen Professor of Physics, Caltech

Sponsor:  Department of Astronomy

Using space-based telescopes that image the cosmos in high energy radiation, Professor Harrison is exploring the densest, hottest, and most energetic regions in the Universe. These observatories are helping us to understand how black holes grow, how the elements that make up life are forged in extreme environments, and how matter behave in conditions beyond any we can create on Earth.

Melodie Yashar: Human Factors within Autonomous Buildings: Design for Earth, the Moon, and Mars

Lecture | September 26 | 12-1:30 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speaker/Performer:  Christine Gaspar

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Melodie Yashar, design architect, researcher, cofounder of SEArch+

Melodie Yashar shares insights from her work as a design architect, researcher, and cofounder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), a group building upon a ten-year portfolio of academic space research and practice developing human-supporting concepts for space exploration. In 2015 SEArch+ was awarded the top prize in...   More >

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement

Lecture | September 26 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. | 132 Mulford Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Monica White, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sponsor:  College of Natural Resources

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement revises the historical narrative of African American resistance and breaks new ground by including the work, roles, and contributions of southern Black farmers and the organizations they formed. The book traces the origins of Black farmers’ organizations to the late 1800s, emphasizing their activities during the...   More >

The Patrick Finelli Keynote Speaker Series presents Joseph Roach | The Temptations of Goodness: Brecht’s Enlightenment

Lecture | September 26 | 4-5:30 p.m. | Wheeler Hall, Maude Fife Room, Room 315

Speaker:  Joseph Roach, Professor Emeritus of Theater and English, Yale University

Sponsors:  Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, Department of English, The Patrick Finelli Keynote Speaker Series Fund

The Patrick Finelli Keynote Speaker Series presents "The Temptations of Goodness: Brecht’s Enlightenment," a talk by Joseph Roach.

RSVP not required

Childhood Immunizations: Balancing Public Health and Civil Liberties

Lecture | September 26 | 5-7 p.m. | Berkeley Way West, First Floor Colloquia

Sponsor:  Public Health, School of

Vaccine-preventable diseases are at the forefront of public health debates in 2019. The U.S. Centers for Prevention and Disease Control recently reported that the current measles outbreak – the worst in the United States in 25 years – has spread to 1,022 cases in 28 states since September 2018. More than 50 patients have been in California, but most have been in New York State. Recent laws and...   More >

Glaucon’s Dilemma: Origins of Social Order

Lecture | September 26 | 5:30 p.m. | 370 Dwinelle Hall

Speaker/Performer:  Josiah Ober, Mitsotakis Professor of Classics and Political Science, Stanford University

Sponsor:  Department of Classics

The Sather Classical Lectures, part 2.

View from the Top: Chandrika Tandon: Breaking Boundaries

Lecture | September 27 | 12-1 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao Auditorium, 3rd floor

Speaker/Performer:  Chandrika Tandon

Sponsors:  Society of Women Engineers, UC Berkeley College of Engiennering

Business leader, Grammy-nominated artist, and humanitarian Chandrika Tandon will discuss the importance of defying conventions in "Breaking Boundaries," a conversation with College of Engineering Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu.

Chandrika was the first Indian-American woman elected to Partner at McKinsey and Company and the Founder of Tandon Capital. She is a recognized leader in the worlds of business,...   More >

Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman Worlds

Lecture | September 27 | 12-1:30 p.m. | 270 Stephens Hall

Speaker:  Houri Berberian, Professor of History; Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies; Director of the Armenian Studies Program, UC Irvine

Sponsors:  Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Armenian Studies Program

Three of the formative revolutions that shook the early twentieth-century world occurred almost simultaneously in regions bordering each other. Though the Russian, Iranian, and Young Turk Revolutions all exploded between 1904 and 1911, they have never been studied through their linkages until now. Roving Revolutionaries probes the interconnected aspects of these three revolutions through the...   More >

Epistemology of the Crosshatch: Towards a Creative History of the Early Modern Hand: Seth Lerer

Lecture | September 27 | 12 p.m. | Stephens Hall, Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall

Sponsor:  Townsend Center for the Humanities

Seth Lerer, Distinguished Professor of Literature at UC San Diego, examines how cross-hatching — the controlled marking of parallel lines — became the great technique through which visual artists of the early modern era discovered the representation of physical and emotional reality.

Jupyter Berkeley Seminar: Using Jupyter at scale within an enterprise: 10,000 users, 10,000 notebooks

Lecture | September 27 | 1-2 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Sponsor:  Berkeley Institute for Data Science

Full details available here:
https://bids.berkeley.edu/events/using-jupyter-scale-within-enterprise-10000-users-10000-notebooks

Ruchira Gupta | The Last Girl and Sex Trafficking: New Vulnerabilities in the New World Order

Lecture | September 30 | 12-1:30 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room)

Speaker:  Ruchira Gupta, Founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organization, Apne Aap

Moderator:  Angana Chatterji, Research Anthropologist and Co-chair, Initiative on Political Conflict, Gender and People's Rights, Center for Race and Gender, UC Berkeley

Sponsors:  Institute for South Asia Studies, Center for Initiative on Political Conflict, Gender and People's Rights Race and Gender

Talk by founder of Indian anti-sex trafficking organization, Apne Aap, Ruchira Gupta on bottom-up approaches to end sex-trafficking and the intersecting inequalities that create its vulnerabilities. it will also delve into the aestheticization of exploitation in a world where the market can justify anything.

What is Strange?

Lecture | September 30 | 6:30-8 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Speakers/Performers:  Rabih Alameddine; Lawrence Rinder

Sponsor:  Arts + Design

Presented by BAMPFA

Rabih Alameddine, Author
Lawrence Rinder, Director, BAMPFA

Beirut and Bay Area–based, internationally acclaimed author Rabih Alameddine joins BAMPFA Director and Chief Curator Lawrence Rinder for a conversation on concepts of “strangeness” in relation to the museum’s exhibition Strange, which Rinder organized. Featuring works from many cultures and time periods that...   More >