C L I R
Fall Semester 2018
(Schedule subject to change)
Note: If you are new to CLIR and would like to sample a free single class, please contact me at 860-409-9052 or marilyn.diaz@uconn.edu)
Acetaminophen-Induced Liver Toxicity
Tuesday, Sept 4
1:15 – 2:45PM
Amy Bataille, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences, ECSU
Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in many medications such as Tylenol, is a powerful pain reliever but is the number one cause of liver failure in the U.S. and worldwide. Find out how it causes liver and how to prevent it.
Deeply Rooted in the Present
Tuesday, Sept 6
1:15 – 2:45PM
Mary Kenny, Professor of Anthropology, ECSU
An ethnographic study of the Brazilian Quilombola community demonstrates that heritage and identity do not simply exist but are continually being made and remade according to the cultural and political needs of the present.
Development and Aging of a Brain Stem Cell Niche
Tuesday, Sept 11
1:15 – 2:45PM
Joanne Conover, UConn Associate Professor Physiology and Neurobiology
How the brain develops from stem cell populations, and the consequences of changing stem cell functions in the infant, adult and aging brain.
Applications of Graph Coloring
Tuesday, Sept 18
1:15 – 2:45PM
Megan Heenehan, Assistant Dept Chair and Assistant Profesor Dept of Mathematical Sciences, ECSU
How many colors do you need to color a map? How many final slots does a school need so students don’t have to be in two places at once? How many guards does a museum need in an art gallery? We will explore the solutions to these questions using graphs and graph coloring techniques.
Eastern Painted Turtles: A Local Study
Tuesday, Sept 25
1:15 – 2:45PM
Bill Powers, Master Naturalist, Goodwin Conservation Center
Learn about the behavior of our most abundant turtle: where they live, what they eat, what eats them, how they adapt for the winter, the best times, places and conditions to view them, their movements throughout the year and their special relationship with red-winged blackbirds.
Being Mortal
Thursday, Oct 4
1:15 – 2:45PM
Carol Bozena, LCSW and AARP CT Volunteer
Join us for a screening and discussion of the PBS Frontline documentary, Being Mortal. Based on the best-selling book by Dr. Actual Gawande, this film exposes the hopes of patients and families facing terminal illness and their relationships with the doctors, nurses and family members who care for them.
GMO and Non-GMO Food Labels: Implications of the New Federal Law
Thursday, Oct 18
1:15 -2:45PM
John Bovay, Assistant Professor and Extension Economist, Dept of Agriculture and Resource Economics, UConn
In July 2016 Congress passed Senate Bill 764 as a compromise between a much stricter GMO labeling law versus none at all. Dr. Bovay discusses what you need to know about GMO and non-GMO labels and the new law’s potential economic consequences.
Strategies for Preparing First-Generation Students for College Level Work
Tuesday, Oct 23
1:15 – 2:45PM
Maria D. Martinez, Ph.D, Assistant Vice Provost, Institute for Student Success, and Director of Center for Academic Programs, UConn
A discussion of the challenges as well as opportunities in working with this population of students.
What’s Going on Inside the Atomic Nucleus? The Strong Forces Inside Subatomic Particles
Thursday, Oct 25
1:15 – 2:45PM
Peter Schweitzer, Professor Dept of Physics, UConn
The atomic nucleus, five orders of magnitude smaller than an atom (!), has the densest form of matter known, held together by the strongest interactions ever discovered in nature. This presentation reports some of the latest research results.
CLAS
Adaptation or Extinction: Climate Change and the Animal Kingdom
Friday, Oct 26
9:00AM – 2:00PM – Alumni Center (The Great Hall) 2384 Alumni Drive Storrs, CT 06269
Seating is limited. Register at: http://uconnalumni.com/collegeexperience, or call 860-486-8423
Disrupt Aging in Your Community
Wednesday, Oct 31
1:15 – 2:45PM
Sandy Waldo, AARP Volunteer
This AARP interactive workshop, for people of any age, helps you explore your own perspectives on aging and how ti impacts society, showing that how you think about your own aging can impact how you age.
Bird: The Tumultuous Life and Times of Charlie Parker
Thursday, Nov 1
1:15 – 2:45PM
Vin Rogers, Professor Emeritus of Education, UConn jazz trumpeter, horse lover and many other things
This musical biography explores both the music and the man. What Hemingway was to literature, Einstein to science and Van Gogh to painting, Charlie Parker is to jazz. Bird played with spontaneous freedom and total discipline, changing jazz forever.
Why You Do the Things You Do
Tuesday, Nov 6
1:15 – 2:45PM
Richard Pfau, Human Behavior Researcher, International Educator, and former UConn Extension Associate Professor
This talk will help you understand why you behave as you do, and why others do what they do too! Go beyond the outdated thinking that dominates psychology today and learn how you control your life as a result of how your body is organized, structured, and functions.
Witchcraft in Colonial Connecticut
Thursday, Nov 8
1:15 – 2:45PM
Dr. Faye Ringel, Professor Emeritus of English, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and author of New England’s Gothic Literature: History and Folklore of the Supernatural
Everyone has heard of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, yet three Connecticut counties also had full-scale witch-hunts. New London County, which did not hang witches, hides secrets of alchemy and natural magic. Dr. Ringel explains New England Puritan’s fear of witchcraft and how they acted on it.
First- and Second-Class Citizens: the Issue of Citizenship and Migration
Wednesday, Nov 14
1:15 – 2:45PM
Martin Mendoza-Botelho, Professor Political Science, Philosophy & Geography, ECSU
This contentious issue should be observed from the perspective of both the countries migrants leave and those they go to. In our changing and globalized world migration is not always between developing and developed countries. This talk presents recent data to foster educated debate, including the UN’s ongoing discussion of migration as a human right.
Liars, Criminals, and Lovers: the World of the Story
Thursday, Nov 15
1:15 – 2:45PM
Lisa C. Taylor, author of four collections of poetry and two of short fiction. She teaches creative writing in the US and Ireland
Some characters are paralyzed by obstacles and others seem to find an opening. Discover how fiction invites us to immerse ourselves in a world both familiar and strange.
How Animals Communicate
Wednesday, Nov 21
1:15 – 2:45PM
David B. Miller, Professor Emeritus of Psychological Sciences, UConn
An exploration of a variety of communication systems, some unique to nonhuman animals, with plenty of examples of how signals are vital to survival. This presentation will hopefully foster a better understanding and appreciation of the world of communication all around us.
Connecticut at Gettysburg
Tuesday, Nov 27
1:15 – 2:45PM
Tom Sullivan, lifelong Civil War buff, is a volunteer at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park and a member of the 17th Connecticut Monument Association
A discussion of Connecticut soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg July 1 – 3, 1863, examining each Connecticut Regiment and its contributions to the outcome of the battle.
French Cinema: Still Relevant Today?
Wednesday, Nov 28
1:15 – 2:45PM
Roger Celestin, Professor of French and Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, UConn
The cultural aspects of film.
The Gifts of LGBTQ Identities
Wednesday, Dec 5
1:15 – 2:45PM
Kimberly Dugan, Professor of Sociology, Dept of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, and Social Work, ECSU; and Rebecca Harvey, Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, Southern CT State University
Most scholarship on LGBTQ identities explores their experience of prejudice and discrimination. Dr. Dugan and Dr. Harvey draw from data collected via qualitative interviews to explore how LGBTQ people talk about the benefits or “gifts” of their sexual and/or gender minority identities.
Photos below are from “Mind over Matter” class on April 18th by Aline Hoffman
