Plenary Schedule
From College8CoreWiki
The Plenary is a weekly meeting (Tuesday afternoon)) in which all the sections of the Core course come together to hear presentations and discuss issues. This year's course will be structured by John Steinbeck's great novel The Grapes of Wrath about refugees from the Dust Bowl migrating to California. This will allow us to explore current issues, such as globalization of the economy, global warming, environmental justice, and water. We ask that you read this book over the summer and be prepared to write about it over the first weekend in the fall.
2009 Schedule
9/23: Introduction
Ravi Rajan, Provost, College Eight
9/29: Why Grapes of Wrath Matters Today
Susan Shillinglaw, English, San Jose State
and National Steinbeck Center Journey into Steinbeck's California
10/6: The Environment and Human Rights
Ravi Rajan(Biography) will be speaking about the environment and Human Rights, including Environmental Justice.
10/13: Environmental Justice: the Case of the Silicon Valley
Sheila Davis, Executive Director, Valley Toxics Coalition
10/20: Conservation Science and Planetary Survival
Ingrid Parker, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCSC
Patrick Chuang, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, UCSC
10/27: The Politics of Food
Patricia Allen, Director
Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems link, UCSC
11/3: Global Warming: Up Close and Personal
Susanne Moser, Research Associate, UCSC
11/10: The Future of Water
Brent Haddad, Professor of Environmental Studies, UCSC
11/17: Risk and Disasters
Ravi Rajan
11/24: Engineering for a Greener World
Ken Pedrotti, Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCSC
John Vesecky, Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCSC
12/1: Concluding Remarks
Ravi Rajan
Fall 2008
10/8:
Jim Houston Author
Prologue to Continental Drift
Donner Party book
10/15 Plenary: Melanie DuPuis & Steve Gliessman
Melanie DuPuis is the author of the book Nature's Perfect Food: How Milk Became America's Drink (McHenry GT2920.M55 D86 2002) and numerous scholarly articles on food and food-related topics. She is currently co-editor of an issue of the current special "politics of food" issue of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture Her essay from that issue.
Steve Gliessman works to improve organic agriculture and Fair Trade. City on a Hill article on his work with coffee. Also excerpts from his book
10/22: The Power of Images Dennis High, Curator and Private Art Consultant Center of Photographic Art
10/29: Public Works and Public Good Martin Lewis, History, Stanford link to iTunes lecture on geo-politics
11/5: Environmental Refugees. (See also Grapes of Wrath issues.) Angus Wright, Author and Social Activist Author of Death of Ramon Gonzales on pesticide use
11/12: Counterculture to Cyberculture Fred Turner, Communications, Stanford
11/19: Environmental Activism: A Retrospective Frank Bardacke, School Teacher and Human Rights William Friedland, Sociology and Community Studies, Celia Scott, Environmental Attorney
