April 24, 2003

Notable lectures

Jonathan Alter, Newsweek senior editor and award-winning journalist, will deliver a free public lecture titled “Between the Lines: The Search for Truth in an Age of Anxiety” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.

Alter, this year’s Josephine B. and Newton N. Minow Visiting Professor in Communications, will deliver his remarks at in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum. Because seating is limited, advance reservations are required.

Alter is author of Newsweek’s widely acclaimed “Between the Lines” column that examines politics, media and society at large. He also is the originator and author of the magazine’s weekly “Conven-tional Wisdom Watch,” which uses arrows to measure and lampoon the news.

Co-author of “Selecting a President” (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux), Alter has covered the past five presidential campaigns and frequently interviews American presidents and other world leaders. As part of a cover story in 2002, he conducted an exclusive interview with President Clinton, the first interview that Clinton granted after leaving office.

The Minow Lecture is sponsored this year by the Medill School of Journalism. The Minows established the professorship and lecture in 1981 to bring distinguished members of the communications field to campus to exchange ideas with students and faculty.

For reservations, call (847) 467-5895 or e-mail s-may@northwestern.edu.

Aravinda Chakravarti, professor and director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will deliver the Richard A. Scott, M.D. Lecture at 4 p.m. April 29 in Turnbull Auditorium.

The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Genetic Medicine and is funded by a bequest from Dr. Scott, who received his medical degree from the Feinberg School of Medicine in 1968. A reception will follow in Method Atrium.

Chakravarti, a leading expert on the genetics of complex disorders, will speak on “Human Genomic Variation in Complex Disease.” His research is aimed at genomic-scale analysis of the human genome and understanding the molecular genetic basis of common genetic disorders using contemporary genomic tools.

He is an expert on computational biology and a geneticist known for his studies of predisposing genetic factors in such common and complex human diseases as diabetes, heart disease and mental illness.

Chakravarti is one of the editors-in-chief of Genome Research and serves on the advisory and editorial Boards of numerous national and international journals and societies.

Richard J. Light, author of “Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds,” will discuss the impact faculty have on their students’ educational achievement at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30.

Titled “Critical Decisions that Faculty Can Make to Help Students Get the Most From an Undergraduate Education,” Light’s lecture will take place in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum. Because space is limited, reservations are encouraged. A reception at 5 p.m. will precede his talk.

Light, the author of seven books, is the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Graduate School of Education. He directs the Seminar on Asses-sment, a consortium supported by three Harvard University presidents that brings together faculty and senior administrators from 12 institutions of higher education to carry out research on college effectiveness.

As director of an American Academy of Arts and Sciences-based project on the educational impact of changing student demographics in higher education, he also gathers evidence about what campus leaders can do to maximize the benefits to students and others that a multicultural campus offers.

Light’s presentation on faculty critical decision-making is part of the President’s Teaching Series and is sponsored by the Office of the President and the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence.

For information or reservations, call (847) 467-2338.