April 14, 2005

Upcoming Talks

Asian American, African American Studies ties explored

Poet Amiri Baraka, journalist and scholar Helen Zia, and novelist and poet Ishmael Reed will be the keynote speakers at a conference April 15, 16 and 17 exploring the role of Asian American Studies at Northwestern and its connection to African American Studies.

Free and open to the public, “Asian American Studies at Northwestern: Activism, Ethnic Studies, Diaspora and Beyond” will take place in Rooms 107 and 108 of Harris Hall, 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston.

Baraka, formerly known as LeRoi Jones and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and numerous other awards, will deliver the April 15 keynote address on “Education, Imperialism and National Oppression” at 7:15 p.m.

For complete information visit http://asianamerican.northwestern.edu/conference or call (847) 467-7114.

Prison journalist shares his life journey

Wilbert Rideau — who Life magazine dubbed “the most rehabilitated inmate in America” and who three times was convicted of murder by all-white juries before gaining freedom early this year — will deliver a Crain Lecture Monday, April 18.

An acclaimed prison journalist who served 44 years in the penitentiary, Rideau will speak at 4 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, on the Evanston campus. His free lecture will focus on the state of prisons and the prison press. It is open to the public.

Titled “From Pretrial to Prison: The View of America’s Most Famous Inmate Journalist,” it is part of a series of presentations on current events sponsored by the Medill School of Journalism.

Rideau, who essentially learned to read and write while in prison, was sentenced to death at age 19. Tutored in writing by a New York publishing house editor, Rideau eventually penned a book-length analysis of criminality that he expected would be found after his execution.

Cal Tech prof to give Heilborn Lecture

Barry Barish, Linde Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, will be this year’s Walter and Christine Heilborn Distinguished Lecturer.

Barish, director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and director of the Global Design Effort for the International Linear Collider, will speak on the topic “Physics in the 21st Century: New Probes for New Physics.”

He will make three 4 p.m. presentations in room L211 of the Technological Institute:

April 18—Colloquium: “Probing Einstein’s Universe”

(General reception to follow.)

April 19— Lecture: “The Next Great Particle Accelerator—The Linear Collider”

April 21—Lecture: “Detecting Gravitational Waves with LIGO”

During his one-week stay at Northwestern, Barish, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Board, will be available to students, postdocs, faculty and interested visitors for informal discussions.

The event is made possible by an endowment by George Heilborn.

For additional information call (847) 491-3685.

Nobel Laureate at proteomics symposium

Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover will deliver the keynote address at a free public symposium, “Proteomics and Informatics,” Friday, April 22, sponsored by the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, an initiative among Chicago-area universities that fosters collaborative research and new partnerships in the biomedical sciences.

The symposium will be held from 12:45 to 4:30 p.m. in the McCormick Auditorium at Northwestern University’s Norris Center, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston campus.

The consortium, which is led by scientists at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratories and the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently acquired a Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometer (FTMS), the world’s most powerful tool for studying the structures of proteins and other biomolecules. The special symposium will focus on how researchers can take advantage of the new technology and related analytic techniques when addressing the basic questions of proteomics (the study of proteins and their functions).

Ciechanover, who, together with two others, received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of a key way cells destroy unwanted proteins, will speak from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. on “Proteomics and the Future of Medicine.”

A 4:30 p.m. reception will conclude the day’s events.

Although the symposium is free, registration is required and can be completed at www.chicagobiomedicalconsortium.org. For more information, call (847) 467-2126.

Symposium to look at scholarship on black diaspora in Latin America

An exploration of the new directions in scholarship about the African diaspora to Latin America is the subject of a symposium Friday, April 22, and Saturday, April 23.

Sponsored by the newly formed Center for African American History at Northwestern, “The African Diaspora to Latin America: New Directions in Scholarship” will explore new scholarship about blacks in Latin America and how it promises to change the way we think about colonial and postcolonial Latin America, the African diaspora and African American history.

The symposium, which will take place in Room 108 of Harris Hall, 1881 Sheridan Road, is free and open to the public. It opens at 5 p.m. Friday, April 22 with an address on “Slave Identity in Brazil: Trends in Scholarship Since 1988” by Mary Karasch, professor of history at Oakland University.

For information about the lecture or new Center for African American History, call (847) 467-3466.

Doctors Without Borders cofounder at human rights conference

The co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and the Assistant U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator will be featured speakers at the Conference on Human Rights April 28 to 30. The conference on the University’s Evanston campus will focus on U.S. policy toward the AIDS pandemic in the developing world.

Free and open to the public, the event brings together distinguished academics, activists, and policy makers from around the globe to look into U.S. policy and the AIDS crisis.

For complete information or a complete schedule of events, go to www.nuchr.org/ or call (847) 491-3525.