Boston College Front Row

Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT, is the featured panelist in this event, moderated by Richard Kearney, professor of philosophy, with responses by Ali Banuazizi, professor of political science, and Stephen Pfohl, professor of sociology.

Author Ha Jin, professor of English at Boston University, reads from his most recently published novel, <i>A Free Life</i> (Pantheon, 2007). Jin's first full-length novel, <i>Waiting</i> (Random House, 1999), received the 1999 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Jay D. Keasling, the Hubbard Howe Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biochemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses the causes and consequences of malaria and how scientists have successfully engineered the metabolism of a micro-organism to produce an anti-malarial drug. The talk is is the first of three lectures by Keasling in Boston College's 2009 University Lectures in Chemistry series.

Peter T. Ewell, vice president of the private, nonprofit National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), takes stock of the many recent financial, political, and technological changes that have occurred in American higher education, focusing on the debates surrounding outcomes assessment. He also provides some cautious forecasts of what the next 10 years may bring.

Nicholas Burns '78, professor in the practice of diplomacy and international politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, briefly reflects on his time as a student at Boston College before delivering a lecture on genocide, its causes, results, and the world's obligation to prevent it in the future. Burns served in the U.S. Foreign Service for 27 years until his retirement in April 2008. He was under secretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008, the nation's highest-ranking career diplomat. In this position, he oversaw U.S. diplomatic efforts around the world, including in Iran, India, and Kosovo.

Jesse Treviño, former chief editorial writer for The Austin American-Statesman, discusses the role future generations of Hispanics will play in America's development.

Francis Collins, former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and author of <i>The Language of God</i> (Free Press, 2006), led the successful effort to complete the Human Genome Project, a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise that identified the genes in human DNA and determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs of which it is composed. The Clough Colloquium Series recognizes individuals who have made important contributions as ethical leaders in their fields, and organizes symposia, conferences and public events in which they share what they have learned on their journey to becoming leaders.

“One Nation Under God? The Role of Religion in American Life” was the theme of a daylong symposium on November 22, 2008, sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and hosted by Boston College. The third session was titled “Religion, Morality, and the Law,” with panelists Stephen Carter of Yale Law School; Daniel C. Dennett of Tufts University; Jean Bethke Elshtain of the University of Chicago; Susannah Heschel of Dartmouth College; and Michael J. Sandel, moderator, of Harvard University. The session is introduced by Ben Birnbaum, special assistant to the president of Boston College and editor of Boston College Magazine.

“One Nation Under God? The Role of Religion in American Life” was the theme of a daylong symposium on November 22, 2008, sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and hosted by Boston College. The second session was titled “Religion and Electoral Politics,” with panelists Bishop Harry Jackson Jr. of the Hope Christian Church, Washington, D.C.; Amy Sullivan, national correspondent of Time magazine; Steven Waldman of Beliefnet.com; and Hanna Rosin, moderator, author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007). The panel is introduced by Cullen Murphy, editor-at-large of Vanity Fair and author of Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007).

“One Nation Under God? The Role of Religion in American Life” was the theme of a daylong symposium on November 22, 2008, sponsored by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and hosted by Boston College. The first session was titled “How Religion Shapes American Culture,” with panelists Mark Lilla of Columbia University; Jon Meachum, editor of Newsweek; Peter J. Paris of the Princeton Theological Seminary; Margaret O'Brien Steinfels of Fordham University; and Alan Wolfe, moderator, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. Prior to the panel discussion, three speakers offer a welcome to the symposium: Boston College President William P. Leahy, S.J.; John Burgess, chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities Board of Directors; and David Tebaldi, the foundation's executive director.

Patricia Doherty, director of the University's Institute for Scientific Research, discusses the impact of solar events and solar wind on terrestrial weather.

Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead, 2007) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. Before reading selections from two short stories, he offers informal remarks on his days as a student and the U.S. presidential debates.

“Serving the Children of Boston Through Partnership” was the theme of the ninth annual Lynch School of Education Symposium Series at which Boston Superintendent of Schools Carol Johnson was keynote speaker. She was introduced by Lynch School Dean Joseph O'Keefe, S.J. Followng her talk, responses were offered by Lynch School Professors Maria Estela Brisk and Mary Walsh and by Catherine Wong, director of Urban Outreach Initiatives at the Lynch School.

What Happened at Vatican II (Belknap, 2008) by John O'Malley, S.J., is the topic of a discussion presented by the Jesuit Institute. The speakers are Mark Burrows of the Andover Newton Theological School, Massimo Faggioli, a visiting fellow at the Jesuit Institute, Stephen Schloesser of the history department, and moderator Franco Mormando, an associate professor of Italian.

Panelists present three perspectives on the World Trade Organization's apparent failure to achieve agreement at last summer's “Doha Round.” They focus on the implications for the poor in developing countries. The speakers are James Anderson, who holds the economics department's William B. Neenan, SJ, Millenium Chair; David Deese, associate professor of political science; and Frank Garcia, professor at the Law School.

Professor Rachel Jacoff of Wellesley College reads, in Italian, from “Purgatorio XXX,” which she considers the “structural and emotional center” of Dante's work. She provides commentary and leads a discussion in English. This program is part of an ongoing public reading of the Divine Comedy organized by the Boston College Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Center for Italian Culture in Newton, Massachusetts.

Alexander Gates is a professor and chair of the Department of Geology at Rutgers University. He discusses his fieldwork investigating recently-developed faults and other signs of post-glacial activity in the upper Hudson highlands of New York.

Nydia Gonzalez, chief diversity officer at Yale University, presents a lecture on diversity in the university setting at a meeting of the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, which took place at Boston College.

Berliner is a vocal critic of the increased role of standardized testing in American schools. His most recent book, Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2007).

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Geraldine Brooks says she developed a "lust for books" as a child growing up in Australia. In this Lowell Humanities Series lecture, she discusses her latest novel, People of the Book (Viking, 2008).