Schedule
Location
2013-2014
Community Lecture Series
Free to All
All lectures are held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the
Portage County Library in the Pinery Room
September 10, 2013 6:30 p.m.
I Foresee All Sorts of Unforeseen Problems: Climates and
Constitutions
Brad Mapes-Martins (Political Science)
October 8, 2013 6:30 p.m.
Plant Envy: Attempting to Understand and Replicate the
Chemistry of Photosynthesis
Nate Bowling (Chemistry)
November 12, 2013 6:30 p.m.
Starbucks, iPads and French Literature
All lectures take place at:
Portage County Library
Pinery Room
1001 Main Street
Stevens Point, WI 54481
715-346-1548
Vera Klekovkina (Foreign Languages)
December 10, 2013 6:30 p.m.
From Saint Nick to Santa Claus: A Christmas History
Shanny Luft (Philosophy)
February 11, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Ultra-Sensitive Magnetic Microscopy of Individual
Nanomagnets
Palash Banerjee (Physics and Astronomy)
March 11, 2014 6:30 p.m.
When is Guilt Actually Good for the Environment?
For more information on the
Community Lecture Series
or to view past lectures, please visit:
www.uwsp.edu/cols/lectureseries
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is an Equal Opportunity/
Affirmative Action Institution
Mark Ferguson (Psychology)
April 8, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Importance of Indigenous Languages: Ojibwa and
Runasimi (Quechua)
Elia Armacanqui-Tipacti (Foreign Languages) and
Sonny Smart (Sociology and Social Work)
May 6, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Finding the Middle Way: The Hmong People of Portage Co.
Tori Jennings (Philosophy) and
Maysee Herr (Education)
Sponsored by the
College of Letters and Science
The College-at-the-Core
College of Letters
and Science
Community
Lecture Series
2013-2014
College of Letters and Science
W
The College-at-the-Core
elcome to the Community Lecture Series,
which the College of Letters and Science at
the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is proud to
sponsor.
When the college inaugurated the series in 2008,
we did so with the express goal of sharing select
examples of our faculty members’ teaching and
research with the
community we are
so fortunate to be a
part of.
The College of
Letters and Science
is proud of all its
faculty and staff
members who serve
the university and
community. The
faculty presenting
this year are a
small sample of
the wide array of
expertise and talent
embodied in our
college.
We cordially invite you to attend one or more of the
lectures this year. Through these lectures, the college
demonstrates its firm commitment to promoting
dialogue and learning in our community.
2013-2014 Community Lecture Series
I Foresee All Sorts of Unforeseen Problems: Climates and
Constitutions
September 10, 2013 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
February 11, 2014 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Palash Banerjee (Physics and Astronomy)
Plant Envy: Attempting to Understand and Replicate the
Chemistry of Photosynthesis
When is Guilt Actually Good for the Environment?
Forecasts about climate change lead to
sometimes frightening, sometimes exciting, but
always different visions of politics in the future. He
will discuss the implications of how scientists,
politicians and citizens imagine the future of
politics in the face of climate change.
October 8, 2013 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Nate Bowling (Chemistry)
Chemists continually struggle with the challenge of
creating synthetic systems that can harness the
energy of sunlight for generating useful fuel and
materials. Understanding the fundamental
processes of natural photosynthesis is a first step in
this pursuit.
Starbucks, iPads and French Literature
November 12, 2013 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Vera Klekovkina (Foreign Languages)
The presentation discusses various ways of modern
readership: from physical ingestion to hypertext via
comic strips and film adaptations as it considers
Marcel Proust’s novel, In Search of Lost Time, which
gained more readers thanks to Starbucks and the
Internet.
From Saint Nick to Santa Claus: A Christmas History
December 10, 2013 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
www.uwsp.edu/cols/lectureseries
Ultra-Sensitive Magnetic Microscopy of individual
Nanomagnets
Brad Mapes-Martins (Political Science)
Sincerely,
Christopher P. Cirmo, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
All lectures held at the
Portage County Library in the
Pinery Room from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Shanny Luft (Philosophy)
North pole. Red suit. Flying reindeer. How did
Santa become Santa? And what does he have to
do with the Catholic Saint Nicholas? This lecture—
for grown-ups—traces the history of the Christmas
icon.
Nanomagnets possess internal textures called a
vortex or a bubble which can be twisted and
deformed in surprising ways. He will show why
these are important and describe a force detector
his students are building to measure some of their
exotic properties.
March 11, 2014 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Mark Ferguson (Psychology)
A common method for motivating people to
improve the natural environment is to evoke guilt
for their unsustainable behavior. However, when
does this actually promote sustainable behavior?
He will explore research on green guilt and its
connection to environmental sustainability.
Importance of Indigenous Languages: Ojibwa and
Runasimi (Quechua)
April 8, 2014 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Elia Armacanqui-Tipacti (Foreign Languages) and
Sonny Smart (Sociology and Social Work)
The presentation will highlight the
many contributions and
importance of preserving cultures
and languages in Wisconsin and
Peru. While they are different
languages, they are also similar in
some respects.
Finding the Middle Way: The Hmong People of Portage Co.
May 6, 2014 6:30 p.m. at the Portage County Library
Tori Jennings (Philosophy) and Maysee Herr (Education)
This presentation chronicles a
two-year collaborative research
and documentary project that
explores the history, value,
and complexity of our Hmong
community over the past thirty
years.