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Turner Senior Resource Center
Suite C, Room 1162
2401 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2193
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Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
2015-16 SERIES
Dave Coverly, 2012 Lecturer
Distinguished
LEC TU R e
DIVERSITY
S E RI E S
Join us for the
Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute at the
University of Michigan’s
2015 Kick Off Event
“Special Remarks by
President Mark Schlissel”
Thursday, September 10,
10 a.m. ­— Noon
Kensington Court Hotel
610 Hilton Blvd., Ann Arbor
(near Briarwood Mall)
It’s More Than
You Think
Meet old and new friends.
Learn about OLLI 2015-2016.
Enjoy refreshments!
Info: olli.info@umich.edu or
(734) 998-9351.
Distinguished
Lectures are held at
Rave Theater
4100 Carpenter
Road, near corner
of East Ellsworth
Road
Park in area C3, D3
or E3. Enter the
unmarked door on
the north side. Look
for yellow signs:
“OLLI lectures
here.”
Go to theater no. 17.
•Ample Parking • Comfortable Seating • Great Sound •
Private Entrance •
Wheelchair Accessible •
Listening Devices Available
MEMBERSHIP and REGISTRATION PAYMENTS
To receive notices and participate in activities of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, each person must pay an annual fee of $20.
All annual membership payments are due by August 31 each year.
[ ] Enclosed is $20 for each member for 2015-16 membership fee(s). Total number of members_____________
= $__________
[ ] No membership fees are enclosed because they already have been paid for 2015-16.
(This statement will be verified in our records before anyone will be registered for lectures, classes or other activities.)
Number of persons attending Distinguished Lecture Series ____. Enclose $45 for each person attending _______ = $_________
SPECIAL OFFER: SAVE $30! For your convenience, you may add all 30 Themed Thursday Lectures to
the Distinguished Lecture Series by increasing the amount of your payment from $45 to $165 for all lectures.
Alter the $45 amount above to $165 and write your check accordingly.
Name(s) of member(s): (1)____________________________________(2)_______________________________________________
Street address(es)____________________________________________________________________________________________
City/state/zip for each_________________________________________________________________________________________
Member #1 telephone: (_________) ___________________________ Member #1 e-mail:__________________________________
Member #2 telephone: (_________) ____________________________Member #2 e-mail:__________________________________
Each member’s e-mail address is needed for each person to have full access to our on-line registration system.
#
FOR CHECK-WRITING AND MAILING INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE THE BACK OF THIS FORM.
You may use this mail-in/drop-off form to pay annual memberhip fees and/or register for lecture series
by check. If you prefer to use our on-line services, making payment by credit card, please visit this site:
olli-umich.org. On-line registration will be available August 19 at 9:30 a.m. and thereafter. Mail-in/dropoff registrations can be made at any time but will not be opened until August 19 at 9:30 a.m.
For more information, e-mail: olli.info@umich.edu, or call: (734) 998-9351.
September 15, 2015
The University of Michigan Musical Society at 136 Years
Kenneth C. Fischer is President of the University of Michigan Musical Society (UMS).
Fischer graduated from the University of Michigan. As he looks back over the years,
Mr. Fischer highlights twelve key factors that have contributed to UMS success and
distinctiveness. He believes that the best years for UMS are yet to come. Each
season the University Musical Society presents up to 100 performances, sponsors an
extensive education program, commissions and presents new works and hosts artists’
Kenneth C. Fischer
residencies. Since Mr. Fischer joined UMS 28 years ago, he has expanded and
diversified its programming, its audiences and deepened its presence in Southeast
Michigan communities. Today he will also cover a few highlights of the upcoming 2015-2016 season.
October 13, 2015
My Search for Family Roots Through the Old Hapsburg Empire
Michael Simon, MD, is Professor of Oncology and co-leader of population studies and
disparities research program at Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State
University. Simon and his son Jeremy, an Oberlin College student, traveled to Europe
and Israel in 2014. Michael’s mother, Hildegard Lustig Simon was born in Vienna in
1928. Hildegard and her immediate family fled Vienna following the Anschluss in 1938.
Michael Simon
They went to Nagykanizsa, birthplace of her father. Hildegard’s mother died when
Hildegard was only 13. She was then deported to Auschwitz in May of 1944, then soon after was
sent to a slave labor camp in Germany. Hildegard was finally liberated from Allach, a sub-camp
of Dachau. Michael’s mother is the sole family Holocaust survivor. Planning “to walk in Hildegard’s
footsteps” in 2014, Michael and Jeremy traveled to Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Nagykanizsa, Israel
and many places between. Michael will use his mother’s Spielberg testimony, family letters, historical
documents and reflections to recount this story of his mother and his family.
November 10, 2015
DNA Mismatch, Repair, Replication and Recombination:
What Have We Learned
Lyle Simmons is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and
Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan. He received a PhD in
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University, and was a
postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Simmons’
research focuses on studies of mismatch repair, DNA replication, homologous
recombination and the interplay between these pathways. His research broadly
impacts how we understand the fundamental processes that generate mutation and
genomic rearrangements in biological systems. In this presentation, Simmons will
discuss the DNA mismatch repair pathway. This is a process that finds and corrects
errors in the DNA sequence.
Lyle Simmons
December 8, 2015
What We Think, What We Know, And What We Do Not
Know About False Criminal Convictions
Samuel R. Gross is the Mabel Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law
School. He is the editor of the National Registry of Exonerations. Gross has a JD from
the University of California Law School, Berkeley. His article about exonerations
appeared in the New York Times of February 4, 2014. Until the 1970’s, it was
commonly believed that false criminal convictions were rare. That belief has changed
due to the huge increases in known exonerations in the United States over the past 25
Samuel R. Gross
years. The National Registry of Exonerations now lists 1600+ such cases. More than 20
are added each month. It is clear that the vast majority of exonerations are still not known. Our
understanding of causes of false convictions reflects only the causes we know. We have gained much
new data on a wide range of such false convictions, but our ignorance still outstrips our knowledge.
January 12, 2016
Taxing Beards and Breasts, Wigs and Windows: Weird Taxes of the Past
and their Lessons for Tax Policy Today
Joel Slemrod is Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and
Public Policy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan,
and Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics. He serves as Director
of the Office of Tax Policy Research. Professor Slemrod received an A.B. degree from
Princeton and a PhD in economics from Harvard University. Sometimes the principles
of taxation are hard to see in those taxes with which we are very familiar. We can be
Joel Slemrod
distracted from such principles by political rhetoric that often accompanies such taxes.
Slemrod will focus on taxes from the past that may at first seem far-fetched or even ridiculous - such as
taxing windows or wigs. With some persistence one can make some rationale for these taxes, benign or
malevolent. He uses historical insights to inform today’s debates about tax policy.
February 9, 2016
Turkey: At the Crossroads of the World Once Again
Saeed Khan is a Lecturer of Near East and Asian Studies and a Fellow of the Center
for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He
teaches Islamic and Middle East History, Politics and Culture. His primary area of
research is the identity politics of Muslim diaspora communities in the U.S., U.K. and
Europe. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of
Detroit-Mercy and at Rochester College. Khan has been a panelist on CBC’s
“Turning Point” and is a frequent contributor to “Detroit Today” on Detroit
Public Radio. Turkey has long been the intersection of East and West, Asia and
Saeed Khan
Europe. Today, it is again at the center of significant geopolitical conflicts, both in the
Middle East with ISIS, and in the Black Sea region with Russia’s tensions with Ukraine. What is Turkey’s
policy toward these two issues and what role will this country play in influencing the current decisionmaking of and coordination of major international players as well as shaping the future trajectory of
regional and global relations in these critical hotspots?
March 1, 2016
How can We Determine what English Usage is and Isn’t Acceptable?
Anne Curzan is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of English at the University of Michigan.
She received her PhD from the University of Michigan. Her research interests
include the history of English, language and gender, corpus linguistics, historical
linguistics and pedagogy and lexicography. Is it acceptable to use “impact” as a
verb? To allow “anxious to be synonymous with “eager”? To employ “they” as a
singular generic pronoun? Curzan has been a member of the American Heritage
Dictionary Usage panel since 2005. She’ll offer a lively history of dictionaries and
how usage panels came to be. How do they help decide what is acceptable English
language?
Anne Curzan
April 12, 2016
Expanding Concepts of Health and Wellness: Making Meaningful Changes
Victor J. Strecher is Professor and Director for Innovation at the University of
Michigan School of Public Policy. He received a PhD from the University of
Michigan School of Public Health. He founded the UM Center for Health
Communications Research, a collaborative research-focused organization of
scientists, software engineers and artists. He is helping the University of Michigan
to disseminate research and improve public health globally. Long held
assumptions and beliefs about health, risk, behavior change, motivation and
Victor J. Strecher
engagement are subjects about which Dr. Strecher has written and spoken
about for many years. These will be reconsidered in today’s presentation. Strecher suggests a new
direction for health and wellness that uses both ancient philosophy and the most recent scientific
evidence.
May 10, 2016
Confronting Climate Change: What are the Challenges
Henry Pollack, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of Michigan,
has served on many advisory panels for the National Science Foundation and
the National Research Council. He has testified before the National Academy
of Science and U.S. Senate committees, and provided briefings about climate
change to Congress and the White House. He was a contributing author to the
Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th
Assessment Report. He is a scientific advisor to former Vice President Al Gore’s
Henry Pollack
Climate Reality Project. He has authored “Uncertain Science. . .Uncertain World”
in which he discusses scientific uncertainty and the role it plays in the formulation of public policy and
“World Without Ice” in which he describes the role of ice in shaping earth’s landscape and climate,
and the likely fate of the cryosphere in the face of continued warming. His lecture will outline the
consequences associated with Earth’s changing climate, and will address approaches to mitigation
and adaptation in the coming decades.
MAILING INFORMATION
Complete the form on the back of this sheet.
Make checks payable to: OLLI at U of M.
Mail or deliver to:
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
University of Michigan
Turner Senior Resource Center
Suite C, Room 1162
2401 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2193
For additional information
e-mail: olli.info@umich.edu
or call: (734) 998-9351;
web site: olli­-umich.org
POLICIES
• On days when Ann Arbor Public Schools close because
of inclement weather, all Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
activities are also suspended – including lectures. To verify
that the inclement weather policy is in effect, call
(734) 998-9351 for a recorded message.
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of
Michigan reserves the right to substitute speakers.
This lecture series was made possible by volunteer
efforts of Al Gourdji (Chair), Dan Converse, Twila
Deigert, Ron Frisch, Cathy Marcus, Ed Marcus,
Bette Michael, Leo Shedden, Marie Vitale and
Wes Vivian.