Southern Oregon University : College of Arts and Sciences

CAS Events Schedule

SOU College of Arts and Sciences FREE Friday Seminars

Please check back in Fall for updates to the Events Schedule

The following presentations, held in the Science Building Auditorium (SCI118) at Southern Oregon University are open to the public and free of charge. Each seminar begins at 3:00 p.m. every Friday during the Winter Quarter and will last approximately 2 hours

May 9 - Babies by Design: The Ethics of Human Gene Enchancement

Dr. Ron Green
2008 Van Dyke Lecturer
The Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values
Dartmouth, Department of Community and Family Medicine at the Dartmouth Medical School

A member of Dartmouth's Religion Department since 1969, Professor Ron Green also directs Dartmouth's Ethics Institute. In 1996 and 1997, Prof. Green served as Director of the Office of Genome Ethics at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Prof. Green's research interests are in genetic ethics, biomedical ethics, and issues of justice in health care allocation. He is the author of seven books and over one hundred thirty articles in theoretical and applied ethics. His most recent book Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice (2007) is published Yale University Press. In 2005, Prof. Green was named a Guggenheim Fellow.

May 16 - Marine Upwelling Systems: Their Oceanography and Paleoceanography

Philip Meyer,
Sigma Xi Lecturer, 2008

Important features of the modern ocean are its large coastal upwelling systems. These systems are associated with the eastern boundary currents of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and with the monsoons of the Indian Ocean, and they support the major fisheries of these oceans. Wind-driven upwelling brings nutrients from intermediate waters into the photic zone to fuel high rates of algal primary production that convert dissolved inorganic carbon into abundant amounts of organic matter, which in turn lead to accumulation of organic carbon-rich sediments on the underlying seafloor. The burial of marine organic matter is an important component of the global carbon cycle that removes carbon from fast turnover in the biosphere-atmosphere-hydrosphere system and transfers it into the slowly recycling geosphere. However, the high productivity that is typical of today's upwelling systems is a relatively new phenomenon. Organic-carbon-rich upwelling sediments first started to accumulate within the last 15 million years in the Pacific Ocean and less than 10 million years ago in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. This presentation will give an overview of the oceanographic basics of upwelling systems, discuss the paleoceanographic factors that participated in their different evolutions over geologic time, and consider possible future consequences of over-fishing and climate change.

May 23 - Curved Space Workshop

Jeff Weeks, Freelance Mathematician
2008 Kieval Lecturer

How can one visualize curved space? Students will first construct physical models introducing the concept of a curved surface. Interactive 3D graphics will then extend the concept to curved 3-dimensional space. Finally we'll see how measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation are now placing limits on the curvature of the universe. (For math and science students. Prior attendance at the Thursday evening presentation, while encouraged, is not required.)

Jeff Weeks is a freelance mathematician living in Canton, NY. He holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, both in mathematics. A former MacArthur Fellow (1999-2004) and current National Science Foundation award recipient (2005-2008), Jeff splits his time between research and education. His present research centers on a collaboration with cosmologists to test the shape of the universe using satellite data. His educational activities have lead to a multimedia unit for middle schools on geometry and space. The unit uses classroom activities, computer games, and video to let students explore universes that are finite but have no boundaries. Jeff is the author of the book The Shape of Space (Marcel Dekker, 1985; second edition 2002), the unit Exploring the Shape of Space (Key Curriculum Press, 2001), and numerous research and expository articles.

May 30 - Poetry and Technology

Kasey Mohammad, Department of Language Literature and Philosophy, SOU

What effect does technological innovation have on poetry? Does poetic production merely reflect technological change in a surface manner (thematically, say, or in the material means of its composition and circulation), or do the two phenomena interact dynamically? Is poetry a passive index of ways in which technology has radically changed our aesthetic and ethical makeup as a species, or can it intervene in that process of change?

June 6 - Energy Past Present Future

Ted Bezzerides, Petroleum Geologist

The presentation will begin with a overview of U.S. energy use. The role of crude oil will be explained using oil supply and consumption statistics. "Peak Production" concepts will be defined and applied to world oil supplies. Other carbon based, nonrenewable energy sources, including natural gas, tar sand, oil shale and coal will then be evaluated. So called "renewable" biofuel will be discussed, followed by the electricity generating potential of solar, wind and nuclear powered sources. Global climate change and world population growth will also be considered.

Spring Theatre Performances

Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman plays at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 22-24 and Thursday-Sunday, May 29-June 1 and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 31 at the Theatre Arts Center Stage Theatre on South Mountain Ave. Greek mythology struts its 21st century stuff in Mary Zimmermans re-telling of ten myths recorded by Ovid in 13 B.C. The story of King Midas, Cupid and Psyche, Orpheus and Eurydice, and others come to life as they are enacted in a pool of water enveloping the theatre stage. Zimmerman uses water to symbolize the transformations experienced by the mythological characters. Metamorphoses earned Zimmerman a Tony Award for "Best Direction of a Play" in 2002.

Hunting Cockroaches by Janusz Glowacki and translated by Jadwiga Kosicka plays at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 15-17 and May 22-24 and at 2 p.m on Saturday, May 17 and 24 and Sunday, May 25 at the Theatre ArtsCenter Square Theatre on South Mountain Ave. This charming comedy weighs the advantages and frustrations found in Poland and the United States. Two Polish émigrés arrive in New York Citys Lower East Side looking for their American dream. The cultural gulf they face as Eastern Europeans in America is revealed during a sleepless night three years into their new life. The variety of nightmares that Anka, a renowned actress in her home country who cant find work on the New York stage because of her accent, and her husband Jan, who suffers from writers block, experience are outrageously brought to life. Hunting Cockroaches was cited by the American Theatre Critics Association as an Outstanding New Play in 1986.

Tickets are $17 regular, $14 senior, $5 students. For information, call 552-6348 or visit www.sou.edu/theatre

Spring Music Performances

Date	Time	May	Tickets
Fri 16^th	8 pm	Senior Recital: Elizabeth Moss, piano	FREE
Mon 19^th	8 pm	Senior Recital: Travis Moddison, composition	FREE
Wed 21^st	8 pm	Siskiyou Saxophone Orchestra	552-6101 $8
Fri 23^rd	8 pm	Senior Recital: Jenifer Jaseau, composition	FREE
Fri 30^th	8 pm	Senior Recital: Cassandra Tolman, soprano	FREE
Sat 31^st	11 am	Senior Recital: Doug Leveton, percussion	FREE
Sat 31^st	8 pm	SOU Jazz Ensemble	552-6101 $8
Date	Time	June	Tickets
Mon 2^nd	8 pm	SOU Percussion Ensemble: "Repercussions"	552-6101 $8
Thu 5^th	8 pm	SOU Symphonic Band	552-6101 $8
Fri 6^th	8 pm	SOU Guitar Ensemble	552-6101 $8
Sat 7	3 pm 8 pm	Jefferson State Choral Coalition	552-6101 $8
Sun 8^th	3 pm	SOU Choirs Concert	552-6101 $8
Mon 9^th	8 pm	Senior Recital: Fedrico Behncke, composition	FREE

Tickets may be purchased or reserved for SOU Music Department events approximately two weeks before each event at the SOU Department of Music Office (552-6101) between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, or at the door beginning 45 minutes before the performance. We now accept payment by Visa and Mastercard.