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Religious Studies Department, SCU
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  Various groups on campus will organize events during the quarter which are related to our course or to the study of religion in our world. You are encouraged to attend, both as a citizen of the University and as a student of religious studies this term.

You will receive extra credit if all of your regular assignments are submitted and if, in addition to attending the event, you analyze and reflect on it in a 2-3 page paper. Introduce the speaker, date, and title of the event in the first paragraph. In the body of your paper, explore the speaker's career more fully (use links below) and summarize and analyze the presentation. To do this successfully, break out paragraphs that address the following questions:
  • What has the speaker published, and/or with what organizations is the the speaker affiliated?
  • What were the central points of the presentation?
  • What insights did the speaker offer?
  • In what ways do the speaker's points relate to our course?
In the final paragraph of your paper, evaluate the speaker's presentation. What did you appreciate most? What did you learn? Was there anything that was problematic about the presentation, or any points you would argue with? Why?

This paper should follow the formatting directions for a short assignment available at Style Sheet. The paper must be submitted within a week of the event.

Each assignment is worth at most 2 points, so students usually do 2 to get the maximum grade.

The following events are eligible for extra credit in this class. The list will be updated weekly, so check back in regularly. If you learn of any events that might be appropriate for extra credit, propose them to the professor beforehand for approval.


DateTimeEvent
January 13
Tuesday
12:00-1:30 p.m. "Difficult Dialogue: Student Self-Segregation - Understanding the Complexities"
Kennedy Commons
Dr. Robin Hayes, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and Political Science at SCU, facilitates a discussion of this problem on campus and in our society. Please RSVP to Pauline Nguyen if you plan to attend. Co-sponsored by the Office for Multicultural Learning and the Ethnic Studies Program.
January 15
Thursday
12:00-1:00 p.m. "Bioethics in a Global Perspective: Challenges for Catholic Social Teaching," Lisa Sowle Cahill
Wiegand Room, A&S
Cahill is an SCU alumna (class of 1970) and J. Donal Monan S.J. Professor of Theology at Boston College. She has advised U.S. bishops on issues surrounding AIDS, presented at the Vatican about women’s healthcare, and was an advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The recipient of the 2008 John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America for her "outstanding and influential contributions in diverse areas of Christian ethics," Cahill is the author of eight books and editor of five others. She is a former president of the CTSA as well as of the Society of Christian Ethics. Part of the Ethics at Noon series sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
January 15
Thursday
4:00-5:00 p.m. Questions and Answers: An Ethicist's Concept of Identity
Williman Room, Benson Center
Cahill will speak on Catholic notions of feminism, politics, peacemaking and ethics in the 21st century. For her biography, see the entry above. Please RSVP to Pauline Nguyen if you plan to attend. Part of the President's Speaker Series, the identity-themed events hosted by the Provost's University Council on Inclusive Excellence, and the Office for Multicultural Learning.
January 15
Thursday
7:30-9:00 p.m. President's Speaker Series: Lisa Sowle Cahill
Louis B. Mayer Theatre
Cahill will speak on Catholic notions of feminism, politics, peacemaking and ethics in the 21st century. For her biography, see the entry above. Part of the President's Speaker Series sponsored by the Office of the President of Santa Clara University.
January 20
Tuesday
7:30-8:30 p.m. "The Party's Over: President Obama's Global Challenges"
Swig Hall, Sky Lounge
Several SCU professors will address the challenges faced by the incoming Obama administration. Panelists include Drs. Jane Curry (Russia/Europe), Dennis Gordon (Latin America/Caribbean), Eric Hanson (China), Michael Kevane (Africa), and Farid Senzai (Middle East). Sponsored by the CyPhi Residential Learning Community, Swig International House, and International Programs.
January 21
Wednesday
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. "Do Innovations Like Beat Blogging and Citizen Journalism Improve Inclusion?" Katharine Fong
Kennedy Commons
Lunch provided; RSVP required by January 15
(click here to RSVP to Pauline Nguyen)
Fong is Deputy Managing Editor of The San Jose Mercury News. This event is sponsored by The Women of Color Network, which is coordinated by the Office of Multicultural Learning and the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
January 21
Wednesday
12:00-1:00 p.m. "Ownership of Land, the Legal Concept of 'Adverse Possession,' and the U.S. Immigration Debate," Dr. Timothy Lukes and Ming Hoang
Wiegand Room, A&S
Lukes is Professor of Political Science at SCU whose books have won awards from the Women’s Caucus of the American Political Science Association and from the Asian American Studies Association. Hoang is of Counsel, McKesson Corporation, and former president of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California. The topic of their talk has been known as "squatters' rights." The principle, more formally known as adverse possession, basically allows someone who has possessed land for an extended period to claim it as their own. The two speakers will apply the idea of adverse possession to the current national debate on immigration reform. Here's a link to an article they wrote on the topic in Washington University's Journal of Law and Policy. Part of the Ethics at Noon series sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
January 26
Monday
5:00-7:30 p.m. Dine and Discuss: American History X (Film and Discussion)
Parlor B, Benson Center
The film, American History X (2007, dir. Tony Kaye), follows Derek Vineyard , the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, who lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realizes he must save his younger brother, Danny , from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family. Sponsored by the Committee on Multiculturalism in the RLCs of the Office for Multicultural Learning.
January 27
Tuesday
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. "Science, Religion, and the Human Person," Mark Graves
Williman Room, Benson Center
Graves is a scholar in residence at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, and research Fellow at SCU's Center for Science, Technology, and Society. His topic addresses what science and religion contribute to a contemporary view of the human person? Although many hold scientific and religious views as conflicting or as independent, contemporary dialogue between Christian theology and the biological, neurological, and cognitive sciences demonstrates novel integrations between mind, brain, and soul. Somewhat surprisingly, an integrated perspective of soul as informative relationships of the body resonates with both traditional Catholic teachings on the soul and Buddhist conceptions of no soul. Part of the Winter Symposium series sponsored by the Center for Science. Technology and Society.
January 27
Tuesday
3:45-5:00 p.m. Women's & Gender Studies Winter Guest Speaker: Jewelle Gomez
Benson Parlors B&C
Refreshments provided; RSVP required by January 23
(click here to RSVP to WGST)
Gomez, "the vampyr everyone loves to love," is an activist and author of 8 books (including the award-winning The Gilda Stories [Firebrand, 1991]), as well as plays and poetry. This event is co-sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Creative Writing Program, and the Provost's University Council on Inclusive Excellence, as past of the Identity Theme programming.
January 28
Wednesday
6:00-7:30 p.m. "Thinking Outside the Boxes: How Do You Identify?"
Sobrato Hall B
How do you define your identity? A panel of students who attended the Kip Fulbeck lecture will share how they've come to understand their own identity. Please RSVP to Pauline Nguyen if you plan to attend. Co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Art and Art History, the Provost's Council on Inclusive Excellence, and the Office for Multicultural Learning.
February 5
Thursday
12:00-1:00 p.m. "Non-Paying Patients and the Right to Heath Care: The Challenge of Trauma Medicine in the United States," Harry Teter
Wiegand Room, A&S
Teter is Executive Director of the American Trauma Society. Part of the Ethics at Noon series sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
February 9
Monday
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. "Domestic Violence and Racial Revolution in Leonora Sansay's Haiti," Dr. Michelle Burnham
Williman Room, Benson Center
Lunch provided; RSVP required by February 4
(click here to RSVP to WGST)
Burnham is Professor of English at Santa Clara University. Several of her recent publications have addressed the dynamics of colonialism and gender in the western hemisphere, including
  • Folded Selves: Colonial New England Writing in the World System (Hanover: University Press of New England, 2007)
  • "Land, Labor and Colonial Economics in Thomas Morton's New English Canaan," Early American Literature 41.3 (2006) 405-428
  • "Textual Investments: Economics and Colonial American Writing," in Blackwell Companion to Colonial American Literatures (eds. Susan Castillo and Ivy Schweitzer; London: Blackwell, 2005) 60-77
  • "The Periphery Within: Internal Colonialism and the Rhetoric of U.S. Nation Building," in Messy Beginnings: Postcoloniality and Early American Studies (eds. Malini Johar Schueller and Edward Watts; New York: Rutgers University Press, 2003)
This event is sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
February 10
Tuesday
12:00-1:30 p.m. "Difficult Dialogue: Gender and Ethnic Specific Theme Parties: What's the Intrigue"
Williman Room, Benson Center
Dr. Alma Garcia, Professor of Sociology at SCU, facilitates a discussion of the theme parties that brought SCU unwanted national attention two years ago. Please RSVP to Pauline Nguyen if you plan to attend. Sponsored by the Office for Multicultural Learning.
February 17, 19, 20
Tu, Th, Fr
8:00-9:00 p.m. "The Life of St. Clare: A Theatrical Exploration," Dir. Mark Larson and Kristin Kusanovich
Mission Santa Clara, free of charge
Larson and Kusanovich teach theatre at SCU. This performance is part of a wider campus reflection on our namesake, for whom we're named but whose story we rarely explore. This week-long series of symposia and theatrical performances will explore the identity of Clare, the extraordinary reality of her life and calling, and allow students, staff, faculty and visitors to reflect on her spiritual journey in light their own spiritual landscape to discover, ultimately, how her story converges with or diverges from their own.
February 19
Thursday
4:00-5:30 p.m. "Light for Clare of Assissi: Light for Identity, Community and Humanity," coordinated by Jean Molesky-Poz
St. Clare Room, Library and Learning Commons
Molesky-Poz is a lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara. This event is part of a wider campus reflection on our namesake; see the description above.
February 19
Thursday
7:30-9:00 p.m. "No Time to Think: On the Loss of Contemplative Time and the Possibilities for Regaining It, " David M. Levy
Kennedy Commons
Levy earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Stanford University in 1979 and a Diploma in Calligraphy and Bookbinding from the Roehampton Institute (London) in 1983. For more than fifteen years he was a researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where his work, described in Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age (Arcade, 2001), centered on exploring the transition from paper and print to digital. During the year 2005—2006, he was the holder of the Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology at the Library of Congress. A professor at the University of Washington Information School since 2000—2001, he has been investigating how to restore contemplative balance to a world marked by information overload, fragmented attention, extreme busyness, and the acceleration of everyday life. Sponsored Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.
February 26
Thursday
12:00-1:00 p.m. "The Salvadoran Jesuit Murders: An Update on the Case and on the Reach of International Justice," Almudena Bernabeu and Beth Van Schaack
Wiegand Room, A&S
Bernabeu is International Attorney for the San Francisco Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), and Van Schaack is an Associate Professor in the SCU School of Law and part of CJA's Legal Advisor Council. On November 13, 2008, the CJA filed a criminal suit before the Spanish National Court for the 1989 murders of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 16-year old daughter. Part of the Ethics at Noon series co-sponsored by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
March 5
Thursday
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m. "Do Developing Countries Really Need Biotechnology?" Peggy Lemaux
Williman Room, Benson Center
Lemaux is Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Part of the Winter Symposium series sponsored by the Center for Science. Technology and Society; co-sponsored with the Food and Agribusiness Institute and the Biology Department.
March 5
Thursday
7:30-9:00 p.m. "Little Faith: When We Find Ourselves Walking on Water?" Jocelyn A. Sideco
Williman Room, Benson Center
Sideco is an SCU Religious Studies alumna and Bannan Visitor this quarter who designed and founded Contemplatives in Action, a New Orleanian ministry committed to a faith that does justice. She created and developed a volunteer program for Jesuit affiliates in response to Hurricane Katrina. She is a certified diversity and cultural competency trainer with the National Multi-Cultural Institute. She has served as resident chaplain at Loyola University, New Orleans and Pastoral Associate for Relief Ministries for the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus. After SCU, Sideco received a Master of Theological Studies from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. Sponsored Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.
March 13
Friday
Time tbd "The Future of International Criminal Justice," Cherif Bassiouni
Place tbd
Bassiouni is Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul University, President Emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul, and Co-founder of the International Criminal Court. Co-sponsored by the SCU Journal of International Law, the SCU School of Law Center for Global Law and Policy, and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
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