Browse All Upcoming Lectures

The Wall and the Bridge: Fear and Opportunity in Disruption’s Wake
5:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Free-market economists often have noted that there are winners and losers in a competitive capitalist world. The question of how to deal with the difficult real-life consequences faced by the losers, however, has largely been ignored. Populist politicians have tried repeatedly to address the issue by creating walls—of both the physical and economic kinds—to insulate communities and keep competition at bay. While recognizing the broad emotional appeal of walls, economist Glenn Hubbard argues that because they delay needed adaptations to the ever-changing world, walls are essentially backward-looking and ultimately destined to fail. Taking Adam Smith’s logic to Youngstown, Ohio, as a case study in economic disruption, Hubbard promotes the benefits of an open economy and creating bridges to support people in turbulent times so that they remain engaged and prepared to participate in, and reap the rewards of, a new economic landscape.Glenn Hubbard is Director, Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business, dean emeritus, and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School. Hubbard received his BA and BS degrees summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida and also holds AM and PhD degrees in economics from Harvard University. In addition to writing more than 100 scholarly articles in economics and finance, Glenn is the author of three popular textbooks, as well as co-author of The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America, and Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System. His commentaries appear in Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, Nikkei, and the Daily Yomiuri, as well as on television and radio.From 2001 until 2003, he was chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. In the corporate sector, he is on the boards of TotalEnergies, BlackRock Fixed Income Funds, and MetLife (where he is chair). Hubbard is co-chair of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation; he is a past chair of the Economic Club of New York and a past co-chair of the Study Group on Corporate Boards.

Civic Engagement in Diverse Latinx Communities: Learning from Social Justice Partnerships in Action
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Mari Castañeda will discuss social justice approaches to university-community partnerships within Latinx communities. Such partnerships highlight the importance of developing collaborative higher education pedagogies that recognize Latina/o/x communities as specific sites of creative and dynamic civic engagement. The lecture will provide a context to explore social justice community-university projects that bring together faculty, students and local community partners in efforts to learn from and bear witness to the lived experiences and cultural wealth of Latine communities in the United States.Dr. Castañeda is Dean of Commonwealth Honors College and Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the recipient of the UMass System President’s Public Service Award, the Antonia Pantoja Award for community-engaged scholarship, and the UMass Amherst Distinguished Academic Outreach Award. Dr. Castañeda's fields of study include civic and community engagement, cultures of care in academia, global communications, and Latina media/cultural production. 

A Revolution in Computing: Next-Generation Arithmetic
6:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - For 50 years, "floating-point operations per second" (FLOPS) has been the currency of technical computing performance. The rise of AI and the end of Moore's law have made us realize that IEEE standard floating-point (invented by Intel in 1977) is long overdue for replacement. Dr. John Gustafson will present a new way to represent real numbers on computers that is both mathematically sound and follows engineering design goals. The approach can more than double speed and energy efficiency for everything from Machine Learning to Computer Graphics to High-Performance Computing. This is a watershed, a revolution. And it is well underway.John Gustafson is an American computer scientist and businessman, renowned for his contributions to high-performance computing (HPC). He is best known for Gustafson's Law, which provides a model for predicting the performance of parallel computing systems.Gustafson was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, and pursued his passion for science from a young age. He earned his degree in Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 1977, followed by an M.S. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1981 and 1982, respectively.Throughout his career, Gustafson has held several prominent positions, including Chief Technology Officer at Ceranovo, Inc., Chief Graphics Product Architect and Senior Fellow at AMD, and Architect of Intel Labs-SC. He also led the reconstruction of the Atanasoff–Berry computer and invented the unum number format, a variable-precision number system.Gustafson has received numerous awards for his work, including the inaugural Gordon Bell Prize in 1988 and the International Atanasoff Award in 2006. His contributions have significantly advanced the field of high-performance computing, making him a key figure in the industry.

Anti-Capitalist Personal Finance
6:00 PM – 2630 Memorial Union - Leo Aquino is a non-binary Filipinx writer, journalist, and financial coach based in Los Angeles. They are known for their work in anti-capitalist personal finance, focusing on financial literacy and empowerment for queer and trans communities. Leo is the founder of Queer & Trans Wealth, an initiative dedicated to increasing economic empowerment and collective liberation.Leo's expertise stems from their experiences and conversations with economically diverse communities across the US. They have written extensively on topics such as debt payoff, saving, budgeting, and maximizing workplace benefits. Leo's unique approach to finance is rooted in their commitment to uplifting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories.This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

Wordslut
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Amanda Montell is an acclaimed author, linguist, and podcast host based in Los Angeles. She speaks at various events worldwide, covering topics such as cult language in social media and the workplace, gender-inclusive language, and cognitive biases.Amanda has authored two bestselling books, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, and co-hosts the popular podcast Sounds Like A Cult. Her work has been praised by major publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Cultish was named a best book of 2021 by NPR and is being developed for TV.Amanda is currently writing her third book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, due in 2024. Originally from Baltimore, she holds a degree in linguistics from NYU. This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.This lecture will be recorded and available for two weeks on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

The Age of Magical Overthinking
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Annual Goldtrap Lecture & Quentin Johnson Lecture in Linguistics Amanda Montell is an acclaimed author, linguist, and podcast host based in Los Angeles. She speaks at various events worldwide, covering topics such as cult language in social media and the workplace, gender-inclusive language, and cognitive biases.Amanda has authored two bestselling books, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, and co-hosts the popular podcast Sounds Like A Cult. Her work has been praised by major publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Cultish was named a best book of 2021 by NPR and is being developed for TV.Amanda is currently writing her third book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, due in 2024. Originally from Baltimore, she holds a degree in linguistics from NYU. This lecture will be recorded and available for two weeks on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.