Butler University
J. James Woods
Lectures in the Sciences and Mathematics
2009-2010
Monday, October 5th, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room
Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, is an internationally recognized leader in the study of children's learning and development and was the first to argue that children's minds could help us understand deep philosophical questions. She was one of the founders of the study of "theory of mind", illuminating how children come to understand the minds of others, and she formulated the "theory theory", the idea that children learn in the same way that scientists do. Professor Gopnik is the author of over one hundred articles and several books, including the best-selling The Scientist in the Crib. She will speak on the topic of her new book.
The Philosophical Baby: What children's minds tell us about truth, love and the meaning of life
Tuesday, November 3rd, 7:30 pm, Clowes Memorial Hall
Professor and Chair, Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Doug Tallamy wants us to garden as though life depends on it. His simple but powerful message is this: gardeners can foster biodiversity simply by choosing to plant more natives. In his eye-opening book, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens , Tallamy shows how life does depend on what we plant in our backyards. It's a book that makes us look at our gardens - and think of our role as gardeners - in a new, more meaningful way. Doors will open at 6:30 for refreshments from local sources and displays by local conservation and gardening organizations.
Bringing Nature Home
Cosponsored by Butler's Center for Urban Ecology and the Friesner Herbarium
Monday, November 16th, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room
Ecologist, author, and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the environmental links to cancer and human health. Steingraber's highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment presents cancer as a human rights issue. It was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with newly released data from U.S. cancer registries. Steingraber's new work, Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood, explores the intimate ecology of motherhood. Both a memoir of her own pregnancy and an investigation of fetal toxicology, Having Faith reveals the alarming extent to which environmental hazards now threaten each crucial stage of infant development. Heralded by the Sierra Club as "the new Rachel Carson," Dr. Steingraber's work bridges the gap between environmental science and activism.
Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
The J. James Woods Lecture Series was established by a generous gift from the estate of J. James Woods. The goal of the Woods bequest is to bring prominent mathematicians and scientists to Butler University in order to speak on theories at the frontier of their disciplines, as well as on related technologies and other issues of public concern.
All Woods Lectures are free and open to the public.
For inquiries, please contact Barbara Dadkhah, (317)940-9293, bdadkhah@butler.edu.