Events and News

A list of recent and upcoming Senior Scholars events and news:

Memorial service planned for Heyman Center Senior Scholar Conrad Schirokauer on May 18th at 2pm in Kent Hall

April 4, 2018

Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City

The Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room

Richard Sennett
Professor Emeritus
London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London

Edmund S. Phelps
Director of the Center on Capitalism and Society
Columbia University

Shamus Khan
Professor of Sociology
Columbia University

Building and Dwelling is the definitive statement on cities by the renowned public intellectual Richard Sennett. In this sweeping work, he traces the anguished relation between how cities are built and how people live in them, from ancient Athens to twenty-first-century Shanghai. He shows how Paris, Barcelona, and New York City assumed their modern forms; rethinks the reputations of Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, and others; and takes us on a tour of emblematic contemporary locations, from the backstreets of Medellín, Colombia, to the Google headquarters in Manhattan. Through it all, he laments that the "closed city"—segregated, regimented, and controlled—has spread from the global North to the exploding urban agglomerations of the global South. As an alternative, he argues for the "open city," where citizens actively hash out their differences and planners experiment with urban forms that make it easier for residents to cope. Rich with arguments that speak directly to our moment—a time when more humans live in urban spaces than ever before—Building and Dwelling draws on Sennett’s deep learning and intimate engagement with city life to form a bold and original vision for the future of cities.

Friday, October 6th; 12:15pm

Full video of lecture here.

Robert Paul Wolff is Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  He was a senior member of the Columbia Philosophy Department from 1964-1971 before rusticating to Amherst. During the last sixteen years of his long teaching career, he was a Professor of Afro-American Studies and Graduate Program Director of a groundbreaking doctoral program in that field.  His many books include four scholarly works on the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, two on the thought of Karl Marx, and several on political philosophy, including the widely read short work, In Defense of Anarchism. 

Professor Wolff started, and for twenty-five years ran, a scholarship organization offering tuition support for poor Black men and women attending historically Black universities in South Africa.  Currently he runs a blog called The Philosopher’s Stone, while residing in Chapel Hill, NC.

To register for the event, please email heymancenter@columbia.edu

The Speaking Self: Language Lore and English Usage

February 1, 2016

The Rise of Humanism as Seen in Renaissance Painting

Heyman Center Common Room

Philip Gould
Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art History
Sarah Lawrence College

Philip Gould, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art History at Sarah Lawrence College, gives a talk on the rise of humanism as seen in renaissance painting in both Northerm and Southern Europe.

January 27, 2016

Style as a Cognitive Category

Heyman Center Second Floor Common Room (Map/Directions)

Michael Shapiro
Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Semiotic Studies
Brown University

Style needs to be examined as an essential part of human activity. It needs to be examined across disciplinary boundaries as a cognitive category. A global theory of style entails arguing for the concept of style as a trope of meaning. One can then analyze  individual manifestations of style and their structural coherences. Their mirroring of signification can be identified and evaluated. This talk, by Michael Shapiro, Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Semiotic Studies at Brown University and of the Society of Senior Scholars, Columbia University, will illustrate the significance of making style a cognitive category.

January 27, 2016, 12:00pm.

The Powers of Small Poems: from Ogden Nash to the Ghazal

Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room (Map/Directions)

Frances Pritchett
Professor Emerita of South Asian Literature
Columbia University

Professor Emerita Frances Pritchett teaches and writes about modern South Asian literature, especially Urdu poetry. She will deliver a talk on "The Powers of Small Poems: from Ogden Nash to the Ghazal."

Cosponsored by the Society of Senior Scholars at the Heyman Center for the Humanities and Emeritus Professors in Columbia (EPIC).

September 28, 2015 at 12:00pm.

Professor Emeritus Donald Keene will deliver a talk on "The Classics in Japan Today," and their relation to the Core Curriculum at Columbia.

April 17, 12:00pm.

February 6, 2015

Keys to the Core: Trying the Core Online

Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room (Map/Directions)

Mary Evelyn Tucker
Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar; Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology
Yale University

Can professors and student have effective dialogue online? How can students learn from one another in this format? This talk will explore the potential for teaching texts and traditions in fresh ways in online classes.

Cosponsored by the Center for Core Curriculum and the Society of Senior Scholars at the Heyman Center for the Humanities

February 6, 2015 at 12:00pm.

The Society of Senior Scholars at the Heyman Center and the Department of History present

a talk by Richard Bulliet, Professor of History, on the topic of 

"Is Materiality Replacing Class, Race, and Gender?: A New Cycle in Historical Studies"

December 1, 12:00pm

September 15, 2014

Pakistan and the Burden of Islam

Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room (Map/Directions)

Ainslie Embree
Professor Emeritus of South Asian History
Columbia University

The Society of Senior Scholars at the Heyman Center for the Humanities, the South Asia Institute, and the Department of History present a talk by Ainslie Embree, Professor Emeritus of South Asian History, on the topic of Pakistan and the Burden of Islam.

September 15, 4:10pm - 6:00pm

May 2, 2014

Keys to the Core: The Core Curricula in the Research University:  Challenges and Prospects

Center for the Core Curriculum, 202 Hamilton Hall (Map/Directions)

Roosevelt Montas
Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum

Matthew L. Jones
Department of History and Chair of Contemporary Civilization

Paul Stern
Department of Political Science, Ursinus College

12:00pm

Robert L. Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Russian in the Department of Slavic Languages, member of the Society of Senior Scholars and teacher in Friends of the Heyman Center Colloquia, died on March 17.  Professor Belknap was a magisterial teacher of literature in true Columbia tradition, a guiding intellect and scholar in the field of Russian literature, a committed educator who devoted his energy and vision to making Columbia an institution to be proud of.

12:00 pm

October 4, 2013

Book Launch and Luncheon for Professor Wm. Theodore de Bary

Faculty House, Columbia University (Map/Directions)

The Society of Senior Scholars’ 25th Anniversary Celebration

April 26, 2013

Keys to the Core:  “The Global Core”

Common Room, Heyman Center

Patricia Grieve
Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Professor of the Humanities
Columbia University

12:00pm

The fifth of five lectures in the spring 2013 Keys to the Core series.

March 29, 2013

Keys to the Core: “The 1987 Review of the Core”

Lounge, 403 Kent Hall

Wm. Theodore de Bary
John Mitchell Mason Professor of Asian Humanities and Provost Emeritus
Columbia University

Roosevelt Montás
Associate Dean/Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
Columbia University

12:00pm

The fourth of five lectures in the spring 2013 Keys to the Core series.

March 15, 2013

Keys to the Core:  “My Lifetime in the Humanities at Columbia”

555 Lerner Hall

Donald Keene
University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature Emeritus
Columbia University

12:00pm

The third of five lectures in the spring 2013 Keys to the Core series.

March 11, 2013

Philology and/or Cryptography: Numbers and Words

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center (Map/Directions)

Michael Holquist
Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus
Yale University

12:00pm

March 1, 2013

Book Launch: REFORMING DEMOCRACIES: Six Facts About Politics that Demand a New Agenda

Garden Room 1, Faculty House

Douglas Chalmers
Executive Director
Society of Senior Scholars

12:00 Noon

During this luncheon event, Douglas Chalmers, Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Columbia University, will discuss his new book, Reforming Democracies: Six Facts About Politics that Demand a New Agenda.

RSVP to jgc92@columbia.edu

February 15, 2013

Keys to the Core: “John Rosenberg – Master of the Core”

Common Room, Heyman Center

George Leonard
Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities
San Francisco State University

12:00pm

The second of five lectures in the spring 2013 Keys to the Core series.

February 1, 2013

Keys to the Core: “Asian Humanities in the Core”

Lounge, 403 Kent Hall

Wm. Theodore de Bary
John Mitchell Mason Professor of Asian Humanities and Provost Emeritus
Columbia University

Shang Wei
Wm Theodore and Fanny Brett de Bary and Class of 1941 Collegiate Professor of Asian Humanities and Du Family Professor
Columbia University

12:00pm

The first of five lectures in the spring 2013 Keys to the Core series.

November 16, 2012

Keys to the Core: “Art Humanities in the Core”

Lounge, 403 Kent Hall

David Rosand
Meyer Schapiro Professor Emeritus of Art History
Columbia University

12:00pm

The fifth in a series of five lectures.

November 12, 2012

“Give Us A King!”—Politics Enters Biblical History

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center (Map/Directions)

Allan Silver
Professor of Sociology Emeritus
Columbia University

12:00pm

Human political authority, kingship, enters biblical Israel’s polity, heretofore governed exclusively by God, in I Samuel 7:15-8. This dramatic passage is discussed as biblical political thought.

November 2, 2012

POSTPONED: Keys to the Core: “Core Experiences at Columbia”

555 Lerner Hall

Donald Keene
University Professor Emeritus
Columbia University

Due to travel complications resulting from Hurricane Sandy, this event has been postponed until a later date.

October 26, 2012

Keys to the Core: “Science in the Core”

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center

Darcy B. Kelley
Harold Weintraub Professor of Biological Sciences
Columbia University

12:00pm

The third in a series of five lectures.

Click here to listen to a recording of this event.

October 12, 2012

Keys to the Core:  “Music Humanities”

Lounge, 403 Kent Hall

Giuseppe Gerbino
Chair: Department of Music
Columbia University

12:00pm

The second in a series of 5 fall lectures.

Click here to listen to a recording of this event.

October 5, 2012

Keys to the Core:  “Moses Hadas and Mark Van Doren”

Lounge, 403 Kent Hall

John Rosenberg
William Peterfield Trent Professor Emeritus of English
Columbia University

12:00pm

The first in a series of 5 fall lectures.

Click here to listen to a recording of this event.

April 6, 2012

Keys to the Core: “Why Trilling Matters”

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities (Map/Directions)

James Mirollo
Parr Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus
Columbia University

Andrew Delbanco
Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities
Columbia University

Adam Kirsch
Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature
Columbia University

Click here to listen to a recording of the event.

March 30, 2012

Keys to the Core: “Jacques Barzun on the Early History of the Core”

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities (Map/Directions)

Douglas Chalmers
Professor of Political Science Emeritus; Executive Director, Society of Senior Scholars
Columbia University

Michael Rosenthal
Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Columbia University

Peter Pouncey
Burnell-Fobes Professor of Greek Emeritus; President Emeritus
Amherst College

Click here to listen to a recording of the event.

March 20, 2012

Keys to the Core: “Starting on the Road with John Erskine”

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities (Map/Directions)

Wm. Theodore de Bary
John Mitchell Mason Professor of Asian Humanities and Provost Emeritus
Columbia University

Click here to listen to a recording of the event.

February 13, 2012

Science at Loggerheads: Evolution and Entropy and the Big Freeze

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities (Map/Directions)

Martin Meisel
Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature Emeritus
Columbia University

This lecture will take place at 12:15pm.
Lunch will be provided.

October 26, 2011

On Portraits

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities

Richard Brilliant
Anna S. Garbedian Professor Emeritus in the Humanities
Society of Senior Scholars, Columbia University

Professor Brilliant will speak on portraiture as it has developed through the ages in variuous cultures and traditions.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University.

September 14, 2011

Meeting on Benefits

Garden Room 1 (first floor), Faculty House

Senior Scholars
General Membership
Columbia University

A meeting of Emeritus Professors in Columbia ( EPIC) and Senior Scholars members with Vice Provost Roxie Smith and Human Resources Vice President Lucinda Durning will take place at 11:00 A.M. on Tuesday, 11 October, in Garden Room 1 (first  floor), Faculty House.  We hope to pursue our goals of giving our suggestions about benefits, securing information about their future, and to work on improving communication between retirees and Human Resources.

April 13, 2011

Luncheon discussion of Columbia’s Benefit Program for Retirees

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities

Seymour Topping
President
Emeritus Professors in Columbia

Douglas Chalmers
Executive Director
Society of Senior Scholars

In collaboration with Emeritus Professors In Columbia (EPIC), a discussion centered on the Columbia University Provost's Preliminary Report of the Task Force on Fringe Benefits, and more generally on improving links between retirees and the Human Resources Office. Questions and comments were formulated for an upcoming meeting with representatives from the Provost's office and Human Resources. 

February 22, 2011

Performance in Eighteenth-Century English Verse: Form and Expressiveness

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities; 12:00pm

John Richetti
A.M Rosenthal Professor (Emeritus) of English
University of Pennsylvania

In collaboration with the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the Society of Senior Scholars will hear and discuss a talk by fellow member John Richetti.

Prof. John Richetti. is A.M Rosenthal Professor (Emeritus) of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published widely on 18th-century English fiction as well as on 18th-century non-fictional prose. He is now turning his attention to 18th-century verse.

November 17, 2010

The Core Curriculum, the College, and the University

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities

Michele Moody-Adams
Dean of Columbia College and Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor; Vice President for Undergraduate Education; Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory
Columbia University

The Society met with the Dean and key members of the staff responsible for the Core Curriculum to discuss the adaptation of the Core to changes in the College and University on the occasion of a new Dean, the coming expansion of the College student body and the changes projected in the organization of undergraduate education at Columbia, including the appointment of the College Dean to oversee all undergraduate education. The conversation returned as well to the crucial questions about the nature of the Core Curriculum in a new globalized world.

April 30, 2010

The Development of the Global Core—Discussion and Luncheon

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities

Patricia Grieve
Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Professor in the Humanities
Columbia University

At this third in our series on the Core Curriculum, Patricia Grieve, Chair of the committee at the College charged with developing the new ‘Global Core’  requirement, presented her committee’s thinking. A lively discussion followed about the practical and intellectual challenges in extending the concept of small discussion, text-based, required classes, i.e., the Core model, to other cultures. The discussion was realistic in part because of the presence of ex-Department Chairs, ex-Deans, an ex-Provost, and an ex-Vice-President among the Senior Scholars, as well as Roosevelt Montas the Director of the Core, Rachel Chung from the Committee on Asia and the Middle East and College Dean Michelle Moody-Adams.

March 22, 2010

The Core Curriculum, Science and Core Courses for Upper Level Students—Luncheon and Discussion

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities

Donald Hood
James F. Bender Professor of Psychology and Professor of Ophthalmic Science (in Ophthalmology)
Columbia University

This luncheon and discussion was the second in the series about the Core. Our guest Donald Hood spoke of his experiences as part of the team that set up the new Frontiers of Science for the Core, and there was lively discussion about the sorts of upper level of 'capstone' courses that have been, or might be developed, including Professor de Bary's "Nobility and Civility" a cross cultural seminar based on reading classics dealng with those topics.

November 16, 2009

The Core Curriculum in a World Context—Luncheon and Discussion

Faculty House

Doug Chalmers
Executive Director
Society of Senior Scholars

The first of a series of discussion about the Core Curriculum at Columbia and beyond. Doug Chalmers presented a short discussion of the history of Columbia's longstanding efforts to develop courses dealing with other cultures for the Core Curriculum. Joining the Senior Scholars was Roosevelt Montas, Director of the Core, and members of the Society of Fellows in the Humanities.

The Second annual welcome for the Senior Scholars.

November 13, 2008

On Darwin and the Joys of Science

Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center, East Campus (Map/Directions)

George Levine
Senior Scholar
Columbia University

Professor George Levine explored the stylistic aspects of Darwin's scientific writings.  He argued that Darwin's powers of observation and his skill in registering those observations in often lovely prose is imaginative, precise, metaphorical, and emotionally engaged by way of language with his subjects -- in a word, "enchanted".

The first annual get together of the Senior Scholars to welcome the new academic year.