Former Governor Michael Dukakis, Federal Judge John Noonan, Music Critic and Sex Crimes Prosecutor Among Yale Speakers

The following talks at Yale University the week of March 30-April 5 are free and open to the public, unless noted otherwise.

Federal judge to give Litowitz Lecture on religious freedom

Judge John T. Noonan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will deliver the second annual Robert M. Litowitz Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 30. His lecture, titled “Crusades: The American Experience of Religious Freedom,” will be held in the General Motors Room of the School of Management, 55 Hillhouse Ave. The lecture will be followed by a reception at 5:30 p.m.

Noonan’s books include “The Responsible Judge: Readings in Judicial Ethics” and “The Believer and the Powers that Are: Cases, History, and Other Data Bearing on the Relation of Religion and Government.” He has taught at the University of Notre Dame Law School and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

“Throughout his writing Judge Noonan combines a disciplined, sparkling legal mind with an expansive concern for the ethical and religious dimensions of social policy,” says Ian Shapiro, director of the Yale Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, which sponsors the lecture series.

European economist will deliver Henry L. Stimson Lectures

Alexandre Lamfalussy, former president of the European Economic Institute and founder and former president of the European Monetary Institute (EMI), will present this year’s Henry L. Stimson Lectures. The four-part lecture series will begin on Monday, March 30, and conclude on Thursday, April 2.

Lamfalussy will explore the problems and prospects related to the globalization of financial markets. All lectures take place 4:30-6 p.m. in Rm. B74 of 135 Prospect St.. The following talks are sheduled: Monday, March 30, “An Overview of Financial Crises, 1980-1998”; Tuesday, March 31, “Quest for Explanations: What has Gone Wrong and Why?”; Wednesday, April 1, “Financial Globalization: An Alleviating or Aggravating Force?”; and Thursday, April 2, “Recommendations for the Future.”

Lamfalussy has been a leader in the work to develop a coherent structure for the European banking system. He stepped down from his posts as president of the European Economic Institute and of EMI in June, 1997. Based in Frankfurt, the EMI was set up in 1994 to pave the way for the single European currency. EMI was designed to be the forerunner of the European Central Bank, which will be established in 1999. Lamfalussy is currently professor emeritus of economics at the University of Louvain, Belgium. The Henry L. Stimson Lectures are sponsored by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

Coping with illness is topic of psychologist’s Hovland Lecture

Shelley E. Taylor, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) whose research focuses on the areas of social cognition and health psychology, will present the Hovland Memorial Lecture on Monday, March 30, at 4 p.m. in Rm. 220 of Dunham Laboratory, 10 Hillhouse Ave. The title of her talk is “Harnessing the Imagination: Mental Simulation, Self-Regulation, and Coping.” A reception will follow in the lounge of Kirtland Hall, 2 Hillhouse Ave.

Taylor, who earned her doctoral degree in social psychology from Yale in 1972, helped develop a training program at UCLA in health psychology, which is considered one of the prominent programs of its kind in the country. She is particularly known for her exploration of how women adjust to diagnoses of breast cancer. In a study initiated in 1980, she found that many women had overly optimistic views of their disease, which she termed “positive illusions.” Subsequent research has indicated that these positive illusions are associated with measures indicative of better mental health.

Taylor is currently involved in a collaborative research program exploring how poverty, racism and social conflict increase people’s risk of developing a broad range of diseases. Recently elected president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Taylor has received many honors for her work, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution from the American Psychological Association.

Master’s tea to feature former Massachusetts governor

Michael Dukakis, the former governor of Massachusetts and a 1988 presidential candidate, will be the guest at a tea on Wednesday, April 1, at 4 p.m. in the Silliman College master’s house, 71 Wall St. Dukakis served in the Massachusetts state legislature and was elected governor of the state in 1974. His gubernatorial term was dominated by his successful attempt to relieve Massachusetts from one of its worst financial and economic crises in history. In 1982 and again in 1986, Dukakis was reelected governor, winning an unprecedented third term. In 1988, he served as the Democratic presidential candidate. Since 1991, he has focused his efforts on national health care policy reform.

He has taught on this and related issues at the University of Hawaii, Northeastern University, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Florida Atlantic University, and UCLA. In addition, he has written a number of articles on the subject of health care reform for such publications as the Journal of American Health Policy, the Yale Law and Policy Review and the New England Journal of Medicine. He was also involved in the production of the widely distributed publication Insuring American Health of the Year 2000.

Engineer’s Tetelman Lecture will explore technology’s evolution

Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and professor of history at Duke University, will present the Tetelman Lecture on “Bridges to Understanding the Evolution of Technology” on Wednesday, April 1. His talk will begin at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of Becton Center, 15 Prospect St. On the following day, at 4 p.m., Petroski will be the guest at a tea in the Jonathan Edwards College master’s house, 70 High St.

Petroski will outline the evolution of bridges in the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th century, and will explore how the same dynamics behind the evolution of bridges have also driven technological development generally. The author of more than 70 journal articles on mechanics and design, Petroski has also written about engineering and culture for a general audience, and writes the engineering column in American Scientist. His books include “To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design,” which was adapted for a BBC television documentary, “The Evolution of Useful Things” and “Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering,” which was named best book in the category of general engineering by the Association of American Publishers in 1994.

School of Music hosts talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic

Tim Page, a Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for the Washington Post, will lecture on Wednesday, April 1, at 12:30 p.m. in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St. Page won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism for his work at the Washington Post, where he has been music critic since 1995. Previously, he worked in a similar capacity at The New York Times and Newsday. He has also been a clerk in a record store, played cocktail piano and composed and played keyboard for a rock band. He has presented hundreds of radio premieres on WNYC-FM, and founded and served as the first executive producer for BMG Catalyst. He has just completed the first biography of American novelist Dawn Bowell, which will be published this fall.

Sex crimes prosecutor to speak at master’s tea

Linda Fairstein, supervisor of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit for the Office of the New York County District Attorney, will be the guest at a tea on Thursday, April 2, at 4 p.m. in the Silliman College master’s house, 71 Wall St. Fairstein has supervised the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit for more than two decades. She specializes in crimes of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence. She is the author of the nonfiction work “Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape” and two crime novels, “Final Jeopardy” and “Likely to Die.” A member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Fairstein serves on the board of directors of the National Victims Center, Phoenix House and the New York Women’s Agenda.

State regulations for child care will be topic of Bush Center talk

“Regulation – The Other Dimension of Quality Child Care” is the subject of a talk by Harold Gazan, former director of the Michigan Bureau of Child and Family Services, on Friday, April 3, at noon in the weekly lecture series sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. The event will be held in the Sterling Library lecture hall, 128 Wall St.

In his 34-year career with the Michigan Department of Social Services, Gazan has been responsible for child day care services, child welfare, juvenile justice programs and facilities, adult services, domestic violence prevention and treatment, migrant services, refugee assistance and Native American affairs. He is now a private consultant to human services agencies and serves on the governing board of the National Association for Regulatory Administration, a professional organization dedicated to protecting the health, safety and well-being of children and vulnerable adults in day or residential human care facilities through licensing and other forms of regulation. Gazan was the recipient of the Michigan Public Servant of the Year Award in 1989.