Judge, Art Historian, Biomedical Ethicist, Ecologist, Architect, Attorney General, Equestrian To Speak at Yale This Week

The following talks at Yale University, March 22-29, are free and open to the public, unless noted otherwise.

State’s first woman judge to talk at tea

Ellen B. Burns, a 1947 graduate of the Yale Law School who is the first woman appointed to a federal judgeship in Connecticut, will speak on “Women in the Law” on Tuesday, March 23. The event, which is sponsored by the Yale University Women’s Organization, will begin with a gathering at noon in the Ezra Stiles College master’s house, 9 Tower Pkwy. The talk will begin at 12:30 p.m. Participants are invited to bring lunch; dessert, coffee and tea will be provided.

Burns is the senior district judge in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. She served as a judge of the Circuit Court and the Court of Common Pleas before becoming the first woman judge of Connecticut Superior Court in 1976. Two years later, she became the first federal female judge when former President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. She was chief judge of the U.S. District Court, 1988-92.

British art historian to deliver the Mellon Lectures

William Vaughan, professor of the history of art at Birkbeck College, University of London, will explore key stages in the development of the concept of a national “school” of painting in a three-part series of Mellon Lectures, which he will present Tuesday-Thursday, March 23-25. The theme of the lectures is “ ‘Painting in English’: The Making of the British School.”

Vaughan will show how the “British School” emerged in the wake of the creation of Great Britain as a political entity in the early 18th-century and how it has remained linked with issues of national identity as these have evolved under changing social and economic circumstances. All of the lectures will take place at 5:15 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St.

Lecture will explore reproductive technology policy

Thomas H. Murray, president of The Hastings Center and former director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, will discuss issues surrounding the creation of public policy to cope with reproductive technologies and genetic information on Wednesday, March 24.

His talk, “What Sort of Children Shall We Have, What Sort of Parents Shall We Be?” is sponsored by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) and Yale Hillel as part of a joint seminar series on bioethics and public policy. He will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall St. A reception will follow the lecture.

Murray will suggest factors to be considered in the making of public policy governing the choice and control of parents over their offspring’s characteristics. “It may be helpful to policy makers and to the public to explore what ethical accounts best capture our shared understandings – if there are such – about the worth of a child and the meaning of parenthood,” he says. He will discuss both a law-inspired notion of procreative liberty as a possible ethical basis for regulating reproductive, genetic and enhancement technologies, and policy founded on society’s deepest beliefs about the nature of parenthood and the significance of the relationship between parent and child.

Ecological restoration specialist to discuss work in southern U.S.

Andre F. Clewell, president of A.F. Clewell Inc., a consulting firm in Florida that specializes in ecological restoration, will be the next speaker in the semester-long Distinguished Lecturer lunch-time series titled “The Restoration Agenda: Focus on Plants.”

Clewell’s talk, on Wednesday, March 24, is titled “Are the Concepts of Restoration and Mitigation Compatible? Case Studies from Mississippi and Florida.” It will take place 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium at Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St. Registration is required. Participants are invited to bring a brown bag lunch for the discussion following the talk. For registration information, call 432-3335 or e-mail aimlee.laderman@yale.edu.

Restoration commonly is used to compensate for the permitted destruction of ecosystems. Some restorationists challenge the ethics of this practice, according to Clewell, who is past president of the Society for Ecological Restoration. He will explore the controversy by citing two case studies. One is a restored headwater swamp on mined and reclaimed land in Florida. The other is a mitigation bank operated by The Nature Conservancy for restoring pitcher-plant prairies in Mississippi.

“The Restoration Agenda” is cosponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration and the New Haven Land Trust, with additional support from the Watershed Fund of the Regional Water Authority and Roots Inc.

Bellos Lecture to focus on how families cope with chronic illness

Kathleen Knafl, executive associate dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing, will present the 1999 Sybil Palmer Bellos Lecture on Wednesday, March 24, at 4 p.m. at the School of Nursing, 100 Church St. South. Her talk is titled “Understanding Family Response to Chronic Illness: Research Adventures and Outcomes.”

Knafl, a sociologist who has spent her career making contributions to nursing research, is considered an expert on how families cope with chronic illness in children and on qualitative research methods. She joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1971 and was named associate dean for research in 1990. She became executive associate dean of the College of Nursing in 1996. Her research projects have explored such issues as how families define and manage chronic illness and disability, the perspectives of parents and nurses on the hospitalization of children, and the role of siblings during pediatric hospitalization. She has written numerous articles on these and other subjects.

Role of Byzantine empresses is focus of scholar’s talk

The role of Byzantine empresses in the seventh to ninth centuries will be examined in a talk titled “Women in Purple,” on Wednesday, March 24, by Judith Herrin, professor of late antique and Byzantine studies at King’s College, London. Her talk will begin at 4 p.m. in the mezzanine of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, corner of Wall and High streets. A reception will follow the event, which is sponsored by the Yale College Hellenic Society.

Herrin is currently working on a book, also called “Women in Purple,” about the subject of her talk. She has studied archaeological as well as historical evidence in conjunction with her research on the Byzantine Empire and has participated in several excavations.

Monsanto executive to talk about corporate sustainability

Robert Horsch, co-president of the sustainable development sector and general manager of the Agracetus Campus of Monsanto, will discuss the company’s efforts to pursue environmental sustainability through corporate redesign on Wednesday, March 24. His talk will begin at 4:15 p.m. in Bowers Auditorium of Sage Hall, 205 Prospect St. A reception will follow in the Sage Hall lounge. The event is sponsored by the Industrial Environmental Management (IEM) Program at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) as part of a lecture series on “Corporate Redesign: Approaches to Sustainability.”

In 1997, Monsanto spun off its chemical divisions so that it could focus on its life sciences businesses. The company has made sustainable development a centerpiece of its agricultural, pharmaceutical and nutritional businesses.

Horsch joined Monsanto in 1981 and led the company’s plant tissue culture and transformation efforts for a decade and a half. In 1998 he was appointed president of the sustainable development sector. He holds a doctorate in genetics from the University of California and is the author of more than 50 papers on plant biology and plant biotechnology.

The IEM Spring Lecture Series is supported by the Joel Omura Kurihara Fund. For further information about the series, call 432-6197 or iem@yale.edu.

Writer for The New Yorker to present samba show

Alma Guillermoprieto, a staff writer for The New Yorker, will combine a discussion of Latin American culture with a demonstration of samba in a presentation titled “The Samba Show,” Thursday, March 25, at 3 p.m. in Rm. 114 of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. Her talk is sponsored by the Council on Latin American Studies, part of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

Guillermoprieto has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She has been a contributor since 1989, when her first “Letter from Bogota” appeared in the magazine. Since joining The New Yorker, she has written numerous articles on Latin America, including reports on the uprisings in Chiapas, Mexico, and about Pablo Escobar and the Colombian drug cartels. Her article on the Shining Path in Peru was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 1994.

Guillermoprieto has written two books. Her first, “Samba,” in which she describes her experiences while living for a year in a Rio de Janeiro slum, was nominated for a 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award, and her second, “The Heart That Bleeds,” brings together 13 stories which originally ran in The New Yorker between 1989 and 1993.

Assistant attorney general to speak on environmental protection

Lois J. Schiffer, assistant attorney general in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, will deliver the Timothy B. Atkeson Lecture on Thursday, March 25, on the topic “Environmental Protection Here and Abroad: A View from Justice.” Her talk, sponsored by the Law School, will begin at 4 p.m. in Rm. 122 of the Sterling Law Buildings, 127 Wall St. A reception will follow in the Law School Alumni Reading Room.

As the assistant attorney general, Schiffer manages the Environment and Natural Resources Division with responsibility for litigation on behalf of all federal agencies related to pollution, natural resources and certain Indian issues.

Artists on Art series to feature talk by prominent architect

Noted architect Cesar Pelli will give a talk in the Yale University Art Gallery’s “Artists on Art” series on Thursday, March 25, at 4 p.m. He will discuss three paintings in the permanent collection from different periods that are of architectural interest. They are “Scenes from the Passion: Deposition” by a 13th-century Italian artist known as an Associate of the Berlinghieri; “A Hanseatic Merchant” by Hans Holbein the Younger; and “Composition” by Piet Mondrian.

Pelli was dean of the Yale School of Architecture 1977-84, and continues to serve as a critic on the faculty. He established his firm, Cesar Pelli & Associates, in New Haven after a career in Michigan and California. The American Institute of Architects has selected Pelli as one of the 10 most influential living American artists, and ranked his design of the World Financial Center and Winter Garden in Battery Park in New York City as one of the 10 best works of American architecture since 1980.

Psychologist to speak on school experiences of black males

“Ethnicity, Gender and Achievement: The Schooling Experiences of African-American Males” is the title of a talk to be given by Margaret Beale Spencer, a developmental psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, on Friday, March 26. Her talk will begin at noon in Rm. 211 of the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St. The event is sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

Spencer is the Board of Overseers Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and is director of the university’s recently established W.E.B. DuBois Collective Research Institute. She is also director of the Center for Health, Achievement, Neighborhood, Growth and Ethnic Studies (CHANGES). For further information, call 432-9935.

Equestrian will be guest at master’s tea

Joseph Keusch, an equestrian, horse trainer and riding instructor, will be the guest at a tea on Friday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m. at the Calhoun College master’s house, 189 Elm St.

Keusch, a native of Switzerland, has ridden horses for more than 40 years and has taught riding for more than 25 years. He learned his craft under Paul Weier, Switzerland’s master riding instructor and five-time Olympic participant and medalist. Keusch has competed and trained in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States, and has foxhunted in Ireland, Switzerland and the United States. With his wife, Jan Neuharth, he founded Paper Chase Farms in Middleburg, Virginia, in 1985. The farm is considered one the nation’s premier equestrian facilities of its kind. Under Keusch’s guidance, the operations include boarding, training, lessons, foxhunting, clinics, horse shows and media events.

NOAA administrator to visit as Zucker Fellow

D. James Baker, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere at the U.S. Department of Commerce, will visit the campus on Monday, March 29, as the Zucker Environmental Fellow for spring 1999. At 2 p.m. that day, he will give a public lecture titled “Sustainability: A Paradigm for the Future” in the auditorium of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

Later that day, at 4:30 p.m., Baker will hold an informal talk at a tea in the Calhoun College master’s house, 189 Elm St. The public is invited to attend the free event. Both talks are sponsored by the Zucker Fellowship Fund.

In his current position, Baker is responsible for the National Weather Service; the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service; NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; the National Marine Fisheries Service; the National Ocean Service; and the United States delegation to the International Whaling Commission.

Sociologist/journalist to talk about culture war

Todd Gitlin, a professor of culture, journalism and sociology at New York University, will deliver a talk titled “The Twilight of Common Dreams: How the Left Won the Culture War and the Right Surrendered to Identity Politics” on Monday, March 29. His lecture will begin at 4 p.m. in Rm. 114 of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. The event is sponsored by the department of sociology.

Gitlin is the author of eight books, including “The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by Culture Wars,” “The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage” and “The Whole World Is Watching.” A revised edition of his book “Inside Prime Time” was recently published by the University of California Press and received the nonfiction award of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association.