The University Scholar Series is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the University Library, Division of Research and Innovation and the Spartan Bookstore. Hosted by Provost Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., this series provides a unique opportunity for showcasing the important research and scholarly activities of SJSU faculty members. During each semester there are typically three speakers. The presentations included here date from the Fall 2010 semester to the present.
All students, faculty, and staff members are invited to attend these events. Members of the public are welcome as well.
If you would like additional information, please contact Annina Wyss-Lockner in the University Library at annina.wyss-lockner@sjsu.edu.
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University Scholar Series: Cathleen Miller
Cathleen Miller
Champion of Choice: The Life and Legacy of Women's Advocate Nafis Sadik
On March 19, 2014, Cathleen Miller spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Interim Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Miller spoke about her book, Champion of Choice: The Life and Legacy of Women's Advocate Nafis Sadik. Viewed as “one of the most powerful women in the world,” by the London Times, obstetrician Dr. Sadik took a post at the United Nations Population Fund in 1971. By 2000, the average birthrate had been cut in half because of Sadik’s new approach to provide females with the education and tools needed to control their own fertility. Cathleen Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. Her biography of UN leader Nafis Sadik was named one of Booklist's Top 10 Biographies for 2013.
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University Scholar Series: Ted Butryn and Matthew Masucci
Theodore Butryn and Matthew Masucci
Examining Female Triathletes' Awareness of Doping and the Anti-doping Movement
On February 26, 2014, Dr. Ted Butryn and Dr. Matthew Masucci spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Interim Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. SJSU professors Ted Butryn and Matthew Masucci co-investigated on a two-year World Anti-Doping Agency grant, which examined female triathletes and their awareness of doping and the anti-doping movement. Dr. Butryn is a 2012 Salzburg Fellow and Professor of Sport Sociology and Sport Psychology in the Department of Kinesiology. Dr. Masucci is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Sport Studies in Kinesiology. Both Butryn and Masucci co-direct the Department of Kinesiology's Qualitative Research Lab.
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University Scholar Series: Frances Edwards and Daniel Goodrich
Frances L. Edwards and Daniel Goodrich
Transportation Security After 9/11
On November 13, 2013, Dr. Frances Edwards and Daniel Goodrich gave a talk titled “Transportation Security After 9/11” as part of the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Frances L. Edwards is Deputy Director of the National Transportation Security Center at Mineta Transportation Institute, professor of political science, and director of the MPA program at SJSU. Dan Goodrich is a Research Associate with Mineta Transportation Institute at SJSU, and a lecturer in the MSTM and MPA programs. Together, they have authored the textbook Introduction to Transportation Security. They will discuss the role of transportation in the economy and the challenges of maintaining the security of these critical infrastructure systems.
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University Scholar Series: Carlos Sánchez
Carlos Sánchez
The History of Philosophy in Latin America
On October 29, 2013, Dr. Carlos Sánchez gave a talk titled “The History of Philosophy in Latin America” in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Carlos Sánchez’s research focuses on the history of philosophy in Latin America. His latest work proposes that Latin American philosophy, particularly in the last century, manifests itself as a form of “decolonial critique,” or a critical confrontation with the lingering force of colonialism in Latin America. Sánchez has recently published a book about the phenomenology of the Mexican philosopher Jorge Portilla, entitled The Suspension of Seriousness.
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University Scholar Series: Scott Shaffer
Scott Shaffer
A New Form Of Biotechnology: Novel Data Logging Devices Reveal Secrets About The Lives Of Marine Animals
On September 25, 2013, Dr. Scott Shaffer gave a talk titled “A New Form Of Biotechnology: Novel Data Logging Devices Reveal Secrets About The Lives Of Marine Animals” as part of the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Shaffer’s research focuses on the ecology, physiology, and conservation of marine vertebrate species. Specifically, he uses novel smart technologies to study long-range movements, distribution, and behavior of wild seabirds and marine mammals. This new form of biotechnology is shedding light on the secret lives of marine animals that range widely over the open sea. Dr. Shaffer has used this technology to study animals in Alaska, Antarctica, the Arctic, and the tropical Pacific. Dr. Shaffer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
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University Scholar Series: Joel Franks
Joel Franks
Batter Up!: Race, Colonization, and Baseball in the Twentieth Century
On April 24, 2013 Joel Franks spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Joel Franks spoke about race, colonization, and baseball in the twentieth century. Dr. Franks teaches Asian American Studies and American Studies. He has done extensive research and writing in the area of Asian Pacific American sports. His most recent work, The Barnstorming Hawaiian Travelers: A Multiethnic Baseball Team Tours the Mainland, 1912- 1916, tells the story of a multiethnic, multiracial team of Hawaiian ballplayers who played across the continental U.S. from 1912 through 1916. This book sheds light on a little known tale of baseball, race, and colonization in the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century.
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University Scholar Series: Natalie Boero
Natalie C. Boero
How and Why Obesity Has Emerged as a Public Health Concern
On March 20, 2013 Natalie Boero spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Natalie Boero talked about how and why obesity emerged as a public health concern and her book "Killer Fat: Media, Medicine, and Morals in the American 'Obesity Epidemic,'" which examines how and why obesity emerged as a public health concern and national obsession in recent years. It enters the world of bariatric surgeries and diet programs to show how common expectations of what bodies should look like help determine what interventions and policies are considered urgent in containing this epidemic. This book offers an alternate framing of obesity based on the insights of the “Health at Every Size” movement. Natalie Boero is an associate professor in the Sociology Department.
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University Scholar Series: Sally Ashton
Sally Ashton
Making Sense of Contemporary Poetry
On February 27, 2013 Sally Ashton spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Sally Ashton is currently the Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, lecturer in the English and Creative Writing Departments at SJSU, and Editor-in-Chief of DMQ Review, an online journal featuring poetry and art. As Poet Laureate, and as a poet and teacher, she has spent the past several years familiarizing people with poetry and making a case for its place in their lives. Ashton talks about these experiences and discuss "how a poem means," her own writing, and how someone might come to enjoy contemporary poetry.
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University Scholar Series: Craig B. Clements
Craig B. Clements
Groundbreaking Research on Wildfire Weather
On November 28, 2012 Craig B. Clements spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Craig Clements is an associate professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science who received a $900,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant for his work in tracking atmospheric conditions in and around wildfires. His work will better help predict wildfire behavior and conditions that could lead to increased wildfire danger.
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University Scholar Series: Jan English-Lueck
Jan English-Lueck
Unique and Medically Diverse Health Culture in the Silicon Valley
On October 24, 2012 Dr. Jan English-Lueck spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Jan English-Lueck is the associate dean of the College of Social Sciences and a distinguished anthropologist. She has written ethnographies detailing the lives of California's alternative healers and China's scientists. She is also the author of several books on Silicon Valley that explore how working in Silicon Valley shapes our communities, families, and bodies.
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University Scholar Series: Amy D'Andrade
Amy D'Andrade
Improving State-mandated 'Reasonable Efforts': Innovative Strategies to Improve Outcomes for Families Attempting Reunification with Children Placed in Foster Care
On September 26, 2012 Dr. Amy D'Andrade spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Dr. Amy D'Andrade is an associate professor in the School of Social Work in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) and director of the CASA Center for Applied Research in Human Services (CARHS). Her recent research focuses on the process of reunification between parents and their children placed in foster care. D'Andrade's studies provide a deeper understanding of the problems that parents attempting reunification confront, and explore challenges in the social service system designed to help parents resolve their problems.
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University Scholar Series: Alejandro Garcia
Alejandro Garcia
Collaborating with DreamWorks
On April 25, 2012 Professor Alejandro Garcia spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Professor Alejandro Garcia developed and teaches Physics of Animation, a science course for visual artists. During 2011, he took a professional leave and worked in DreamWorks Animation's department of Artistic Development as a physics consultant on Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. In this seminar, Alejandro Garcia describes the animation industry from both the scientific and artistic perspectives
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University Scholar Series: Kim Komenich
Kim Komenich
"Revolution Revisited"
On March 21, 2012, SJSU Assistant Professor Kim Komenich spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Kim Komenich worked for 30 years as a photojournalist for the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner. He was awarded the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for photographs of the Philippine Revolution he made while on assignment for the Examiner. Komenich’s current creative project, “Revolution Revisited,” is a 25th Anniversary look back at the 1986 Philippine “People Power” Revolution. In 2012, he will publish the book, Revolution Revisited, and a full-length documentary film by the same name.
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University Scholar Series: Ruth Wilson
Ruth Wilson
Genes, Guts and Grit: The Legacy of Three Extraordinary African American Women
On February 29, 2012 Dr. Ruth Wilson spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Ellen Junn at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Ruth Wilson is a Professor and the Chair of the African-American Studies Department at SJSU. Her current research focuses on African American women and the new black diversity in the African-American community. In this seminar, Ruth Wilson provides an overview of three women "She-roes" in American history: Lucy Terry Prince, Maria Stewart, and Henrietta Lacks, whose contributions add texture to the characteristic descriptions of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century American woman. Their pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness included extraordinary acts of courage, intellect, strength, and generosity.
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University Scholar Series: Brandon White
Brandon White
Use and Applications of HeLa Cells in Science and Biotechnology
On October 26, 2011, Dr. Brandon White spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Brandon White is an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at SJSU, teaching courses in molecular biology, molecular biological techniques, and cell biology. His research focuses on Notch signaling and identification, and characterization of natural products involved in cell death of cancer cells. In this seminar, Dr. Brandon White discusses the use and applications of HeLa cells in science and biotechnology.
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University Scholar Series: Monika Kress
Monika Kress
Meteorites and the Origin of Habitable Worlds
On November 30, 2011, Dr. Monika Kress spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Monika Kress is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at SJSU and also a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute's Virtual Planetary Laboratory. In this seminar, she presents the theory of solar system formation, focusing on meteorites. Dr. Kress also describes a first-hand account of how meteorites are recovered from the most fertile meteorite-hunting ground on Earth: Antarctica
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University Scholar Series: Danelle Moon
Danelle Moon
Daily Life of Women During the Civil Rights Era
On September 28, 2011, Danelle Moon spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Danelle Moon is the Director of Special Collections & Archives, a Full Librarian, and Adjunct Professor of History at SJSU. In this seminar, she talks about her book, Daily Life of Women During the Civil Rights Era, which looks at the variety of women's experiences in promoting social justice and human rights into the United States from 1920 to the 1980s. It gives the audience a deeper understanding of the complexity of gender, class, and race in America.
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University Scholar Series: Jonathan Roth
Jonathan P. Roth
Roman Warfare
On April 13, 2011 Jonathan Roth spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Jonathan Roth is a Professor in the History Department at SJSU. In this seminar, he examines the evolution of Roman war over its thousand-year history. He highlights the changing arms and equipment of the soldiers, unit organization and command structure, and the wars and battles of each era.
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University Scholar Series: Marc d'Alarcao
Marc d'Alarcao
Synthetic Organic Chemistry to Shed Light on Type II Diabetes and Cancer
On March 16, 2011 Marc d'Alarcao spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Marc d'Alarcao is a Professor in the Chemistry Department at SJSU. In this seminar, he gives a progress report on his work aimed at developing and synthesizing new compounds that are designed to take advantage of this metabolic difference. His hope is that these compounds will be selectively toxic to cancer cells and may provide a new strategy for treating this major threat to human health.
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University Scholar Series: Natalie Batalha
Natalie Batalha
The NASA Kepler Mission
On February 16, 2011 Natalie Batalha spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. As deputy science team lead for NASA's Kepler Mission, SJSU Associate Professor Natalie Batalha was at the forefront of today's confirmation that the mission has discovered its first rocky planet, named Kepler-10b. Measuring 1.4 times the size of Earth, it is the smallest planet ever discovered outside our solar system. As a member of the Kepler team, Batalha is responsible for the selection of the more than 150,000 stars the spacecraft monitors and works closely with team members at Ames to identify viable planet candidates from Kepler photometry.
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University Scholar Series: Mary Pickering
Mary Pickering
Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography
On November 17, 2010 Mary Pickering spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Mary Pickering discussed her three-volume Pulitzer Prize nominated work entitled Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography. Comte was a French Philosopher and the father of sociology. Professor Pickering teaches courses at SJSU in French history, German history, European women's history, and urban history.
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University Scholar Series: Scott Myers-Lipton
Scott Myers-Lipton
Rebuild America: Solving the Economic Crisis through Civic Works
On October 13, 2010, Scott Myers-Lipton spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Scott Myers-Lipton is a Professor in the Sociology Department at SJSU. His recent book, titled Rebuild America: Solving the Economic Crisis through Civic Works, analyzes the history of U.S. public works and explores the federal government's new emphasis to create jobs and build infrastructure.
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University Scholar Series: Laurie Drabble
Laurie A. Drabble
Alcohol and Drug Addiction Among Marginalized Populations of Women
On September 29, 2010 Laurie Drabble spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Gerry Selter at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Laurie Drabble is an associate professor in Social Work with her research focusing on understanding alcohol and drug-related problems among marginalized populations of women and she has conducted a number of studies exploring collaboration between addiction treatment and child welfare fields. She has worked as Executive Director of the California Women's Commission on Alcohol and Drug Dependencies and a consultant in prevention strategies, strategic planning, and non-profit management.