Osher Lifelong Learning Institute - UC San Diego

Distinguished Lecture Series
Thursday 1:00 p.m.
Price Center, Ballroom B
January 17
Richard Dreyfuss
Common Sense is Not Common: A Conversation
with Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss is Founder and President of the
Dreyfuss Initiative (TDI), a nonprofit organization
committed to revitalizing America’s civic culture.
TDI is a non-partisan public corporation whose
mission and vision is a nationwide effort to renew,
elevate, and enhance the teaching of civics in
schools. Its objective is to provide their youth
and society at large with the tools necessary
to be effective stewards of their representative
democracy, to make all aware of not only
their rights under the constitution, but their
responsibilities as well. This conversation with Mr.
Dreyfuss will be a free flowing discussion of the
problems created when school systems failed to
see the critical importance of including civics in
their curriculum.
Richard Dreyfuss serves on the American Bar
Association’s Education Committee and the Board
of the National Constitution Center, is a member
of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was
Senior Research Advisory Member of St. Antony’s
College, Oxford University.
This presentation will be recorded for broadcast by
UCSD-TV.
Coordinator: Stanley M. Faer
Classroom 129
January 24
William Widdowson, Ph.D.
Metaphor: Freight Or Fuel?
Keeping abreast of developments in science
can be challenging in the best of circumstances.
As scientific ideas evolve, the language used
to formulate and communicate those ideas
doesn’t always keep pace. For example, even
though Copernicus has been dead since 1543,
people continue to refer to the “sunrise” and the
“sunset.” A more specific and contentious example
is the concept of the “selfish gene” introduced by
Richard Dawkins. The use of metaphor in scientific
speech and writing in evolutionary biology provides
an especially rich field. Since metaphors sometimes
facilitate and sometimes hinder one’s attempts
to understand and communicate complex ideas,
a critical analysis of their role should prove both
interesting and useful.
William Widdowson is a professor emeritus at the
University of Cincinnati. He earned an M.A. from
Rice University and a Ph.D. from the University of
Pennsylvania.
Coordinator: Jim Wyrtzen
January 31
Ellen Cassedy, M.F.A.
We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian
Holocaust
Ellen Cassedy’s new book, We Are Here: Memories
of the Lithuanian Holocaust, tells the story of her
personal journey into the Jewish heartland of
Lithuania — the land of her Jewish forebears —
and then expands into a larger exploration. How
does a country scarred by genocide move forward
into the future? Can one honor their heritage
without perpetuating the fears and hatreds of the
past? Probing the terrain of memory and moral
dilemmas, Cassedy will ask challenging questions
and shine a spotlight on fragile efforts toward
mutual understanding. Her book carries a cautious
message of hope.
Ellen Cassedy, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist,
has explored the world of the Lithuanian Holocaust
for ten years. She is a former columnist for the
Philadelphia Daily News whose articles have
appeared in Hadassah, Ha’aretz, The Forward,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Huffington Post,
and other publications.
Coordinator: Reed Sullivan
31