Academy for Learning in Retirement
Genetics and Its Impact on Medicine and Agriculture
Presented by Dr. Champa Gopalan
Distinguished Professor Plant & Environment Sciences, NMSU
Mondays and Wednesdays
May 20, 22, 27, & 29
I will review the field of Genetics from the time of mendel, who showed the relationship between the inheritance of genes and the outcomes of the traits in organisms, to our present understanding of genetics at the molecular level. Included in this review will be the genetic code, DNA replication, transcription of DNA into messenger RNA, translation of mRNA into proteins that are essential parts of organisms. The process of gene mutation, its consequences, and its uses in biotech processes that lead to the development of products of great use for the benefit of humans will be discussed.
Our Fall 2013 schedule includes a varitey of topics. Make sure you attend them all!
September
Struggling to Create Justice in
the Post-Civil Rights Era
Presented by Dr. Robert J. Duran,A
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, NMSU
Dr. Duran is the author of a recent book on gangs, "Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider's Journey."He will present a series of four lectures on this topic.
1. Overview of crime, violence, inequality, and criminal justice
2. Understanding Gang Violence
3. Addressing Police Violence
4. Empowerment from One Generation to the Next
Dates:
Tuesdays-September 10, 17 , 24 and
Thursday- September 19
October
We Live in an Interconnected World
Presented by Dr. Paul O'Connell
Affiliated Faculty, Economics, NMSU and DACC
From economic, cultural, health, security & political perspectives the world is now interconnected. In the initial session of this series, Dr. O'Connell will review his 11 years with the World Bank- discussing who created it and why, type of loans, how project management works, success and failure over the last 65 years, and his involvement. The second session will discuss implications of trends such as gobalization, improvements in technology, increased inequality, and managing the federal debt. The third session will look at contending economic theories - Capitalist, Marxist and Keynesian- and how they impact today's economic and political divisions. In the final session, Dr. O'Connell will discuss his recent economic development experiences in Afghanistan.
Dates:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
October 15, 17, 22, 24
November
Science and the Secrets of Nature
Presented by Dr. William Eamon
Regents Professor of History
Dean, Honors College, NMSU
The idea that science should, in principle, be public knowledge is imbedded in our understanding of how science should comport itself. Science must be public so that its claims can be tested. Secrecy, most agree, has no place in science. But, curiously, this was not always the case. For centuries "secrets" and secrecy played an important role in science. This program will look at the tensions between secrecy and public knowledge through an examination of the "books of secrets" from the Middle Ages through the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. These strange and esoteric works, containing the accumulated experiments and observations of craftsmen, alchemists, and magicians, fascinated intellectuals because they promised access to "secrets of nature" known only to a few. During the Renaissance, the books of secrets exploded into popularity, generating immense curiosity about how nature worked, not merely how it looked, and offering readers a hands-on, experimental approach that made traditional science seem abstract and sterile.
Beginning in classical antiquity, the program will look at the idea of the "secrets of nature" and how it shaped scientific attitudes; then move on to examine the Arabic "secret sciences" of alchemy, astrology, and magic and their assimilation into medieval natural philosophy; and finally to an exploration of how the tradition of esotericism gave way to the modern idea of science as public knowledge.
Dates:
Mondays and Wednesdays
November 4, 6, 11, 13
December
In the Service of the Institution
Presented by Martha Shipman Andrews
University Archivist, NMSU Library
Lecture I: New Mexico Aggies at War: 1941-1945: The World War II Correspondence of Dean Daniel B. Jett. Dean Jett carried on a personal correspondence with hundreds of his former students stationed stateside and throughout the world. His energy and enthusiasm boosted morale and created a unique legacy of insight into the lives of young men and women involved in cataclysmic world events. The nearly 5000 letters speak eloquently for themselves, so this lecture will take the form of a reading with commentary and multi-media enhancement.
Lecture II: New Mexico State College's Forgotten Presidents: Luther Foster, Winfred E. Garrison, George E. Ladd, and Austin D. Crile. These four presidents, variously degreed in agriculture, geology and theology, labored to establish a firm foundation of responsible administration for New Mexico's land-grant institution as New Mexico transitioned from Territory to Statehood. One by one, however, they were made to "walk the plank" because their ambitions crashed up against the prevailing-and shifting-political landscape.
Dates:
Monday and Wednesday
December 9, 11