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UCR Libraries' Author Series: 2003-2004

The UCR Libraries’ Author Series presentations will be held at 3:15-4:30 p.m. in the Tomás Rivera Library, Special Collections and are free and open to the public.  The roster for the Series is as follows:

October 15, 2003 - John de Pillis

John de Pillis, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, will speak on his book, 777 Mathematical Conversation Starters. Combining his early career as a commercial artist with his research in mathematics, Dr. de Pillis uses cartoons, jokes, and examples from popular culture to explain mathematical concepts in a way accessible to mathematicians and non-mathematicians alike. The book explores such entertaining topics as the mathematical value of fame; how successfully H.G. Wells anticipated the future, and why good logic makes for good picnics.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

November 19, 2003 - Sharon Salinger

Sharon V. Salinger, Professor of History, will speak on her book Taverns and Drinking in Early America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), the first study of public houses and drinking in the colonies. The book explores the origins of taverns, their proliferation, the ends that they served in the colonies, and their effect – or lack thereof – in breaking down class and gender differences. Salinger is also the author of To Serve Well and Faithfully (Cambridge University Press, 1987), which traces the history of unfree labor in colonial Pennsylvania. She is currently working on a study of poverty and migration into eighteenth-century Boston.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

December 10, 2003 - William and Mary Lavender

William Lavender, a novelist, and Mary Lavender, a professional researcher and long-time officer of the Friends of the UCR Libraries, will speak about their collaborative work on Lavender’s historical novel, Just Jane: A Daughter of England Caught in the Struggle of the American Revolution (Gulliver Books, Harcourt, 2002). Nominated for the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults in 2002, Just Jane is Lavender’s first novel for younger readers. Lavender has authored five other novels including Chinaberry.   About the Author  Books by William Lavender in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

January 21, 2004 - Iqbal Pittalwala

Iqbal Pittalwala, former Campus Communications Officer for Science and Engineering at the Office of Marketing and Media Relations at UC Riverside, will read from his book of short stories Dear Paramount Pictures (Southern Methodist University, 2002). In addition to a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences, Pittalwala holds an M.F.A in creative writing. His stories have appeared in the Seattle Review, Blue Mesa Review, Confrontation, Trikone, and other magazines. He teaches a writing and critiquing workshop in fiction at the UC Riverside Extension Center.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

February 18, 2004 - Alan McHughen

Alan McHughen, Professor of Botany and Plant Sciences, will speak on his book Pandora’s Picnic Basket: The Potential and Hazards of Genetically Modified Foods (Oxford University Press, 2000). A molecular geneticist, public sector educator, scientist and consumer advocate, McHughen has helped develop U.S. and Canadian regulations covering the environmental release of plants with novel traits. He also served on recent National Academy of Science and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development panels investigating the environmental and health effects of genetically modified organisms.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

March 24, 2004 - Stephen Spindler

Stephen Spindler, Professor of Biochemistry, will speak on his intriguing research on the correlation between calorie restriction and longevity. Spindler asserts that the fewer the calories an animal consumes – provided malnutrition is avoided – the slower an animal ages and the lower the death rate from cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Spindler has served on several advisory groups and committees for the National Institute on Aging, and National Institutes of Health.   About the Author   Articles by the author View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)

April 14, 2004 - Maurya Simon

Maurya Simon, Chair and Professor of Creative Writing, will read from her books of poetry, Ghost Orchid (Red Hen Press, 2004) and A Brief History of Punctuation (Sutton Hoo Press, 2002). Simon is also the author of The Enchanted Room and Days of Awe (Copper Canyon Press, 1986, 1989), Speaking in Tongues (Gibbs Smith, 1990), and The Golden Labyrinth (Univ. of Missouri Press, 1995). Her sixth volume of poetry, Weavers, is forthcoming from Blackbird Press. Professor Simon’s poems have appeared in several publications, including The New Yorker, Poetry, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, the New England Review, and in more than thirty anthologies.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)  (Available on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at 3:15pm)

May 19, 2004 - Howard Wettstein

Howard K. Wettstein, Professor of Philosophy, will speak on Diaspora and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity (University of California Press, 2002), which he edited. Wettstein is also the author of Has Semantics Rested on a Mistake? and Other Essays (Stanford University Press, 1991), and The Magic Prism—An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (Oxford University Press, 2003), and numerous articles on the philosophy of language. Diaspora and Exiles considers the question of Jewish identity from the perspectives of anthropology, art history, comparative literature, history, philosophy, political theory, and sociology.   About the Author   Books by the author in the UCR Libraries View Webcast (Requires QuickTime Player)  (Available on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 at 3:15pm)

Directions to the Tomás Rivera Library. News reports on the series. Other year’s lectures:   • 2006-2007   • 2005-2006   • 2004-2005   • 2003-2004   • 2002-2003

For more information contact: Melissa Conway 951-827-3233 melissa.conway@ucr.edu

(To view the broadcast you will need to have a current version of QuickTime® Player which can be downloaded for free from the Quicktime Download Page. You will need to reboot your computer after installing the software.)

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Other author series in Riverside:

 Author Events @ the Riverside Public Library

Posted on 5/29/03 by K. Furuta