UMass Amherst

Pizza & Prof Night

 

About Pizza & Prof Night

Held every Tuesday evening in the Commonwealth College Lounge, Pizza & Prof is a program designed to bring students and some of the amazing faculty at UMass together in a casual setting. Each week, a new professor comes to talk to students about a topic he or she chooses. In addition to the casual discussion, conversation and Q&A, students enjoy pizza from Sibies. Come join us each week for good times and good eats!

When

Every Tuesday starting at 6:30pm (pizza served at 6:15pm)

Where

504 Goodell, ComCol Lounge

RSVP Required - Acceptances Only

(RSVP: pizzaprof@comcol.umass.edu)

Sponsors

Pizza & Prof Night is made possible by the generous donations of parents, friends and alumni of Commonwealth College.

September 29th, 2009

Honors Seminar PnP: Professor Kathleen Brown-Perez Professor Kathleen Brown-Perez, an enrolled member of the Brothertown Indian Nation, a Federal Indian Law attorney, and Commonwealth College faculty member, will provide an introduction to American Indians and tribes from the perspective of both American Indians and the U.S. government, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Congress, and the Supreme Court. She will also answer questions on these and related issues.

October 6th, 2009

Honors Seminar Series Panel Discussion
Faculty from the Five College Native American Studies Program and the UMass departments of Anthropology, History, English and Comparative Literature will convene a panel discussion centered on “Ten Little Indians” and author Sherman Alexie.

October 20th, 2009

Anthropology: Professor Ventura Perez
Forensic Science
So, you’re hooked on CSI, Law and Order, and Bones and you’ve seen every Hannibal Lecter movie made. As a result, you think you know what it is that forensic scientists do. Well think again! If your ideas of forensic science is fueled by images of white-coat wearing forensic super hero scientists who can solve the case and put the bad guys away all in under two hours you are in need of a reality check.

Dr. Pérez will be speaking about his research regarding the taphonomy (changes to the body) of violence using case studies from the United States and Mexico. His presentation will demonstrate how the study of violence has often been conducted with little or no consideration for the specific and often unique cultural meanings associated with it. Warfare and violence are not merely reactions to a set of external variables but rather are encoded with intricate cultural meaning. This presentation will present Dr. Pérez’s findings on interdisciplinary techniques and new methodologies in the analysis of human remains from both archaeological contexts and modern cases that allow for a more nuanced interpretation of pathology of violence.

October 27th, 2009

Professor Eric Hamako
Zombie Orientals Ate My Brain

November 3rd, 2009

Professor Rafael Fissore
Mice, Pigs and Men: How the Egg Gets Activated

November 10th, 2009

Astronomy:  Professor Martha Hanner
Exploring Mars

November 17th, 2009

Professor Polin
An Economic Program for Peace between Israel and Palestine
A movement has been growing throughout the world to boycott Israel in protest against its policies toward Palestine. I strongly oppose this boycott. At the same time, I agree that economic levers probably have the best chance of dramatically shifting the status quo in the region. But instead of a one-sided boycott to punish Israel, why not pursue a positive agenda of economic development that would benefit both sides?

Consider, for example, a development aid package on the order of $10 billion spread over 2-4 years, with funds supplied on an equitable basis from the U.S., European Union, and the Arab oil-exporting countries. This amount would be enough to: 1) undertake a massive infrastructure investment and job creation program in Gaza and the West Bank to help create an economically viable Palestinian state; and 2) comfortably resettle the roughly half-million Israelis now living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and turn over these communities and homes to Palestinians. This second initiative would entail a large-scale home-building, community infrastructure and job creation program in Israel, perhaps concentrated in the less well developed northern and southern regions.

December 1st, 2009

Economics Department Chair Jerry Epstein
The Global Financial Crisis: What Caused it? And What Can we Do to Prevent Another One?

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANT: Please be prepared to stay until at least 7:30. People leaving early can cause a distraction for the other students and speaker. We ask that only those who plan to stay for the entire program attend and RSVP. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.