Lecture Archive 2021–2022
Alternative Splicing of RNA de(livers) Prometheus’ Promise
Auinash Kalsotra
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Format: Zoom Meeting
This lecture will focus on the identification of a conserved RNA splicing program that supports the development and maturation of the liver. Dr. Kalsotra will show that following any sort of liver injury in adult animals, this developmental program is transiently re-activated to enable liver regeneration. He will also demonstrate that in alcohol-induced liver failure, the sustained re-activation of this developmental program causes the liver to shed its adult functions and become more regenerative, which threatens overall survival by populating the liver with functionally-immature cells.
Auinash Kalsotra, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and a faculty member at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of Cancer Center @ Illinois; Assistant Director of Junior Faculty Mentoring and Advising; Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Study; William C. Rose Professional Scholar; and Associate Editor, WIREs RNA(Wiley). Dr. Kalsotra received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston and did postdoctoral work at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
Photographing George Washington
Cara Finnegan
Thursday, December 9, 2021
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Format: Zoom Meeting
In this heavily illustrated talk, Professor Cara Finnegan discusses a piece of her recent book, Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital (Illinois Press, 2021). She asks why George Washington emerged as a subject of early photography after its invention in 1839. Unavailable to be photographed from life (he had died fifty years earlier), Washington’s image nevertheless circulated in daguerreotypes of busts and painted portraits. In this early moment in the history of photography, the urge to “photograph” Washington illustrated the immediacy with which photography and the presidency became linked together in the public mind.
Cara Finnegan is a Professor in the Department of Communication. She joined the university in 1999 after completing her Ph.D. at Northwestern University. She holds affiliated appointments in the Center for Writing Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Art History. She was named a University Scholar in 2017.
Finnegan’s ideas about photography and visual politics have been featured in a variety of publications in the fields of Communication and U.S. History, as well as in popular media outlets such as the New York Times, CBS, and Vox.
OLLI Library Basics
Sarah Christensen
Monday, December 6, 2021
3:00 - 4:00 p.m
Format: Zoom Meeting
As an OLLI member, you have access to one of the greatest libraries in the country. The University of Illinois Library partners with OLLI to bring members access to the largest public university research library in the United States. Although this session is meant to introduce new or recent OLLI members to the many resources of the University Library, it is open to all OLLI members. Feel free to attend even if you have already attended a session in the past and would like a refresher on the many U of I Library benefits.
Sarah Christensen, University of Illinois Librarian, will provide information on what library privileges OLLI members have, instructions on how to check out materials from the library, including books and videos, and access online databases such as PubMed and ArtStor, as well as read online newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
The Novels of Richard Powers – final lecture
Bill Regier
Monday, November 29, 2021
3:00 - 4:30 p.m
Location: OLLI – Osher classroom
The cold months of COVID interrupted the OLLI course, “The Novels of Richard Powers,” just as it got to the grand finale on Generosity, Orfeo, and The Overstory. Many OLLI members have happily read The Overstory and agreed gleefully when it won the Pulitzer Prize. Many of you were glad in 2020 to join others gathered to hear about Powers. Now you can again.
OLLI welcomes back members of the “Richard Powers” class and other OLLI members to hear this postponed lecture in person. Yes, everybody must wear a mask, but there’s good news to compensate for that: the lecture will also include Powers’ new novel, Bewilderment.
University of Illinois Library Tour
Sarah Christensen
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Location: Main Library, Marshall Gallery
1408 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
The University of Illinois Library welcomes OLLI members on a tour of the Main Library building. The tour will include several libraries, as well as a discussion about the history of the building and the art in the library.
The Geology of Building Materials on the UIUC Campus
Walking tour led by Stephen Marshak
Professor Emeritus, Department of Geology, University of Illinois
Saturday, November 6, 2021
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Meet in the Lobby of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, near ticket booth.
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
500 S Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Parking is free in Krannert Center’s underground garages in the evenings after 5pm and all day on weekends.
Most of the materials used for construction on the UIUC campus come from the Earth. Examples include not only the stone slabs that underlie the Alma Mater or line the lobby walls of Krannert Center, but also ones (such as concrete, brick, glass, metal, and plastic) that were manufactured from Earth materials (e.g., limestone, clay, sand, ore, and oil respectively).
Weather permitting, we’ll take a walk around the campus to examine these materials. We will identify them, will discuss where they come from (both in a geological and manufacturing sense), and will consider why architects choose particular materials for particular purposes. The stroll will take about two hours, and while it won’t be strenuous, it will involve climbing some steps. If it rains, we will postpone until the following Saturday, November 13.
Nazi Pink Polka-Dots and Other Map Games
Fred Christensen
Friday, November 5, 2021, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Location: OLLI – Osher Classroom (the large room near the elevators)
This talk will provide a case study in the manipulation of history. Totalitarian regimes try to control the past as well as the present, and when the Nazis seized power in Germany schoolbooks of all sorts were forced to reflect their ideology. The excellent Putzgers historical atlas was widely used before and after the Nazi years, but during those years some of its maps were altered and new ones added. Fred Christensen will use images of these maps to compare the 1935 Putzgers with earlier editions. The changes are revealing. Nazi views on race and politics were imposed on maps in three main sections: prehistory, the German migrations and the fall of Rome, and recent history since the Treaty of Versailles. A look at these will show how much the new ideas differed from earlier views—and in some revealing cases, how they did not differ that much from widely held attitudes in German and European culture.
Fred Christensen is a former history instructor at the University of Kentucky and assistant professor of military science at the University of Illinois. He teaches noncredit classes for OLLI and other venues, in five areas of history and archaeology: Britain, Germany, early America, Israel/the Holy Land, and military history in general. He has taught many OLLI courses and led numerous study groups since 2008.
Doctor Who Discussion
Lynne M, Thomas
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 - 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Zoom Format: Meeting
Are you a fan of the Doctor Who television series or interested in learning more about it? Participants will watch the Black Orchid episode (parts 1 & 2 links are below) of Doctor Who on their own and then join Lynne M. Thomas and OLLI member Trisha Crowley for a lively Q & A discussion about the episodes and the program in general.
Episode 1: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x73ddk0
Episode 2: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x73dg7j
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television program broadcast by BBC One since 1963. The program depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called "the Doctor." The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. With various companions, the Doctor combats foes, works to save civilizations, and helps people in need.
The show is a significant part of British popular culture, and elsewhere it has gained a cult following. It has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of whom grew up watching the show. It’s the longest-running science fiction television show in the world,[5] as well as the "most successful" science fiction series of all time, based on its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, and iTunes traffic.
Lynne M. Thomas is Head of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois and a massive fan of the Doctor Who series. Trisha Crowley is an OLLI member and a science fiction fan.
Navigating the Performing Arts Through the Pandemic
Mike Ross
Thursday, August 19, 2021 - 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Zoom Format: Meeting
An assessment of the current state of the performing arts — nationally and globally — through the lens of the director of Krannert Center. Director Ross will also provide an inside look at how the Center continues to adapt to the unfolding challenges of the pandemic and a preview of performances being planned for the coming season.
Blame It on the Bossa Nova!
John Bennett and Sam Reese
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 – 10:00 – 11:00 am
Zoom Format: Meeting
The recent OLLI session “Hello, Central, Give Me Doctor Jazz!” was met with so much interest that Dr. Jazz (aka Sam Reese) and his sidekick Li’l Johnny (aka John Lansingh Bennett) weren’t able to accommodate everyone for their 21st-century Zoom version of a call-in show.
What to do but schedule another!
Thinking about the question “What was your earliest jazz turn on, and how’d you come upon it?” Dr. Jazz kicked things off talking about John Coltrane’s album Crescent.
Time ran out before Li’l Johnny could talk about Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd—the song that kicked off the bossa nova craze in the States.
So, blame it on the bossa nova. These two enthusiasts are coming back!
Lend them your ears as they listen and talk. And don’t be bashful. They’d love to hear about one of your early jazz romances—it needn’t be a bossa nova; any jazz will do. In fact, if there’s a song you’d like to mention, send the title and artist to samreese@illinois.edu and they’ll cue it up.
The lyric that inspired these sessions:
Hello, Central, give me Doctor Jazz.
He's got just what I need, I'll say he has.
When the world goes wrong, and I've got the blues,
He's the man who makes me get out both my dancin’ shoes.
The more I get, the more I want, it seems.
I page old Doctor Jazz in all my dreams,
When I'm trouble bound and mixed,
He's the guy that gets me fixed,
Hello, Central, give me Doctor Jazz.