Designed to create a campus-wide conversation, the Helen and Jeff Herbert Family University Lecture Series gives first-year students an opportunity to interact with leading members of our faculty—scholars, scientists, and civic leaders who are nationally and internationally renowned. All students, faculty, alumni, staff and community guests are invited, but the events will be aimed at entering first-year students. The Helen and Jeff Herbert Family University Lecture Series is generously brought to UT Austin by the Helen and Jeff Herbert family.
Spring 2019
The Role of the Impostor Phenomenon in Ethnic Minority Student Achievement
Dr. Kevin Cokley, College of Liberal Arts
February 11 | 7-8 p.m. | Texas Union Theatre
Approximately 70% of all people experience feeling like an impostor. Ethnic minority students are especially prone to feeling like an impostor on predominantly white campuses. This lecture will define the impostor phenomenon and discuss its role in the academic outcomes and mental health of ethnic minority students.
The Past, Present, and Future of the American Death Penalty
Prof. Jordan Steiker, School of Law
March 5 | 7-8 p.m. | Texas Union Theatre
This talk will focus on the past, present, and future of the American death penalty. Professor Steiker will focus on topics such as – the role of race in the American death penalty; the changing discourse in the American death penalty debate; the prospects for abolition in the U.S.; and more.
Sleeping Your Way to Academic Success
Dr. Patricia Carter, School of Nursing
April 2 | 7-8 p.m. | Texas Union Theatre
In this talk, Dr. Carter will discuss the science as it relates to what we know/suspect is true about sleep and roles that sleep plays in learning and memory.
The MasSpec Pen: Detecting Cancer by Touch
Dr. Livia Eberlin, Department of Chemistry
April 17 | 7-8 p.m. | Texas Union Theatre
Dr. Eberlin will describe her lab’s effort in developing the MasSpec Pen technology for cancer diagnosis and surgical margin evaluation. Focus will be given to their efforts designing the technology, including their exciting recent research testing the device in human surgeries.
Fall 2019
Defendant…How Do You Plead? A Look Into the American Justice System
Dr. Jim Patton, Department of Special Education; Prof. Jordan Steiker, School of Law; Dr. Mary Rose, Department of Sociology
Sept. 23 | 7-8 p.m. | Bass Concert Hall
Professor Steiker’s talk will focus on the past, present, and future of the American death penalty. Professor Steiker will focus on topics such as – the role of race in the American death penalty; the substantial withering of American capital practice; the changing discourse in the American death penalty debate; the prospects for abolition in the U.S.; and the American death penalty in comparative/international perspective.
In this talk, Dr. Rose will suggest that defendants “plead” far too often. Specifically, she will talk about the important role of juries in the American legal system. She will argue that, although juries are by no means perfect decision makers, they were integral to the Founders’ vision of a fair legal system, and particularly within the last half-century, we have permitted powerful others to seize the jury’s power, making the system less fair.
Prof. James Patton talk will focus on how the death penalty applies to individuals who have, or are believed to have, intellectual disability (ID). In 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that the death penalty could not be used with individuals who have an intellectual disability. His talk will focus on the realities and issues associated with this exemption. Prof. Patton will share his experiences serving as an intellectual disability specialist in over 60 cases in which an ID claim has been raised. Specifically, he will highlight the ongoing issues in demonstrating that someone has ID in death penalty cases.
One Giant Leap: 50th Anniversary of the First Moon Landing
Dr. Moriba Jah, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics; Dr. Caitlin Casey, Department of Astronomy; Dr. Wallace Fowler, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Sept. 24 | 7-8 p.m. | Bass Concert Hall
Dr. Jah will speak about the current state of space traffic and why we possibly face a “tragedy of the commons” in near Earth space and what he suggests we need to do to try and prevent such a thing, promoting space security, safety, and sustainability.
Dr. Fowler will discuss selected memories of the preparations for Apollo.
The past fifty years have been special for our relationship and evolving understanding of the cosmos. While we have taken our first steps beyond our Earth, we have set our eyes on a horizon almost incomprehensibly vast: the Universe itself. Astronomers and Astrophysicists have learned so much from the development of modern cameras and space-based observatories, from the formation of planetary systems around other stars to the most distant specs of light that have traveled billions of years to reach us. Dr. Casey will look back on some of these profound discoveries and how difficult they were while also providing an outlook for the future of astronomy and its relationship to space exploration.
Medical Humanities Poetry Reading and Lecture
Rafael Campo, M.D.
Nov. 11th | 7 p.m. | Jackson Geological Sciences Building Room 2.324
Dr. Rafael Campo will read his poetry and discuss the role of the humanities in the education and professional practice of health care providers. Dr. Campo, a primary care physician and professor at Harvard Medical School, is the foremost doctor-poet in the United States. In his practice and teaching Dr. Campo has a special interest in helping underserved people, and that is one subject about which he writes.
Dr. Campo has a special relationship with The University of Texas at Austin. For the past two years he has been a consultant to the team developing a new Bridging Disciplines Program “Patients, Practitioners, and Cultures of Care,” and a related program in Plan II, “Humanities, Health Care, and Advocacy.” This event launches these two programs.
We hope that you and your students will join Dr. Campo for what will be an emotionally moving and joyous event. This event may be used to fulfill the University Lecture Series requirement.
Indigeneity, the Land, and Storytelling: A Difficult Dialogues Public Forum
Martha Redbone, Angelo Baca, and Anne Lewis
Nov. 13th | 7 p.m. | Santa Rita Suite, The Texas Union
This fall the UT Humanities Institute is partnering with Texas Performing Arts and Native American and Indigenous Studies to host a Difficult Dialogues public panel featuring musician Martha Redbone with filmmakers Angelo Baca and Anne Lewis titled “Indigeneity, the Land, and Storytelling.” The artists will first present brief samples of their creative work. They will then engage in a conversation, moderated by HI director Pauline Strong, about the relation of their work to social issues such as land rights, labor rights, and indigenous traditions. This will be followed by a roundtable discussion and a question-and-answer session.
Martha Redbone is a multi-award-winning musician and storyteller celebrated for her roots music embodying the folk, indigenous, and mountain blues sounds of her childhood in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky. Angelo Baca is a Hopi/Diné documentary filmmaker and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. Anne Lewis is Associate Professor of Practice at UT Austin’s Department of Radio-Television-Film and an independent documentary-maker associated with Appalshop Films, a media arts and cultural center located in the heart of the Central Appalachian Coalfields.
This event is free and open to the public.