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Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
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In these lively and unedited interviews, distinguished faculty from the University of California, Berkeley, talk about their lives and their work. These interviews were made possible by support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. See also the Conversations with History home page.
Robert Berdahl; Chancellor, UC Berkeley: "Leading
Berkeley into the 21st Century," 9/4/98
Chancellor Berdahl discusses his work as a historian and
the challenges facing the Berkeley campus
video
Lowell Bergman; Reporter/Producer and Professor
of Journalism: "A 'Long March
through the Institution' of Television Journalism," 1/31/01
Journalist Bergman talks about investigative reporting and the grammar of television news.
video
Roy Caldwell; Professor of Integrative Biology,
UC Berkeley: "Evolution
of a Biologist," 6/20/01
Marine biologist Caldwell discusses his current research
on the stomatopod, an invertebrate creature with highly advanced visual
and signalling capabilities.
video
Manuel Castells;
Professor of Sociology and City & Regional Planning, UCB: "Identity
and Change in the Network Society," 5/9/01
Social theorist Castells discusses the myriad implications
of the network society.
video
Steven Chu; Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: "A
Scientist's Random Walk," 2/13/04
Physicist Chu shares his research and experience being a
scientist.
video
Jack Citrin; Professor
Political Science, UC Berkeley: "Nationalism,
Cosmopolitanism, and American National Identity," 8/1/07
video
Frederick Crews; Professor Emeritus of English,
UC Berkeley: "Criticism and the
Empirical Attitude," 8/24/99
Critic and writer Crews talks about his battles with conventional
interpretations and and his passion for the English language.
video
Mark Danner; Staff Writer, New Yorker,
and Professor, School of Journalism:
"Being
a Writer," 3/3/99
Writer and MacArthur Fellow Danner talks about writing as
reportage versus as a creative act, and examines how words are used for
differing purposes.
video (3/3/99)
"Ideas and Leadership in
U.S. Foreign Policy," 5/3/99
Danner examines ideas shaping foreign policy both during the Cold War and
afterward, including the "Vietnam Syndrome," NATO enlargement, and the
case of Kosovo.
"Truth, Power,
and the Iraq Debacle," 7/27/07
Informed by history, Danner's analysis includes comparison of Bush and
Reagan, draws attention to changes in U.S. policy on torture, and examines
the options for future U.S. policymakers.
video (2007)
J. Bradford
DeLong;
Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley: "Economics,
Politics and Public Discourse," 10/5/07
video
Hubert L. Dreyfus; Professor of Philosophy,
UC Berkeley: "Meaning, Relevance,
and the Limits of Technology," 11/2/05
Professor Dreyfus shares his thoughts on the relationship
between philosophy and technology.
video
Tom Engelhardt; Lecturer,
School of Journalism, UCB: "Taking
Back the Word," 4/23/04
Writer
and editor Engelhardt discusses the effects writing and editing have on
the world.
video
Ken Goldberg; Professor of Industrial Engineering
and Operations Research, UC Berkeley: "Robotics
and Art in the Information Age," 8/25/05
Ken Goldberg
discusses his dual careers as an industrial engineer who designs robots
and an artist whose creations use robots to stimulate understanding
of technology's impact.
video
Ernst B. Haas; Robson Research Professor of Government, UC Berkeley:
"Science and Progress in International
Relations," 10/30/00
The inimitable political scientist,
who recently passed away, talks here about his life, his ideas, and his
groundbreaking research on nationalism.
video
Eva Harris; Assistant Professor of Public
Health, UC Berkeley: "Making
Science Accessible," 3/15/01
Molecular biologist
Harris, a MacArthur Fellow, discusses DNA research in microbiology and how
her work led to an innovative contribution to world health.
video
Ira Michael Heyman; former Chancellor, UC
Berkeley, and former Secretary, the Smithsonian Institution: "Values,
Persuasion, and Leadership in the Public Sector," 8/1/00
Former
Chancellor and legal scholar Heyman talks about environmental law, leadership
and university governance, and the challenges of competing truths facing
large-scale institutions.
video
Ira Lapidus; Professor Emeritus of
History, UC Berkeley: "Islamic
Societies," 1/14/03
The founding Chair of the UC
Berkeley's Center for Middle Eastern Studies discusses Islam's relation
to politics, the treatment of women in Islamic societies, and how an understanding
of Islamic history might inform U.S. foreign policy.
video
Michael Nacht; Dean and Professor of Public
Policy, UC Berkeley: "Changing
Paradigms in National Security Policy," 1/9/03
Dean
Nacht discusses the making of U.S. foreign policy and comments on how it
is changing in the aftermath of 9/11.
video
Gilles Peress; photographer, Magnum Photos,
and Visiting Adjunct Professor, Human Rights Center: "Images,
Reality, and the Curse of History," 4/10/97
Peress
talks about the role that photography can play in the struggle for human
rights.
video
Paul Pierson; Avice Saint Chair in Public Policy, Department
of Political Science, UCB: "The
Transformation of American Politics," 12/1/05
video
Nelson W. Polsby; Heller Professor of Political Science,
UC Berkeley: "Institutional
Change in the U.S. Congress," 9/4/02
Political scientist Polsby discusses scholarly communities
and the nature of leadership as well as his research on the U.S. Congress.
video
Nancy Scheper-Hughes; Professor of Anthropology, UC Berkeley: "Studying
the Human Condition: Habits of a Militant Anthropologist," 12/14/99
Anthropologist Scheper-Hughes, author of numerous award-winning
works, discusses schizophrenia, infant mortality, and the Civil Rights
movement.
video
Peter
Dale Scott;
Professor Emeritus of English, UC Berkeley: "Wealth,
Empire, and the Future of America," 8/8/07
video
John Searle; Mills Professor of Philosophy, UC Berkeley: "Philosophy
and the Habits of Critical Thinking," 9/22/99
Philosopher Searle shares his thoughts on the mind-body
dichotomy and the nature of the brain, and reminsces about the Free Speech
Movement at Berkeley.
video
Yuri
Slezkine; Professor of History, UCB: "The
Jewish Century," 07/18/07
Professor Yuri Slezkine discusses the Jewish odyssey
in the 20th century. His comparative analysis focuses on the similarity
of the Jews to other "Mercurians" and
provides new insight into understanding the paths the Jews took amidst
the chaos of the last century.
video
Neil Smelser; University Professor Emeritus of Sociology
and fomer Director the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behaviorial Sciences,
UCB: "Intellectual Odyssey," 12/6/05
video
Harold Palmer Smith, Jr., Professor, Goldman
School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley: "Thinking
about the 'Unthinkables' in the Post-9/11 World"; 1/26/06
video
Eric Stover; Human Rights Activist and writer;
Adjunct Professor of Public Health and Director of the Human Rights Center:
"Human Rights Work," 2/16/99
Lifelong activist Stover describes the nitty-gritty of human rights work
video
Lawrence Stark, M.D.; Professor Emeritus of
Engineering and Optometry, UC Berkeley: "The
Mind's Eye," 8/16/00
The multifaceted Dr. Stark
discusses how his research in medicine, cybernetics, and engineering has
advanced our understanding of how we see.
video
Charles H. Townes; Nobel Laureate and Professor
of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley: "Adventures
of a Scientist," 2/15/00
Winner of the Nobel Prize
for his role in the invention of the maser and laser, Physicist Townes recounts
his life's journey of discovery, wonder, and collaboration.
video
Joseph Tussman; Professor Emeritus of Philosophy,
UC Berkeley: "Education and
Citizenship," 1/13/00
Philosopher and education
theorist Tussman talks about the nature of learning, teaching, and political
discourse.
video
David Vogel;
Solomon P. Lee Distinguished Professor in Business Ethics, Haas School
of Business, UC Berkeley: "Business,
Government, and Ethics in an Era of Globalization," 7/11/07
Professor David Vogel discusses the evolution
of business - government relations in the United States and Europe, focusing
on environmental policy and the efforts to bring ethics to the marketplace.|
video
Michael Watts; Chancellor's Professor of Geography
and Development Studies, UC Berkeley: "The
Local-Global Dialectic: A Geographer's Perspective" 7/26/01
Geographer
Watts, the Director of the UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies,
talks about his personal and political evolution as a researcher and scholar
of internationalism and modernity.
video
Steven Weber; Professor of Political Science,
UC Berkeley: "Power in the Information
Age," 4/28/03
Political Scientist Weber talks about
the implications of the network paradigm for democracy, private property,
and international relations.
video
Harold L. Wilensky; Professor Emeritus of
Political Science, UC Berkeley: "Comparing
Rich Democracies": 10/29/02
Political Scientist
Wilensky talks about his recently published book, Rich Democracies. This
landmark work is the first comparison of its kind in examining the unique
nature of wealthy democratic states.
video
Tim White; Professor of Integrative Biology,
UC Berkeley: "On the Trail of
our Human Ancestors" 9/18/03
Paleoanthropologist White talks about his formative years, his research
and recent discoveries, and identifies the challenges facing his field.
video
See also: Conversations with Berkeley Alumni
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