Please join us on Thursday, April 16, at 4:10 p.m. at this URL:

https://willametteuniversity.zoom.us/s/217971917

for our tenth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Title: The Data Science of (Oregon) Wine: Machine Learning with a Decadent Dataset

Presenter: Jameson Watts, Assistant Professor of Marketing

Abstract: What makes an Oregon Pinot so unique? Which taste profiles command the highest price premium? How do Oregon wines compare to famous Pinot-producing regions like Burgundy in France? Using a unique dataset of reviews, ratings and prices, I will answer these questions and more. Plus, find out which Oregon wines give you the most bang for your buck!

…participants are encouraged to open a bottle during the presentation and post it (a picture or description) in the comments.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, April  2, at 4:10 p.m. at this URL:

https://willametteuniversity.zoom.us/j/861290433

for our ninth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Two-Part Presentation and Discussion:
Ethnomedicine and Comparative Health System Responses to COVID-19

Presenter: Joyce Millen, Associate Professor of Anthropology, African Studies and Public Health Ethics, Advocacy and Leadership

Abstract: Before COVID-19 altered all of our lives, I had been planning to present this early April 2020 faculty colloquium on ethnomedicine—a branch of medical anthropology concerned with the cross-cultural study of health, illness and healing. But with the advent of this pandemic, I suspect more of us may be interested in a discussion about comparative health systems in response to COVID-19. Therefore, I will begin with a bit of my former plan, to examine the nexus between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and western medicine, but then I will spend the latter half of my presentation discussing how different countries around the world are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. What might the divergent responses tell us about specific countries, and what might the varied responses tell us about the state of global health more generally?

I suspect that many of us will continue to ponder these questions—the differing levels of preparedness and response—for years into the future. My hope is that we may begin a discussion at the colloquium that will spark new questions and conversations we can build upon as the pandemic unfolds and eventually ends.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, March 19, at 4:10 p.m. at this URL:

https://willametteuniversity.zoom.us/j/405796806

for our eighth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Ana Montero, Professor of Spanish

Title: Channeling Laureola: Female Agency and the Influence of Cárcel de amor in Celestina

Abstract: Medieval literature scholars have often compared fifteenth-century Spanish best sellers Cárcel de amor (Diego de San Pedro, 1492) and Celestina (Fernando de Rojas? 499?) by focusing mainly on their specific representation of love, their respective embodiment of the genre of sentimental fiction, and the differences and similarities in the depiction of their main male characters. In this presentation, I will focus on the connection between the female protagonists and how, in both books, their sexuality is portrayed as pathological and in need to be controlled by masculine authority. Both Laureola, in Cárcel de amor, and Melibea, in Celestina, are regarded as ultimately responsible for their fate; the former suffered imprisonment in her father's fortress while the latter plunged to her death from the tower of the paternal manor. For different reasons and with different endings, both women resist the traditionally passive role expected of them within the context of patriarchal society. In this presentation, the goal is to analyze the potential interplay of political ethics and fiction. This will help to show that Cárcel de amor and Celestina probably evince complex reactions to the presence of a woman in power, queen Isabella I of Castile.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Note, this event for March 12th has been canceled, and we will do our best to try and reschedule it at a later time.

Presenter: Melinda Butterworth, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science

Title: The Shifting Geographies of Vector-Borne Diseases in the United States
Abstract: Infectious diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe, including in the United States. Global trade, travel, and climate change, among other factors, all further serve to reshape and reassemble our understandings of infectious disease geographies. As pathogens relocate, we work to predict where they will move next, and how to contain, manage, and respond to them. This is particularly obvious at the moment as the global community faces the COVID-19 outbreak, but the challenges experienced in its detection and containment are by no means unique. In this talk I will address the geographies of two diseases in the United States: dengue fever and Lyme disease. Drawing on mixed research methods, including a climate-driven mosquito model, surveys, and interviews, I discuss the work I have conducted with students investigating these (re)emerging diseases in the US, including environmental drivers, case detection, and the responses of citizen and health communities.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, March 5, at 4:10 p.m. in Ford Hall 102 for our seventh Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Erik Noftle, Associate Professor of Psychology

Title: Personality Dynamics and Development

Abstract: In this talk, I describe two research efforts I completed during my sabbatical, which have to do with personality dynamics and personality development. Personality captures important, enduring psychological characteristics of a person, which are relatively consistent across situations and time, such as the traits of Extraversion or Conscientiousness. Personality dynamics concerns how personality functions: how it fluctuates across the short term, from moments to weeks. Personality development concerns how personality matures: how it changes across the long term, from years to decades. In one project, I examined how situation experience and trait-relevant behavior fluctuated within a representative span of daily life across three adult age groups: young adults, middle-aged adults, and retired adults. Results suggest that some fascinating changes in personality processes take place across the adult lifespan. In the other project, I tracked college students across the entirety of college and investigated how their personality traits affected–and were affected by—different aspects of adjustment to college. Results suggest that not only does personality predict how students are later faring when it comes to academics or their social lives, but also that how students are faring predicts their future personality traits. In sum, these findings contribute to a growing consensus that instead of personality being something about a person that’s pretty much fixed once one is a young adult, personality is, in fact, an aspect of a person that continues to be sensitive and responsive to the environment and dynamic across much of the lifespan.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, February 27th, at 4:10 p.m. in the Carnegie Building for our sixth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Wm. Andrew Schwartz, Executive Director, Center for Process Studies
Assistant Professor of Process and Comparative Theology at the Claremont School of Theology

Title: Putting Philosophy to Work: A Relational Worldview for the Common Good

Abstract: Change your thinking; change the world. Philosophy has gotten a bad rap. As an academic discipline, it is mocked as irrelevant to modern society. But bias against philosophy doesn’t mean we don’t have one. We all have a basic worldview. This is as true for whole civilizations as for individuals, a point driven home daily as the dire consequences of the Western worldview—the most urgent being climate change—are now inescapable. But if Western philosophy has brought us to this razor’s edge, would another one be any better?

In this faculty colloquium, professor Wm. Andrew Schwartz will introduce the fundamentals of process philosophy and explore some implications for rethinking science, theology, ecology, and education.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there.

Note: There will also be a special TGIF reception following the lecture that will be open to faculty from all schools. This is the second TGIF event this semester with Colloquium speakers from across the University. These opportunities for cross-university gathering and conversation are sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, February 20th, at 4:10 p.m. in Ford Hall 204 for our fifth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Mike Chasar, Associate Professor of English

Title: Don’t Stop Believin’: The Poetry of Pop Music

Abstract: When you listen to or sing along with your favorite pop songs—Guns ‘N Roses, Beyoncé, Journey, Ke$ha, Whitney Houston—do you ever imagine that all of their stylized Ohs and Oooohs are something other than emotive overflows or opportunities for singers to display their vocal prowess? Indeed, those very “nonsense” sounds—so frequently overlooked that they are often omitted from liner notes and song transcriptions—are in fact the key to recognizing not only the poetry of pop music but also how it connects to two thousand years’-worth of verse stretching back to ancient Greece. Part dance party, part informal discussion, and maybe part sing-along, today’s presentation will shed new light on how some of the music you love or love to hate makes you one of the largest poetry audiences in history.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, February 13th, at 4:10 p.m. in Ford Hall 102 for our fourth Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Kyle Stephenson, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Title: Better Sex Through Science: Building and Testing an Online Program to Treat Sexual Dysfunction

Abstract: Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) – distressing and long-lasting impairments in sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, or pain – affects 15-30% of women worldwide. FSD is associated with poorer relational satisfaction, mental health, and overall quality of life, making it essential to create, test, and disseminate effective treatments. Research has suggested that Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-Based Therapy (MBT) are effective in treating FSD when provided face-to-face by professional sex therapists. However, only a small portion of women who could benefit are receiving these treatments. Access is limited by many factors including embarrassment, cost, and lack of available expertise. Web-based interventions hold the promise of addressing many of these barriers, vastly expanding access to traditionally underserved populations. Over the past four years, our research team has constructed eSense: an online platform housing self-guided, evidence-based therapy for FSD. Three feasibility studies have suggested that eSense is a clear, usable, and potentially efficacious program to address FSD. This talk will include information on the nature and causes of FSD, a description of evidence-based sex therapies, an overview of eSense with example therapeutic activities, and a summary of results from feasibility studies.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, February 6th, at 4:10 p.m. in Ford Hall 102 for our third Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Haiyan Cheng, Associate Professor of Computer Science

Title: Computational and Data Science for All

Abstract: Computational science uses computer’s superpower and mathematical algorithms to solve large-scale scientific problems. Data science explores information from large quantity heterogeneous datasets to gain insights and build forecast models with statistical methods. Would it be great to combine strength from both worlds?

In this talk, I will give a brief introduction of computational science and data science, then showcase some of the research projects I was involved in computational and data science applied to air quality modeling, presidential elections, predictive policing, and DNA binding hotspot forecasting. In all these projects, mathematics and computer science play important roles, together with problem-solving skills and subject knowledge from various disciplines. Inspired by those projects, I developed and taught data science classes for both CLA and AGSM data certificate programs. In both classes, student teams worked on various projects, which demonstrate that computational and data science projects are intrinsically collaborative, and are indeed relevant to all.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, remember to note the move to Thursday afternoons this semester.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Please join us on Thursday, January 30th, at 4:10 p.m. in the Carnegie Building for our second Faculty Colloquium of this semester.

Presenter: Cecily McCaffrey, Associate Professor of History

Title: “Reimagining the Old Forests of Central China: From History to Botany and Back Again.”

Abstract: In the 18th century, Qing dynasty elites depicted the old forests (laolin 老林) of central China as troublesome places, a refuge of rebels and bandits. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, British and American “plant hunters” ventured into these same spaces searching for specimens of endemic species. Today the mountainous region hosts national forests and nature parks: the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre of biodiversity. This paper attempts to forge a composite image of the old forests by overlapping and layering observations from a variety of sources including local histories, travel writing, photographs, and reports of botanical expeditions. The objectives of this project are two-fold: first, to use latter-day sources to inform an understanding of place in historical terms; second, to consider the ways in which historical constructions of place intersect with contemporary formulations.

Students are welcome and coffee and treats will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there.

Note: There will also be a special TGIF reception following the lecture that will be open to faculty from all schools. This is the first TGIF event this semester with Colloquium speakers from across the University. These opportunities for cross-university gathering and conversation are sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President.

Bill Kelm and Stephen Patterson
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators