Lectures

Date: Jan 30, 2023 🧍 and Feb 2, 2023 💻

Presenter: Phillip Merlo, CEO of the San Joaquin County Historical Museum

California is the wealthiest state in the union, and is home to historically dynamic economies: Silicon Valley, Hollywood, SF, Napa Wine, the OC, the Mother Lode, the Redwood Empire. The list goes on. In this lecture, historian Phillip Merlo will explore the first major sustainable economic engine of the state: the California Delta - a forgotten and yet still critical node of the Golden State.  

Date: Feb 6, 2023 🧍

Presenter: Rex Hamilton, Professor of General Education and Religion

In this presentation I will discuss the nature of "music-as-such" and the way that music has functioned in the world of religious studies. I will use audio examples to illustrate the discussion. 

Date: Feb 9, 2023 💻

Presenter: Eugenie Scott, Non-Profit Executive Director

Charles Darwin is best known as the father of evolution by natural selection. The son and grandson of well-known 19th century freethinkers, he nonetheless had a conventional religious upbringing, and was conventionally religious, until he rejected Christianity later in life. Did his evolutionary views lead him to these conclusions? It's not that simple! 

Date: Feb 16, 2023 💻🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Greg Ferro, Retired High School Teacher

Have you seen the move The Graduate? Have you heard a song by the Beatles? Do you remember the name Cassius Clay? Nearly 2/3 of Americans were born after 1969, but the decade still influences us. Outside of American in the 60’s you had the Russians build a wall, Americans land on the moon and for thirteen days the world held its breath during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What a decade!! 

Date: Feb 23, 2023 💻🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Greg Ferro, Retired High School Teacher

Have you seen the move The Graduate? Have you heard a song by the Beatles? Do you remember the name Cassius Clay? Nearly 2/3 of Americans were born after 1969, but the decade still influences us. Outside of American in the 60’s you had the Russians build a wall, Americans land on the moon and for thirteen days the world held its breath during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What a decade!! 

Date: Feb 20, 2023 🧍🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Gene Bigler, Former Diplomat and Retired Professor

This two part lecture will explore two major hypotheses about the role of women in contemporary U.S. politics: (1) that women played the leading role in the elections of 2018-22 in countering Trump Republicanism, and (2) that the continuing obstacles to the full participation of women and people of color is a major cause of the decline in the quality of democracy and rise of authoritarianism. 

Date: Feb 27, 2023 🧍🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Gene Bigler, Former Diplomat and Retired Professor
 

This two part lecture will explore two major hypotheses about the role of women in contemporary U.S. politics: (1) that women played the leading role in the elections of 2018-22 in countering Trump Republicanism, and (2) that the continuing obstacles to the full participation of women and people of color is a major cause of the decline in the quality of democracy and rise of authoritarianism. 

Date: Mar 2, 2023 💻🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Phoebe Killby & Betty Kilby Baldwin, Authors

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” As daughters, Betty Kilby Baldwin and Phoebe Kilby found a way to live Dr. King’s dream. They will tell you their story of discovering their family connections and embarking on a path toward reconciliation and reparation.     

Date: Mar 6, 2023 🧍

Presenter: Alexis Easton, Retired United Methodist Pastor and Voice Teacher

What do we know about breathing for physical health, emotional stability, cognitive function, and spirituality? Clearly, our bodies know how to breathe without thinking about it, or you would not be reading this! Still, there are more and less healthy ways to breathe. This lecture will introduce these topics in hopes that the kernels will inspire further exploration. Additional resources provided. 

Date: Mar 9, 2023💻

Instructor: Gerry Mansell, Retired Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army

Join Gerry, a former sentinel, for a history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as he shares the duties and responsibilities of those who guard the Unknowns.  

Date: Mar 16, 2023 💻

Presenter: Irving Lubliner, Professor Emeritus 

Before she passed away in 1974, Felicia Bornstein Lubliner wrote about her experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland, including her captivity in two concentration camps, Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen. Her son, Irving, will share excerpts from “Only Hope: A Survivor’s Stories of the Holocaust,” shedding light on his mother’s indomitable spirit, as well as his experience as the child of Holocaust survivors. 

Date: Mar 20, 2023 🧍 

Presenter: Robert Halliwell, Professor, Schools of Pharmacy and Dentistry 

Sleep is a complex physiological process and essential for both physical and mental health. Sleep-wake disorders arise for many different reasons, including insomnia, the most common sleep disorder. This presentation will discuss the architecture of sleep, the causes of insomnia, sleep hygiene strategies, and the medications available to help people with poor sleep patterns. 

Date: Mar 23, 2023 💻

Presenter: Annette Isaacs, German Historian

To some he is the creator of divine music, to others history’s most controversial composer: 140 years after his death, Richard Wagner and his legacy that was tainted by the usurpation of his music by Adolf Hitler, are still topics of lively debate. Join Anette Isaacs for a fascinating discussion of how the music and the legacy of Richard Wagner are received in Germany today. 

Date: March 27, 2023 🧍

Presenter: Mike Wurtz, Head of the University of the Pacific Holt-Atherton Special Collections and Archives and author of John Muir's Grand Yosemite: Musings & Sketches 

Famed naturalist and “father of the National Parks” John Muir reveled in earth’s beauty, studied how the earth worked, and strove to preserve the planet’s most “glorious” places like Yosemite. Throughout his life, he made observations that challenged our understanding of the science of nature and how best to preserve it. In this session, Mike Wurtz will use Muir’s journals, letters, drawings, and manuscripts curated at the University of the Pacific to illustrate Muir’s masterful observational skills. 

Date: Mar 30, 2023 💻 🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter: Aaron Leonard, Writer and Author 

1968 was a year of unprecedented upheaval. From the Tet Offensive, the riots in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, to the confrontations in the streets of Chicago, all amid the groundbreaking music of from the Beatles to Jefferson Airplane, this lecture will dig under the hood of events of the year, too often relegated to cliché, and examine the deeper forces propelling them. 

Date: April 3, 2023 🧍🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻  

Presenter: Jennifer Helgren, Professor and Chair of History  

Following World War II, youth organizations embraced internationalism amidst the dangers of atomic war and Soviet communism. The Camp Fire Girls and Girl Scouts tried to advance world peace by imbuing their activities with a new spirit. They argued that girls had a responsibility to build upon women's historic responsibility of care and nurture to shape international affairs. 

Date: Apr 6, 2023 💻 

Presenter: Stephenie Slahor, Professional Writer  

The world is filled with fascinating caves, rocks and stones that have played interesting roles in ancient and modern times. Take a Zoom trip around the world to explore some of the famous and not-so-famous sites where geology took a prominent place in human lore. 

Date: Apr 13, 2023 💻

Presenter: Michael Agron, Music Aficionado 

Curious to know the backstories on what made Frank Sinatra the most popular entertainer of the 20th century? This multimedia presentation will highlight his incredible singing on records, movies, television, Las Vegas and in concert halls. We will also focus on lesser-known career facts about how he impacted our culture and managed to stay on top of the entertainment for over six decades. 

Date: April 17, 2023 🧍 

Presenter: Tom Jones, Author 

This meeting will feature a relaxed chat with Pacific alum and local author, Tom Jones. He will recount many of the events that have occurred on the UOP campus over the years, whether they are tales of high achievement or simply hijinks, Tom feels that it is important to document happenings on the campus for historical reasons before they are lost. Attendees will surely be entertained.   

Date: Apr 20, 2023 💻

Presenter: Faith Emerson, MA Art History, Artist, Art Educator 

In this lecture, we will consider meaning-making and the way art affects us. Why does some art leave us cold and another art haunt or vex us? Various aspects of art’s power of communication will be discussed through presence, content, and concept. An array of art examples will be shown emphasizing the cognitive, emotive, and ‘other ways’ we perceive and interpret.  

Date: Apr 24, 2023 🧍

Presenter: Jeffrey Hole, Associate Professor of English 

In this lecture, Professor Jeffrey Hole examines the speeches and writings of the fugitive slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, focusing on how Douglass attended to the question of violence as a means for slaves and ostensibly free African Americans to effect political change and seek liberation in the nineteenth century. 

Date: Apr 27, 2023 💻🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻

Presenter:  Cindy Spiro, Retired Athletics Administrator

As the first co-educational institution of higher learning in California, Pacific has historically been progressive in providing for women’s educational opportunities. Is this also true for women's sports? This lecture explores the history of UOP women’s sports, its pioneering female athletes, socio-cultural trends influencing its growth, and the impact of Title IX over the past 50 years.  

Date: May 1, 2023 🧍

Presenter: Renata Bricka, Art Historian and Haggin Museum Docent

Attractive and informative time travel to 18th century France, where a very young, talented, and imaginative, but inexperienced Habsburg princess moved to marry.

Date: May 4, 2023 💻

Presenter: Rolly Kali-Rai, Doctor of Pharmacy 

Safe medication use for seniors. How our aging bodies are impacted by medications differently and what we can do to make medication use safer for ourselves and loved ones. From a basic primer on how medications work in more mature bodies to how we seniors are at increased risk for errors and side effects to occur. The talk will provide knowledge and real tips to make medication use safer. 

Date: May 11, 2023 💻

Presenter: Terry McAteer, Retired Superintendent of Schools and High School AP Teacher 

This class will explore the John Birch Society as it rose to prominence in the 1960’s as a far-right extremist group which advocated many conspiracies including—getting out of the UN, an attempt to impeach Earl Warren, claimed Eisenhower was a Communist and “Birchers” led the opposition to civil rights legislation. The Society still exists and currently claims to be the seed of Trump movement