The idea of connecting with current students has always been a motivating factor for me when it comes to donating. One of the most gratifying benefits of endowing an instrument in the UW Band is that I've been able to follow my students through their collegiate careers. |  | The Bascom Hill Society Showcase Series offers dining, conversation and stimulating presentations by UW faculty and staff. Held throughout the year, the showcase series offers interesting, entertaining and even controversial topics to members in an intimate and friendly setting.
Summaries of upcoming and past presentation can be found below. Audio recordings of many of the recent presentations are also available for download. |
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| Subscribe to the Series | | | You can have the recordings of the Bascom Hill Society Showcase Series delivered automatically to a number of services as soon as we publish a new installment. Simply click the corresponding icon below to subscribe. |
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| To subscribe to the series using another application not listed above, simply paste the following URL into your software:
 http://feeds.feedburner.com/BascomHillSocietyShowcaseSeries
You may also save the files below by right-clicking on the link and selecting "Save Target As..." or open them in their default programs by clicking on the links. |
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| The Art of Cell Division: How Science and Art Convey the Mysteries of our Biology | |
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Speaker(s): Ahna Skop
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| Date: July 22, 2008 |
| Location: UW Arboretum |
| Description: Ahna Skop is known for her innovative research into the molecular mechanisms involved in cell division and for identifying links between the ways in which animal and plant cells divide. She encourages people to see the beauty in biology and has prepared a display of enlarged scientific images for the entry of her building on campus. Her research is visual—she captures live, florescent images of dividing cells, whose dynamic, colorful lines catch her artistic eye. Join us as Professor Skop shares the secrets of cell division, and helps us understand the mysteries of cytokinesis and how her research may one day improve treatments for diseases like cancer. |
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| 2020: A Vision for Personalized Cardiovascular Medicine | |
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Speaker(s): Amish N. Raval, MD & Matthew Wolff, MD |
| Date: June 17, 2008 |
| Location: UW Arboretum |
Description: Professors Raval and Wolff will discuss the latest approaches to prevention and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Through changes in lifestyle and aggressive preventive measures, we are now seeing dramatic reductions in the number of heart attacks each year. Despite the encouraging numbers, researchers know that some individuals do not respond optimally to these interventions and still others are in need of new approaches to treatment of their disease. Raval and Wolff will discuss the individual nature of cardiovascular diseases and focus on new strategies that are being developed at the UW to optimize and personalize the prevention and treatment of disease.
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| Beyond the Embryo—Wisconsin and the Future of Stem Cell Research | |
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Speaker(s): R. Alta Charo |
| Date: March 11, 2008 |
| Location: Pyle Center |
Description: Can stem cell research proceed without cloning? Yes and no, says Alta Charo, JD, UW-Madison professor of law and medical ethics. Scientific research into human stem cells may yield cures and therapies for humanity’s most intractable diseases. Clinical outcomes of stem cell therapy, called regenerative medicine, are touted as the future of biomedicine. But new science often provokes a redefinition of ethical, societal and legal standards. Stem cells have reignited the debate about the moral status of the embryo. How, as a society, do we balance our responsibilities to the unborn and the sick? Professor Charo addresses this and other important questions.
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| Superpower China | |
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Speaker(s): Edward Friedman |
| Date: February 12, 2008 |
| Location: Pyle Center |
Description: Edward Friedman who holds the Hawkins Chair of Political Science, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an expert on Chinese politics. He has written several books on the subject including “Revolution, Resistance and Reform in Village China” and “What If China Doesn’t Democratize?” Friedman answers questions about one of the most dynamic and contested regions of the world. How will the rise of China change the world? How do the Chinese people imagine the answer? How do international analysts see it? How do neighboring governments see the impact of China’s rise on the world stage? In projecting possible futures, Professor Friedman discusses how most view the global impact of an economically dynamic, globally involved, authoritarian China as a world power.
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| Henry Kissinger and the American Century | |
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Speaker(s): Jeremi Suri |
| Date: November 6, 2007 |
| Location: Memorial Union |
Description: What made Henry Kissinger the kind of diplomat he was? What experiences and influences shaped his worldview and provided the framework for his approach to international relations? Professor Suri offers a thought-provoking, interpretive study of one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the 20th century.
He is author of the prize-winning book, “Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Detente” and the recently published “Henry Kissinger and the American Century.” He also is the author of numerous scholarly articles published in International Security, Diplomatic History, Reviews in American History, Cold War History, the Journal of Cold War Studies and other journals. Professor Suri's research focuses on the cross-national connections between domestic social change and foreign policy-making. He is particularly interested in the role of ideas and institutions in shaping international manifestations of power and influence.
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Downloads:- At speaker's request, MP3 recording not posted for download.
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| Vitamin D: The Wonder Drug of Tomorrow | |
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Speaker(s): Hector Deluca |
| Date: August 14, 2007 |
| Location: UW Arboretum |
| Description: Learn how just 15 minutes of sunlight a day can change your life. Learn too how it may reduce the risk of getting various cancers, the flu, diabetes, heart disease and autoimmune diseases. Hector DeLuca is the Harry Steenbock Research Professor in the UW-Madison Department of Biochemistry and an internationally recognized pioneer in vitamin D research. He is putting vitamin D in the forefront of the state of Wisconsin’s biotech sector, churning out papers and patents to combat a long list of illnesses. Professor DeLuca is a founder of Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is developing drugs based on vitamin D compounds to treat osteoporosis and other ailments. |
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| The Educational Power of Computer Games | |
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Speaker(s): David Williamson Shaffer |
| Date: July 10, 2007 |
| Location: UW Arboretum |
| Description: Don’t take away your child’s or grandchild’s video or computer games just yet. They are actually learning how to be successful in tomorrow’s work force, says Professor David Shaffer. Education must move beyond its “skill and drill” curriculum and embrace creative learning technologies, such as computer and video games, to prepare young people for the world of global competition, he says. Shaffer is exploring the educational potential of games and technology as alternative ways to engage children. At UW-Madison, Shaffer joined with several faculty colleagues, representing three School of Education departments, to form the Games and Professional Practice Simulations Group. This group is part of the Advanced Digital Learning Initiative to study and build learning systems that use digital game technologies to immerse students in worlds where they use the skills and values of professionals to solve complex problems. |
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| Preventing Eye Disease Through Research | |
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Speaker(s): Dr. Daniel M. Albert |
| Date: April 17, 2007 |
| Location: Fluno Center |
| Description: Most of us know someone who has experienced blindness or visual impairment. And the number of people with age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration is rising as our life expectancy increases. Dr. Albert discusses common vision problems in the context of known science and future treatment possibilities. His research focuses on ocular tumors, specifically melanoma and retinoblastoma. Dr. Albert’s work with retinoblastoma utilizes transgenic mouse models of the tumor to investigate the molecular biology of the disease and whether vitamin D analogs produce tumor regression in these animal models. He also studies melanoma in a transgenic mouse model. The UW Eye Research Institute is unique among vision research centers in its philosophy of bringing together scientists and scholars from widely different disciplines—ranging from engineering to art to biochemistry—to stimulate fresh collaborative approaches to curing blindness and preventing vision loss. |
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| Building a Staff, Building a Team, Building a Season | |
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Speaker(s): Bret Bielema |
| Date: March 20, 2007 |
| Location: Fluno Center |
Description: Bret Bielema is the third rookie head football coach in NCAA Division I history to guide his team to 12 wins. He holds the record for most wins by a first-year coach at Wisconsin. Hear how Coach Bielema built his staff and led the Badgers to a Capital One Bowl win.
Bielema played college football at the University of Iowa from 1989-92. He went on to play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, a team in the Arena Football League. An assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1993-2001, he served as the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002-03 before taking the same position at the University of Wisconsin in 2004. He was named head coach in 2006 replacing Barry Alvarez. |
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| Election Wrap-Up- 2006 | |
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Speaker(s):David Canon & Virginia Sapiro |
| Date: November 14, 2006 |
| Location: Memorial Union |
Description: Join political science Professor David Canon and Professor Virginia Sapiro as they discuss the 10 most interesting things about the 2006 election, then answer the audience's political questions. Professor Canon is an expert in American political institutions, especially Congress, and in race, representation and congressional reform. He also is a co-author of the award-winning 1999 book ""Race, Redistricting and Representation.""
Professor Sapiro’s teaching and research interests include political behavior and political psychology, gender politics, and political and feminist theory. She is the author of The Political Integration of Women: Roles, Socialization and Politics (1983), Women in American Society (3rd edition 2003) and A Vindication of Political Virtue: The Political Theory of Mary Wollstonecraft among many other books and articles. |
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| Transforming the Mind by Changing Your Brain | |
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Speaker(s): Richard Davidson |
| Date: August 22, 2006 |
| Location: Monona Terrace |
| Description: World-renowned UW psychology professor Richard Davidson is searching for the source of happiness, and he has used Buddhist monks in his lab as a model group. Learn what he has discovered about the secrets and brain science of happiness. Professor Davidson was named in Time magazine’s “Time 100, The People Who Shape Our World.” He earned his PhD in 1976 from Harvard University, is a Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and director of both the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience. |
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