Assembly series

Just a few days after the Affordable Care Act’s mandatory insurance component becomes law, the principal architect of the Massachusetts health care system and chief advisor to President Obama’s plan will be on campus to explain how it works and how it will benefit society. MIT economist and renowned health care expert Jonathan Gruber will deliver an Assembly Series lecture on “Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works” at 6 p.m. Friday, October 4 in Brown Hall Room 100 on the Washington University Danforth Campus.

Scientific discoveries in understanding how body structures change and advance over time are relatively recent and are the result of scientific trailblazers working in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). One of those pioneers, Brian K. Hall, will visit Washington University and give an Assembly Series lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, October 7 in McDonnell Hall Room 162.

Among the many principles the late mentor/teacher/administrative leader Jim McLeod espoused were the power of the personal story and the power of a liberal arts education for all. So it is fitting that scholar and academic leader Ruth J. Simmons, who also embraces these values, will deliver the second annual James E. McLeod Memorial Lecture on Higher Education, “The State of Conscience in University Life Today,” at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, in Graham Chapel.

​Public health is becoming one of the most pressing social concerns facing the global community, and it’s an issue Alfredo Palacio recognized years ago as president of the Republic of Ecuador. Palacio will visit Washington University during its annual Global Health Week Sept. 23-27 and give an Assembly Series talk on “Government and Health Care: Perspectives from a President and a Physician” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in Graham Chapel.

During her recent visit to campus, First Year Reading Program author Eula Biss had many opportunities to discuss her book of essays, Notes from No Man’s Land, with students. Here, she leads an informal discussion at Ursa’s Fireside on the South 40.

​Bilal Mark McDowell Bomani, senior research scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center, will deliver the 17th annual Chancellor’s Fellowship Conference Lecture for Washington University’s Assembly Series. His talk, which will focus on the research he leads in developing the next generation of biofuels that are sustainable, renewable and safe, will be 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 20, in Whitaker Hall, Room 100, on the Danforth Campus.​

​Created 60 years ago, the Assembly Series is Washington University’s premiere lecture series. Its chief mission is to present interesting and important voices, and it is designed to spark meaningful discussion and lead to greater understanding of our world today. Assembly Series programs are free and open to the public. The fall 2013 schedule, below, opens with First Year Reading Program author Eula Biss on September 9.​​​

Anyone with aspirations for climbing the corporate ladder knows that the best advice comes from the insiders at the top, and Cynthia Brinkley has occupied the top rungs at some of the largest and most established companies for more than a quarter-century. For the next Assembly Series program, tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel, Brinkley will share her experiences and insights.

We all know the story of the Roman gladiator, right? Not the whole story, says Harvard classicist and advisor to the 2000 blockbuster film, “Gladiator.” Kathleen Coleman will explain this fascinating and complex culture for the annual Biggs Lecture in the Classics: “Christians in the Roman Arena,” April 9.

“The anthropological concept of culture is extremely important and often misunderstood because many of the things that are assumed to be biologically determined, like criminality or homosexuality or IQ, are really behaviorally and societally defined,” says WUSTL physical anthropologist Robert W. Sussman, and it forms the basis for his Phi Beta Kappa/Sigma Xi Lecture, “The Importance of the Concept of Culture to Science and Society,” the next Assembly Series program held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 9.