Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
Oil + Water, A Year-Long Series Presentation
November 17, 4:00 PM
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Why Oil and Water?
Catherine Gautier (Geography, UCSB)
McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
This talk is the keynote address for the IHC’s Oil + Water series. Unsustainable use of oil and water by a rapidly growing global population is creating a serious environmental security challenge. Intensified competition for these dwindling resources threatens global security. Oil and water are intertwined in many ways. Each needs the other in its respective extraction process, and the use of one accelerates the depletion of the other. Oil and water are also linked through climate change. Oil burning emits carbon dioxide responsible for the enhanced greenhouse effect and consequent global warming that modifies the water cycle and water availability.
For more information on the Oil + Water series, please visit:
<http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/oil-water.html>

American Association of Religion Honors Professor Ines Talamantez
Ines Talamantez, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara, has been selected as one of four distinguished scholars by the American Academy of Religion as a Centennial Scholar. The AAR is celebrating their 100th anniversary with a series of special events including a Centennial Scholars and Artists Panel at the 2009 annual meeting in Montréal in November.

The Future of the University, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
November 5, 3:30, McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB
Featuring Jennifer Washburn (author of University Inc., "University Inc.: Why Public Knowledge and Public Education Are At Risk") and David Marshall (Executive Dean, College of Letters and Science, and Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, UCSB), "The Plight of the Public Research University" followed by a roundtable discussion.

Professor of History Receives the Cundill International Prize in History Recognition of Excellence
The two “Recognition of Excellence” finalists are: Champlain's Dream (Knopf Canada), by Brandeis University history professor and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Hackett Fischer, and The Comanche Empire (Yale University Press) by Pekka Hämäläinen, a Finnish-born professor of Native American history at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life
Wade Clark Roof Lecture on Human Rights
Kerry Kennedy, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights
and chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council
Speak Truth To Power
Thursday, November 5 / 8:00 p.m. / Free / UCSB Campbell Hall

The Future of Graduate Education in the Humanities
IHC Hosts Conference, October 29, 2009

Department of English News and Highlights

2009 Cundill International Prize in History Shortlist Announced. History Professor's Comanche Empire Continues to Gain Attention.

Does the Brain Like E-Books? Professor Alan Liu of the English Department's Translitericies will let you know. NY Times.

UCSB Theater presents Rabbit Hole
by David Lindsay-Abaire
November 13 - 21
Performing Arts Theatre (HSSB)
The 2007 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, this alternately sad and funny play follows a couple, struggling with an unspeakable loss, in search of comfort and the strength to persevere. UCSB faculty member Irwin Appel directs.
Tickets for the 2009 Fall Quarter events on sale online starting September 29.
November 13-14 & 17-21 @ 8pm
November 14, 15, & 21 @ 2pm
Talkback after the matinee on November 15.
Cost: $13/Student, Seniors, UCSB Faculty & Staff; $17/General Admission
Contact: Eric Mills

Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies
Anita Diamant
8:00 p.m., Thursday, November 12, Free
UCSB Campbell Hall
An evening with the author of The Red Tent, Good Harbor, The Last Days of Dogtown and the just-released novel, Day After Night, which is set in
Palestine during the 1940s and which tells the true story of four female
Holocaust survivors rescued from a British-run internment camp who find
salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience as they grapple with life in a new land.
Copresented with UCSB Arts & Lectures

One Nation, in Broad Strokes, Professor Bruce Robertson, Consulting Curator at the LACMA, NY Times

New Book by David Gordon White, Professor of Religious Studies, Sinister Yogis (University of Chicago, 2009) reveals the true story of yoga’s origins in South Asia is far richer, stranger, and much more entertaining.

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Announces Two Series of Annual Events
Oil + Water: IHC theme for 2009-2010
This year, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center will present a series of programs on the theme Oil + Water.  Oil + Water commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Santa Barbara oil spill, and provides an opportunity to examine the impact of these two resources on the history, economy, and culture of California and the world.  Topics will range from dams to surfing to plastics to car culture; the program will examine oil and water in a global as well as local context.
The Future of University: IHC theme for 2009-2010
The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 was built on a foundation of state-supported higher education. That plan and its promise are now in jeopardy. This year, the IHC will explore the immediate UC budget crisis and its intersection with the long-standing “crisis” in the humanities in a series of events entitled The Future of the University. The series will include roundtable discussions on the future of graduate and undergraduate education, on publishing in the humanities, and on the role of the humanities in the corporatized university.
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center

Four New Exhibits at the University Art Museum
October 14 - January 21

UCSB Theater and Dance, 2009-2010 Concerts, Plays, and Events

Cell Tango, An Installation of Cell Phone Memories by UCSB Professor Art, George Legrady

Professor of English, Shirley Lim Receives MELUS Lifetime Achievement Award

New Building Complex to House Film and Media and Center for Film, Television, and New Media

Driving Fast –– New Book by UCSB English Scholar Examines the Thrill of Speed

UCSB History Alumna Named New Director at Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library

Religious Studies to offer courses in Pashto, Persian, and Turkish

New Book by UCSB Scholar Offers Firsthand Account of a North Korean Labor Camp Survivor
In 1993, Kim Yong was a model North Korean citizen. Dedicated to his country and its leaders, the lieutenant colonel in the National Security Agency (NSA) enjoyed a privileged life with his wife and two children. When his superiors recommended him for a promotion to the rank of full colonel, however, a background check turned his entire world upside down. Press Release.

Sardi’s to Orange Julius®: Los Angeles Restaurants
from the Architecture & Design Collection
University Art Museum, UC Santa Barbara
July 8 - September 13
From distinctive ambiance to franchise familiarity, this exhibition tracks changes in restaurant architecture through eight specific projects.  Drawn entirely from the University Art Museum's Architecture & Design Collection, the unique drawings, vintage photographs, and ephemera chronicle selected Los Angeles eateries. Featuring designs by J.R. Davidson, R.M. Schindler, and Kem Weber, the majority of the exhibition focuses on the 1930s, an architecturally expansive decade for the city. Despite the national economic crisis, Los Angeles sustained physical and creative growth through its burgeoning energy and aircraft industries, as well as its continued film production. More.

UCSB Ranked Among Top U.S. Universities by Washington Monthly

New Yorker Book Recommendations include Michael Berry, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies

Cluster of Mellichamp Endowed Chairs in Global Civil Society Appointed
As part of a major new initiative to build on its strengths in global studies, the College of Letters and Science at UC Santa Barbara has appointed three leading interdisciplinary scholars to a cluster of new endowed professorships focused on the study of global society, history, and culture. Read More.