1 afternoon, 3 lectures, a lifetime of learning | March 4, 2017 | 2:00 – 6:30 p.m. | Needham, MA

Immerse yourself in Cornell academics, without traveling to Ithaca! Three Cornell faculty members bring the classroom to you through lectures inspired by classes they’re currently teaching on campus. Spend your Saturday learning about cutting edge research and ideas, and reconnecting with other Cornellians! Featuring:

“Great American Trials: Lessons in Advocacy” by Glenn Altschuler PhD ’76, Dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
We will take on four compelling twentieth-century trials, Leopoldo and Loeb; Alger Hiss; Dan White (accused of murdering San Francisco mayor George Moscone and supervisor and gay activist Harvey Milk); and OJ Simpson  to assess the advocacy techniques of prosecutors and defense attorneys.

“Adolescents and Social Media” by Janis Whitlock, Research Scientist, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, The College of Human Ecology
We will examine the effect of current technology and social media on adolescent mental health.  In an era where young adults struggle with emotional and mental health challenges at some point in their adolescence, parental angst is understandable.  What have we learned about the process of growing up, risk taking and maturing that can help parents cope with adolescent behavior? The research continues to emerge.

NEW “The Psychology of Meaning and Value” by Colleen Giblin ’11, a PhD candidate in marketing at Carnegie Mellon University who is currently a visiting scholar at Boston University
This session will explore how we decide what matters in our everyday lives. Why do random thoughts that pop into our mind sometimes feel so meaningful? How do we determine how much money a product or experience is worth to us? It turns out a common thread underlies many of these kinds of judgments and decisions. We will explore competing explanations for why self-associations can cause people to view the good things in life as even better, and the bad things as even worse.

Event Details:
Date: Saturday, March 4, 2017
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Location: Sheraton Needham Hotel
100 Cabot Street, Needham, MA 02494
Parking: Free parking is available in the hotel garage
Price: $50 General Admission | $40 Young Alumni (0 – 10 years out)
Your ticket includes access to all three lectures, appetizers, soft drinks, coffee, tea and beverages and a Cornell branded notebook

Schedule:
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Doors open and reception
2:30 p.m. – 2:40 p.m. Welcome
2:40 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Lecture 1 + Q&A
3:30 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. Break
3:40 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Lecture 2 + Q&A
4:30 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. Break
4:40 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Lecture 3 + Q&A
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Additional mingling time; event concludes

About the speakers:

Glenn Altschuler received his PhD in American History from Cornell in 1976 and has been an administrator and teacher at the university since 1981.  He has served as dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions since 1991.While dean he has continued to do research and teaching. His year-long survey of Popular Culture in the United States, 1900–Present is one of the most popular courses at Cornell. Professor Altschuler has been an animating force in the American Studies Program and has been a strong advocate on campus for high-quality teaching and advising. In 1998, he became the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies. In 2006, he was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Cornell’s most prestigious award for undergraduate teaching.

Janis Whitlock is a Research Scientist in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She is also the Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery. She is the author of publications on non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence and young adulthood as well as in youth connectedness to schools and communities. She earned a doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University (2003) and a Masters of Public Health from UNC Chapel Hill (1994). In addition to research, she has worked in adolescent and women’s health in a variety of clinical, administrative, and education-related capacities for over a decade. Her primary research focus includes development of early detection and intervention in mental health and wellbeing for youth in college and community settings, recovery from self-injurious behaviors, parental influence in and experience of young people’s self-injury and suicidality, the relationship between connectedness and self-injury and suicide behaviors, and development and evaluation of interventions for youth and parents of self-injurious youth. She is currently pursuing a newer line of research related to the sexual health and development in the digital age and the interaction between mental health, development, and social media-linked behavior.

Colleen Giblin ’11, Behavioral Scientist, is a visiting scholar at Boston University and PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, In Summer 2017, she will begin as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Le Moyne College.

Find a Return to the Classroom event in other cities this year: http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/classroom