Said and Done
October 2011 Edition
Published by the Office of the Dean
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
QUOTABLE
“The U.S. has an unemployment crisis and a debt problem,
but many people in Washington are behaving as if we have
a debt crisis and an unemployment problem.”
— Peter Diamond, Nobel laureate,
MIT Institute Professor of Economics emeritus
INSTALLATION
School's new exhibit opens in Building 14
In honor of MIT's 150th anniversary, Dean Fitzgerald and the School leadership initiated a new, permanent exhibition about the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Located on the first floor of Building 14, near Killian Hall, the exhibit presents the 20+ fields of study that make up the School, as well as an updating gallery of significant research, news, and profiles.
Take a look
FORTHCOMING
Dr. Joseph Aoun to give 2011 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award Lecture | October 26, 5 pm
The Future of American Higher Education in the Global Knowledge Marketplace
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 5 pm | Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Building E15 | Dr. Joseph E. Aoun, PhD '82 Linguistics, and President of Northeastern University, has received the 2011 Muh Alumni Award in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. His lecture and a reception, immediately following, are open to the public.
More
MULTIMEDIA
Rebuilding the American economy
The Political Science Distinguished Speaker Series
Leading MIT faculty review a series of manufacturing topics, including the promise of U.S. strength in advanced manufacturing. Ron Bloom, former Senior Counselor to the President, and Nobel laureate and MIT economist Robert Solow offer comments. Throughout the forum, participants seek answers to a pervasive question: Can the U.S. maintain an innovative edge if it loses production capabilities?
Watch
Common Threads: Changing Studies / Changing Students
This three-minute clip from the exciting "Common Threads" video, produced for the MIT 150th anniversary celebration, features the rise of the sciences, humanities, arts, and social sciences at MIT. Sir Winston Churchill makes an appearance.
Watch
Local News in the Digital Age
At this event, produced by the MIT Communications Forum, distinguished practitioners from traditional and online media evaluate evolving conditions for serious U.S. journalism, and review the unique opportunities and impact in the local media space.
Watch
Award-winning film airs on MIT linguistics alum and Wampanoag language
Created by filmmaker Anne Makepeace, "We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân," tells the story of the return of the Wampanoag language—the first time a language with no native speakers has been revived in this country. The successful work of the Wampanoag people to restore their language and culture has been led by MIT linguistics alum, and recent MacArthur recipient, Jessie Little Doe Baird. Film airs November 17, 10 pm, WGBH TV Boston.
Preview the film | Little Doe Baird on her work at MIT
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
Research Portfolio
Research is the engine for the School's capacity to help meet the world's great challenges. To name just a few areas of impact, the School's research helps alleviate poverty, safeguard elections, steer economies, understand the past and present, improve health policy, articulate morality, plan space policy, assess the impact of new technologies, understand human language, and create new forms at the juncture of art and science.
Research Portfolio
Election Integrity: what it takes to make every vote count
Eleven years after the disputed 2000 presidential election, many of the challenges that jeopardized that election remain unresolved, said voting experts at “Election Integrity: Past, Present, and Future.” The conference, convened by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, brought together election administrators, academics and technology professionals from around the country. A central theme was how to insure that votes are both recorded and counted as they were cast.
Story by Lori Shridhare
Murmurs of Mayan
MIT undergraduate John Berman traveled to Mexico to study and document the Chol language, aiming to help preserve its ancient and unique linguistic attributes—and the culture the Chol language embodies.
Story by Emily Finn
Bookshelf
The research of MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences appears principally in the form of books and publications, as well as music and theater productions. These gems of the School provide new knowledge and analysis, innovation and insight, guidance for policy, and nourishment for lives.
Take a look
NEWS AND FEATURES
Kothari named director of MISTI-India
S.P. Kothari, deputy dean and Gordon Y. Billard Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has been named director of the MIT MISTI-India Program. He succeeds Arundhati Banerjee, director of the Office of Global Initiatives. Welcome aboard, Professor Kothari!
More
MIT Communications Forum launches fall series
For more than 30 years, the MIT Communications Forum has conducted a sustained, in-depth exploration of the cultural, political, economic and technological impact of communications, with special emphasis on emerging technologies. The 2011 Forum series continues the analysis with three panels: Local News in the Digital Age; Surveillance and Citizenship; and Cities and the Future of Entertainment. The Forum website also archives previous panels for research and education.
Programming + information
In Profile: Suzanne Berger
One of the country’s leading authorities on globalization and its effects on the economy, Berger, the Starbuck Professor of Political Science at MIT, is co-chair of MIT’s new Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE) project, which analyzes manufacturing. “Countries have real choices about how they want to handle their policies with respect to taxes and social welfare,” she says. “The idea that we’re being forced into a race to the bottom to compete in global markets does not stand up."
Story by Peter Dizikes
In Profile: Daniel Posner
Daniel Posner, the Total Chair and Professor of Political Science, looks at the surprising ways ethnicity and politics mesh in southern Africa. Colleagues point to Posner's unusual range of skills: his depth in African history, politics, and society combine with superior technical, statistical expertise to make him a leader in bringing new methods into comparative politics.
Story by Peter Dizikes
Insight | Acemoglu on the European debt crisis and U.S. economy
Daron Acemoglu, the Killian Professor of Economics at MIT, and Peter Coy, economics editor at Bloomberg Businessweek, discuss the European debt crisis and the U.S. job market.
Video at Bloomberg
Attention: Deficit Disorder
At a recent MIT forum on the Federal budget deficit, economists warned that deficit concerns, while legitimate, are crowding out initiatives to help jobs and growth. Nobel laureate Peter Diamond emphasized that job creation should be an immediate priority, including more spending on infrastructure, education and scientific research. The panel discussion also featured several economists who have served in key White House positions.
Story by Peter Dizikes + Video
MIT Concert Office unveils fall programming
The School's Music and Theater Arts program provides MIT students the opportunity to experience the language and process of the arts, to learn artistic rigor, risk-taking, and discipline, and to develop discernment about the standards of excellence in the arts.
Each year, a great roster of events organized by the Concert Office plays a major role in the life of the campus, and in the creative development of MIT students. Events for Fall 2011 include performances by the Institute's acclaimed faculty, by internationally-recognized visiting artists, and by MIT's extraordinarily talented student ensembles.
All concerts and performances
STAY IN TOUCH
Calendar
The daily answer to what's happening
Facebook
Welcome to our social media community
Twitter
Follow
Subscribe
RSS News
RSS Multimedia
LIT@MIT
Literature subjects regularly receive some
of the highest teaching evaluations at the Institute.