Colloquy

Latest Episodes:

Race at the Top Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

“We are living in an age of anxiety,” writes the Tufts University sociologist Natasha Warikoo, PhD '05, one in which even wealthy families who seem to “have it all” are insecure about their status. Her new book, Race at the Top, explores the ways in which educated, well-to-do parents in the prosperous East Coast suburb she calls “Woodcrest” (not its real name), channel their anxieties into their children’s schooling. But just what it means to get an excellent education, who decides, and what success looks like are all a matter of contention—often racially tinged—between Woodcrest’s white families and those in the growing Asian immigrant community. Meanwhile, Black and Brown families and the poor are on the outside looking in.

This month on Colloquy: race and the pursuit of the American dream in suburban schools with Dr. Natasha Warikoo.

Graduate Student Mental Health Crisis May 12, 2022

Show notes

Co-chaired by GSAS Dean Emma Dench, Harvard University's Task Force on Managing Student Mental Health reported in 2020 that nearly one in four graduate students surveyed exhibited symptoms of moderate to severe depression. Nearly one in four exhibited symptoms of moderate to severe generalized anxiety. Underrepresented minority students, first-generation students, low-income students, and students who identified as LGBTQ all were more likely to screen positive for these conditions.

This month on Colloquy, we're taking a deep dive into the graduate student mental health crisis with Dr. Emily Bernstein, PhD ’20, a clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Digital Mental Health. In 2018 while working toward her doctorate, Dr. Bernstein and her cohorts piloted a successful group intervention for GSAS students that’s still offered today. Since then, she and her colleagues have published research on ways to address the increasing need for mental health services. She talks about that work, the challenges faced by graduate students, and why she thinks our smartphones could become an important vehicle for delivering mental health care.

“It Was Hell”: The Forgotten Earthquakes that Reshaped America Apr 05, 2022

Show notes

“Torn to pieces.” That's how the American frontiersman Davy Crockett, described the West Tennessee landscape. Nearly 15 years after it was rent asunder by the New Madrid earthquakes from December 1811 to February 1812. The tremors rocked an area that also included the present-day states of Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Illinois, reshaping not only the landscape but also the lives of the people who settled there.

So why were the quakes all but forgotten by the time of the Civil War? What caused them and could they happen again?

Joining us to discuss this long-overlooked disaster in this Earth Month episode of Colloquy is Dr. Conevery Valencius, author of the recent book The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes. Dr. Valencius is a professor of history at Boston College and has taught at Washington University, Saint Louis, Harvard, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She's been a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Debonair Institute for the History of Science and Technology. Dr. Valencius is currently working on a book about earthquakes and the modern energy sector. She received a Ph.D. in the History of Science from GCIS in 1998.

Russia, Ukraine, and Avoiding WWIII Mar 11, 2022

Show notes

Today on Colloquy, we bring you a recent conversation with two of the country's leading experts on eastern Europe and national security. Dr. Fiona Hill is a senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She recently served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. From 2006 to 2009, she served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council. She is author of the 2021 book, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century and co-author of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. She received her PhD from GSAS in 1998.

Engaging Dr. Hill in discussion is Graham Allison, the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University. Allison is a leading analyst of national security with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China, and decision-making. As Assistant Secretary of Defense in the first Clinton Administration, Professor Allison received the Defense Department's highest civilian award, the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, for "reshaping relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to reduce the former Soviet nuclear arsenal." He received his PhD from GSAS in 1968.

Next on Colloquy: Russia, Ukraine, and avoiding WWIII.

The Economics of Life: Why Exercising More May Not Help You Lose Weight Mar 04, 2022

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Wondering why the "COVID 19" you packed on during the pandemic won't go away no matter how hard you workout? Herman Pontzer, PhD '06, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University, says that the problem is in our brains, not our biceps—specifically, the way we understand the relationship between weight and exercise. The author of the bestselling 2021 Book, Burn, Pontzer says that human metabolism evolved over millions of years to defend against weight loss. As a result, the calories we burn every day stay within a fairly narrow range whether we’re gym rats or couch potatoes. This month on Colloquy, the economics of life with evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer.

The Black Agenda Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

The Black Agenda is a new collection of essays that centers the voices of Black experts—particularly women. Whether the issue is climate change, public health, economic inequality, or education, the contributors to The Black Agenda see social and racial justice as integral—not supplemental—to solutions. Along the way, the book interrogates our assumptions about the ways we live and work together in the United States, as well as our notions of where to look for answers. Join us as we discuss The Black Agenda with editor Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, an author, entrepreneur, researcher, and PhD student at GSAS.

Inclusion, Justice, and Love in an Apocalyptic Moment Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

As the Christmas holiday approaches, Rev. Dr. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, PhD ’13, says that the United States is in the midst of an “apocalyptic moment.” The inequities of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight for racial justice, and the crisis of climate change are revealing the aspects of our society—and ourselves—from which we can no longer turn away. Now Pusey Minister in Harvard’s Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Potts preaches a Christian ethics that is at odds with white supremacy and cultural hegemony—and he’s got some hard questions: Can we turn away from prejudice and fear and toward inclusion? Can we stand for justice without falling prey to self-righteousness? Can we face up to how hard it is to love and do it anyway?

“We have our medicine”: Trauma and Resilience in Indigenous Communities Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

The sociologist Blythe George, PhD '20, highlights the vibrance of rural indigenous communities amid the trauma that is the legacy of settler colonialism. A member of the Yurok tribe of northwestern California, George maps the deep connections indigenous people have to the sacred--and to each other--and says they have within their culture all they need to heal themselves. They just need the rest of us to get out of their way.

Who's Afraid of Inflation? Oct 27, 2021

Show notes

What's behind the price hikes on cars, food, fuel, and many other items? Is there too much money in the economy? Is it a supply chain problem? And is this a bump on the road to recovery from the economic shocks of the pandemic or a long-term trend? We ask GSAS alumna Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama Administration, how worried consumers should be about inflation.

The Incredible Shrinking Vaccine Efficacy Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

COVID-19 infections are surging again in the U.S., despite the availability of vaccines that are both safe and effective. In the inaugural episode of the GSAS Colloquy podcast, alumnus Michael Lin, a microbiologist and Professor at Stanford University talks about vaccination mandates as a path out of the pandemic, but also about the decline in vaccine efficacy over time. He advocates booster shots for adults over the age of 16, as well as continued public health measures like masking indoors. Lin also speaks about ongoing work at his lab to develop a new treatment for COVID-19 that targets the virus on the molecular level.

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