April 1 Public Lecture: Why We Can’t Just Get Along: The Polarized Partisan Divide

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On April 1st, Professor Marc Hetherington, of the Political Science Department at UNC-Chapel Hill presented our monthly public lecture.  It is entitled “Why We Can’t Just Get Along:  The Partisan Divide in a Period of Intense Polarization.”

Professor Hetherington has authored or co-authored six books, three on partisan polarization, discussing the evolution of this divide over the past two decades.  In addition, his work includes volumes on political trust and public policy more generally.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, our spreaker received his PhD from the University of Texas. His academic career has included appointments at Vanderbilt, Bowdoin College, Princeton and the University of Virginia.

February Public Lecture: Health Care Policy Under Biden

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On Friday, February 25th, our Lindgren Lecture speaker was Dr. Jonathan Oberlander, Professor of Social Medicine and Health Policy Management at UNC Chapel Hill.  His talk is titled “Unfinished Journey: Health Care Reform in the Biden Administration and Beyond.”

We were fortunate to have Dr. Oberlander return for his third Lindgren lecture on health care over the past 22 years. His last one was in 2015 and was received with enthusiasm.

The subject reflects Dr. Oberlander’s leadership role in UNC’s Depts. of Social Medicine and Health Policy & Management and his adjunct appointment in the UNC Department of Political Science.   His research interests include:  health care politics and policy; health care reform; Medicare; American politics; and public policy more generally.

January Public Lecture: The U.S. and the European Threat

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Shared Learning’s guest lecturer this month is the UNC Distinguished Professor of History and International Affairs, Dr. Klaus Larres.  Professor Larres addressed highly relevant current US-Europe relations, their Nixon/Kissinger era origins and the current state of US-European cooperation (or partial non-cooperation) regarding China and Russia.

Dr. Larres is well-known to the broader Chapel Hill community as Director of the Krasno Global Events Series which brings major academic and governmental speakers to UNC in monthly lectures open to the public.  Larres focuses on transatlantic US-China-EU relations.  His work also includes German and British foreign policies, European integration, the history and politics of the Cold War, German-American relations and global leadership and governance questions.  Larres’ 10 books include his most recent volume, Uncertain Allies: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Threat of a United Europe (Yale University Press, November 2021).

Last-Minute Changes Due to Covid

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Four courses, originally scheduled to be in-person, will now be remote, on ZOOM:

  • Why Do Media Get Health Stories So Wrong So Often (Tues., 9:15, starting Jan. 25);
  • Climate Change: Where Do We Stand (Wed., 9:15, starting Jan. 26),
  • France Through the Ages (Wed., 11:15, starting Jan. 19), and
  • Death, Dying and the Afterlife in World Cultures (Thurs., 11:15, starting Jan. 20).

Registration is now closed, except for those who have already registered and wish to enroll in Climate Change or Media/Health Stories.  Email your request to hjbecker@uci.edu by Jan. 21st.

Also, note that 3 courses will begin during the 2nd week of classes–the week of Jan. 24th.  Those are the Health Stories and Climate Change courses mentioned above as well as the Jewish Intellectual History course which had already been scheduled to start in the 2nd week.

Below is the full schedule of courses — including the notation of which classes are full:

Winter-2022-schedule-1.32-1

First Fall ’21 Lindgren Lecture: Epigenetics (Mom & Me)

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Friday, October 22nd, at 11:15 a.m., Professor Brian Strahl, Professor and Interim Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UNC Chapel Hill, will discuss Epigenetics and the Histone Code or “Things Mom Didn’t Have to Teach Me.”  (Title line above abbreviated for impact.)  We will meet over Zoom and the Zoom link will be emailed to current members.  If you are a previous member or are on our mailing list, email hjbecker@uci.edu for the Zoom link.

Each cell in our body contains ~3.4 billion base pairs, which, if stretched out from end to end, would be 6 ft in length, but somehow fits into a cell nucleus only about 10 μm (~0.00001 yards) in diameter. How our DNA is packaged into the nucleus and then unwound for gene expression and protein synthesis (both critical to cell identity and fetal development) is still poorly understood. Brian Strahl, co-Director of the UNC Program in Chromatin and Epigenetics, is at the forefront of deciphering how DNA is packaged and then unwound for expression. DNA packaging and unwinding is largely mediated by a class of proteins called histones. Brian’s lab has been studying these proteins and the small chemical additions that occur on them or they make to DNA (e.g., adding or deleting phosphate or methyl groups).

Download full flyer HERE.

Shared Learning Is Moving to the Church of Reconciliation

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Shared Learning and the Church of Reconciliation have finalized our agreement for 2021-2022 with classes beginning the week of September 13th.  The Curriculum and Catalog Committee is working with more than two dozen moderators to prepare an exciting set of courses for the Fall semester.  Most will be in-person at the Church (“the Rec” at 110 N. Elliot Rd.); some will be given remotely over Zoom; and a few are likely to be “hybrid” with participants both in-person and remote.

More details will be forthcoming soon–including a tentative schedule of courses–with the full catalog expected near the beginning of August.  Tell your friends to look out for the latest information–which will be on Shared Learning’s Public Home Page, https://sharedlearning.us.