Tag Archives: Podcast

Talking Tuna

Posted on by

On September 24, Professor Daniel Levine of the University of Arkansas Classics Department spoke at Temple University about “Tuna in the Ancient Greek World”.  The Zeta Beta Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi brought him to campus after hearing him speak at a national conference.  Zeta Beta is a group on campus that promotes the teaching, study, and appreciation of Latin, Greek, and the ancient world.

Before his talk in the afternoon, Dr. Levine was kind enough to stop by my office to discuss his topic.  We had a lively conversation punctuated by lengthy classical quotes, strange-sounding Greek words, and a few laughs.  It was a thorough education on the ancient tuna, some of whose relatives still exist today, though in ever sparser numbers.  The interview is broken into two parts.

Tuna in the Ancient Greek World

[ensemblevideo contentid=DzQgKEHaU0y6cKjmt3VD8Q audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Tuna in the Ancient Greek World – Part II

[ensemblevideo contentid=h6HYVDAjhk2-jC7pO8B32g audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

—Fred Rowland

Lost Tribes of Israel: The Interview

Posted on by

losttribes.jpg

On November 15, Paley Library hosted the 5th Annual Symposium on Race and Judaism. Entitled “Lost Tribes: Ancient and Contemporary Perspectives”, it featured eight speakers who spoke on a range of topics from the ancient context to modern interpretations. The keynote address was delivered by Rabbi Debra Bowen, the leader of Congregation Temple Beth El in North Philadelphia.

Before the symposium, three of the speakers sat down with me for an interview: Lewis Gordon, director of the Institute for Afro-Jewish Studies and philosophy professor at Temple; Mark Leuchter, chair of the Jewish Studies program; and David Koffman, history professor at York University.

Listen to the audio of the interview: Lost Tribes

[ensemblevideo contentid=rTuQukUMcUmrQvejneVPMw audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series


—Fred Rowland

Climatologist Michael Mann

Posted on by

On October 13, climatologist Michael Mann spoke to a packed house in the Paley Library Lecture Hall about global warming and the politicization of science.  He is the director of the Earth System Science Center and a professor at the Pennsylvania State University.  In 2007, he and other members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  In 2009, many of his emails and the emails of other climatologists were hacked from a server at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, an incident which came to be known in the popular press as “climategate.”

Before his lecture, I interviewed Michael Mann about some of the details of climate change research and the email hack that spilled across the Internet.

Listen to the interview with Michael Mann

[ensemblevideo contentid=R6fYT28qQkWhwOWvUP03Qw audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series


–Fred Rowland

Talking about the Roman Wedding

Posted on by

Professor Karen Hersch is the author of The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press in 2010 (Temple catalog record).

I spoke with her on September 20 about her new book. We discuss ancient sources and modern scholarship. She explains the social, legal, and religious significance of the Roman Wedding and its similarities to the modern American wedding. The role of the Roman woman, the significance of the (mythic) Sabine women, and details of the wedding day are covered. The listener will come away with a much greater appreciation of the lives of women in the ancient world.

The first recording is a snippet from the full-length interview.  The complete interview appears directly below it.

Weddings, ancient and modern

[ensemblevideo contentid=9JJU7PYiSkm59JgMCBw-ug audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Roman Wedding

[ensemblevideo contentid=munL0QTgcUKYiCsDZd1yhA audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

–Fred Rowland

Discussion with Temple Classicists: Part 2

Posted on by

tompkins.jpg robin.jpg roy.jpg

This is the second part of my conversation with Classics professors Dan Tompkins, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, and Sydnor Roy, which took place on March 18, 2010. We talked about the impact of new theoretical approaches on classics research, the effect of the Internet on interdisciplinary research, and new channels for distributing PhD dissertations.

Dan Tompkins received his PhD from Yale University in 1968 with a dissertation entitled Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides. Robin Mitchell-Boyask graduated in 1988 from Brown University with a dissertation entitled Tragic Identity: Studies in Euripides and Shakespeare. Sydnor Roy is a 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation is entitled Political Relativism: Implicit Political Theory in Herodotus’ Histories.

Listen to Part II of the Conversation

[ensemblevideo contentid=h7gwF6rYJ0-QyHdGRuaK4Q audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

(Listen to Part I of our conversation.)

—Fred Rowland

Interviews: Library Prize Winners 2010

Posted on by

Interviews with the winners of the 2010 Library Prize for Undergraduate Research are now available.

bermudez.jpgDonald Bermudez speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Donald Bermudez – author of Keystone of the Keystone: The Falls of the Delaware and Bucks County 1609-1692 (History 4997) – and faculty sponsor Rita Krueger are interviewed by Adam Shambaugh

[ensemblevideo contentid=N9nnTeuc30qG1gaAi4tp7Q audio=true showcaptions=true]

 

hussey.jpgBrian Hussey speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Brian Hussey – author of Setting the Agenda: The Effects of Administration Debates and the President’s Personal Imperatives on Forming Foreign Policy During the Reagan Administration (History 4997) – and faculty sponsor Rita Krueger are interviewed by Fred Rowland

[ensemblevideo contentid=Lr9Cwe4CV0OqRPNkhH31SA audio=true showcaptions=true]

 

young.jpgCharise Young speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Charise Young – author of African American Women’s Basketball in the 1920s and 1930s: Active Participants in the “New Negro” Movement (History 4296) – and faculty sponsor Bettye Collier-Thomas are interviewed by Fred Rowland

[ensemblevideo contentid=M9mF0Y9-Yk6dL-q5aQH5TQ audio=true showcaptions=true]

For more information on this year’s winners and honorable mentions, go to the Winners page.

Talking About Starbucks

Posted on by

simon2.jpgTemple history professor Bryant Simon is the author of Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America From Starbucks, published by University of California Press in 2009. It describes how the Starbucks phenomenon reflects many of the social and cultural trends in American society and business. On March 24, 2010, he stopped by Paley Library to talk to me about his new book. He discussed the history of the company, the research methods he employed, the coffeehouse tradition, the shrinking of public spaces in America, and how we might renew our civic culture.

Listen to the audio of the interview

[ensemblevideo contentid=SJ8M9IHa2Uu06K2YLqbBDA audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

—Fred Rowland

Discussion with Temple Classicists

Posted on by

tompkins.jpg robin.jpg roy.jpg

On March 18, 2010 I had the opportunity to speak with Classics professors Dan Tompkins, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, and Sydnor Roy. I wanted to understand how Classics research–and humanities research more generally–had changed in the course of the past few decades in the wake of broad transformations in academia, technology, and society.

Dan Tompkins received his PhD from Yale University in 1968 with a dissertation entitled Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides. Robin Mitchell-Boyask graduated in 1988 from Brown University with a dissertation entitled Tragic Identity: Studies in Euripides and Shakespeare. Sydnor Roy is a 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation is entitled Political Relativism: Implicit Political Theory in Herodotus’ Histories.

We began by discussing their respective dissertation experiences: where they studied, what kinds of sources they used, the technology that was available, and the scholarly community that surrounded them. Since the three dissertations spanned the years from 1968 to 2010, the discussion revealed interesting similarities and differences in the academic environment over the past forty years. Below is Part 1 of our discussion. Parts 2 and 3 will follow.

Listen to the audio of the discussion, Part I

[ensemblevideo contentid=xoGjjJfmXEydHowYpXDNrQ audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

—Fred Rowland

Discussing American Jewish History Research

Posted on by

[ensemblevideo contentid=yL7ctgu6zUiXuYCx_JOEug audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

On September 9, in a ceremony at Sullivan Hall, over one hundred interested faculty, students, staff, friends, and members of the public celebrated the arrival of the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center (PJAC) to Temple’s Main Campus. This 5 million piece collection is perhaps the best local Jewish archive anywhere in the country and finds an excellent home in the Temple University Libraries’ Urban Archives, a research center specializing in twentieth century Philadelphia. Another new arrival to Temple’s Main Campus, from its former Temple University Center City home, is the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History. Both of these organizations will invigorate Jewish studies research at Temple University. On November 6, Sarah Sherman, Archivist for the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center, and Lila Berman, head of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History, sat down with librarian Fred Rowland to discuss the recent arrival of these two organizations. They discuss the long arc of Philadelphia Jewish history, the history of their respective organizations, and their roles in promoting research at Temple University. Interview (mp3; 28:24 minutes; 26 MB)

In Every Tongue–Speaking about Gary Tobin

Posted on by

[ensemblevideo contentid=t29yxpB_9EqvPRBaGpjKQA audio=true showcaptions=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

The Center for Afro-Jewish Studies and the Jewish Studies Program held its 3rd Annual Symposium on Race and Judaism on November 19, 2009. The day’s program was devoted to themes in memory of the late Dr. Gary Tobin who died on July 6, 2009. Gary Tobin was the President of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, and, along with his wife Dianne, the founder of Be’chol Lashon/In Every Tongue, “a think-tank devoted to the study of Jewish diversity and bringing diverse communities of Jewish people together across the globe.”  (View this short film about Be’chol Lashon.)  Gary Tobin was a social scientist, teacher, and community organizer with interests in Jewish demography, philanthropy, antisemitism, and anti-Israelism.

On the morning of the symposium, librarian Fred Rowland sat down with four of the participants to discuss Gary Tobin, the organizations that he created, the issues to which he devoted his life, and the day’s events. They were Lewis Gordon, professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies; Laura Levitt, professor of religion and women’s studies; Rabbi Capers Funnye of the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago, and Walter Isaac, graduate fellow for the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies.