ALUMNI WEEKEND 2009

Faculty Symposia

“With this artistic ploy, Liszt let Beethoven speak for himself—and praise himself.” — Alexander Rehding, professor of music, from “Remembering Beethoven in 1845”

“There was a wide spectrum of response. Some theologians found it easy to accept. Some scientists didn’t like the science in it.” — Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science, from “Two Hundred Years of : Celebrating Charles Darwin in 2009”

“We’re used to thinking of a black hole as this object that eats stuff, this monster, good for nothing. But it can be used as a source of energy, in principle.” — Ramesh Narayan, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, from “Black Holes”

Lively discussion and energetic debate as the experts analyzed three Middle East hot spots Anna Kreslavskaya

Harvard University 6 GSAS “It’s important to design policy not that looks good in Cambridge or New Haven or Berkeley, but that looks good in Washington and London and Paris and Calcultta.” — Robert Stavins, PhD ’88, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, from “Getting Serious About Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto Era”

“There’s amazingly abundant at 2½ kilometers down. vents rival the rainforests for biomass.” — Colleen Cavanaugh, PhD ’85, Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of , from “Dancing in the Dark: Microbial Diversity, , and Deep-Sea Hot Springs”

“Clearly the rulers use elections to legitimate their regimes. They want to be able to tell the people they have spoken. It’s an exercise in stage management.” — Roger Owen, A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, from “The Rise of the Arab Security State”

Far left: Zahra Jamal, PhD ’08, left, and Rozmin Bharwani, AM ’92. Top: GSAS students Mehrtash and Behtash Babadi provided musical accompaniment. Bottom: Panelists Eve Troutt Powell, AB ’83, PhD ’95, and J. Lorand Matory, AB ’82

A Reunion for Middle Eastern Studies

Lively discussion and some energetic ’95, history and Middle Eastern studies. debate characterized an afternoon of The complexity of the issue — and the panels exploring points of conflict in the emotions associated with it — was evident Middle East, an ever-relevant subject in the questions audience members had for given a timely and vibrant airing by GSAS Powell, an associate professor of history at faculty and alumni and accomplished the University of Pennsylvania, and respon- scholars from other institutions. dent J. Lorand Matory, AB ’82, professor Roger Owen, Harvard’s A. J. Meyer of anthropology and of African American Professor of Middle Eastern History, deliv- studies at Harvard. ered a typically illuminating talk on Iraq Naghmeh Sohrabi, PhD ’05, Middle and its current challenges, to which Jon Eastern studies, described Iran’ s presiden- Alterman, PhD ’97, history , responded. tial campaign in the months leading up to Alterman is director and senior fellow of the June elections, a campaign that she the Middle East program at the Center said had captivated the nation. Sohrabi for Strategic and International Affairs, is the assistant director for research at a Washington, D.C., think tank. the Crown Center for Middle Eastern A symposium on Sudan, looking at Studies at Brandeis. Her respondent was recent films about the crisis in Darfur , was Tarek Masoud, an assistant professor of led by Eve Troutt Powell, AB ’83, PhD public policy at Harvard.

Colloquy 7 Summer 2009