Classes without Quizzes at Reunion Homecoming Stanford Alumni Association

If one class could change the way you approach your life, this might be it. Learn about the core ethical beliefs of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans and the Stoics and consider how they confront fundamental issues of justice, morality, and fear of death.

Marsh McCall, P ’86, ’89, ’93, is a professor emeritus of classics and former dean of Stanford's Continuing Studies Program. At Stanford since 1976, he served three times as the chair of classics, associate dean of undergraduate studies and chairman of the Western Culture program committee. Professor McCall received the School of Humanities & Sciences 2013 Lifetime Teaching Award and in 2006, he received the Richard W. Lyman Award for exceptional volunteer service to alumni.

Recent breakthroughs have provided scientists with the ability to generate stem cells from adult tissues. Stem cells have already regenerated damaged heart tissue after a heart attack in clinical trials. Are these treatments safe and effective or is the hype surrounding them an example of medical "false news?" What does this mean for testing new drugs and for personalized medicine? This talk will be audio recorded.

Daniel Bernstein, P, ’07, ’09, is the Alfred Woodley Salter and Mabel G. Salter Endowed Professor in Pediatrics and former chief of pediatric cardiology. His research focuses on using induced pluripotent stem cells to understand the regulation of cardiovascular function. His clinical practice is focused on heart failure and transplantation and he established Stanford’s first transplant clinic for children in 1986.

Understanding the behavior of the constantly evolving Antarctic Ice Sheet is critical for projecting and planning for future sea levels. These processes take place beneath kilometers of ice, making them difficult to observe and model. Learn how advances in radar technology and data analysis are enables scientist to see what's happening beneath the ice.

Dustin Schroeder is an assistant professor of geophysics and, by courtesy, of electrical engineering. He focuses on observing and understanding the configuration and evolution of ice sheet boundary conditions using radar. Before coming to Stanford, he was a radar systems engineer with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech. He is a science team member for planetary radars on NASA’s Europa Clipper and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions.

The news in 2017 is a cauldron of fake-news epithets, factionalized media and journalism under siege. This plays out against a background of continued disruption of the news media by economic, cultural, social and technological forces. Important democratic values are at stake, and those values are in very real danger.

James Bettinger is director emeritus of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford. Previously he worked for 20 years as a newspaper reporter, editorial writer and editor. At Stanford, he taught courses in opinion writing, feature and analytical writing, and literary journalism. He writes and consults on journalism issues, and is a member of numerous journalism organizations.

Since the beginning of time, trust holds together our communities. With technology mediating so many of our interactions, more opportunities to deceive one another exist. Is trust one of social media’s most serious casualties? Or is tech is ushering in a new era of trust? This talk draws on psychology and media studies to consider the possibilities.

Jeffery Hancock is a professor of communication. He studies the psychology of online behavior, such as deception and trust, emotional dynamics, intimacy and relationships, and social support. Professor Hancock’s work on lying and technology has been featured in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and NPR.

Classes Without Quizzes are presented by the Stanford Alumni Association. This talk was filmed at Stanford Reunion Homecoming 2016.

Mutations in single genes cause thousands of diseases. On a chalkboard, it’s easy to change a single letter in a disease-causing DNA strand to eradicate disease. Professor Porteus demonstrates the progress towards editing the genome of stem cells to cure patients of disease, effectively turning this science fiction vision into reality.

Matthew Porteus is an associate professor of pediatrics. He studies genome editing as therapy for children with genetic disorders. His research has enabled scientists to “edit” genes using a technology called CRISPR, which removes a singular bad gene. He attends at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital where he supervises children undergoing stem cell transplantation.

Classes Without Quizzes are presented by the Stanford Alumni Association. This talk was filmed at Stanford Reunion Homecoming 2016.