April 1, 2019: University Senate Report

Office of the Provost

Updates and Initiatives

Patricia Malone Appointed as Associate Vice President for Professional Education and
Assistant Provost for Engaged Learning in SPD

Patricia Malone has been appointed Associate Vice President for Professional Education and Assistant Provost for Engaged Learning in the School of Professional Development (SPD). Since September 2018, she has served as Interim Executive Director of SPD and Executive Director of Corporate Education and Training. As Interim Executive Director, Pat laid the foundation for SPD to move forward as an innovative hub for professional education and lifelong learning. She implemented a new organizational structure to optimize growth and increase enrollment. She expanded marketing efforts to include digital outreach and social media. Pat also commenced a campus-wide initiative to assess opportunities to expand online education at Stony Brook.

Pat's endeavors in corporate education have enabled our University to serve over 1000 professionals each academic year. Presenting nationally and internationally on the role of higher education in workforce and economic development, Pat has led numerous conferences with labor, education, and industry leaders -- including three U.S. Department of Labor National Transformational Forums. This past May, Pat launched the inaugural Women in STEM Leadership Program, and she has conducted numerous focus groups on gender equity, implicit bias, and fostering the rise of women in corporate leadership roles.

Pat is a member of the Suffolk County Workforce Development Board and the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) Workforce and Education Committee. She is a founding chair of the Outreach, Engagement and Economic Development Network for the University Professional Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). She also served on the editorial board of UPECA’s digital journal, Unbound. Pat received a BA in Sociology from the University of Dayton and a Master of Professional Studies degree from Stony Brook (that she completed on-line). She co-edited (with Paul Edelson) the 1999 Jossey Bass publication Enhancing Creativity in Adult and Continuing Education: Innovative Approaches, Methods, and Ideas. Pat is a recipient of the New York City and State Corporate Responsibility Award.

April Provost’s Lecture Series

Seeing Human Rights Through Film

Mark Gibney is the Belk Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville and an Affiliated Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund, Sweden. He is also a member of the Economic and Social Rights Group in the University of Connecticut’s Human Rights Center. Since 1984, Gibney has directed the Political Terror Scale, which measures levels of physical integrity violations in more than 185 countries. He is one of the founding members of the Extraterritorial Obligations Human Rights Consortium, which produced the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2011, the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association recognized Gibney as a Distinguished Human Rights Scholar. In 2006, he received the International Human Rights Award from the North Carolina Coalition on Human Rights. His book, Watching Human Rights: The 101 Best Films, is devoted to reviewing and analyzing human rights through film.

Abstract: Although human rights has achieved near-universal acceptance in political discourse, violations of those standards continue unabated. This talk will addresses how film – feature films, documentaries, animations and even personal videos – can assist us in seeing human rights violations, including our own contributions to such egregious practices, but also in understanding the manner in which human rights can (and should) be protected and enforced. This lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 3, at 4:00 PM in the Charles B. Wang Center, Lecture Hall 1. It is co-sponsored by the Center for Integration of Business Education & Humanities and the College of Business

Transnational Families as Public Spaces: Multilingualism, Ideologies and Identity Online

Elizabeth Lanza is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, and Director of the Center for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan, at the University of Oslo. Her main research interests cover bilingualism and multilingualism. Lanza has published on language ideology, linguistic landscape, language policy, identity in migrant narratives, the language socialization of bilingual/multilingual children, and research methodology. She became Elected Fellow of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2013 and Elected Head of the Group in Philology and Linguistics, the Humanities and Social Sciences Division, in 2018.

Abstract: In sociolinguistic research, the family has been traditionally considered a private domain for language use. Social space, however, is negotiated between actors with their discursive power, material constraints, and spatial practices. In post-modern European society, international mobility has contributed to a diversity of multilingual transnational families. Ideologies about languages and speakers of various languages are indeed inherent in many media presentations of families with an immigrant background. The family has increasingly come under scrutiny in sociolinguistics as a space for language learning and use through studies of family language policy. Lanza will discuss the transnational family as a space for language (learning) and how this space has become public, with a special emphasis on mediatized discourses on transnational families and online parental blogging sites for multilingual families. She will argue that in the current digital age, there is a growing need to examine the role of technology in studies of family language policy, in order to shed light on issues of multilingualism, ideologies and identity. Abstract: In sociolinguistic research, the family has been traditionally considered a private domain for language use. Social space, however, is negotiated between actors with their discursive power, material constraints, and spatial practices. In post-modern European society, international mobility has contributed to a diversity of multilingual transnational families. Ideologies about languages and speakers of various languages are indeed inherent in many media presentations of families with an immigrant background. The family has increasingly come under scrutiny in sociolinguistics as a space for language learning and use through studies of family language policy. Lanza will discuss the transnational family as a space for language (learning) and how this space has become public, with a special emphasis on mediatized discourses on transnational families and online parental blogging sites for multilingual families. She will argue that in the current digital age, there is a growing need to examine the role of technology in studies of family language policy, in order to shed light on issues of multilingualism, ideologies and identity.

This event will take place on Thursday, April 11 at 4:00 PM in the Charles B. Wang Center, Lecture Hall 2. It is co-sponsored by Run Run Shaw Lecture Series, the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies, and the Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Communication

23rd Annual Mind/Brain Lecture with Professor Giulio Tononi

The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior will host the 23rd annual Swartz Foundation Mind/Brain Lecture. Giulio Tononi, the David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine and Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science, University of Wisconsin, will address the
age-old question, “What is Consciousness?”

Abstract: Are newborns, animals, and intelligent computers conscious? Does consciousness fade when patients become unresponsive after brain damage, during general anesthesia, or even in deep sleep? In his talk, Professor Tononi — an expert in consciousness and its disorders — will share how his integrated information theory (IIT) attempts to answer these burning questions. IIT starts not from the brain but from consciousness itself — the world of experience — and derives from it what it takes for a system to be conscious. He will also discuss how this theory has stirred the development of promising new tests to evaluate consciousness in noncommunicative subjects.

The lecture will be held on Monday, April 1 at 4:00 PM, Staller Center Main Stage. Seating will be limited and is first come, first served, so please arrive early. A reception with the speaker will follow.

More information on the speaker and the history of the lecture series can be found at stonybrook.edu/mindbrain.

The Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities and the Department of Africana Studies to Host “Toxic Masculinity” Town Hall

The Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities and Africana Studies (with the support of the Departments of Psychology, Sociology, and History) are proud to present a Town Hall with “Rap” entitled “TOXIC MASCULINITY: Consent, Silences, and Institutional Complicity.” This event will take place on Tuesday, April 23 at 1:00 PM in the Charles B. Wang Center, Lecture Hall 2.

Abstract: During this time of public vitriol and actual and perceived uncertainties, ‘toxic masculinity’ has raised its (ugly) head. With the rise in hate crimes, discrimination and the general deterioration of public and political discourse, it remains paramount to educate our students and ourselves about the true nature of toxic masculinity and its consequences. The “Rap Sessions” gender and race scholars initiate an interactive discussion with faculty, students, and campus leaders on important issues for interrogation. They will encourage us to consider questions such as, What impact can the recent surge of women elected to public office have on dismantling toxic masculinity? Why are student and professional athletes so often at the center of sexual assault cases? Or, how do women who attack the credibility of accusers and defend powerful men under fire for misconduct like Charlemagne Tha God or even President Donald Trump?