2016 Alumni Weekend in North America
Saturday 9 April Academic Program, Omni Shoreham Hotel
Continental Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:30 am ♦ Diplomat Ballroom
Informal breakfast with open seating available to all registered attendees.
Continental Breakfast featuring Jonathan Black, Director of Careers Service
8:30 am - 9:30 am ♦ Congressional Room
Breakfast with a 15 minute talk/workshop on networking and interviewing - brush up your skills and get ready for the day ahead.
Engage in the conversation! @OxfordCareers @JonathanPBlack
Welcoming Remarks
Image credit: The University of Oxford
9:45 am - 10:00 am ♦ Palladian Ballroom
Professor Nick Rawlins, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Development & External Affairs) and Watts Professor of Psychology and Professorial Fellow of Wolfson College, will offer brief welcoming remarks before the opening plenary session.
Politics of the Extremes
Image credits: The University of Oxford; E.J. Dionne; Elliot Gerson
10:00 am - 11:15 am ♦ Palladian Ballroom
Many countries are currently seeing the rise of parties with non-compromising policies, extreme approaches to social problems, and rhetorical styles that reject specific social groups. Why are these voices from the political edges becoming dominant in electoral campaigns? Are we entering a new age of extremes? In this discussion, Elliot Gerson, Executive Vice President of Policy and Public Programs, International Partners at the Aspen Institute, will chair a panel featuring E.J. Dionne, American journalist and political commentator, Professor Marc Stears, Tutorial Fellow in Politics at University College, and the Chancellor of the University, Lord Patten of Barnes.
Engage in the conversation! @Politics_Oxford @EJDionne @mds49
A Hidden Revolution that Will Transform Medicine
Image credits: Handouts
11:45 am - 12:45 pm ♦ Diplomat Ballroom
Tired of endless stories about medical breakthroughs? Cynical about yet another one? Don't be: this is different. We are on the brink of understanding the inner workings of the cell, the fundamental unit of all life. A recent extraordinary convergence of apparently unrelated breakthroughs across disciplines is driving a revolution in biomedical sciences. By learning how cells function, what goes wrong with them in disease, how we can fix them, and how drugs work (or sometimes don't), medicine will be transformed. Excitingly, this is not limited to a particular type of illness: all diseases will eventually be affected. Professor Dame Carol Robinson of the Chemistry Department and Professor Matthew Freeman, Head of the Dunn School of Pathology, will lead a discussion about the fundamental breakthroughs that underlie this medical revolution and explain why most people haven't noticed it yet.
Engage in the conversation! @OxfordChemistry @dunn_school @mjafreeman
Learn more about Professor Dame Carol Robinson's remarkable career.
The State of American Politics
Image credit: The Hon. Jim Himes; The University of Oxford
11:45 am - 12:45 pm ♦ Empire Ballroom
Moderated by Rothermere American Institute Director Professor Jay Sexton, this session will feature the Honorable Jim Himes (D-CT), United States Representative (St Edmund Hall, 1988) and Winant Chair of US Government Professor Lisa Miller in broad conversation on the current election cycle, the legislative challenges of the current era of polarization, and foreign affairs.
Engage in the conversation! @raioxford @jahimes
Lunch with a Presentation by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson
Image credit: The University of Oxford
12:45 pm - 2:15 pm ♦ Palladian and Diplomat Ballrooms
Attendees will have the opportunity to sit with their College representatives, fellow alumni and guests at lunch.
Engage in the conversation! @OxfordNA #OxNA2016
Learn more about the newly-installed Vice-Chancellor, Professor Richardson
Ocean Circulation and Climate: Why the Oceans Matter!
Image credit: Handout
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm ♦ Diplomat Ballroom
The oceans are a key component of the climate system, storing roughly 1000 times as much heat and 50 times as much carbon as the atmosphere. In this talk, Professor David Marshall, Department of Physics and Professorial Fellow of St Hugh's College, will discuss the challenges of predicting the global ocean circulation, which allows scientists to better understand and model climate patterns. One challenge of particular importance is to understand and model the effects of turbulent ocean eddies, the equivalent of weather systems in the ocean. By focusing on the fundamental physics - conservation of energy and momentum - we are able to reach some surprising conclusions about how the global ocean circulation works.
Engage in the conversation! @OxfordPhysics
Enigmas of Arrival
Image credit: TORCH
2:15 pm - 3:15 pm ♦ Empire Ballroom
Three versatile Oxford historians, all with connections to The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), discuss the fascinating transcontinental and cross-cultural pathways taken by colonial travelers to Britain, and especially Oxford, in the late 19th and early 20th century. Elleke Boehmer (Wolfson College), TORCH Director and Professor of World Literature in English, Dr Faisal Devji (St Antony's College), University Reader in Modern South Asian History, and Dr Imaobong Umoren (Pembroke College), Women in the Humanities Early Career Fellow, look at the rich contributions of these Indian, Caribbean and African students, writers, entrepreneurs, anthropologists and activists to British cultural life, and take Professor Boehmer's exciting new cultural history Indian Arrivals 1870 - 1915 as a flashpoint for their conversation.
Engage in the conversation! @TORCHOxford @ellekeboehmer
Oxford and the Education of Leaders
Image credits: The University of Oxford; The Hon. Sylvia M. Burwell; The Hon. Chrystia Freeland; The University of Oxford
3:45 pm - 5:00 pm ♦ Palladian Ballroom
Are the qualities necessary for leadership intrinsic in the genetic makeup of a fortunate few, or can they be revealed and nurtured through education and experience? The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, will explore this question with a panel featuring the Honorable Sylvia M. Burwell, The Honourable Chrystia Freeland PC MP, Minister of International Trade, and Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government.
Engage in the conversation! @OxfordNA #OxNA2016 @cafreeland
Drinks Reception
5:15 pm - 6:00 pm ♦ Diplomat Ballroom
This reception is sponsored by OUS-DC, the local alumni group. Visit www.ousdc.org for information on upcoming activities and volunteer opportunities.
Engage in the conversation! @OUSDC