Bascom Hill Society Showcase Series

Professor Enright is one of the world's authorities on forgiveness. He has studied forgiveness for 24 years and examined how cultivating forgiveness, even in environments steeped in violence, poverty, depression and anger, can be a helaing, strengthening force.

Can stem cell research proceed without cloning? Yes and no, says Alta Charo, JD, UW-Madison professor of law and medical ethics. Scientific research into human stem cells may yield cures and therapies for humanity’s most intractable diseases. Clinical outcomes of stem cell therapy, called regenerative medicine, are touted as the future of biomedicine. But new science often provokes a redefinition of ethical, societal and legal standards. Stem cells have reignited the debate about the moral status of the embryo. How, as a society, do we balance our responsibilities to the unborn and the sick? Professor Charo addresses this and other important questions.

Edward Friedman who holds the Hawkins Chair of Political Science, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an expert on Chinese politics. He has written several books on the subject including “Revolution, Resistance and Reform in Village China” and “What If China Doesn’t Democratize?” Friedman answers questions about one of the most dynamic and contested regions of the world. How will the rise of China change the world? How do the Chinese people imagine the answer? How do international analysts see it? How do neighboring governments see the impact of China’s rise on the world stage? In projecting possible futures, Professor Friedman discusses how most view the global impact of an economically dynamic, globally involved, authoritarian China as a world power.

Learn how just 15 minutes of sunlight a day can change your life. Learn too how it may reduce the risk of getting various cancers, the flu, diabetes, heart disease and autoimmune diseases. Hector DeLuca is the Harry Steenbock Research Professor in the UW-Madison Department of Biochemistry and an internationally recognized pioneer in vitamin D research. He is putting vitamin D in the forefront of the state of Wisconsin’s biotech sector, churning out papers and patents to combat a long list of illnesses. Professor DeLuca is a founder of Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is developing drugs based on vitamin D compounds to treat osteoporosis and other ailments.

Don’t take away your child’s or grandchild’s video or computer games just yet. They are actually learning how to be successful in tomorrow’s work force, says Professor David Shaffer. Education must move beyond its “skill and drill” curriculum and embrace creative learning technologies, such as computer and video games, to prepare young people for the world of global competition, he says. Shaffer is exploring the educational potential of games and technology as alternative ways to engage children. At UW-Madison, Shaffer joined with several faculty colleagues, representing three School of Education departments, to form the Games and Professional Practice Simulations Group. This group is part of the Advanced Digital Learning Initiative to study and build learning systems that use digital game technologies to immerse students in worlds where they use the skills and values of professionals to solve complex problems.

Most of us know someone who has experienced blindness or visual impairment. And the number of people with age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration is rising as our life expectancy increases. Dr. Albert discusses common vision problems in the context of known science and future treatment possibilities. His research focuses on ocular tumors, specifically melanoma and retinoblastoma. Dr. Albert’s work with retinoblastoma utilizes transgenic mouse models of the tumor to investigate the molecular biology of the disease and whether vitamin D analogs produce tumor regression in these animal models. He also studies melanoma in a transgenic mouse model. The UW Eye Research Institute is unique among vision research centers in its philosophy of bringing together scientists and scholars from widely different disciplines—ranging from engineering to art to biochemistry—to stimulate fresh collaborative approaches to curing blindness and preventing vision loss.

Bret Bielema is the third rookie head football coach in NCAA Division I history to guide his team to 12 wins. He holds the record for most wins by a first-year coach at Wisconsin. Hear how Coach Bielema built his staff and led the Badgers to a Capital One Bowl win. Bielema played college football at the University of Iowa from 1989-92. He went on to play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, a team in the Arena Football League. An assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1993-2001, he served as the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002-03 before taking the same position at the University of Wisconsin in 2004. He was named head coach in 2006 replacing Barry Alvarez.

Join political science Professor David Cannon and Professor Virginia Sapiro as they discuss the 10 most interesting things about the 2006 election, then answer the audience's political questions. Professor Canon is an expert in American political institutions, especially Congress, and in race, representation and congressional reform. He also is a co-author of the award-winning 1999 book "Race, Redistricting and Representation." Professor Sapiro’s teaching and research interests include political behavior and political psychology, gender politics, and political and feminist theory. She is the author of The Political Integration of Women: Roles, Socialization and Politics (1983), Women in American Society (3rd edition 2003) and A Vindication of Political Virtue: The Political Theory of Mary Wollstonecraft among many other books and articles.

World-renowned UW psychology professor Richard Davidson is searching for the source of happiness, and he has used Buddhist monks in his lab as a model group. Learn what he has discovered about the secrets and brain science of happiness. Professor Davidson was named in Time magazine’s “Time 100, The People Who Shape Our World.” He earned his PhD in 1976 from Harvard University, is a Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and director of both the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience.