Events Calendar

On the occasion of a forthcoming (August 12th) solar eclipse with its totality path streaking across northern Spain, David Evans leads us on a temporal journey spanning centuries, millennia, and geological epochs. Highlighting the value of place-centered pedagogy that he uses in his teaching, Evans tracks historical contingencies of the Iberian Peninsula from its primordial legacy -- tectonics, mineral deposits, landscapes, and climate -- through the antiquities, middle ages, industrial era, and present day. Recorded history and increased understanding of eclipses through the ages help weave together this tapestry of time, and even provide quantitative insights as far reaching as the billions-of-years evolution of the Moon's orbit around the Earth.

Please join the Yale Club of Michigan for an evening of thoughtful reflection and discussion as Reg Lansberry, author of "Blue Power: Brian Dowling, Calvin Hill, and Greatness at Yale," discusses his illuminating lookback at life and culture on the Yale campus as seen through the lens of the Yale football team during its golden championship seasons in 1967 and 1968. It was a time when the Ivy League began to transition from being bastions of male-dominated institutions to more racially and economically diverse, co-educational institutions. 

Lansberry’s account of those years goes beyond an inside account of the football team’s gridiron successes during those seasons to delve into the interplay between Yale and American history and culture at a time of great political and social unrest. Joining Reg Lansberry for his presentation will be Fred Morris, who played center on the Yale football team during the team’s 1967 and 1968 Ivy League championship seasons.  

Reg Lansberry has been a sports journalist for more than five decades and has followed Yale football for more than six decades. A native of Rowayton, Connecticut, his award-winning career began in 1977 at World Tennis magazine in New York, the start of a baker’s dozen years at the sport’s highest level, which concluded at the Men’s Tennis Council, the de facto worldwide governing body for men’s professional tennis. A member of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association, he has written about thoroughbred racing for more than three decades.  He is also a member of the Society for International Hockey Research, and his work can occasionally be found in The Hockey News. He resides in Beaufort, South Carolina, with his wife, Kathy.

Fred Morris played center on the Yale football team during the team’s 1967 and 1968 Ivy League championship seasons. Morris was named to the Associated Press All-Ivy first team in 1967 and 1968 and, in 1968, was selected to the first team All-East squad. Also in 1968, he was named to the first team Academic All-America squad, and in recognition of his academic excellence at Yale, he received one of 24 NCAA post-graduate scholarships awarded to collegiate football players. He graduated from Georgetown Law School in 1975 and had a long career as an attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Join us for a robust conversation with Professors Benedito Machava and Eduardo Lichuge from Mozambique and Lata Prabakhar '97 from YASC to learn more about Bilene-Macia and Mozambique. The Bilene-Macia community (primarily Tsonga-speaking) is located in Gaza Province, historically influenced by the Shangaan kingdom (Gungunyane) and later by Portuguese colonization, experiencing disruption and development, particularly around the scenic Uembje Lagoon, with agriculture (sugarcane, cotton) as a key economic activity, evolving from traditional ways to modern challenges like civil war impacts and ongoing community health initiatives.

During this session, Professors Machava and Lichuge will provide an overview of Mozambique with a focus on Bilene-Macia as the site of a potential YASC program. We will also learn more about the challenges facing the local community and potential service projects our volunteers may undertake (in-person and virtual). Lata Prabhakar '97, YASC Chair, will moderate the discussion. 

This is a great opportunity to learn more about Bilene-Macia and Mozambique, ask questions, and get involved. 

Event will be recorded.  

Dr. Noah Charney joins us to take a look at notable theft incidents at the world's most famous museum. The Louvre was recently the site of a theft involving of nearly 100 million dollars' worth of jewelry (or 10 million if the jewelry is chopped up, as we'll discuss), making international headlines and raising the question of just how secure such an institution is. This talk will dive deeply into that recent heist and look at what the criminals did well, where they tripped up, and what has almost certainly happened to the stolen jewelry. But that's just the start. We'll also look at other theft incidents in the history of the Louvre, focusing on the most famous peace-time robbery of anything in history, the 1911 heist of Leonardo's "Mona Lisa." Along the way, we'll learn how much of the Louvre's collection was accumulated via theft (thanks Napoleon), and hear the story of how Pablo Picasso of all people was involved in a separate Louvre heist of his own.