Rhett Talks

Some of the best learning can take place outside of a lecture.

Rhett Talks is BU’s version of the popular TEDx talks. Listen to some of our University’s best faculty give brief, innovative, and engaging presentations outside of the classroom.

Three 15 minute presentations will occur at each event, all surrounding a particular theme. Have a question? A Q&A will follow each presentation. And yes, refreshments are included.

The Faculty-in-Residence program sponsors Rhett Talks, with assistance from the Dean of Students Office and Residence Life.

Upcoming Talks
Previous Talks
What They’re Saying About Rhett Talks

Upcoming Talks

This fall’s Rhett Talks schedule is robust and diverse. Take a peek at the schedule below and check back often for updates!

Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 7pm, George Sherman Union – Metcalf Hall

Radical Swimming Robots to Protect our Coast – Greg McDaniel, Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering

From iPhone Apps to Geological Maps: How Cartography Shapes Our World – Dr. John Mackey – Chair and Master Lecturer, Social Sciences, College of General Studies

They’re in our pockets, in our cars, in shopping malls and on our walls – maps are ubiquitous.  But while maps come in many forms and serve many purposes, they are all subjective, and as such they all shape the way we see, understand, and interact with the world around us.  While ostensibly guiding us through the world as it is, maps make manifest a range of interests, priorities, aspirations, obsessions, and inequalities of power.  By examining sources ranging from nineteenth-century geological maps to smartphone navigation apps like Waze, this Rhett Talk will ask us all to take a second look at maps, and to reflect on the overt and subtle influence exerted by the science, art, and commerce of cartography.

Hiding in Plain Sight – Finding Ideas That Other People Miss – Professor Mitchell Zuckoff, Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Narrative Studies, College of Communication

Professor Zuckoff’s talk uses the craft and skill of finding unique stories for journalists as a way to examine what it takes to come up with fresh ideas in all walks of life.

To request disability related accommodations or communication access for any Rhett Talks (ASL Interpreters or CART), please contact access@bu.edu or call 617.353.3658.

Previous Talks

Fall 2018

Monday, September 10, 2018 – Kilachand Hall – 1st Floor Lounge

Three bite-sized lessons about the physiology of eating, Senior Lecturer Elizabeth Co

The Wicked, Hard Problem of Countering the Use of Biological Weapons, Professor John Woodward

Climate Change and the Future of Democracy. Senior Lecturer Sam Deese

Monday, September 17, 2018 – Warren Towers – Multipurpose Room

Music Streaming and the Algorithmic Self, Associate Professor Michael Birenbaum Quintero

Can Comics Be Considered Seriously?, Senior Lecturer Liliane Dusewoir

The Weight of Empathy, Assistant Professor Victor Kumar

Tuesday, September 25, 2018 – West Campus – Rich Hall Multipurpose Room

Public Whippings as Popular Entertainment in the US, Dean Harvey Young

More Than a Citation, Assistant Professor Kinh Vu

Cops, Crazy Ex-Boyfriends, and Catfishing, Clinical Associate Professor Kabrina Chang

Wednesday, October 3, 2018 – 10 Buick Street – Student Atrium

Trauma, Moral Injury, and the Shape of Sin, Associate Professor Joshua Pederson

The Myth of the Imperial Presidency, Associate Professor and Director of Advanced Programs Dino P. Christenson

The Surprising Role of the Supreme Court in the U.S. Government, Professor Jack M. Beermann

Fall 2017

Wednesday, September 6^th – George Sherman Union: Metcalf Hall

• Stop the Church? Religion and Politics in the American Culture Wars, Professor Anthony Petro
• Disparities in the Era of Biomedical HIV Prevention, Professor Angela Bazzi
• LGBT Rights under the Trump Administration – Can He Turn Back Time?, Professor Robert Volk

Monday, September 11^th – Kilachand Hall: First Floor Lounge

• Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet, Professor Mark Stanley
• Incentives in Healthcare, Professor James Rebitzer
• Residents Only: How Neighborhood Opposition Creates Exclusive Communities, Professor Katherine Einstein

Tuesday, September 19^th – Warren Towers: Multipurpose Room

• Social Class Complexities Influence Our Life Experiences: Have You Explored Yours?, Professor Sonja Ardoin
• Odysseus in the Modern World: James Joyce and Homer, Professor Stephanie Nelson
• Breaking the Gridlock in the Firearms Debate: Is There Common Ground?, Professor Michael Siegel

Monday, September 25^th – Rich Hall: Multipurpose Room

• Brain Health in the Digital Era, Professor Rhoda Au
• 12 Years a Slave and the Holocaust: Embracing Difficult Histories, Professor Nancy Harrowitz
• Why Aristotle Matters, Professor David Roochnik

Fall 2016

Monday, September 12 – Metcalf Hall, George Sherman Union

• Becoming Muslim American: Identities of Integration, Professor Nazli Kibria
• Beyond the Legal, Past the Political: Social Citizenship and Who Still Doesn’t Have It, Professor Saida Grundy
• Telling Stories: The Theatre Artist’s Role in Society, Professor James Petosa

Tuesday, September 20 – Rich Hall: Cinema Room and Lobby

• A Dissolvable Hydrogel Burn Dressing, Professor Mark Grinstaff
• Children of Incarcerated Parents: Who Are They, and Why Do They Matter?, Professor Megan Sullivan
• A Culture of Corruption, Professor Raymond Fisman

Thursday, September 29 – 10 Buick Street: Student Atrium

• The Problem with Democracy, Professor Jay Samons
• Spiritual but not Religious – Is Religion Disappearing from American Life?, Professor Nancy Ammerman
• Language Memory and Attrition in a Mobile, Multilingual World, Professor Charles Chang

Thursday, October 6 – Warren Towers: Multipurpose Room

• The Healthiest Goldfish, Dean Sandro Galea
• American Politics in the Age of Trump, Professor Doug Kriner
• Should we prevent preventable deaths?, Professor Christopher Gill

Fall 2015

Fall 2015 talks are available on YouTube. 

Monday, September 7, 2015, 7-8 p.m., Rich Hall Cinema Room

• Prof. Binyomin Abrams, Senior Lecturer, Chemistry, College of Arts & Sciences
  Ninety Years of Quantum Mechanics: Why Are We Still Teaching the Bohr Atom?
• Prof. Jillian Goldfarb, Research Assistant Professor, College of Engineering
  Sustainability, Challenged: The Water-Energy-Food Nexus
• Prof. Teddy Hickman-Maynard, Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Theology
  On Babies and Black Choirs: A reflection on racism and hope

Thursday, September 17, 2015, 7-8 p.m.,  Warren Towers

• Dean Hardin Coleman, Dean, School of Education
  Cultural Identity and Minority Student Achievement
• Prof. Andrew Shenton, Associate Professor, Musicology, College of Fine Arts
  Music and transcendence: or how to be happy and healthy for free (and with very little effort)
• Prof. Deborah Jaramillo, Associate Professor, Film & Television, College of Communication
  Why are we (still) ashamed of TV?

Monday, September 21, 2015, 7-8 p.m., Kilachand Hall

• Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff, A William Fairfield Warren Professor, Economics, College of Arts & Sciences
  Is the United States Bankrupt?
• Prof. Bayla Ostrach, Assistant Professor, Medical Anthropology, School of Medicine
  Syndemics – An Interdisciplinary Concept in BioSocial Health
• Prof. Pamela Lightsey, Associate Dean for Community Life & Lifelong Learning, School of Theology
  Talk title to be announced

Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 7-8 p.m., 10 Buick Street

• Prof. Muhammad Zaman, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
  Saving lives through safer drugs
• Prof. Paul Lipton, Director of Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program/Research Associate Professor, Neuroscience, College of Arts & Sciences
  To Pond Scum: Thanks for the Memories
• Prof. Phillipe Copeland, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
  BlackMindsMatter: Mass Incarceration and Mental Health

2014-15 Talks

September 8, 2014

• • • • • Yes, Watching Baseball Can Be Science! – Andy Andres, College of General Studies
        • Letters to Your Soul – Will Waters, College of Arts & Sciences
        • Billions and Billions of Planets: The Ubiquity of Extrasolar Planets and the Red Dwarfs that (Mostly) Host Them – Andrew West, College of Arts & Sciences

September 16, 2014

• • • • • Labour in a Single Shot – Roy Grundmann, College of Communication
        • Is There a Bible at All? – Jennifer Knust, School of Theology/College of Arts & Sciences
        • Gone but Not Forgotten: Forensic Anthropology and the Identification of Missing People – Jonathon Bethard, School of Medicine/College of Arts & Sciences

September 22, 2014

• • • • • What Learning to Kneel Before My Japanese Teacher Taught Me About Teaching – Carrie Preston, College of Arts & Sciences
        • The Great War and T.S. Eliot – Christopher Ricks, College of Arts & Sciences
        • Don’t Let Your Career Cause Regrets in Your Personal Life – Dean Kenneth Freeman, School of Management

September 30, 2014

• • • • • Current Concepts in CTE – Ann McKee, School of Medicine
        • Changing the Game: Redesigning Football to Minimize Concussions – John McCarthy, School of Education
        • Football Greatness: a Blessing or a Curse? – Chris Nowinski, Co-Director for BU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (BU CSTE)

November 20, 2014

• • • • • Bringing viruses in from the cold and heating them up! – Paul Duprex, National Emerging Infectious Diseases Institute (NEIDL), School of Medicine
        • Is news contagious? The media, fear, and ebola – Jim Shanahan, College of Communication
        • Global Politics (and human rights) in the Time of Ebola – George Annas, School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and School of Law

January 19, 2015

Special MLK Day edition: The Problem of Poverty

• • • • • Owning It: The Complicity of Christianity in U.S. Poverty – Dr. Diana Swancutt, School of Theology
        • Strength to Love: Global Justice for the Poor – Dr. Keith Magee, School of Theology
        • Some Consequences of Poverty in our Wealthy Nation – Dr. Deborah Belle, College of Arts and Sciences

2013 Talks

What They’re Saying About Rhett Talks

2014

BU Today, September 8, 2014

2013

BU Today, September 9, 2013
Daily Free Press, September 10, 2013
Daily Free Press , September 17, 2013
BU Quad, September 25, 2013
BU Quad, October 2, 2013