University Lecture Series

Monday September 25^th

4:30pm Adamson Wing, 136A Baker Hall

Portrait of the Angry Decision Maker

Professor Jennifer Lerner

Social & Decision Sciences, Psychology, and the Tepper School of Business

“Anyone can become angry -- that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not easy.” (Nichomachean Ethics, 350 BCE/2004)

Effective management requires unbiased judgment and decision processes. In recent decades, management researchers have produced a large and important literature illuminating how actual human judgment and decision making differs from the prescriptions of rational models (e.g., subjective expected utility). This literature, rich in successful applications, suffers from a critical weakness. It focuses almost exclusively on cognitive determinants of error and bias to the neglect of emotional determinants. Building on recent breakthroughs in emotion research, Professor Jennifer Lerner’s work seeks to rectify this omission. She examines how, why, and under what circumstances emotions influence judgment and decision making in social and organizational settings. Specifically, in the present talk, she will focus on the role of anger in judgment and decision making.

In portraying the angry decision maker, Dr. Lerner will present studies from a variety of empirical projects in her lab; all papers can be downloaded from her website: http://computing.hss.cmu.edu/lernerlab/papers.php.

Tuesday September 26^th

4:30pm Adamson Wing, 136A Baker Hall

How We Became Addicted to Oil and How to Break the Addiction Right Now

Edwin Black

Award-Winning Investigative Author

Book Signing immediately following the lecture in Adamson Wing

The author of Internal Combustion, published in 2006, “Edwin Black connects the dots of greed and deception that have governed energy from ancient times to the present, and that threaten to destroy our future. Based on prodigious research deep into the historical record and previously unavailable archives, Black pulls no punches. He demonstrates exactly how power-hungry despots, avaricious monopolists, and bottom-line obsessed corporate oligarchs have long controlled where we get our energy and how we use it. Known for revealing “a century of lies,” the book lays bare the story behind the energy crisis—past, present, and future.”

Edwin Black is the award-winning, New York Times and international bestselling investigative author of 50 bestselling editions in 13 languages in 60 countries, as well as scores of newspaper and magazine articles in the leading publications of the United Sates, Europe and Israel. His work focuses on genocide and hate, corporate criminality and corruption, governmental misconduct, academic fraud, philanthropy abuse, and historical investigation. He will be on hand to sign copies of his Internal Combustion book, as well as a smattering of some of other recent publications, immediately following his lecture in the Adamson Wing.

Wednesday September 27^th

7:00pm Gregg Hall, Porter Hall 100

The Wars in Lebanon and Iraq: Local, Regional, and International Implications

Adeed Dawisha, Political Science, Miami University, Oxford, OH

Kenneth Stein, Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Israeli Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Co-sponsored by the International Relations Program, the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Department of Social & Decision Sciences, and the Department of History

There are explanations for the seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East. Professors Ken Stein and Adeed Dawisha will combine their expertise on the modern Arab world, Israel, the Arab-Israel conflict and Iraq, to pinpoint and explain the common features behind this summer's war between Hizballah and Israel, and the on-going conflict in Iraq. Incorporating powerpoint, maps, timelines, presentations by the speakers and a generous question-and-answer period, this is an excellent opportunity to consider the local, regional and international implications of these two major examples of Middle Eastern unrest. Are they isolated events or connected?

Kenneth W. Stein is a Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science, and Israeli Studies at Emory University. His current research and writing focus on the future of the Arab state, Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the teaching of the conflict in secondary and collegiate settings in North America.

Adeed Dawisha is Professor of Political Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His current research interests are in the application of theories of democratic transitions and consolidation to the Middle East, particularly post-2003 Iraq.

Thursday September 28^th

4:30pm Adamson Wing, 136A Baker Hall

Institutional Transformation for Campus Sustainability

Leith Sharp

Director, Harvard Green Campus Initiative, Harvard University

The lecture will be based on work of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, an organization that now employs 17 full-time professional staff purely dedicated to the pursuit of campus sustainability at Harvard. The Harvard Green Campus Initiative is based on an entrepreneurial approach that has successfully made a business out of campus sustainability, ensuring that the University sees both significant financial and environmental savings through the implementation of a wide range of strategies, services and incentives. To date the Harvard Green Campus Initiative has reduced Harvard Greenhouse gas emissions by around 10% while saving the University over $6 million a year. The HGCI has worked on 13 green building projects including projects that achieving silver, gold and platinum certification with a dedicated focus on developing strategies for achieving cost neutral LEED gold and platinum building certifications.

This lecture will explore what it takes to get an organization as complex as a university to achieve significant and continuous transformation towards campus sustainability. Through the Harvard case study the lecture will explore various arenas of organizational activity including finance, building design, occupant behavior, adult learning, and the interface of politics, technology, human cognition, organizational culture and practice. This exploration will be purely dedicated to revealing and further exploring what it is going to take to achieve campus sustainability in our universities in the USA and the world.