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Processes of Change
``` Date: Thu, 21 Sep 95 11:57 CDT From: jdav@mcs.com (Jim Davis) Subject: Processes of change
--CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT - Please Forward and Post Appropriately--
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Conference on PROCESSES OF CHANGE: In Nature, Technology and Society
NOV 10-12,1995 at MIT, Cambridge, MA
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In conjunction with: The National Student Summit organized by Students Together Ending Poverty (STEP)
One of a series of events marking Mel King's quarter century leadership of the MIT Community Fellows Program.
CONCERNS OF THE CONFERENCE:
We have entered a period of increasingly rapid technological, social and political change. National economic barriers are falling and the flow of capital and commodities is truly global. Advances in electronics, computer sciences and biotechnology are transforming the nature of communication, production and medicine. The applications of these technologies has vastly increased productivity, opening the possibility of significant rise in the material standard of living for not just a fraction of the population but for the entire population. Productivity potentials for food, vehicles, housing, electronics, communications, health care and education are high enough to satisfy the material and cultural needs of the entire population. Yet the standard of living is going down for the majority of Americans.
In domestic politics, domination of Congress by representatives of corporate interests and anti-democratic groups is resulting in major changes in national economic and social policies including shrinking support for education and research. These are driving down rather than raising standards of living of the majority. Historic motions to break the barriers to full equality for women,and for African-American, Mexican-American and immigrant groups are being set back.
Changes in national policies can take the form of liberating people from the burden of material want, introducing universal higher education, unleashing the new electronic technologies for truly democratic communication, and providing housing, health care, and opportunity for all. A precondition is recognizing that such changes can indeed be brought about.
For a quarter century, Mel King has been a leader of the effort at MIT and in Massachusetts to bring about these kinds of liberating changes. This conference is an effort to continue this tradition by helping us to understand and direct changes taking place in nature, in our environment and in our society.
CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES:- To bring together scholars studying processes of change with representatives of social groups experiencing rapid and disruptive change in their social and economic fabric;- To explore mechanisms of natural, technological and social change;- To articulate the social and technological potential to advance standards of living of all;- To generate new teaching materials, public educational materials and platforms describing the societal changes needed for a better life for all.
CONFERENCE SPONSORS include: MIT Community Fellows Program; MIT Luthern/Episcopal Ministry; MIT Alternative News Collective; MIT Black Students Union; Massachusetts Welfare Rights Union; Students Together Ending Poverty; Council for Responsible Genetics; Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility; The Center for Voting & Democracy; Playing to Win Network.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 - 8:00 PM Forum
Welcome by Charles M. Vest, President of MIT
1) Chaotic and Complex Processes in Nature: (Sponsored by the MIT Technology & Culture Forum) Roger Lewin [Author of "Complexity"] Richard Lewontin [Dept. of Evolutionary Biology, Harvard U., Cambridge, MA]* Marcia McNutt [Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA]
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10:
9:00 AM Morning Plenary
2) Changes in the Natural World: Michael Brand [Dept. of Mathematics, Essex Community College, Baltimore, MD]* Herman Feshbach [Dept. of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, MA] **Patricia Hynes [Boston University School of Public Health] Richard Levins [Dept. of Population Biology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA]*
11:00 AM Concurrent Panels:
3) New Views of Evolutionary and Embryonic Development: Christine Hohmann [Dept. of Neuroscience, Morgan State U., Baltimore, MD]* Ruth Hubbard [Dept. of Biology, Harvard U., Cambridge, MA] Kenneth Manning [Dept. of the History of Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Stuart Newman [Dept. of Cell Biology & Anatomy, New York Medical College; Valhalla, NY]*
4) Transformations in Agriculture & Food Production: Thomas Hirschl [Dept. Rural Sociology, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY] Carolyn Mugar [Executive Director, Farm Aid, Cambridge, MA]* Devon Pena [Dept. of Sociology at Colorado College; Ed. Brd. of Capitalism, Nature and Socialism.]
5) The Revolution in Communications Technology Steve Miller [Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility] Mitch Resnick [MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA]
12:30 PM Lunch - Meetings of working groups during lunch
2:30 P.M. Afternoon Plenary:
6) The Technological Revolution and the Future of Work: Jim Davis [Board member, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Chicago, IL; Editor of Internet Journal CPU]* Sally Lerner [Dir. of Work & Technology Program, U. of Waterloo, Canada] Jonathan King [Dept. of Molecular Biology, MIT; Cambridge, MA]* Ken Peres [Research Dir., Communication Workers of America, NY, NY]
4:30 PM Plenary:
7) Debates Over Theories of Change: Frances Fox Piven [ Dept. of Political Science, CUNY, NY] Erwin Marquit [Dept. of Physics, U. of Minnesota, Editor of Nature, Thought and Society] Nelson Peery {Author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary"; Revolutionaries for a New America, Chicago, IL] Paul Sweezey [Editor of Monthly Review, New York, NY]
8:00 PM Friday Evening Public Forum
8) Local Consequences of the Globalized Economy: Elaine Bernard [Exec. Dir., Harvard Trade Union Program] Mel King [Dir. of Community Fellows Program, MIT, Cambridge, MA]* Holly Sklar [Author of "Chaos or Community? Seeking solutions, Not Scapegoats for Bad Economics", Boston, MA] **Blanca Velasquez [Ctr. for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, NY, NY]
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11
9:00 AM Welcome: Hon. Ken Reeves, Mayor of Cambridge
9:30 AM Saturday Morning Plenary:
9) Higher Education Under Siege: Walda Katz Fishman [Dept. of Sociology, Howard U. Wash. D.C.] Evelyn Fox Keller [Dept. of Science, Technology & Society, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Sheldon Krimsky [Dept. of Environmental Policy,Tufts University, Medford, MA] Ruth Perry [Women's Studies Program, MIT, Cambridge, MA]
11:30 Concurrent Panels:
10) Technology for Democracy: Ebon Dooley [Radio Free Georgia, Atlanta, GA] Betty Reid Mandell [Survival News, Boston, MA] Peter Miller [Playing to Win Network, Newton, MA] Clare Nader [The Citizen's Project, Clinton, CT]
11) Domination of the Apparatus of Government by the Corporate Sector: John Bonifaz [National Voting Rights Institute, Cambridge, MA] Rich Cowan [University Conversion Project, Cambridge, MA] Jean Hardesty [Political Research Assoc., Cambridge, MA] John Slaughter [Author of "New Battles Over Dixie", Atlanta, GA]
12) New Forms of Privatization: Wendy McGoodwin [Council for Resonsibile Genetics, Cambridge, MA] Doreen Stabinsky [California Biotechnology Action Coucil]* Richard Stallman [League for Programming Freedom, Cambridge, MA] Coralee Whitcomb [Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Cambridge, MA]
13) Responding to the Attacks on Affirmative Action: Margaret Burnham [Dept. of Political Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Ellen Convisser [MA NOW, Boston, MA] Joy James [Scholar-in-Residence, Schomburg Ctr for Research in Black Culture, NY, NY] Novice Johnson [MIT Black Student Union, Cambridge, MA]
12:30 PM Saturday Lunch and working groups
2:00 PM Saturday Afternoon Concurrent Panels:
14) Higher Education for All: Doubling Federal Investment: Diane Dujon [Director of Assessment, U/Mass, Boston, MA]* Robin Kilson [Dept. of History, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX]* Alan Shihadeh [Alternative News Collective, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Student Summit Representative
15) Defending and Deepening Democracy: Dan Kemp [Dept. of Chemistry, MI, Cambridge, MA] Grace Ross [Women's Alliance, Framingham, MA] Denise Simmons [Cambridge School Committee, Cambridge, MA] Rand Wilson [Jobs With Justice Campaign, Cambridge, MA]
16) Time for a Basic Income/Guaranteed Annual Wage: Richard Cloward [CUNY, New York, NY] Jean Entine [Boston Women's Fund, Boston, MA] Ann Withorn [U/Mass Boston, Boston, MA]
17) Personal Change in Periods of Social Transformation: Steve Chorover [Dept. of Brain & Cognitive Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Rev. Jane Gould [Episcopal Chaplain & Convenor Technology & Culture Forum, MIT, Cambridge, MA]* Rev. Joan Martin [Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA]
18) Not by Bread Alone: Margery Resnick [Dept. of Humanities, MIT, Cambridge, MA] Gary Hicks [Lucy Parsons Bookstore, Cambridge, MA] Ayida Mthembu [Undergraduate Education & Student Affairs Office, MIT Cambridge, MA]
4:30 PM Saturday Afternoon Plenary
19) Deepening Poverty and the Rise of a New Class: Abdul Alkalimat [Prof. of African American Studies, Northeastern U, Boston, MA]* Paul Epstein [Harvard School of Public Health] Michelle Tingling-Clemmons [National Anti-Hunger Campaign, Washington, D.C.] Dessima Williams [Prof. of Sociology, Brandeis U.,Waltham, MA]
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7:30 PM SATURDAY EVENING RECEPTION:
"REPORT FROM BEIJING: From Equality for Some to Equity for All" Marion Kramer [Pres., National Welfare Rights Union] Rev. Jane Gould [Episcopal Chaplain, MIT] Michelle Tingling-Clemmons [National Anti-Hunger Campaign, Washington, D.C.]
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SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12.
8:30 AM BREAKFAST WITH MEL KING
Sunday AM Panels:
20) Emergence of New Forms of Social and Political Organization: Anthony Mazzocchi [Labor Party Advocates, Washington, DC] Dottie Stevens [MASS Welfare Rights Union] William Strickland [Dept. of History, U/Mass, Amherst, MA] Carin Schiewe [Commonwealth Coalition, Boston, MA]
21) The Role of Adults in the Struggle of Youth: Willie Baptist [National Union of the Homeless, Philadelphia, PA]* Jennifer Jones [Students Together Ending Poverty, Boston, MA]
Closing Plenary:
22) The End of Want: Visions of a Sustainable Future: Mel King (Chair) [Director of Community Fellows Program, MIT, Cambridge, MA]* **Nacho Gonzalez [U of Illinois Center for Urban Economic Development; Director of the Equal Rights Congress] Marion Kramer [National Welfare Rights Union, Detroit, MI] Rev. Scott Paradise [Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA] Student Summit Representative
= planning committee; * = unconfirmed
Sunday Afternoon:
National Student Summit Meetings (for more information contact Jennifer Jones at 617-522-6924)
Center for Voting and Democracy Workshops (for more information contact Robert Richie, at 202-882-7378)
Registrants will be able to join Working Groups meeting during the Conference to address issues of concern to them.
(Cut here and mail in)
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-REGISTRATION- CONFERENCE ON "PROCESSES OF CHANGE" * November 10-12, 1995
(You MUST MAIL the Registration form in with your payment. Registrations via e-mail WILL NOT be accepted.)
PLEASE PRINT:
NAME __________________________________________________________
AFFILIATION ___________________________________________________
STREET ADDRESS ________________________________________________
CITY, STATE, ZIP ______________________________________________
Telephone _____________________________________________________
FAX ___________________________________________________________
E-MAIL ________________________________________________________
___ Yes, I will attend the BREAKFAST WITH MEL KING on Sunday, Nov. 12
REGISTRATION FEE: ___ received by 10/30/95 $55 ___ received AFTER 10/30/95 $65 ___ Low income $20
MAIL completed form & payment to: MIT Conference Services, Room 7-111, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Ma 02139-4307. Telephone: 617-253-1700.
STUDENT REGISTRATION FEE: ___ MIT Student: $20 ___ non-MIT Student $25
STUDENT REGISTRATION MAIL form and payment to: Patricia Weinmann, MIT Luthern/Episcopal Ministry, W11,77 Massachusetts Avenue,Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Telephone: 617-253-0108.
METHOD OF PAYMENT:
__ Check enclosed made payable to MIT
Charge to the following: ___ Mastercard ___ Visa
Card #: ______________________________ Exp. Date: _______________
Signature: ______________________________________________________ (required for credit card transactions)
Particular Interests/Concerns: ___________________________________
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