In October, the Tuesday Noon Academy, a series of noontime lectures covering a variety of topics, will feature a number of speakers. Each lecture will begin promptly at 12:00 p.m. in the Hampton Room of the Malott Commons on the Scripps College campus. Sponsored by the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons, this series is free and open to the public.
Guests may bring their own lunch or purchase a lunch at the Malott Commons Dining Hall, which opens at 11:15 a.m. Doors to the Hampton Room open at 11:45 a.m. Coffee and dessert are provided. For additional program information, please call the Malott Commons Office, (909) 607-9372.
With Scripps professors, administrators, alumnae, students, and invited guests as featured speakers, the Tuesday Noon Academy will explore a broad range of subject matters, including science, music, politics, and art, among others. Scheduled speakers and topics for October are:
On October 5, Zhaohua Irene Tang, professor of biology at Keck Joint Science will speak on “Colorful Land, Diverse Cultures: A Visit to Dali, Yunnan Province, China.” Professor Tang was selected to complete this project as part of the Avery Adventure program. Tang received her bachelor of science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and her Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has served as a postdoctoral fellow in the biology division at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA and is featured in numerous publications.
On October 12, Preethi de Silva, professor of music at Scripps College, will lecture on “Exploring Sri Lanka’s World Heritage Sites.” De Silva, who received her Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University, has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Sri Lanka. Now teaching harpsichord and fortepiano at Scripps College, de Silva is the founder and director of Con Gioia Early Music Ensemble, which plays music of the 17th and 18th centuries on period instruments. She also has a great interest in Buddhist art and architecture.
On October 26, art critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1978, Suzanne Muchnic (Scripps class of ’62), will present “St. Joan of the Arts.” Muchnic’s various articles have also been published in Art News, Gannet Center Journal, Arts, Harper’s Bazaar, and Picture and Photoshow. She is also the author of Odd Man In: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture. Muchnic received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Scripps in 1987. She says that her work is an, “endlessly intriguing challenge to create a context and bring a broad perspective to the complex processes of creating, interpreting, exhibiting, conserving, collecting, and marketing art.”