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Scenes from former Saturday of Symposia events
Date
December 7, 2024
Time
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Location
374 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, United States (Details)
Category
Faculty
Lecture/Reading/Talk
Virtual
Attendance Policy
Open to students, Open to alumni, Registration required
Accessibility
Wheelchair-accessible event, Wheelchair-accessible parking, Wheelchair-accessible restrooms
Sponsor
Harvard Alumni Association
Harvard Club of Boston
Contact
HAA Alumni Education | haa_alumnieducation@harvard.edu | 617-495-1920
This Is a Past Event

About​

Saturday of Symposia features Harvard faculty members doing research across the University in fields ranging from social and natural sciences to the humanities. This year's 44th program will feature a keynote address and two concurrent morning lectures followed by lunch in Harvard Hall and happy hour at the Club Pub. This year, Saturday of Symposia will offer both in-person and virtual opportunities for learning.

The program is not only a longstanding tradition of the Harvard Club and HAA, but also an enormously popular one. Please make your reservations early.

Programming Speaker Biographies

Program

Harvard Club of Boston, 374 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

Registration and Coffee, Tea, and Muffins

9:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. — Welcome & Keynote Address

A Well-Rounded Education: Religion and the "People We Come Upon"

Marla F. Frederick, Dean of Harvard Divinity School, John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity, Professor of Religion and Culture, Professor of African and African American Studies

10:40 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. — Faculty Lectures

Research in the Era of the Psychedelic Renaissance: Challenges and Opportunities

Sharmin Ghaznavi, Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Steve Haggarty PhD '03, Stuart and Suzanne Steele Research Scholar and Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Jerrold Rosenbaum, Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director, MGH Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics

Join researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics as they explore the intersection of psychedelics and neuroscience, focusing on their potential to revolutionize psychiatric treatment. The panelists will discuss how classic psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin enhance neuroplasticity and alter brain connectivity, offering rapid therapeutic effects for conditions such as depression, PTSD, and OCD. They will also touch on the cultural dialogues surrounding both scientific research and the decriminalization of personal use. Discover how these powerful substances might transform mental health care.
 

Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?

Alex Keyssar AB '69, PhD '77, Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Professor Alex Keyssar will share his current and upcoming projects, as well as his thoughts on the state of American democracy and the persistence of the Electoral College.

11:45 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. — Faculty Lectures

Growing Up with AI: How It Shapes Child Development

Ying Xu, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

In this talk, Dr. Ying Xu will explore the role and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on children’s cognitive and social development. Drawing on her research in partnership with public media sectors, Xu will discuss how children interact with, perceive, and learn from AI, as well as their trust in their "AI companions."  Xu will also examine emerging directions regarding whether generative AI tools influence curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. This discussion may provide evidence-based insights for creating AI technologies that are inclusive, safe, and beneficial for children. 

Beyond Hashtags: Responses to Sexual Violence and the Intersections of #metoo, #BLM and #defund

Rebecca Richman Cohen JD '07, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

From 2017 to 2021 we lived through a moment of unprecedented public awareness about sexual violence, captured in the #metoo hashtag. At the same time, we witnessed a powerful national reckoning with the racialized violence of the criminal legal system. But what happens when certain responses to the sexual violence described by #metoo run headlong into the systemic racism decried by #blacklivesmatter and #defund? In this session, documentary filmmaker and Harvard faculty member, Rebecca Richman Cohen will screen excerpts of her work and discuss the impact of her filmmaking, exploring the role of documentary storytelling and social movements.

12:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Lunch, Dessert, and Discussion

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. — Happy Hour in Club Pub (Optional)

 

 

In-Person Program Costs

Harvard Club of Boston Member Price per member: $67 (member fees not included)
Non-Member Price per person: $75
Harvard Graduate Student: $55
Optional Happy Hour (limited availability): Additional $10 per person

Livestream Program Costs

Harvard Club of Boston Member Price per member: $22 (member fees not included)
Non-Member Price per person: $40
Harvard Graduate Student: $15

Continental breakfast, all Harvard faculty presentations, and lunch are included for this in-person program at the Harvard Club of Boston.

Register Now

Speaker Biographies

Marla F. Frederick

Dean Marla Frederick headshot Marla Frederick is the John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity and 18th Dean of Harvard Divinity School, the first woman to hold this position in the school’s 207 year history. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology from 2019-2023. She returns to Harvard having served there as a professor of Religion and African and African American studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 2003-2019. A graduate of Spelman College with a BA in English, Dr. Frederick earned her PhD in cultural anthropology at Duke University. She continued her work as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion and at the Interdenominational Theological Center’s Office of Black Women in Church and Society.

Professor Frederick is the author and/or co-author of four books and several articles including, Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith and Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global, ethnographic studies that examine issues at the intersections of race, religion, activism and media. In 2007 she co-authored a book entitled Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interests and Private Politics, which won the Best Book Award for the Society for the Anthropology of North America. Her co-authored text, Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment (NYU Press 2016), examines how black Christians, Muslims and Hebrew Israelites use media for the “redemption” of the race. Dr. Frederick’s ongoing research interests include the study of religion and media, religion and race and the sustainability of black institutions in a ‘post-racial’ world.

She is currently curating, alongside five co-editors, an encyclopedia of the histories of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Professor Frederick has served in numerous capacities in her guilds, including as president of the Association of Black Anthropologists and most recently as president of the American Academy of Religion, the world’s largest association of scholars in religious studies and related fields.

Sharmin Ghaznavi

Sharmin Ghaznavi headshot

Sharmin Ghaznavi is associate director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics and the Center’s director of cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Ghaznavi also serves as a psychiatrist at the Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests include the neural correlates of rumination, self-related processing and other cognitive processes underlying mental illness. She has also been leading an initiative within the Department of Psychiatry to research rumination as a transdiagnostic phenomenon.

Dr. Ghaznavi has been the recipient of the Dupont-Warren and Livingston psychiatric research fellowships from Harvard Medical School, as well a 2012 NARSAD Young Investigator Award and a competitive loan repayment award from the National Institutes of Health. Her work has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry and Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders.

Dr. Ghaznavi received her undergraduate degrees in biology, brain and cognitive sciences, and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She obtained her medical degree and PhD in neuroscience from Yale University and completed a residency in adult psychiatry at the Mass General/McLean Psychiatry Residency Program. As a resident, Dr. Ghaznavi received the Thomas P. Hackett award for academic and research excellence and the Joyce Tedlow Award from the mood and anxiety disorders board for efforts to integrate psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and research.

Stephen Haggarty PhD '03

Stephen Haggarty headshot

Stephen J. Haggarty is Scientific Director, Chemical Neurobiology at the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics and Director of the Chemical Neurobiology Laboratory within the Center for Genomic Medicine at Mass General. Dr. Haggarty is also Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and has appointments at the Broad Institute and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In 2017, Dr. Haggarty was named the Stuart & Suzanne Steele Research Scholar within the Mass General Research Institute.

Dr. Haggarty’s research program operates at the interface of chemical biology and molecular therapeutics with a focus on dissecting the role of neuroplasticity in health and disease. A major emphasis of his work is the use of reprogramming technology to create patient- specific, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as powerful new models for the study of neuroplasticity; understanding the neurobiology of human disease; and addressing the challenge of discovering novel targets and next-generation, disease-modifying therapies for brain health using the principles of precision medicine. Dr. Haggarty completed his PhD in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and post-doctoral training at the Broad Institute.

Alexander Keyssar AB '69, PhD '77

Alexander Keyssar headshot

Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy. An historian by training, he has specialized in the exploration of historical problems that have contemporary policy implications. His book, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2000), was named the best book in U.S. history by both the American Historical Association and the Historical Society; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. A significantly revised and updated edition of The Right to Vote was published in 2009. His 1986 book, Out of Work: The First Century of Unemployment in Massachusetts, was awarded three scholarly prizes. Keyssar is coauthor of The Way of the Ship: America's Maritime History Reenvisioned, 1600-2000 (2008), and of Inventing America, a text integrating the history of technology and science into the mainstream of American history. In addition, he has co-edited a book series on Comparative and International Working-Class History. In 2004/5, Keyssar chaired the Social Science Research Council's National Research Commission on Voting and Elections, and he writes frequently for the popular press about American politics and history. Keyssar's latest book, entitled Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? (2020), is published by Harvard University Press. 

 

Rebecca Richman Cohen JD '07

Rebecca Richman Cohen headshotRebecca Richman Cohen is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker who teaches courses on media theory and advocacy. Through her work, she has examined a range of topics, including the prosecution of war crimes in Sierra Leone, responses to sexual violence in the US, cannabis legalization, and biodynamic winemaking. Her most recent film, The Recall: Reframed (broadcast on MSNBC) is the first in a trilogy of short films about mass incarceration, sexual violence, and racial justice. Her SXSW and Tribeca-award winning documentaries have been hosted on platforms including HBO, Amazon, Netflix, New York Times, LA Times, Al Jazeera, public television, and more. She has taught at RISD, American University’s Human Rights Institute, and Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and has held fellowships with Open Society Foundations, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard’s Film Study Center, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her very good dog and some nice humans too.

 

Jerrold Rosenbaum

Jerry Rosenbaum headshot

Until 2019 and for 20 years, Dr. Rosenbaum, Stanley Cobb Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, chaired a department of 600 clinicians and researchers, and 150 trainees, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as #1 in the United States in 2019 and for 20 of the prior 24 years, with 60 specialty clinical and research programs and over 70 million dollars of annual research spending. At MGH, the nation's largest hospital-based research institution, with over 1 billion dollars of annual research, he served as Chair of the Executive Committee on Research. 2007 recipient of the C. Charles Burlingame Award for lifetime achievement in psychiatric research and education, he was 2016 recipient of the Joseph B. Martin Dean's Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty for Harvard Medical School. Emeritus Fellow of the ACNP, he is a 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor awardee. Past President/Board Chair of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), he served as Chair of the Scientific Council, President and Board member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He served a 6-year term as Trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 3 years as Trustee of the Partners Healthcare System, and now co-Chair of Development at MGH. Co-author of more than 400 original articles and reviews, and editor of 20 books, he led longitudinal studies of children at risk for anxiety disorders and depression, examining behavioral differences, risk factors, longitudinal outcomes, treatment, genetics, and brain structure and function of children of parents with mood and anxiety disorders. He currently is directing the MGH Center for Neuroscience of Psychedelics (CNP), to understand how psychedelics change the brain and to explore novel mechanisms for treatment of psychiatric disorders. He co-founded Psy Therapeutics to advance the discovery of novel drugs for psychiatric and neurologic disorders, co-founded Sensorium Therapeutics, to explore plant derived molecules as leads for novel psychiatric therapeutics, and co-founded Entheos Labs, Inc. to bioengineer novel psychedelic botanicals to deliver a new generation of psychedelic-derived therapeutic molecules. He graduated in 1969 from Yale College and 1973 from Yale Medical School and trained in Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

 

Ying Xu

Ying Xu headshot

Ying Xu is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on designing AI technologies that promote language and literacy development, STEM learning, and wellbeing for children and families. Xu’s current projects investigate the design and effectiveness of conversational AI technologies to serve as language partners and learning companions for children, and how AI affects children’s social interactions and developmental processes. Additionally, she explores human-AI collaborative approaches to empower education stakeholders to engage in the development of AI technologies for their specific needs and contexts.

Xu collaborates closely with children, families, educators, and community organizations to create media that is informed by and reflective of their values, practices, and linguistic and cultural assets. She partners with major organizations such as PBS KIDS, GBH Education, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Her work has been published in leading academic journals across psychology, education, and human-computer interaction, including Child Development Perspectives, Journal of Educational Psychology, Child Development, Computers & Education, and the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. She has received numerous best paper awards and is acknowledged as an Early Career Interdisciplinary Scholar by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). Xu completed her Ph.D. training in language, literacy, and technology at the University of California, Irvine, and was an assistant professor of learning sciences and technology at the University of Michigan from 2022 until she moved to Harvard in 2024.

Accessibility

Harvard University and the Harvard Alumni Association encourage people with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. Accessibility-related information can be found at accessibility.harvard.edu. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the access provided, please let us know in advance by calling 617-495-1920 or emailing haa_alumnieducation@harvard.edu.

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