Public Affairs (audio)

Writer/director Maysoon Pachachi joins moderator Mona Damluji for a discussion of her film "Our River...Our Sky," which tells the story of ordinary people living in Baghdad under occupation. Pachachi details the origin of the project and the film’s early development, including casting considerations and lessons learned from her documentary work. She also discusses the political contexts of the film and how life in Iraq changed as a result of civil war and occupation, and how real-world stories inspired the film. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 38945]

How can colleges and universities ensure faculty and students reflect the diversity of the U.S. as courts and legislatures dismantle affirmation action? In this program, Stella M. Flores, Ph.D., a professor of Higher Education and Public Policy at the University of Texas, Austin, discusses her research on the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations, including immigrant and English learner students. Dr. Flores has also published widely on demographic changes in U.S. schools, affirmative action in higher education, and Minority Serving Institutions. In 2003 her coauthored work was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court Gratz v. Bollinger decision (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court on affirmative action. [Public Affairs] [Education] [Show ID: 38738]

Olympic champion Erin Jackson, director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Laurie Leshin, and professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC and author Natalia Molina sit down with Lynn Sherr for a wide-ranging discussion of women and society, personal journeys and hopes for the future. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37973]

The China beat is one of the toughest in journalism and one of the most important. How the U.S. media has covered the country has profoundly influenced American government policy and shaped public opinion in the U.S. and around the world. Journalist Mike Chinoy, author of the new book "Assignment China," and a former CNN Beijing Bureau Chief, talks about the experience reporting in China. His book chronicles the stories of American journalists who have covered China — from 1949 through the COVID-19 pandemic — told in their own words. Chinoy is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at USC. Series: "Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38804]

What's the future look like with a changing climate? And who will lead the way to help us mitigate the environmental, economic and social impacts? In this program, internationally acclaimed author Kim Stanley Robinson talks about what motivates him to write science fiction that focuses on the environment. Robinson is author of more than 20 books, including "The Ministers for the Future," the "Mars" trilogy and "2312," which was a New York Times bestseller nominated for all seven of the major science fiction awards — a first for any book. He was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine and asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson” in his honor. The program also features four UC San Diego students who talk about their research on dealing with climate change. Series: "Writers" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38733]

A thought leader and former professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University, Francisco O. Mora serves as U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States. Ambassador Mora discusses the challenges and opportunities within the Americas. In prior positions, Ambassador Mora served as Director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center as Deputy Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere. His opinion pieces and other commentaries have appeared in various U.S. and Latin American media outlets. Series: "Institute of the Americas" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38822]

Focused on training native youth in tribal law and restorative justice practices, the Intertribal Court of Southern California Tribal Youth Court (TYC) aims to create positive change in communities. Learn how the court came to be, how it functions, and how is is transforming the lives of all involved. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38892]

How can we better serve native youth that find themselves in trouble? The Intertribal Court of Southern California founded the Tribal Youth Court (TYC) to answer that question. TYC empowers youth to engage in tribal restorative justice practices. Tribal leadership, judges, and students share why this model, rooted in culture and community, has been effective. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38263]

UC San Diego's School of Biological Sciences presents another event in their Deep Look series focusing on Earth Day. UC San Diego researchers will offer perspectives from a range of scientific disciplines relevant to the planet and its future. How are wildflowers adapting to climate change? How can humans sustainably co-exist with one of the world’s largest vertebrates, the Asian elephant? How is modern genetics being used to aid the future of the California Condor? Plus, UC San Diego has launched a new Center for Nature, Science and Society to explore the nexus of climate change, biodiversity and human impacts. Series: "A Deep Look into the Future of Biology" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 38861]

Since the mid 1970s, California policy makers have attempted to address the ever-growing problem of homelessness and incarceration of people with serious mental illness. Despite these efforts, the numbers of people who are homeless and incarcerated with mental illness have reached unprecedented highs. In this program, Dr. Joel Braslow, professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and History at UCLA, lays out why this historically informed perspective is crucial to understanding why we have failed to solve the fundamental problems of caring for our most vulnerable citizens. This program is a presentation of UC Center Sacramentro. [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38662]

What's California doing to address the issue of chronic homelessness? Some say nothing while others point to many efforts at the local and state levels. In this discussion, Dr. Margot Kushel, State Senator John Laird, and Dr. Toby Ewing explore the ways in which California is addressing the problem of the chronically unsheltered, what barriers remain, and how innovative solutions might restore some of the sheen to the state's golden reputation. [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38782]

As the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia in 1789, there was no experience, anywhere in the world, of a successful republican executive over an extensive nation — one with sufficient authority and independence to make things work on a national scale, but without the risk of becoming a monarch. This Jefferson Memorial Lecture shows how the delegates, and especially the Committee of Detail, went about constructing such an executive, and what it means for separation-of-powers law today. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38613]

Just a hundred miles to the east of San Diego, one of the largest inland lakes in the West is drying up as a result combined human activity and climate change. The exposed lake bed is rapidly turning into a source of dust, worsening the frequent dust storms that impact the people who live in the surrounding areas. Learn about the intersection of architecture and science in this stark but magnificent landscape in a conversation with Climate Scientist Amato Evan and Architect Gillian Shaffer Lutsko. Discover how collaborations with local activists, policy groups, scientists and indigenous communities inspired an architectural project that envisions how we can unite conversations around redevelopment, the climate crisis, public health and community-led design. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 38689]

By many accounts, the global fate of democracy is in question. Half of the world’s democracies are in retreat. The number of countries moving toward authoritarianism far outweighs the number moving toward democracy. And it has become common for elected leaders around the globe to use their power to weaken democratic institutions from inside the system. As part of our Democracy Talks series, Emilie Hafner-Burton, professor at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy and the co-director of the Future of Democracy Initiative at the UC Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, talks about the global challenges to democracy with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. Series: "Democracy Talks" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38725]

In the past few years, America’s democracy has faced formidable challenges, just as it has at other critical junctures of our history.  But our democracy has so far proven resilient, with one of the key sources of resilience being the officials who administer elections in states and counties across our nation.  As part of our Democracy Talks series, Thad Kousser, professor of political science at UC San Diego and the co-director of the Yankelovich Center, talks about the challenges we face with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. Series: "Democracy Talks" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38637]

How do structures and practices of privatization and commercialization affect capacities for deliberating and defining limits? How do questions of purpose, desirability, and public good relate to the prioritization of commercialization and profit? What means, formal and informal, exist for setting limits or seeking alignment between public and private interests? Krishanu Saha, Ph.D, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Ph.D., Reuven Brandt, Ph.D., and J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Ph.D., engage in a lively discussion of cosmopolitan ethics. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 38730]

It has become commonplace that democracy in the United States faces an existential threat. This belief has gained popular currency in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, nourished by his conduct in office, the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and continuing efforts to subvert the electoral process. Whether this is true only time will tell. But a common narrative among scholars of American government holds that representative democracy is failing more systematically than the Trump phenomenon suggests. In this program, Charles Beitz, professor of politics at Princeton University, along with commentary by Martin Gilens, Pamela S. Karlan and Jane Mansbridge, talk about the current state of democratic dysfunction and what the future might hold. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38274]

It has become commonplace that democracy in the United States faces an existential threat. This belief has gained popular currency in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, nourished by his conduct in office, the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and continuing efforts to subvert the electoral process. Whether this is true only time will tell. But a common narrative among scholars of American government holds that representative democracy is failing more systematically than the Trump phenomenon suggests. In this program, Charles Beitz, professor of politics at Princeton University, along with commentary by Pamela S. Karlan and Jane Mansbridge, talk about how to regulate rivalry in democratic representative government. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38273]

It has become commonplace that democracy in the United States faces an existential threat. This belief has gained popular currency in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, nourished by his conduct in office, the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and continuing efforts to subvert the electoral process. Whether this is true only time will tell. But a common narrative among scholars of American government holds that representative democracy is failing more systematically than the Trump phenomenon suggests. In this program, Charles Beitz, professor of politics at Princeton University, and Martin Gilens, professor of public policy at UCLA, address how to diagnose the problem of whether or not our system of government is failing. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38272]

How do Japan and South Korea view the geodynamics of the Indo-Pacific region? What are their needs, wants and fears regarding their alliance with the U.S., and how do they view China? How do they view the situation in North Korea, and how do they assess the larger ongoing, dynamic shifts in global security? While these questions are often discussed for either Japan or South Korea separately, in this conversation UC San Diego's Stephan Haggard puts them side by side to bring out similarities and differences in how both countries are repositioning in security, trade and geopolitics for 2023. [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38663]