Lecture

On Sunday, in conjunction with its ongoing exhbition Chosen Food: Cuisine, Culture, and American Jewish Identity , the Jewish Museum will present " Knish History 101: Life and Times of the Knish" a lecture by Laura Siilver titled  Silver will tell everyone all about the knish, that lovable, humble stuffed hunk of dough. Guests are invited to show up with their knish memories, recipes and recollections and listen to knish tales from the Midwest, the Lower East SIde and the Polish town of Knyszyn, where Silver traces her roots.

On Sunday, in conjunction with its ongoing exhbition Chosen Food: Cuisine, Culture, and American Jewish Identity , the Jewish Museum will present " Knish History 101: Life and Times of the Knish" a lecture by Laura Siilver titled  Silver will tell everyone all about the knish, that lovable, humble stuffed hunk of dough. Guests are invited to show up with their knish memories, recipes and recollections and listen to knish tales from the Midwest, the Lower East SIde and the Polish town of Knyszyn, where Silver traces her roots.

The Baltimore Hebrew Institute, the successor to Baltimore Hebrew University established this year at Towson University, is introducing itself to the greater community on Sunday with a lecture on the Dead Sea scrolls. Lawrence H. Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, will present "Decoding Early Judaism: Reflections on the Contributions of Dr. Joseph Baumgarten" at 4 p.m. in Room 4110 of the new liberal arts building at Towson.

A twice-in-a-lifetime celestial event is coming up in June, and on Tuesday, the Space Telescope Science Institute is providing a chance to learn more about it ahead of time. A monthly public lecture will focus on the transit of Venus, in which the planet will pass directly in front of the sun. During a transit, planets can be seen as a small black dot moving across the face of the sun. Of course, as with eclipses and other solar phenomena, they should not be viewed directly. In North America, the transit will be visible at sunset June 5. Look for more coverage here as the event gets closer.

As a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, I was dismayed by recent news reports detailing the efforts of several major universities, including Johns Hopkins and the University System of Maryland, to revise or even eradicate the lecture model of teaching in certain disciplines. I am heartened to know that - as one would expect of such a high-caliber university - Hopkins is constantly seeking to improve the effectiveness of the excellent education it offers. However, I believe it is a fallacy to consider the lecture an ineffectual and obsolete teaching method.

Dr. Joaneath Spicer, a curator at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, will discuss the implications of terms used to describe the European Renaissance in a slide lecture at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Western Maryland College in Westminster.The lecture will take place in McDaniel Lounge.Dr. Spicer, a graduate of Yale University, is the James A. Murnaghan Curator of Renaissance and Baroque Art at the Walters.She taught for many years at the University of Toronto and has contributed several articles and reviews to the Burlington Magazine, Master Drawings and the Journal of Jewish Art.Dr.

The place of sport in American life and society will be the theme of"Ethics and Athletics," the sixth lecture in the Great Issues Series, at 9 a.m. Jan. 25 at the Francis Scott Key Auditorium lobby, St. John's College, Annapolis.Two figures from the sports world will keynote the forum: prize-winning newspaper writer and editor Creed C. Black, president of the Knight Foundation, which sponsored the Knight Commission study of sports in higher education; and Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Arthur Ashe, who has used his continuing career to promote tennis at every level as well as for various philanthropies.

Remember the famous photo of a gorilla gently cradling a kitten?The nurturer was Koko, a mountain gorilla who has learned to communicate using 500 gestures in American Sign Language and who comprehends 300 more. Koko had asked for the kitten as a birthday present.Mitzi Phillips of the Gorilla Foundation of Woodside, Calif., a sign language instructor and a friend of Koko, will present a lecture on interspecies communication with gorillas at 8 p.m. April 7 at Annapolis High School.The lecture is one of two scheduled this spring to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Anne Arundel County.

The Palmer Museum of Art in University Park, Pa., presents "Medieval Art in America: Patterns of Collecting 1800-1940" through March 3.The exhibition presents an overview of the collecting of medieval art in the United States from 1800 to 1940.The museum will also conclude its film and lecture series today and Feb. 10.The lecture, "The Legacy of Ornament: Searching in the Glencairn Museum," will take place at 2 p.m. today. And the film, "Christians, Jews and Moslems in Spain," will be shown at 2 p.m. Feb. 10.The Palmer Museum of Art is on Curtin Road next to the creamery on the Penn State University Park campus.

WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER and ethnobotanist Wade Davis will offer a lecture titled "The Serpent and the Rainbow: The Power of Voodoo in Haiti," Friday at 8:15 p.m. at St. John's College.Dr. Davis went to Haiti in 1982, charged with finding the formula of a folk preparation that purportedly could induce a state of apparent death so profound that victims could be misdiagnosed as dead. Rumors of its power are the source of a great deal of myth and mysticism about Haiti, and about the culture of voodoo.

Sunday, April 8 Theater performance The Colonial Players' production of "The Spitfire Grill" runs through April 21 at 108 East St. in Annapolis. Tickets are $15 and $20. For tickets, showtimes and more information, call 410-268-7373 or go to thecolonialplayers.org. Tuesday, April 10 Lecture Architect Chip Bohl will deliver a lecture, "Richard Neutra's Mellon Hall at St. John's College," at 7:30 p.m. in Mellon Hall, 60 College Ave. in Annapolis. Neutra, a modernist architect, designed Mellon Hall and Bohl is the architect of the building's renovations.

A monthly chance to learn from scientists who study the heavens at the Space Telescope Science Institute takes place tomorrow. The institute, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University at 3700 San Martin Drive, is hosting its regular lecture event at 8 p.m. Scientist Marcel Haas will give a lecture titled “ Growing Galaxies in Supercomputers .” If you can't make it, the Bloomberg telescope is also open to the public Friday evenings,...

As a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, I was dismayed by recent news reports detailing the efforts of several major universities, including Johns Hopkins and the University System of Maryland, to revise or even eradicate the lecture model of teaching in certain disciplines. I am heartened to know that - as one would expect of such a high-caliber university - Hopkins is constantly seeking to improve the effectiveness of the excellent education it offers. However, I believe it is a fallacy to consider the lecture an ineffectual and obsolete teaching method.

Sad news today -- Jeffrey Zaslow, who wrote such popular non-fiction as "The Last Lecture" and "The Girls from Ames," died today in a car crash in Michigan. The Wall Street Journal, where he has worked as a reporter, said that he died after losing control of his car while driving on a snowy road and colliding with a truck. He was 53, the Journal said. Zaslow's biggest hit was as co-author of "The Last Lecture," an inspirational tale of Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who soldiered on while facing pancreatic cancer that would kill him. "The Girls from Ames," detailed a decades-long friendship among a group of women, and was a favorite of books clubs nationwide.

Bill LaCourse felt inadequate. Some of his Chemistry 101 students sat in the back of the lecture hall and spaced out. Others simply left class as they pleased. "Maybe you're just not a good teacher," his department head said when LaCourse sought advice. His ego would not tolerate that as a final answer. So the University of Maryland, Baltimore County professor decided to put up a fight. If he couldn't make the class work in a traditional lecture format, the format would have to change.

Karl Rove spoke at the Johns Hopkins University last week. Mr. Rove delivered the final lecture for the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, which is entirely student run and sponsored by the university. I am a co-chair of this organization. Unsurprisingly, there was a considerable amount of protest. Karl Rove comes to speak, people are going to dissent. I fully understand. He is a controversial public figure. I have been told that I should be "ashamed" of myself for inviting Mr. Rove to campus.

Collaboration between McDaniel professor Sue Bloom, Westminster physician Dr. Dean Griffin and McDaniel College will bring a special talk on the western art of E. William Gollings to the college's Peterson Hall on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. The premier authority on Gollings' work, Dr. William Ward, will speak. The event is free and open to all. "The lecturer is a friend of mine from Wyoming," said Griffin said in an email interview. "Last year I traveled to Wyoming to hear him give this lecture to a group from the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma City.

A lecture by poet Maya Angelou that had been scheduled for tomorrow night at Loyola College has been postponed because of illness.Loyola officials said they hope to reschedule the lecture for mid-April.For information on the new date, call 410-617-5151 beginning Wednesday. Those who bought tickets can use them for the rescheduled date or call TicketMaster for a refund.

Pat Gardner, a quilt artist, teacher and lecturer, died Oct. 12 at Maryland Shock Trauma Center as the result of a fall she suffered Oct. 12. The Edenwald Retirement Community resident was 83. Born Patricia M. Zug in Reading, Pa., and raised in Richland, Pa., she earned a bachelor's degree in home economics education at Juniata College. She moved to Baltimore in 1951 and began her quilting career in the early 1970s, when she developed an interest in Baltimore and Pennsylvania antique quilts and other textiles.

Collaboration between McDaniel professor Sue Bloom, Westminster physician Dr. Dean Griffin and McDaniel College will bring a special talk on the western art of E. William Gollings to the college's Peterson Hall on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. The premier authority on Gollings' work, Dr. William Ward, will speak. The event is free and open to all. "The lecturer is a friend of mine from Wyoming," said Griffin said in an email interview. "Last year I traveled to Wyoming to hear him give this lecture to a group from the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma City.