This month’s newsletter is available for download in PDF format.
Events Calendar
- Aug 8 • Washington DC Book Club Discussion
- Sep 13 • Baltimore Book Club Discussion
WDCSA Covid-19 Update
We are Back!! WDCSA has been working on some exciting in-person events for the end of August and September. Stay tuned for a mid-month update. All events will be in accordance with local health guidelines.
If you are interested in getting involved with WDCSA, contact Patricia Arty, Stephanie Tan, James Yan or Megan McKoy.
Stanford in the News
- The effective date of the COVID-19 weekly testing requirement, applying to unvaccinated faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars coming to campus, had been planned for Sept. 9. Now, beginning Aug. 9, these individuals will be required to undergo weekly testing, continue making daily Health Check submissions and wear face coverings. Stanford is strongly recommending that individuals, regardless of vaccination status, wear face coverings indoors on campus, and we require their use in campus spaces that are open to the public, such as the Stanford Bookstore, publicly accessible dining areas and cafes, and the Cantor Arts Center. They also continue to be required in classrooms, on public transportation and in health care facilities.
- When Stanford’s new school focused on climate and sustainability begins operating in fall 2022, it will include a set of transitional academic divisions that will evolve into multiple departments as the school grows; cross-cutting themes organized within institutes to draw on the expertise of the entire university; and an accelerator to drive new technology and policy solutions. Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne selected this blueprint after he and Provost Persis Drell reviewed, and slightly modified, options provided in a report (SUNetID required) from the faculty Blueprint Advisory Committee (BAC) that has been meeting since last fall to develop options and recommendations for the structure of the new school. “Stanford is taking the historic step of creating the university’s first new school in 70 years in response to the scale and urgency of threats facing our planet,” Tessier-Lavigne said. “With our faculty aligned in these new divisions, and with cross-cutting themes and an accelerator integrating expertise from the entire university to drive solutions, we will marshal our resources to serve humanity’s top priority, which is to create a future in which all humans and natural systems can thrive together in concert and in perpetuity.”
WDCSA Book Club Corner
Washington DC Book Club Discussion
Sunday, August 8, 5 pm
Location information will be sent one week prior to the event.
The June book is How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It by Arthur Herman.
This is the story of how John Knox and the Church of Scotland laid the foundation for our modern idea of democracy; how the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution; and how thousands of Scottish immigrants left their homes to create the American frontier, the Australian outback, and the British Empire in India and Hong Kong. This book reveals how the Scottish genius for creating the basic ideas and institutions of modern life stamped the lives of a series of remarkable historical figures, from James Watt and Adam Smith to Andrew Carnegie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and how Scottish heroes continue to inspire our contemporary culture, from William “Braveheart” Wallace to James Bond.
This in-person meeting has a requirement for full COVID vaccination. Attendees are also asked to bring a pot-luck food contribution.
Attendees are also asked to bring a pot-luck food contribution.
Questions/RSVP: Don Bieniewicz, MS ’75, at donbien@erols.com.
Baltimore Book Club Discussion
Monday, September 13, 7:30 pm
Google Meet: Everyone will be emailed a link to join the meeting a few minutes before.
The novel Normal People by Sally Rooney is a coming-of-age story which is also made into a 12 episode series shown on Hulu. “Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At School, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation – awkward but electrifying – something life changing begins … Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.” (Amazon)
The November 15th selection is Hitler on Trial: Alan Cranston, Mein Kampf, and the Court of World Opinion by Lorraine Tong.
Questions/RSVP: Helene Myers, Ph.D., P’14, at cedarhouse@comcast.net