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Lecture/Talk/Reading

Talking Tech: Has Your Behavior Been Hacked?

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

UMass Downtown, Amherst, MA

Companies spend mega-bucks on so-called “behavioral engineering” and “psychographic targeting” (used by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 election). You’re aware of standard ads and marketing, but technology has enabled whole new ways for companies, influencers, and social media to sway you. UMass faculty Francine Berman and Laura Haas will help you stay informed for the holidays! Sponsored by Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences and Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass, Talking Tech aims to demystify the technology that drives our world. See speaker bios and learn m…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

How to Buy Your Own Country

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Amherst, MAapproximate location

Feinberg Series Lecture with Steven Press As President Trump continues to push for a “purchase” of Greenland and tech titans discuss setting up “model cities” from Argentina to California, the world map seems positioned for change—and the world order seems on the brink of collapse. People may well wonder, “Is this legal? Is there any precedent?” A glimpse at modern history can offer some instructive notes of perspective, analogy, and caution. In particular, the cases of the East India Company and Leopold II’s Congo Free State can shed much-needed light on current events. Bio Steven Press is…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Lecture: Andrew Brooks, "Hearing The Star of Ethiopia: Reconstructing the Music of W. E. B. Du Bois's Pageant"

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Library, W. E. B. Du Bois, Amherst, MA

What did W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Star of Ethiopia sound like? Working across multiple archives and collections, this talk brings together dispersed cue sheets, manuscript scores, programs, correspondence, newspapers, and other records in an attempt to reconstruct portions of the pageant’s music. Through that reconstruction, I ask how music shaped the pageant’s staging of Black history and what attending to The Star of Ethiopia as a musical and performative event can reveal about Du Bois’s developing political-aesthetic thought in the 1910s-1920s.

Lecture/Talk/Reading

The Secret Lives of Galaxies: Allison Kirkpatrick,'16PhD:

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Life Science Laboratories, Amherst, MA

At the heart of nearly every galaxy lurks a black hole millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. Surrounding each galaxy is a vast halo of dark matter that outweighs all of its stars, gas, and dust combined. We can’t see either one, yet together they have shaped everything we can see. In this talk, Allison Kirkpatrick ’16PhD, will take you on a 13-billion-year journey through the life cycle of a galaxy, told through X-ray, optical, and infrared light and illuminated by her own observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. Beginning near the dawn of time when dark matter created…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Honors College Pizza and Prof Fall 2026

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Commonwealth Honors College (CHC), Amherst, MA

RSVP NOW Grab a slice and pull up a chair—it’s your chance to network and chat with a professor in a relaxed, friendly setting. Each Pizza & Prof event brings together students and faculty for great conversation, fresh ideas, and (of course) pizza! This fall's speaker will be Bridgette Davis, assistant professor of public policy. Professor Davis will share her path from a first-gen, rural, queer college kid majoring in English & Journalism to becoming an Assistant Professor of Public Policy. Davis will also support and engage you in considering how you might "follow your nose" toward a mean…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

"What Makes the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien Great?" with Professor Michael Drout

3:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Integrative Learning Center (ILC), Amherst, MA

Interested in Lord of the Rings? The Hobbit? Is Gandalf your favorite Istar (wizard) of all time? Professor Michael Drout, an expert in Tolkien, is visiting to give a talk titled "What Makes Tolkien Great?" Michael Drout has recently published The Tower and the Ruin, winner of the Tolkien Society Award for Best Book, which examines just how J. R. R. Tolkien created the world many of us love and admire. Come visit and listen to what makes Lord of the Rings and Tolkien, so great!

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Multifaith UMass: Understanding the Baha'i Faith Lunch & Learn

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Goodell Hall, Amherst, MA

Please join us for the Fall 2026 Multifaith UMass Understanding Communities lunch and learn series. We are joined by local experts each session to learn about the various religious traditions, spiritual practices, and ethical frameworks that are reflected in our diverse multifaith UMass community. This semester we will cover Understanding the Quakers on October 16 and Understanding the Baha'i Faith on November 13. All sessions are held on Fridays from 12:00pm-1:00pm in Goodell Hall 329. Registration is encouraged.

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Queen Esther: A Heretical Play from Early Modern Spain

3:30 PM

Rand Theater, Amherst, MAapproximate location

A FREE SPECIAL EVENT: Queen Esther: A Heretical Play from Early Modern Spain by Harley Erdman Directed by Aaron Henne Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. The Rand Theater Free, no registration required In this Illuminated Lecture, a form that weaves theater and music into an academic lecture, UMass Professor Harley Erdman, with the support of five student actors, shares his research on a play from 1613 that landed its playwright, Felipe Godínez, in jail for heresy. What made the play so dangerous to the Inquisition? Erdman delves into the playwright’s crypto-Jewish background and shows how some extraordin…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Talking Tech: Reduce Your Cyber-risk

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

UMass Downtown, Amherst, MA

We hear every day about a new danger or risk in cyberspace. Phishing, scams, hacks leading to identity theft, ransomware and malware, oh, my! Not to mention stories about surveillance and stalking, child exploitation, chatbots giving harmful advice, and general misinformation. What can you do to lower your risk and get the benefits of our amazing modern technology with less fear? UMass faculty Francine Berman and Laura Haas will provide practical advice in this interactive session. Come with questions! Sponsored by Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences and Public Interest Tec…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Feminist Movements Confronting Oligarchy

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Amherst, MAapproximate location

Feinberg Series Panel with Elisabeth Armstrong and Emily Callaci Who has value and who doesn’t? In the face of an economic system that considers most of the world’s population disposable, how have some social movements challenged capitalist definitions of value? This panel explores the feminist and anticapitalist Wages for Housework movement of the 1970s. Questions about gender, labor, interdependence, social reproduction, and care work—especially when considered in a global context—challenge key premises of capitalist oligarchy. What can we learn from the history of these social movements?…

Lecture/Talk/Reading

Dissertation Defense: PhD Candidate Ameneh Arzheh

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM

Integrative Learning Center (ILC), Amherst, MA

PhD candidate Ameneh Arzheh defends their dissertation, “ Synthetic Data Generation and Analysis of Maternal Nutrition and Breast Milk Composition: Evaluating Data Fidelity, Predictive Validity and Privacy.” Friday, December 4, 202610:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.Integrative Learning Center (ILC) room N255 and online This dissertation examines synthetic data generation and analysis in research on maternal nutrition and breast milk composition. It evaluates data fidelity, predictive validity, and privacy, considering the potential and limitations of synthetic data for maternal-infant health research.

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