February 6, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 3Oakland, CA

Holy Names University offers a
‘Saturday semester’ on March 25

By John Bowman
Special to The Voice

Saturday Semester returns to the campus of Holy Names University in Oakland on March 25, with lessons on outer space, what primates can teach us, the social gospel, and alternative energy.

“There will be no heavy books, no writer’s cramp from taking copious notes,” said Donna Chan, HNU director of annual giving and alumni relations. “And, best of all, no final exams! Just fascinating lectures and a chance to connect with faculty, friends and fellow alumni.”
Saturday Semester, a mainstay at HNU for many years, was revived last year as a chance for the public to be a student for the day. Admission cost is $40. Members of Holy Names University classes of 2004 and 2005 will be admitted for $15 and people may sponsor a Holy Names Sister or HNU faculty member for $15 per person.
This year’s curriculum will be presented at the Valley Center for the Performing Arts on the HNU campus. The courses are:
•Earth Systems Science: Understanding the Earth from Space, presented by Matthew Fladeland, Airborne Science manager, NASA Ames Research.
•Stories of Conversation: Catholic Social Teaching and the Poor, presented by Robert Lassalle-Klein, associate professor of religious studies and philosophy at HNU. This lecture will be a compilation drawn from his participation at meetings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Second International Congress on Xavier Zubiri in San Salvador, and sessions at the University of Leuven with 12 theologians representing every continent who are producing a book, “The Options for the Poor in Christian Theology.”
•Primate Social Structures—What Humans Can Learn, presented by Nancy Teskey, SNJM, associate professor of biological sciences at HNU. She will discuss primate social structures, exploring what these can tell us about their evolutionary development – neurally, cognitively and behaviorally.
•Alternative Energy and Social Justice, presented by Robert Gannon, former systems manager for Pacific Bell and a Jesuit for 12 years and now a teacher at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland. A longtime community organizer, Gannon recently received grants from BP (British Petroleum) and Toyota to implement and teach alternative energies. He is implementing wind generation, solar technology and hydrogen cell demonstrations at St. Elizabeth’s.
The lectures begin at 9 a.m. and will conclude at 2:30 p.m., followed by a sneak preview of the HNU Drama Club performance, "Dead Man Walking," the play by Tim Robbins, to be shown at the university April 5-7.
The lectures on Primate Social Structures and Alternative Energy and Social Justice will run concurrently at 1:30 pm
Saturday Semester will wrap up with a wine reception. An HNU Music Department performance also is planned as well as a fine art exhibition by the university’s Art Department.
(For more information call Donna Chan at 510-436-1240 or e-mail her: chan@hnu.edu.)

Holy Names University in Oakland

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