University_of_the_Pacific's blog

The co-president and chief operating officer of Whole Foods Market, Walter Robb, will discuss the advantages and challenges of trying to run a business and still respect the environment. The lecture, titled “Business and Sustainability in the 21st Century – Observations of a Retailer,” will start at 6 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Faye Spanos Concert Hall on the Stockton campus of University of the Pacific. It is free and open to the public.

Best-selling author and nationally-recognized political and legal analyst Susan Estrich will discuss rape and sexual assault laws in the United States in a lecture titled “Don’t Say No, Say Rape.” The speech will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 3, in the Faye Spanos Concert Hall on the Stockton Campus of University of the Pacific. It is free and open to the public. She also will talk to law students at Pacific’s Sacramento campus.

Estrich is the author of numerous books and articles about law, politics and women, including “Sex & Power” and “The Case for Hillary Clinton.” She is best known in academic circles for work on the law of sexual assault, notably her book “Real Rape,” which was called a “vital book for judges, lawyers, law students, legislators, police officers, and those working in rape crisis centers” by the Christian Science Monitor and has been praised by numerous book critics and legal experts.

National Public Radio correspondent and best-selling book author Margot Adler will discuss “Paganism: Religion, Not Superstition” during the annual Colliver lecture at 8 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Long Theatre on the Stockton campus. The event is free and open to the public. After the lecture, Adler will sign her books for audience members.

Adler has been a radio producer and journalist since 1968, reporting on New York and the interface between culture and politics, education, technology, and many other issues of the day. She is currently a New York correspondent for National Public Radio and her reports air on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, “Morning Edition” and “Weekend Edition.” In addition, for eight years she hosted Justice Talking,” a national radio show on constitutional issues.

Anthony Shafer, a 1997 graduate from University of the Pacific’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, will give a behind-the-scenes presentation on Disney’s “A Christmas Carol.” He will give his presentation at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21 in the Pacific Theater. The event is free and open to the public.

Shafer worked for more than two years on the film as the stereoscopic supervisor for ImageMovers Digital, a Disney Company. He worked extensively on the design and implementation of the film. He also oversaw the camera acquisition, data-flow and stereoscopic3D production for the movie. His presentation will include some raw footage from the film and a demonstration of how the 3D effects were created.

The fifth annual Open World Jazz Concert – an evening of jazz with Brubeck Institute musicians and visiting jazz musicians from Russia – will be held at the Empire Theater on the Miracle Mile this year. The concert starts at 8 p.m. November 13, and will feature the renowned jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton with the Open World Jazz Quintet (OWJQ) and the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet (BIJQ).

All future buildings and building renovations that cost more than $1 million at University of the Pacific will be green. The University’s Board of Regents approved the new policy at their fall meeting in Stockton this month. The new green building policy will take effect Jan. 1, 2010.

The policy calls for new buildings to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “Silver”-level certification requirements. Pacific will also secure a cost estimate for LEED certification or equivalent of all renovation projects costing more than $1 million.

The University recently opened its first LEED-certified building – the Don and Karen DeRosa University Center – in 2008. It was the first LEED-certified building in San Joaquin County. Over the summer, the University also broke ground on the new John T. Chambers Technology Center which also will be LEED certified.

Just like their subject matter, movies about vampires just never seem to die. This year is proving that true with several vampire movies set for release in the next month, from the next “Twilight” movie to the comedy “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire Assistant.”

That’s because the films about the mythical undead creatures also share an ability that vampires have – they can take on many forms, from horror films to romantic dramas and even to goofball comedies, said film and literature professor Amy Smith.

The many variations of vampire flicks will be explored during a two-day course offered by the Center for Professional and Continuing Education at University of the Pacific on Dec. 5 and 6. The course, titled “Living Dead: Vampires in Film and Fiction,” is open to the community and can be taken for college credits.