Senior Year Goal: Attend More Talks

Hi Blog Readers! If you did not know, I am a senior. 😿 I cannot believe how quickly four years have gone by. As I am into my senior year, I am thinking about what I want to do before I graduate. One of my goals has been to attend more talks on campus, and I wanted to write about some recent ones I have been to. 

But first, what do I mean by talks? 

Well, professors often give talks/lectures on campus about their ongoing research that are open to all Wellesley students. In addition, departments invite alum speakers and guest speakers to Wellesley for special events, like Native American & Indigenous Heritage Month. 

You can find out about these talks through being on departmental email lists, physical flyers, or social media. Sometimes, a professor might give their students extra credit for attending a talk too. 

I have been taking for granted the ability to hear about the cool research Wellesley professors do! It is definitely something I am going to miss when I graduate.

A talk I attended in October from the Economics Department, my major, was the Goldman Lecture. This is an annual economics lecture with a guest speaker, and this year, the speaker was Harvard professor and economist Kenneth Rogoff. The lecture focused on his new book about the U.S. dollar.

Last week, I attended the Distinguished Faculty Lecture. This is also a special annual talk by a Wellesley professor. This year, it was by Wellesley sociology Professor Peggy Levitt, and the lecture focused on reimagining and decolonizing how we read and learn.

Another talk I recently attended was a Religious Studies Department lecture by Wellesley anthropology professor Dr. Holly Walters. This talk was about how AI has influenced and changed religious practices, specifically in Hinduism—definitely one of the coolest topics I have heard about!

Two recent talks that I sadly did not have the time to attend but really wanted to go to were: a Computer Science Department colloquium by an alum about using AI in socially complex work and a talk about indigenous land management by a visiting MIT lecturer hosted by the Native American & Indigenous Student Association and the Office for Intercultural Education.

As you can see, these talks span all kinds of topics and are hosted by a variety of departments and offices on campus. I am so glad I am making the most of this before I graduate. I am trying to go to as many talks as I can for the rest of the year and will write another blog post updating you guys. Thank you for reading!