One Day University

Award-winning author, teacher, and Italian scholar Joseph Luzzi leads participants on a whirlwind tour of Italy's greatest cultural hits, as we explore the fascinating world of Italian art, music, film, and literature. We will learn how Italy has been a grand tour travel destination for centuries as we discover the fine art of living Italian style and what Italy is most known for.

You are your brain, according to modern neuroscience, but how exactly do your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sense of self derive from this three-pound organ locked inside the black box of your skull? Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin has been seeking answers to those questions for decades and finding surprising answers in the brains of people with psychiatric and neurological disorders.

When we look at how the brain works, it looks like the brain is able to very easily engage in religious and spiritual practices, ideas, and experiences. All the brain scan studies that we've done show that there are multiple parts of the brain that seem to get involved. In this talk, Professor Newberg will discuss how it does look like the brain, no matter how it got there, does have this profound ability to engage in religious and spiritual experiences. This is part of why we've seen religion and spirituality be a part of human history since the very dawn of civilization.

Until very recently, most everyone assumed that Neurology and Theology were entirely unrelated. But U Penn Professor Andrew Newberg has changed all of that with his remarkable research on the topic of Neurotheology. It has garnered increasing attention in academic as well as religious communities for its attempts at exploring more specifically how Jewish religious thought and experience may intersect with brain function.

On a sun-kissed island in the West Indies, a young boy named Alexander Hamilton began a most unlikely journey in the 1750s. His meteoric rise from Caribbean obscurity to American founder has long captivated historians and, more recently, Broadway audiences. Yet one crucial aspect of Hamilton's life has remained submerged for centuries: the weight of the evidence suggests that he was in fact Jewish. Drawing on untapped sources in the West Indies, Professor Porwancher makes the case for Hamilton's Jewish ancestry and explores his ongoing relationships with Jews throughout his lifetime.

The rise and fall of ancient Rome is one of the greatest stories in the history of the world. From a group of settlements huddled along the Tiber in Italy, Rome rose to conquer much of the Mediterranean world and Europe. At the height of the Roman Empire, one in every five people in the world lived within its territory. For Americans, Rome's unlikely ascent, spectacular ambitions, and gruesome decline have provided endless fuel for our national self-examination.

Music is so important because it has no purpose. Its only utility is to remind each of us as human beings about the power of our own imagination. Music matters because it is so completely a human invention. But not a useful one - its only purpose is existential and ethical. It reminds us of what we are capable of; that each of us brings something a little bit different to the experience. An experience that can only strengthen our respect for the dignity and lives of others.

Using live music and from operas, as well as from the film Amadeus, we will explore the enormous diversity of Mozart's music. Having explored his music in both breadth and depth, our attention turns finally to the enablers of Mozart's genius: genetic gifts, mentoring, motivation, concentration, self-confidence, and just plain luck. By the end of this session, we will come to see that not only is Mozart's music great, but Mozart himself was unique, and arguably the most extraordinary creator ever to set foot on this planet.

The Cold War's end was supposed to bring about a new era of East-West cooperation. But the promised post-Cold War peace did not endure. The West's triumph brought the average citizen in the former Soviet Union a shorter life-span, a lower standard of living, and a long list of new grudges. As Boris Yeltsin gave way to Vladimir Putin by the 20th century's end, the stage was set for what some are now terming a new Cold War, replete with hacking, election influence, annexations, and new East-West tensions.

It is an understatement to say that Americans are frustrated with our two-party system and the dysfunction that seems to define our politics in recent years. Polls reveal that the public has an unfavorable view of the two major parties, many Americans consider themselves to be independents, and the Congress is wildly unpopular. At the same time, the parties and Congress seem to be unable to come together to effectively address either the structural challenges of the political system....

He was our longest-serving president and also our best. Washington set precedents. Lincoln preserved the union. But only Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the nation's highest office four times. Only Roosevelt faced an economic crisis so severe it remains our benchmark today for calamity. The solutions he made public forged the country, and in large part the world, we live in today.

As we've seen increased participation in online dance parties, workouts, and other gatherings, a little-mentioned growing community is that of reading groups. As the pandemic deepens and all of us feel the desire to escape, it is logical that these communities would expand. But what is it about literature that brings people together during terrible circumstances? How does a catastrophe shape our understanding of the power of great literature? This audio lecture discusses the importance of literature and community throughout the world and addresses how these groups better us as people.

Award-winning literature professor Joseph Luzzi will guide viewers through a fascinating presidents' library, as we explore the books and the presidential reading list that shaped six of the most powerful men ever to sit in the Oval Office.

America's founding political commitments focused on democracy and the rule of law. Some have described them as the soul and spirit of our nation, and over the generations, citizens have given their lives to preserve those commitments. But over time it appears that their meanings have changed and settled truths are open to new interpretations. Could it be this is a symptom rather than a cause of what some see as our current crisis? At the time of recording, there were over 20 candidates vying for an opportunity to challenge President Trump.

The American presidency is the most powerful political office in the world. Surprisingly, most contemporary presidents have found themselves severely constrained in their ability to pursue their chosen agendas for domestic and foreign policy change. This lecture will explain why, focusing on the nature of government bureaucracy, the range of American challenges and commitments, and the development of the modern media.

The research of Notre Dame Professor Jessica Payne shows that the non-waking hours are incredibly valuable for your day-to-day life, especially for helping to commit information to memory and for problem-solving.

Edison and Tesla were arch-enemies with competing visions as to how to electrically empower America. Their hostility played out in the infamous War of the Currents. Radio, television, robots, electric cars, self-driving cars, solar heating, the internet, and the cellphone were on the mind of one or the other of these geniuses. Which one ultimately proved to have the more accurate and enduring vision for the world? Who is in the news today and why? Come and find out the answers.

The years between the Civil War and the Second World War marked the emergence of the United States as the wealthiest and strongest nation in the world. America's extraordinary rise was unpredictable, difficult, and often close to disaster. A diverse group of citizens made key decisions to transform the country. This lecture will focus on the two most important presidents of this period, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt.

Leaders frequently suffer from tactical overload. They confront a barrage of daily crises, meetings, and other demands on their time. They rarely have time to think beyond their inbox. They rarely have the freedom for creativity. This lecture will provide an explanation for why leaders must break out of this tactical straitjacket, and it will offer a system for doing just that. Drawing on insights from historical thinking, this lecture will provide a series of concepts and tools for leaders to implement as they strive to think strategically, rather than tactically.

Few at the founding could have ever imagined the Supreme Court becoming one of the most powerful policymaking institutions in the United States. Yet today, the Court has the power to sidestep public opinion, upend federal legislation, constrain state governance and even bring down the president. Professor Alison Gash will take us back to the Court's humble beginnings, charting how the Court amassed its power under Justice Marshall's leadership.