Michigan Society of Fellows: 55th Anniversary Symposium View Other Sessions

Start the day with a welcoming breakfast and inspiring words to set the tone for the day's interdisciplinary panels and highlighting the significance of the Michigan Society of Fellows’ 55th Anniversary Symposium.

How do forests transform as diverse forms of life intersect and interact within them? Panelists will consider forests as dynamic sites of ecological, cultural, and imaginative significance, engaging perspectives from biology, anthropology, and literature.

• Paul V. A. Fine, University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology
• Eduardo Kohn, McGill University, Anthropology
• Meghna Sapui, University of Miami, English

What forms has socio-economic inequality taken across global regions in the modern era? This panel examines the historical development, cultural dimensions, and structural consequences of inequality from multiple disciplinary vantage points.

• Elizabeth Hinton, Yale University, History
• Rebecca Spang, Indiana University, History
• Marlous van Waijenburg, Harvard Business School

Enjoy a lunch break and take the opportunity to connect with fellow attendees.

Mass migrations and geographic dislocations have profoundly shaped the modern world. This panel explores the assemblages they produce and the ways they are represented, with attention to art, sociology, anthropology, and literature.

• Cécile Fromont, Harvard University, History of Art and Architecture
• Neil Gong, University of California, San Diego, Sociology
• Zeynep Gursel, Rutgers University, Anthropology
• Michael Szalay, University of California, Irvine, English

Confronting adaptive pathogens, global health inequities, and mental health crises, contemporary medicine faces urgent dilemmas. This panel examines potential trajectories for medical practice through the lenses of microbiology, cultural analysis, and social critique.

• Vaughn Cooper, University of Pittsburgh, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
• Ana Vinea, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies