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Steven H. Izen, Ph.D. – Professor of Mathematics at Case Western Reserve University
Kenneth F. Ledford, Ph.D., J.D. – Associate Professor of History and Law at Case Western Reserve University |
| Friday February 8, 2013 12:30-1:30 p.m. Dampeer Room Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University Dear Colleagues: You may have noticed that the conduct of elections in Ohio is rather controversial. Democrats complain, Republicans complain, and lawsuits get filed. Voting in the United States is remarkably poorly organized for a supposedly advanced supposedly democracy. Cuyahoga County in particular has received (and maybe earned) a great deal of attention. Steve Izen and Ken Ledford can share a grounds-eye view of the controversies and reality. On election day in 2012 Professor Izen was supervising operations at one polling place in Cleveland Heights. Meanwhile, Professor Ledford led a team of lawyers monitoring a group of polling places in Cleveland for the Obama campaign. They will talk about how the election was actually administered in Cuyahoga County, and we will discuss implications for the fairness and accuracy of elections in the future. All best regards, About Our Guests… As an applied mathematician Steven Izen lives in the theoretical world of mathematics, yet at the same time he uses the mathematics that he loves to help solve practical, real world problems. Professor Izen interacts with scientists, engineers, and doctors and he is always excited to learn about the particular niches in the scientific, industrial, and medical fields in which they live. Kenneth Ledford is a social historian of modern Germany, from 1789 to the present. His research interests focus primarily upon processes of class formation, particularly the emergence and decline of the profound influence of the educated, liberal middle-class of education, the Bildungsbürgertum. The salient ideology of this social group was classical liberalism, whose vocabulary both shaped and was shaped by the primary social institution of the Bürgertum, law and the legal order. Professor Ledford has written about German lawyers in private practice, and his present work is on a book about the Prussian judiciary between 1848 and 1918; in all of his research, a clearer analysis of the complex interplay among state, civil society, and the ideology of the state ruled by law (Rechtsstaat) remains the goal. Professor Ledford’s teaching interests extend beyond German history since 1789 to include the history of the European middle classes, the history of the professions, European legal history, other processes of class formation including German and European labor history, as well as the history of European international relations and diplomatic history. Parking Possibilities We regret that there is no convenient free parking, especially with the current construction on Bellflower. The closest lot is the Severance garage, which can be entered from East Boulevard. One can avoid going outside the garage by using an entry door to the library that is just northeast of the main parking lot entrance from East Boulevard. It leads to an elevator which goes to the library entrance. You can also go up the stairway or elevator labeled “Thwing Center,” from which it is a short walk to the library. Another possibility is the parking lot of the Church of the Covenant on Euclid, which can be entered from the north side of Euclid Ave, opposite Cornell Road. Visitors would walk west on Euclid, past the Thwing Center, and then follow the walkway to the library entrance. Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers: February 15: Between Alienation and Cooperation: Israel’s Police and Israel’s Arab Citizens. Dr. Guy Ben-Porat, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Administration, Ben Gurion University of the Negev February 22: The Widening Party Gap in Electing Women to Congress. With Karen Beckwith, Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science March 1: University Circle Update. Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer March 8: Perspectives on Genetically-Modified Food. Chris Cullis, Professor and Chair, Department of Biology and Mary Holmes, co-founder of the North Union (Shaker Square) Farmers Market March 15: Spring Break – No Discussion March 22: Shale Gas: Opportunities and Challenges. David Zeng, Frank H. Neff Professor and Chair, Department of Civil Engineering March 29: International Development Assistance in Public Health. Bill Goldman, retired foreign service officer with USAID April 5: Military Ethics and Dehumanizing the Enemy. With Anthony Jack, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science, Philosophy, and Psychology and Shannon French, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Inamori Professor of Ethics. April 12: The New Cuyahoga County Government: Perspective from the Council. Julian Rogers, Councillor for District 10 April 19: Mass Murder for the Media: The Breivik Case in Norway. Mark Turner, Institute Professor and Professor of Cognitive Science April 26: Advocacy for Children, Who Don’t Vote. Doug Imig, Professor of Political Science, University of Memphis |
