Faculty Insights

Ten years of work by Caroline Elkins, a professor of history at Harvard University, exposed a massive cover-up by the British Empire in colonial Kenya. What was billed as a rehabilitation program during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950's was in fact widespread torture and murder of the Kikuyu people. Elkins sits down with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast to discuss her research and her role as an expert witness in the landmark court case of a group of elderly Kenyan's seeking reparations from the British government. In the 2012 spring term, Elkins taught the online course "Africa and Africans: The Making of a Continent in the Modern World" http://2011-12.extension.harvard.edu/courses/23612. She's also co-teaching a 2012 study abroad program in Mombasa, Kenya through Harvard Summer School, http://www.summer.harvard.edu/programs/abroad/mombasa/. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya," is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Reckoning-Untold-Story-Britains/dp/0805076530.

In spring 2013, Pfister is teaching BIOS E-120 Trees and Forests of New England, http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/trees-forests-new-england. Faculty Insights are produced in partnership with ThoughtCast, http://www.thoughtcast.org/.

Seetharam is developing new wound closure technology to mimic the feel and elasticity of real human skin. Dr. Bhatia is the assistant director of undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She also teaches the course "Tissue Engineering for Clinical Applications," http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/tissue-engineering-clinical-applicat..., at Harvard Extension School. Faculty Insights are produced in partnership with Jenny Attiyeh and ThoughtCast, http://thoughtcast.org/.

Asani argues that it is the educational systems in both societies that fail to provide a corrective. At Harvard Extension School, Asani teaches the online and on-campus course RELI E-1550 Understanding Islam and Contemporary Muslim Societies. Visit http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/understanding-islam-contemporary-mus... for more information. Faculty Insights are produced in partnership with Thoughtcast, www.thoughtcast.org.

Now, everybody with a computer is a blogger, and the Supreme Court ruling a generation ago is more relevant than ever. Ryan discusses the implications of the 1st Amendment with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast and highlights how the digital era has altered the interpretation of the amendment from the Pentagon Papers to WikiLeaks. In spring 2013, will be teaching JOUR E-110/W The Constitution and the Media, http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/constitution-media, at Harvard Extension School.

Heyman is a lecturer on psychology at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Extension School.

In this faculty insight, instructor Arnold Howitt sits down with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast to discuss how organizations and responders can prepare themselves for high performance in these situations and what we have learned from large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Often, the keys to successful emergency preparation and relief management are proven leaders, practice, and appropriate allocation of funds. Howitt is the executive director at the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, and instructor at Harvard Extension School. He teaches "Crisis Management and Emergency Preparedness" and "Disaster Relief and Recovery." Howitt is also an author and editor of several books, including "Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies."

Professor Gregory Nagy reads from Book 22 of The Iliad In this interview with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast. Nagy teaches CLAS E-116/W Concepts of the Hero in Classical Greek Civilization, http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/concepts-hero-classical-greek-civili..., at Harvard Extension School. In summer 2012, he is teaching a study abroad program in Greece through Harvard Summer School, http://www.summer.harvard.edu/programs/abroad/olympia/. Nagy is the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University and Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC.

It's a hot ideological issue, and Jocelyne Cesari discusses how misunderstandings of Islam are crippling international relations. In this interview with Jenny Attiyeh of Thoughtcast, Cesari discusses the need to bring knowledge, more than opinion, to the public space. Cesari, an Islam scholar and lecturer on government at Harvard Extension School, teaches the course GOVT E-1966 Islam and Democratization: Lessons Learned from the Arab Spring,

Nichols is a professor at the US Naval War College, a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and lecturer at Harvard Extension School.

Dr. Shelley Carson, a Harvard Extension School psychology instructor, discusses the history of creativity and depression with Jenny Attiyeh of ThoughtCast.