President's Speaker Series - Video

Dr. Michael Merzenich studies neuroplasticity – the brain's powerful ability to change itself and adapt – and investigates ways plasticity might be used to heal injured brains and enhance the skills in healthy ones. Merzenich has studied how brains develop for more than three decades. His research has shown that the brain retains its ability to alter itself well into adulthood – suggesting that brains with injuries or disease might be able to recover function, even later in life. He has also explored the way the senses are mapped in regions of the brain and the way sensations teach the brain to recognize new patterns. Merzenich is trying to bring the powerful plasticity of the brain into practical use through technologies and methods that harness it to improve learning. He founded Scientific Learning Corporation, which markets and distributes educational software for children based on models of brain plasticity. He is co-founder and chief science officer of Posit Science, which creates "brain training" software also based on his research. That software, sold commercially under the names Brain Fitness Program and InSight, is supposed to strengthen memory, attention, language skills and visual-spatial abilities in aging adults. “This is the beginning of a revolution,” Merzrnich told The New York Times in June. Studies have shown improvement in those who use the software. Some critics, however, are not convinced that the gains translate into long-term benefits that can be generalized to daily challenges such as remembering where the car is parked. In the 1980s, Merzenich was on the team that invented the cochlear implant to restore hearing for the severely deaf. Merzenich is professor emeritus of neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. He has published more than 200 articles, received numerous awards and prizes and holds more than 50 patents. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999 and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

The Hollywood Actor and Environmentalist Proves How Living Green Is Good For You and Your Wallet What do George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ed Begley Jr. have in common? These Hollywood actors can add the title Environmental Activist to their résumé. Although green is their shared motto, while Clooney purchases Versace dresses for his lady and DiCaprio snags Los Angeles Laker tickets for his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Begley buys his wife hemp thongs. Begley, 61, said, "It's tough trying to be organic and a hip person." But fear not, Begley is one of the hippest folks in the green world. So hip, he was invited to speak at the President's Speaker Series, hosted by Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB), about the green life he leads, in which people can "live simply, so others can simply live." The World Theater and President of CSUMB treat students and the public to view well known speakers throughout the year. The President's Speaker Series is free of charge to all who attend. To kick off this round, Begley was selected as the first speaker. "Arguably, he's one of the first people in popular culture that has embraced a green lifestyle and engaged it," said Chas Croslin, World Theater Box Office Analyst. The fact that Begley is a popular individual with plenty of movies under his belt is an "additional benefit of reaching out to people that may or may not be familiar with the aspects of a green lifestyle," said Croslin. Both the director of the World Theater, Joe Cardinalli, and the Operations Manager, Phil Esparza, worked in combination to invite Begley to the Series. Esparza has known Begley for over 30 years. He said Begley is a "genuine human being, even if he is in Hollywood." Esparza adds, Begley is "very knowledgeable and is a great spokesperson." In addition to Begley's work on several TV series such as "Arrested Development," "Veronica Mars," and "Six Feet Under," Emmy nominated actor Begley utilizes his energy elsewhere. Having served on environmental boards like The Environmental Media Association and The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Begley continues to work with other organizations like Friends of The Earth and has been green since the 1970s. It all began during Begley's childhood, while he grew up in smoggy Los Angeles. "I just got fed up with it after the 50s and 60s, being in that horrible choking smog, it hurt my lungs so badly," recalls Begley. Among the smog as an impact, Begley's father, a man who lived through the Great Depression, was also a strong influence. As Begley was raised, he remembered his father "saving every bit of tin foil, every bit of string, turning off the lights and water." When Earth Day began in 1970, Begley's father passed. However, Begley said he "did all the activities in the 1970s much to honor him [his father]." In his 20s, Begley felt "poised and ready" to tackle environmental issues because "it seemed like the right thing to do." His work as an actor in the past and present poses difficulties. "It's a real challenge to work in an industry that was so very wasteful and indeed celebrated waste and excess." To address this issue, Begley takes action himself by not only talking the talk but walking the walk and driving the drive. He drives a beige Toyota Prius. Begley aims to implement environmental messages in movies and television programs. Begley believes, "You get people's attention if you're doing it yourself." The actor engages in composting, recycling, and riding a bike in the morning to power his toaster, not to mention these activities are indeed done by himself. He notes, "If you do this stuff, never tell people what you're going to do, tell them what you've done."

As the first black female TV journalist in the West, Belva Davis helped to change the face and focus of TV news. Davis shared her story at California State University, Monterey Bay’s World Theater Sept. 27, as the first featured lecture of the 2011-12 President’s Speaker Series. Her talk was be based on her recently published memoir, “Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman’s Life in Journalism.” In the book, she recounts her struggle to break into broadcast journalism at a time when stories of particular importance to African Americans and women rarely made mainstream newscasts, when a San Francisco station manager dismissed her from a job interview by explaining that he wasn’t “hiring any Negresses." But Davis, a young single mother struggling to raise two small children, refused to be deterred – the fact that a racist mob pummeled her with insults and trash at the 1964 Republican National Convention only made her more determined to persevere. And ultimately she did, rising to become one of the most respected and trusted local journalists in the country. In a career spanning half a century, Davis has reported many explosive stories, including the Berkeley student protests, the birth of the Black Panthers, the Peoples Temple cult that ended in the mass suicides at Jonestown, the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and from Africa, the terrorist attacks that first put Osama bin Laden on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. During her career, she brought stories of black Americans out of the shadows and into the light of day. And along the way, she encountered cultural icons including Malcolm X, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Nancy Reagan, Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali, Alex Haley, Fidel Castro, Dianne Feinstein and Condoleezza Rice. It has been an amazing odyssey for Davis, who was born to a 15-year-old Louisiana laundress during the Great Depression. Raised in the crowded projects of Oakland, confronted by racism and abuse, Davis achieved a career beyond her imagination. She has won eight local Emmys and a number of Lifetime Achievement awards – including honors from the International Women’s Media Foundation, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Northern California chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. Davis continues to host a weekly news roundtable and special reports at KQED, the San Francisco-based PBS station.

As the first black female TV journalist in the West, Belva Davis helped to change the face and focus of TV news. Davis shared her story at California State University, Monterey Bay’s World Theater Sept. 27, as the first featured lecture of the 2011-12 President’s Speaker Series. Her talk was be based on her recently published memoir, “Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman’s Life in Journalism.” In the book, she recounts her struggle to break into broadcast journalism at a time when stories of particular importance to African Americans and women rarely made mainstream newscasts, when a San Francisco station manager dismissed her from a job interview by explaining that he wasn’t “hiring any Negresses." But Davis, a young single mother struggling to raise two small children, refused to be deterred – the fact that a racist mob pummeled her with insults and trash at the 1964 Republican National Convention only made her more determined to persevere. And ultimately she did, rising to become one of the most respected and trusted local journalists in the country. In a career spanning half a century, Davis has reported many explosive stories, including the Berkeley student protests, the birth of the Black Panthers, the Peoples Temple cult that ended in the mass suicides at Jonestown, the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the onset of the AIDS epidemic, and from Africa, the terrorist attacks that first put Osama bin Laden on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. During her career, she brought stories of black Americans out of the shadows and into the light of day. And along the way, she encountered cultural icons including Malcolm X, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Nancy Reagan, Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali, Alex Haley, Fidel Castro, Dianne Feinstein and Condoleezza Rice. It has been an amazing odyssey for Davis, who was born to a 15-year-old Louisiana laundress during the Great Depression. Raised in the crowded projects of Oakland, confronted by racism and abuse, Davis achieved a career beyond her imagination. She has won eight local Emmys and a number of Lifetime Achievement awards – including honors from the International Women’s Media Foundation, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Northern California chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. Davis continues to host a weekly news roundtable and special reports at KQED, the San Francisco-based PBS station.

Long after his notorious prison experiment, famous psychologist Philip Zimbardo made a return visit to CSU Monterey Bay on April 25, 2011 to lecture on “Good and Evil: The Heroic Imagination Project.”

Long after his notorious prison experiment, famous psychologist Philip Zimbardo made a return visit to CSU Monterey Bay on April 25, 2011 to lecture on “Good and Evil: The Heroic Imagination Project.”