Lunchtime Talks

Same-sex couples in 16 countries and 13 American states (as well as Washington, D.C.) can now legally marry, and other places are also considering making same-sex marriage legal. M.V. Lee Badgett, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has done considerable research in the U.S. and Europe on marriage equality among same-sex couples. She draws on that research to try to help bridge the gap between opponents and proponents of same sex marriage. Please join us at ISER to hear her talk about her work. 

Come to ISER and hear Chris Southcott of Lakehead University in Ontario discuss the initial findings of the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic project. That project is bringing together researchers and community representatives from northern Canada and other circumpolar areas to identify potential ways of improving the well-being of northern communities affected by Arctic resource development. Past resource development in the Arctic has often created social and economic challenges for northern communities but provided little benefit for them. Dr.

Come to ISER and hear Ken Meter, one of the most experienced food-systems analysts in the country, talk about his recent his recent study of the food economy in Fairbanks and nearby areas. He has studied food systems in 30 states, and has long advocated community-based food systems as one way for communities to sustain themselves over the long run. He is president of Crossroads Resource Center, a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis that works with communities around the country. 

Joanna Karet is a new member of the research faculty at the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research, which was established as part of ISER in 2010. She will talk about her findings on whether attending two-year community colleges encourages or discourages students from going on to get four-year or advanced degrees. Existing qualitative research has indicated that attending community colleges causes many students to lower their goals. Dr.

Yan Cimon is an associate professor of strategy at Universite Laval, in Quebec City, and is also currently the Fulbright Visiting Chair in Innovation at the University of Washington. He has studied how Quebec could use e-government—that is, the Internet and other information technology—to help provide services to residents of remote places. With a population comparable to that of Virginia and an area three times that of France, Quebec shares many of the same challenges as Alaska in providing consistent services to all residents.

Lou Pugliaresi is president of the Energy Policy Research Foundation, a not-for-profit organization in Washington, D.C. that studies and analyzes energy issues. He will talk about how U.S. energy markets—especially those for natural gas and liquefied natural gas—are changing. Before joining the foundation, Mr. Pugliaresi held a number of government posts and was a consultant on domestic and international petroleum issues. Join us to hear his views on the changing energy markets.

Frank Asche is a well-known fisheries economist from Norway and a professor in the Department of Industrial Economics at the University of Stavanger, Norway. World seafood markets are changing rapidly, as more seafood species are being farmed and knowledge from agriculture is being used to enhance the competitiveness of aquaculture products. Those changes are likely to influence all parts of the seafood market. Join us at ISER to hear Frank Asche talk about how he sees the global seafood markets of the future. 

David K. Shipler is a best-selling author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and former foreign correspondent for the The New York Times. Please join us at ISER to hear Mr. Shipler talk about alleviating poverty by recognizing and dealing with the multiple interacting problems families have. His book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, was a finalist for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Please join us at ISER to hear Kirsti Westphalen, the Consul General of Finland in Los Angeles, talk about Finland’s Arctic policy. Ms. Westphalen has worked in the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for three decades, and has had postings in Paris, Beijing, New York, Damascus and Rabat. Since 2008 she has been the Consul General of Finland in Los Angeles, where she has focused on sustainable and clean technology solutions, educational excellence, and exchanges between Finland and the United States. 

When: Monday, September 10, 12 to 1 

Sara Komarnisky is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She has been a visiting research scholar at ISER since September 2011, and is in Anchorage working on an ethnographic project that traces the connections between Anchorage and a town in the state of Michoacan, Mexico. Please join us for an informal discussion about what she’s learned so far. 

When: Tuesday, June 5, 12 to 1 

Where: ISER Conference Room, Fifth Floor, Diplomacy Building. Free parking.