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Fall Renaissance Society open forums announced

Sacramento State' s Renaissance Society offers up its open forums this fall to the University community with a wealth of subjects and speakers. 

The Renaissance Society, a partnership between the retired community of the Sacramento area and Sacramento State, offers up a free forum open to the general public every Friday from 3 to 4 p.m. Each forum features invited speakers of note who share their views with members, followed by question and answer sessions.

All forums will be held in Mendocino Hall 1003. Scheduled forums include:

September 29: Dan Kennedy, "What are the prospects for the region' s economy?  Boom or bust?" Kennedy became publisher of the Sacramento Business Journal in 1985.  He is the author of a novel, The Cooking School at Z, about an American couple' s cooking school in Zijhuatanejo, Mexico. 

October 6: Ayad S. Al-Quazzaz, "Islam, Democracy and the war on terror:  Will the result of the invasion of Iraq be a broken Iraq, civil war, neighbors nurturing generations of terrorists?" Sacramento State professor Al-Qazzaz, Department of Sociology, graduated from the University of Bagdad and U.C. Berkeley.  He is a specialist in the sociology and politics of the Middle East with emphasis on American Middle Eastern foreign policy.

October 13: Bill Durston, "A case for universal health care - is the U.S. ready?"
Dr. Durston is a practicing physician and a member and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.  He is an outspoken advocate for health care reform.

October 20: Scott Fishman, "Are You In Pain?  It Can Be Managed?" Dr. Fishman is chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and a professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the U. C. Davis.  He was formerly medical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Pain Center at Harvard Medical School. He lectures on all aspects of pain and its treatment and has authored the book, The War on Pain.

October 27: Joe Moore, “From Slavery to Freedom: Slaves in California, A Free State, And The Underground Railroad," The Sacramento State Underground Railroad Project is under the guidance of Joe Moore, along with his wife, Professor Shirley Moore, History. They are experts in the African American experience in Gold Rush-era California.

November 3:  Ed Weiss, “The Flying Dentists: Providing Dental Treatment to Indigenous People in the Third World Countries," Dr. Weiss joined The Flying Doctors in 1993 on a mission to provide medical and dental treatment in Sonora, Mexico.  He has returned to Mexico 20 times on similar missions. His team of dentists have traveled to Micronesia, Nepal, Uganda and recently returned from Guatemala where they provided needed dental treatment.

November 17:  Amy Chance, “Let' s Cover the Statewide Political Campaigns: Governor Schwarzenegger, the Legislature, and Statewide Ballot Measures,” Chance, State Capitol bureau chief and political editor for 22 years, joined the Sacramento Bee as a city hall reporter in 1984 and moved up to bureau chief two years later.  She has covered most of the state' s political figures during that time.

Dec. 1: Celia Esquivel, “The 2005 White House Conference on Aging: The Booming Dynamics of Aging: What' s Next?" Esquivel, associate state director, AARP California, was one of several delegates from California to the White House Conference on Aging in 2005. The conference is held every five years to review trends in aging, services for older persons, funding for necessary services and other issues pertinent to American seniors.