Alfred Gourdji Distinguished Lecture Series   

The Alfred Gourdji Distinguished Lecture Series features prominent, engaging speakers from “town and gown.” It consists of eight lectures, four in the Fall session and four in the Winter/Spring session. Learn from well-known experts about an array of fascinating topics. Each lecture is just the beginning; a stimulating question-and-answer period follows each session.

◆2nd Tuesday of every month

◆10:00–11:30 am

◆$15/day pass (members)

◆$25/day pass (non-members)

◆$55 for the Fall 2025 series

All programs will take place at: Washtenaw Community College Morris Lawrence Building 4800 E Huron River Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48105 All lectures will also be live streamed through Zoom. We welcome walk-ins at Washtenaw Community College’s Morris Lawrence Building day of the lecture.

Prof. Litman will explain how the current Supreme Court is not ruling based on law, but instead based on vibes—the feelings of the justices and the political zeitgeist of the Republican Party. Among the worst of the bad vibes are the notion of conservative grievance and a commitment to minority rule. She will argue that the Court’s recent decisions reveal these influences, and how several cases the Court is currently hearing do as well.

Leah H. Litman, JD is a Professor of Law at University of Michigan, co-host and co-creator of the podcast “Strict Scrutiny,” about the Supreme Court, and author of the New York Times bestseller LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. She has received several awards for both teaching and research and scholarship.

Though it’s become a truism that the economic system of the USSR and its allies failed, the actual record is more nuanced. State socialism did not bring the grand achievements that its founders had hoped for, but neither did it leave these countries worse off than they were beforehand. In fact, most Soviet countries did better overall under socialism than under capitalism. Once we recognize this, we face a puzzle: Why did so many economists within the Soviet Bloc come to believe that they were working within a catastrophically dysfunctional economic system? And why, when presented with a crisis in the late 1980s, were they so quick to embrace capitalism?

Brian Porter-Szűcs, Ph.D. is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the History Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies. He teaches classes on the history of the economy, the intellectual history of capitalism and socialism, the history of Roman Catholicism, and the history of Poland. Prof. Porter- Szucs has won many awards, including a Michigan Humanities Award, the John Dewey Award for Outstanding Teaching from UM’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and an Excellence in Education Award from L.S.& A. He’s authored numerous journal articles and books, including Commodified Communism: Socialist Values and Capitalist Prices in the Polish People’s Republic, and Faith and Fatherland: Catholicism, Modernity, and Poland, both published by Oxford University Press.

GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide and tirzepatide have revolutionized how we treat individuals with obesity. Should it also change how we think about body weight and how it is regulated? Dr. Seeley will discuss body weight regulation and how these drugs work to help individuals lose weight.

Dr. Randy Seeley, Ph.D. is the Henry K. Ransom Endowed Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He also serves as the director of the NIH-funded Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center (MNORC). His scientific work has focused on the gut-brain axis and its role in regulating energy balance and metabolism, emphasizing new treatment strategies for obesity and diabetes. Dr. Seeley has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, and he has received numerous awards including the 2009 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from the American Diabetes Association.

Speaker will be presenting in-person and streamed live through Zoom

Advances in Artificial Intelligence have led to innovations from AI chat-bots to smarter phones, cars, and homes. But with these developments also come new risks to your privacy: Is data about you used to assist or manipulate you? What if your private data is part of a data breach?  How is AI used by cybercriminals to scam consumers? This talk will answer these questions, as well as discuss research advances that can lead to better privacy protections and policy, and what you can do now to protect yourself.

Dr. Florian Schaub is Associate Professor of Information and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His interdisciplinary research combines privacy, human-computer interaction, emerging technologies, and public policy. Dr. Schaub holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Ulm and was a postdoctoral fellow in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science. His research has been honored with best paper awards at leading cybersecurity and human-computer interaction conferences. Dr. Schaub is an ACM Distinguished Member. His research has directly impacted industry practice and public policy.