Provided

Award-winning poet Marilyn Chin reads on campus Nov. 12 in Goldwin Smith Hall.

Debate and cake: ILR at 70

In celebration of the ILR School’s 70th anniversary, the Cornell Speech and Debate Society will argue the topic “Is Work-Life Balance a Myth?” Nov. 6 at 1:30 p.m. in 105 Ives Hall. The public and the Cornell community are invited.

Kevin Hallock, the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, will make remarks as the debate closes, and cake will be served in celebration of ILR’s first class 70 years ago this month.

Bicultural poet

Chinese-American writer Marilyn Chin will read from her work Nov. 12 at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. The reading is free and open to the public.

A popular writer who combines Eastern and Western forms to address biculturalism, feminism and Asian identity, Chin has written poetry included in several major anthologies and textbooks. She is the author of a novel, “Revenge Of The Mooncake Vixen: A Manifesto in 41 Tales” (2009) and four poetry collections including “Hard Love Province” (2014), winner of an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, for contributing to the understanding of racism and diversity. Previous winners have included Martin Luther King Jr. and Toni Morrison, M.A. ’55.

Chin’s other honors include five Pushcart Prizes, Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships and two NEA awards. She teaches creative writing at San Diego State University.

The reading is presented by the Department of English and the Creative Writing Program as part of the Fall 2015 Barbara and David Zalaznick Reading Series.

Gingko: A living fossil

Botanist Sir Peter Crane will explore the evolutionary and cultural history of a botanical oddity often termed a “living fossil,” in “’Ginko’: The Tree that Time Forgot,” Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Alice Statler Auditorium. Free and open to the public, the talk is presented by Cornell Plantations and its Fall Lecture Series.

Native to China and long thought to be extinct in the wild, the distinctive ginkgo tree today is widely cultivated. It is one of the world’s most popular street trees, notable for its longevity and edible nuts, and as a source of herbal medicines.

Crane is dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a professor of botany at Yale University. He oversaw science programs from 1992 to 1999 as director of the Field Museum in Chicago and was director from 1999 to 2006 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the largest public gardens in the world.

Forecasting catastrophe

Seismologist Thomas H. Jordan will present a University Lecture, “Trial of the L’Aquila Seven: How an Unforetold Seismic Catastrophe Changed Operational Hazard Forecasting,” Nov. 9, from 4 to 5 p.m. in 184 Myron Taylor Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the University Faculty.

Jordan is director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California, where he is chair of geological sciences and a professor of earth sciences.After a 2009 earthquake in the city of L’Aquila, Italy, he led a commission to advise the Italian government on how to communicate future earthquake risks to the public.

Six Italian seismologists and a government official were found guilty of manslaughter following the disaster, when the judge said they downplayed the risk of a major earthquake occurring in L’Aquila. They had studied a spate of recent tremors before the 6.3 magnitude quake, which struck in early April 2009 and caused more than 300 deaths.

Connerly on diversity

Ward Connerly, founder and president of the American Civil Rights Institute, will speak at Cornell on race, culture and equality in America Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. at a location to be announced.

A member of the University of California Board of Regents, Connerly will speak about how racial discrimination past and present has plagued higher education and American culture, and the ways diversity affects the student body.

A brief Q-and-A will follow the talk. Presented by the Cornell Republicans.

IvyQ conference

Brittany Ferrell and Alexis Templeton, the founders of Millenial Activists United who met as organizers protesting policy brutality after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, will be keynote speakers Nov. 14 at 4:30 p.m. during the IvyQ conference at Cornell, which takes place Nov. 12-15.

Federal judge Judith Levy and performance poet Danez Smith also are featured speakers. The conference is sponsored by the Cornell LGBT Resource Center, Haven, the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Arts and Sciences, and the ILR School and its Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution.

Working to foster meaningful and productive social networks for positive and lasting change for LGBTQ communities, IvyQ educates students about the history, possible futures and multiplicity of voices in the LGBTQ movement, and empowers all students to feel confident in their identities and their potential to instill positive change, for themselves and within their communities.

Could it be magic?

Learn the psychological secrets behind magic and psychic phenomena (such as ESP) and have some magic performed on you at the next Science Cabaret, “The Science and Psychology of Magic and Illusion,” Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Coltivare, 235 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca.

The free program features a magic performance by cognitive scientist David Kilpatrick, who will present key research on perception, memory and language that explains how magicians fool us. An assistant professor of psychology at SUNY Cortland and a part-time professional magician who has performed more than 2,000 magic shows since 1986, Kilpatrick is the author of the recent book “Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties.”

Science Cabaret is a monthly series of casual live events where guest speakers give expert presentations on science in lay terms, and facilitate a dynamic conversation with the audience.

The hills are alive

Cornell Cinema hosts a special sing-along version of “The Sound of Music” Nov. 14th at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., commemorating the 50th anniversary of the beloved musical.

Hosted by Ithaca writer, DJ and trivia night impresario Bob Proehl, the interactive screenings will feature a costume contest, a fun pack of props for all attendees, and lyrics on the screen so all can sing along with Julie Andrews.

When Cornell Cinema presented this event several years ago, both shows sold out; patrons are encouraged to buy tickets in advance at cornellcinematickets.com. Tickets are $15; $10 for kids age 12 and under, and $12 for students and senior citizens.