February 2, 2010
Arts Humanities, and Economic Thought – A Solo Performance Piece
7 p.m.
Village Gate

What is the relationship between economic and humanist perspectives on issues of individual choice and social exchange, or what economists might call trade? In a one-man show, USC College’s Mark Moore (Economics) brings together the “economic theory of the individual,” in which “we all face constraints  — resources, wealth, time — and so must make choices, which in turn reflect our values,” and “the traditions of humanist, ethical, and artistic thought,” which have traditionally scorned economics. What is it that, in the face of our own mortality, the ultimate economic and moral constraint, makes human life meaningful — and what do these two disparate traditions have to teach us? Through his one-man show, Moore asks us all to face this question.


Februrary 9, 2010
THE COLLEGE COMMONS SIGNATURE EVENT
The Science of Treasure Hunting
4 - 6 p.m.
Dohney Memorial Library, 240
To secure a sport for this event RSVP to tcc@college.usc.edu.

Sean Fisher, Grandson of the late Mel Fisher, now runs his family’s Historic Shipwreck Salvage business which operates out of Key West Florida.  Sean will be discussing his family’s decades long adventure of searching for the Nuestra Seniora de Atocha, a Spanish Galleon laden with gold and silver from the new world that sank in a hurricane in 1622, just 35 miles to the west of Key West.  In July of 1985 Mel Fisher and his crew discovered the main cultural deposit of the Atocha, over 37 tons of silver bars and coins!  The search for her remaining treasure still continues today.

In this forum, Sean will discuss the many facets of the search and the technology used over the years to make that search possible.  Technology has always played a key role in historic shipwreck salvage, and over the years Fisher has seen that technology evolve from simple mechanical innovation to the highly technical integration of GPS technology, anomaly location technology, and charting and mapping technology.  These technological advances have ever increased the efficiency of historic shipwreck salvors today.

 Sean will be available after his presentation for a short Q&A and will have a number of authentic artifacts to show and answer questions about. 

February 16, 2010
TRANSNATIONAL CHARSIMA AND TRAVELING SPIRITS
Karen McCarthy Brown “A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn and How Her Life Has Changed”
12 - 2 p.m.
University Club


February 18, 2010
THE COLLEGE COMMONS SIGNATURE EVENT
Who Owns Ideas?:  Intellectual Property and the Future of Ideas
4 – 6 p.m.
Hedco Neuroscience Building Auditorium
To secure your spot please RSVP to:Event Code: CC218

One of the most significant ways we have of mapping the world is the boundaries of individual property — but what happens when that boundary meets the “free exchange of ideas”? Join Yochai Benkler (Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School and the author of The Wealth of Networks), Michael B. Eisen (Professor of Computational and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California at Berkeley and the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-founder of the Public Library of Science) and Jennifer Urban (Professor and Co-Director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley Law) for a wide-ranging conversation about the relationship of ideas to property, and the enormous changes that are shaking the world of media, the entertainment industry and the boundaries of science.

Events and details subject to change. For more information, email tcc@college.usc.edu.