Cobb Institute

Course: Ecological Civilization: Crises & Possibilities 2025
2025-07-02 17:00 - 19:00, 2025-07-09 17:00 - 19:00, 2025-07-16 17:00 - 19:00, 2025-07-23 17:00 - 19:00, 2025-07-30 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Exploring Crises and Possibilities for Ecological Justice and Wellbeing

This course explores visions of ecological civilization, drawing upon process-relational understandings of the cosmos, ecological movements, and central ideas and practices in diverse human communities and fields of thought. The purpose is to gather and build upon practical wisdom, seeking to dive deeply into crises and possibilities. Practical wisdom has power to transform the downward spiral of ecological destruction and to foster movements for protecting, healing, and regenerating our broken planet.

Find Out More & Sign Up

Process Explorations: Walter Fluker
2025-07-08 10:00 - 12:00
Program:
Process Explorations

Series Theme:
Forging Paths Toward Justice, Peace, and Earth-Care

Session Topic:
Teaching Undergraduates About U.S. Politics in Fraught Times

Presenter(s):
David Menefee-Libey, William A. Johnson Professor of American Government and Professor of Politics at Pomona College

David Menefee-Libey describes his talk:I am teaching the common semester-long Introduction to American Politics course this fall at Pomona College, a small private liberal arts college in Southern California. On the face of it, this is unremarkable: I’ve taught the course dozens of times since I started teaching in 1982, early in the years of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, and I’ve been teaching at Pomona since 1989, starting shortly after Tienanmen Square and during the opening of the Berlin Wall. I am used to teaching in the context of a changing world.This semester feels different to me. Trump’s second term as president has launched a broad assault on American political and social institutions including higher education, and the US seems to be following a path opened up by Turkey, India, Hungary, and other nations sliding toward authoritarianism. The textbook readings on U.S. politics often seem to describe and explain a system that no longer exists or at the very least is under significant strain. During my presentation, I’ll talk about how I am approaching this challenge.

About the Presenter(s)

David Menefee-Libey is the William A. Johnson Professor of American Government and Professor of Politics at Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he has taught since 1989. He earned a BA from St. Olaf College and a PhD from the University of Chicago, both in political science. Before joining the Pomona College faculty, he worked for the Community Renewal Society in Chicago, was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and worked as a policy researcher for the RAND Corporation. At Pomona, he teaches courses on American politics, public policy analysis, and American political thought. He has won the college’s Wig Distinguished Teaching Award six times, chaired the college’s Politics Department, and has often served as Coordinator of the Program in Public Policy Analysis. In 1999-2000, he was a visiting Fulbright Professor at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Process Explorations: Rabbi Or Rose
2025-07-15 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Bruce Epperly
2025-07-22 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Summer Finale in Music
2025-07-29 10:00 - 12:00

Creative Becoming: Process Philosophy & the Arts 2025
2025-08-13 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-08-20 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-08-27 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-09-03 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-09-10 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-09-17 17:00 - 18:30
Exploring Process Philosophy and Theology Through the Arts

This course explores the dynamic intersection of Whitehead’s process philosophy and the arts. Each session focuses on a particular art form and its resonances with key Whiteheadian themes—creativity, relationality, feeling, and becoming. Through guided reflection, discussion, and creative engagement, participants will explore how the arts can serve as both expression and embodiment of process thought.

Find Out More & Sign Up

Process Explorations: Susan Strauss
2025-09-09 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Mary Elizabeth Moore
2025-09-16 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Grace Grace Grace
2025-09-23 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: David Menefee-Libey
2025-09-30 10:00 - 12:00

Course: Process Thought & Science
2025-10-01 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-10-08 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-10-15 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-10-22 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-10-29 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-11-05 08:00 - 17:00
Applying Process Thought Across the Natural Sciences

This course introduces students to Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, emphasizing its application to modern science and cosmology. It explores the applications of process thought to physics, biology, and neuroscience, as well as its potential for integrating natural science and the humanities.

Find Out More & Sign Up

Process Explorations: Evaggelos Vallianatos
2025-10-07 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Mary Evelyn Tucker
2025-10-14 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Jeremy Lent
2025-10-21 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Mary Fridley & Carrie Lobman
2025-10-28 10:00 - 12:00

Process Explorations: Sheri Kling & Special Guests
2025-11-04 10:00 - 12:00
