Oldenborg Luncheon Colloquium (OLC)

Each semester, Oldenborg collaborates with faculty and invites noted scholars, writers, activists, and professionals to speak on topics of cultural and international interest. To suggest a speaker, email Oldenborg Interim Director Paul Cahill.

Talks are added throughout the year. Check back often for updates to our schedule and sign up for Friends of Oldenborg mailing list to stay up to date on talks and events. Dining hall access requires a meal purchase; 5C students swipe in and 7C faculty/staff sign in. Community members should purchase their meal tickets in advance at Café 47.

Upcoming Events

April 28

Reporting from a Lost Country

Elena Kostyuchenko, Independent journalist, writer and activist

Co-sponsored with the German & Russian Department at Pomona College

May 6

Conversation Courses: A Roundtable with the Language Residents

Co-sponsored with the Foreign Language Resource Center at Pomona College

2024-2025 Past Events

September 26

Why Americans Should Care about Governance in Europe, and What it Means for U.S. Security

Robin S. Brooks, State Department Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Co-sponsored with the International Relations Program and the Politics Department at Pomona College

September 30

Debalkanizing the Balkans: New National Cinemas and the Post-Yugoslav Film Industry

Sanja Lacan, Managing Editor, Center for European and Russian Studies, University of California Los Angeles

Co-sponsored with the German and Russian Department at Pomona College

October 17

Transpacific Traces: Cold War Taiwan and its Visual-Material Afterlives

Joseph W. Ho, Associate Professor of History, Albion College

Co-sponsored with the Wig Grant, the Asian Languages and Literatures Department at Pomona College and the Claremont Colleges Library

October 22

2024 Oldenborg Summer Intensive Language Study Grant Recipients

Keli Fisher, PO '25

Matilda Kirk, PO '25

Audrey Strevey, PO '25

October 28

Revisiting the Archive of the Unexpected: Lettered Incursions in the Borderlands, The Case of “La Vorágine” and the Border Studies Program

Diego Bustos, Director of the Spanish Program, Border Studies Program, Earlham College

Co-sponsored with the International and Domestic Programs Office at Pomona College

November 1

2024 Oldenborg Research and Travel Grant Recipients

Willa Marie Albrecht, PO '25

Katie Stuart, PO '25

November 15

Hidden Child of the Holocaust Shares her Story

Monique Saigal Escudero, Professor Emerita, Romance Languages and Literatures, Pomona College

Co-sponsored with the Romance Languages and Literatures Department at Pomona College

December 3

Oldenborg Cinema: Short Films and Comic Sketches

Oldenborg Conversation Class Students & Language Residents

Co-sponsored with the Foreign Language Resource Center at Pomona College

February 20

New Approaches to Global Health: The Microbiome in the Literary Imagination

Nicole A. Sütterlin, Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

Co-sponsored with the German and Russian Department at Pomona College

February 21

Whose Planet? Gina Yum ’25 and Selene Li ’25 on Attending the Global Climate Summit (COP29)

Gina Yum, PO ’25 and Selene Li PO ’25

Co-sponsored with the Environmental Analysis Programs at Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College

February 25

Study Abroad in Central Asia: A Panel Discussion by Students and Faculty

Alexandra Runnels (PO ’25), Alexander Assoufid (PO ’26), and Colin Elias (PO ’26)

Anne Dwyer, Associate Professor of German and Russian, Pomona College

Co-sponsored with the German & Russian Department at Pomona College

February 28

Healing Our Truth: Khmer Rouge Survivors and Justice in the Extraordinary Chambers of Cambodia

Leakhena Nou, Professor of Sociology, California State University, Long Beach

Co-sponsored with the Orientation Book Committee at Pomona College

March 7

Connecting Past and Present through Biwa Storytelling

Nobuko Fukatsu, Biwa Musician

Co-sponsored with the Asian Languages and Literatures Department

March 25

Mines, Matriarchy, and Mother Earth: Gendered Resistance to Environmental Violence in Oaxaca, Mexico

Alessandro Morosin, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminology, University of La Verne

Co-sponsored with the Programs in International Relations and Environmental Analysis at Pomona College

April 1

Metaphors, Mistakes, Mollusks, & Mayonnaise: Translating Giorgio de Chirico

Stefania Heim, Associate Professor of English, Western Washington University

Co-sponsored with the English Department at Pomona College

April 3

Post-Assad Syria: Major Challenges After the Revolution

Ibrahim al-Assil, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute and Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University

Co-sponsored with the International Relations Program at Pomona College

April 22