2016-2017 FINAL Presentation Schedule

Below is the current lineup for the Saginaw Valley Torch 2016-2017 dinner presentation meetings.  Check back prior to meetings to check for updates (typically on the member urgent message page)
Date
Speaker
Topic & Abstract
Status
October 4, 2016
 - Dale Schultz
I’m a chemical engineer and a US Patent Agent. I’ve accumulated about 400 hours of flight time during the 1970s as both a VFR (visual flight) and IFR (instrument flight) pilot. (Dale is also an amateur historian with a broad range of intellectual interests.)
The Brothers Wright: Overcoming Barriers to Flight
A presentation of the resolution of the technical, legal, media, and personal challenges faced by the Wright Brothers in achieving powered flight.  A summary biography will be interwoven into the presentation with focus on what are considered their five key inventions. [One of those inventions is documented in US Patent 821,923 which issued in 1906. (2016 will be the 110th year since the issuance of that patent which claimed one of the most significant inventions in history.)]
Planning Complete & Scheduled
November 1, 2016
- John Carter VanLooy
After graduating from the University of Michigan, I taught English and Social Science at Garber High School for 38 years and served as an adjunct professor of English at Delta College for 28.  I was a Fulbright exchange teacher in Northern England during the 1983-84 school year. I retired from teaching in 2004.  I have been active in the Bay City Players both on stage and back stage designing and setting lights for various productions.  I continue to be president of the Friends of the Bay County Libraries, running their annual book sale for the last 36 years. 
Is the use of technology in education finally going to live up to its promises?
Technology has been promising vast improvements in our ability to educate since I was in college over 50 years ago.  In my 40 years in the classroom after that, I saw little in the proposed adoption of whatever the current technology offered that furthered the basic goals of a educational system and much that hindered them.  After 12 years in retirement, I’d like to go back and see whether any real improvement has been fostered by today’s version of those promises or whether the transformations promised remain chimera—or worse.
Planning Complete & Scheduled
December 6, 2016
 - John Roper
John earned a PhD in Chemistry and has risen in the corporate world to the esteemed rank of Dow Fellow. He is highly qualified to prepare such a talk as he grew up in the Middle East with medical missionary parents and has maintained his interest in this region of the world.
Evolution of Islamic Radicalism
Islamic Radicalism started with the rise of Wahabism in Saudi Arabia in mid 1800s followed by the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1920s followed by the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 followed by the rise of Islamic Jihad which led to Al Quaida and Osama bin Laden and culminating in ISIL in Syria in 2013.  Most Americans do not appreciate that these movements represent different factions which often battle with each other as much as they fight against the West.
Planning Complete & Scheduled
January 3, 2017    
- Bob Sarow
          I was born and grew up in Saginaw in the 1940's and "50's.  Following college and law school, I served a  stint  in the Army.  I then began private law practice in Bay City , focused primarily on commercial and real estate transactions and estate planning.  After thirty-eight years as partner in the same law firm, I retired and moved into a downtown Bay City riverfront  condominium which I really enjoy.
Common vs. Civil Law
“Civil Law” is the prevalent legal system in Europe, though the general term without caps, “civil law”, refers to non-criminal legal matters. “Common Law” is the legal system which pertains to most British Commonwealth countries. I would present a paper on the differences between the Civil Law and Common Law systems, including some consideration of the historical origins of each.
Planning Complete & Scheduled
February 7, 2017
- Harold Blumenstein
Value Winston Churchill—The Lonely Years
With suitable background, I hope to tell the story of Mr. Churchill's fall from power and prestige to obscurity and rejection from 1930-1939 as he tried to warn his country and the world of the coming calamity of WW2. How did he return to make history? Do the times make the man or does man determine the times and the fates?

Bio needed
Planning Complete & Scheduled
March 7, 2017
- Dwight E. Williams
Dwight is retired from Dow Corning Corporation. He earned a PhD in chemistry and enjoys delving into philosophy, cooking, and creative writing.
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Power, Intentions, and Capabilities: Historical Parallels to Modern China
This presentation will review the evolution in economic power, military capabilities, and behaviors of today's China and look at some historical parallels, including those in ancient Greece, in early twentieth century Europe, and in mid-twentieth century Asia/Pacific.
Planning Complete & Scheduled
April 4, 2017
Beth Cook & Carolyn Krebs
Beth Cook has taught piano 35 years. She studied piano at Oberlin College, where She earned a BA in French. Also received a Master in Science in Teaching from the University of Chicago. Later did advanced music study with George and Susan Fee of Midland. She has performed 4-hands piano music with Carolyn Krebs about 8 years.
Carolyn Krebs has been playing piano since she was three years old, studying with Polly Lake, Henry Harris, George Fee, and Marjorie Liss at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She has been the accompanist for
the University of Missouri - Rolla concert choir, the Rolla Chamber Singers, and Young Singers of Missouri as well as a number of instrumentalists.  To equally acknowledge the left side of her brain, she is retired from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where she was a technical manager on the Hubble Space Telescope,  a Division Chief in Engineering, and Associate Director for Science Engineering
Dance Music around the world
A lecture recital featuring music written in dance rhythms for four-hands piano by composers from different centuries and various parts of the world.
Planning Complete & Scheduled
May 2, 2017 Tentative
Mr. Gene Anderson,
Magician & Comedian
Is it Science or Magic?
Guest Night is organized by the club's program committee and the board and planning begins in the Dec/ 2016/Jan 2017 time frame
Final: see Guest Night webpage 




Presentations in work and pending assigned date and details:
None:  All assigned and pending board approval & schedule release

Compete documentation on next year's schedule
Version:  4/1/2016 - Author: D. Williams