The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is a poetic novel about a real telephone booth in Otsuchi, Japan, a rural town decimated by the 2011 tsunami. Known as the “Wind Phone,” the disconnected rotary telephone allows grieving family members to speak, in a way, to loved ones who have passed on.

Andrew G. Shuman, MD, FACS, HEC-C

Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Chief of the Clinical Ethics Service in the Center for the Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine (CBSSM)

Dr. Shuman is a cancer surgeon and bioethicist at the University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Health System. He is internationally recognized as a thought leader in ethical issues arising within the field of surgical oncology. His greatest impact involves applying his perspective as a practicing surgeon and clinical ethicist to bioethics research. He has a portfolio of publications in leading journals in the fields of ethics, oncology and otolaryngology including The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA.

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Dr. Shuman testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at a hearing, titled "Drug Shortage Health and National Security Risks: Underlying Causes and Needed Reforms". During his testimony, Shuman discussed his experiences dealing with drug shortages in his work and how they affected his patients, explaining the complex decisions physicians and other medical professionals face when confronted with drug shortages.

The story follows four Europeans stranded at a Tibetan lamasery for several months after their plane is hijacked and flown into the Himalayas. With time, they learn that not everything is as it seems at this Utopian lamasery.

Hilton's magnum opus was a timely novel, written in the wake of WWI and amidst the Depression. It was a much needed escape for all sorts of readers. But more than just an escape, this book is also a careful dissection of Western and Eastern cultures.

Dr. Elizabeth Birr Moje, Dean of the U-M Marsal Family School of Education, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education, and Faculty Associate, Institute of Social Research Faculty Affiliate in Latin/a Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Dr. Moje will discuss the challenges facing education, their implications (the. pandemic, teacher shortage, trauma, disinvestment, etc.) and how K-12 education and teacher training are evolving to transform education and society.

Dr. Moje joined the U-M faculty in 1997. She has served as dean since 2016. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, cultural theory and research methods. She was awarded the Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize with colleague, Bob Bain, in 2010. A former high school history and biology teacher, Moje's research examines young people's culture, identity and literacy learning in and out of school in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about her work and background here.

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge takes you back to 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe and the world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes, who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic.

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. What follows is the story of a 12-day road trip he took in a custom-built truck to deliver these wonder creatures - California's firs giraffes - to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy, Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with Fictional ones, including the world's first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

It's part adventure, past historical saga and part coming-of-age love story. West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time and a story told before it's too late.

Dr. Earl Lewis, founding Director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions and  the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afro American and African Studies, and Public Policy. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2023 awarded by President Biden.

This talk centers on a handful of moments in world history that invite us to think about our own journey and our own means of combining grace and repair.

In 1779, an Anglican cleric and poet named John Newton penned the lyrics to a song that has accompanied many moments of travail and trauma. The song languished in relative obscurity for several years until rescued by American Baptists and Methodists, who fueled a religious revival, called the Second Great Awakening, during the period of years from 1790 to 1820.

Yet its most poignant moment may have come in 2015 when President Barack Obama offered the song as a salve to a grieving nation following the racist murders of Black parishioners attending Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

What many people don't know is the song's birth sprung forth from the horrors of the transatlantic slave system. Before becoming a clergyman, Newton had been a sailor and slaver. A near death experience led him away from the sea and the slave trade. It took him several years to find the grace to repent and to seek repair by becoming an abolitionist.

Learn more at Earl Lewis | U-M LSA Center for Social Solutions (umich.edu).

"Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us - along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews - her remarkable reflections on how one’s outer appearance can influence one’s inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives".

Dr. Zetian Mi's is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan who is focused on the investigation of semiconductor nanostructures and their application in electronic, photonic, clean energy, and quantum devices and systems.

A new kind of solar panel, developed at the U-M, has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen—mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than previous solar water-splitting experiments of its kind. But the biggest benefit is driving down the cost of sustainable hydrogen.

Currently, humans produce hydrogen from the fossil fuel methane, using a great deal of fossil energy in the process. However, plants harvest hydrogen atoms from water using sunlight. As humanity tries to reduce its carbon emissions, hydrogen is attractive as both a standalone fuel and as a component in sustainable fuels made with recycled carbon dioxide. "In the end, we believe that artificial photosynthesis devices will be much more efficient than natural photosynthesis, which will provide a path toward carbon neutrality," said Zetian Mi.

Dr. Mi will describe the innovative research in his lab and discuss overall progress towards developing clean, sustainable energy.