Table Talk is a new program that aims to have people at Rice get to know one another better over casual lunchtime conversation at Cohen House. The idea is simple: come to the Faculty Club, buy your own lunch downstairs, head up to Esther’s room by 12:15, and listen to carefully selected Rice faculty or staff members talk for 30 minutes about their research, scholarship or whatever they do that’s noteworthy. The speaker will finish by 12:45; then those who can stay may continue on with discussion. Here’s the point: We all have to eat lunch anyway, so why not do it in an environment that is pleasant, novel and informative? The idea for this program grew from a conversation among friends bemoaning how even at small Rice University, most faculty do not know most other faculty first hand and have little idea about their real work. The same holds for staff members who don’t know faculty or one another. Most of us have heard about someone at Rice – whom we have not yet met – accomplishing amazing things in their research and scholarship in areas such as bioengineering, history, political sciences, and architecture, or running a key center or program on campus. We will strive to make this monthly program streamlined and enjoyable. Our speakers promise to be clear and accessible, knowing they are speaking about their work casually with intelligent laypeople, not talking shop with department colleagues. We pledge no long-winded introductions or closings; our goal is to make the most of the limited time each of us has.

Biography of Matthias Henze:
http://reli.rice.edu/rice_reli.cfm?a=cms,c,10,1