The Discipline Mix-Up is a panel-discussion series presented by the Individualized and Interdisciplinary Studies Program. Each installment features brief presentations from experts covering a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on a single topic. Then, through a Q&A style discussion with the audience, we explore how the juxtaposition of some of these divergent approaches might inspire new and unexpected insights.
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Protest & Civil Disobedience
Monday, April 13, 2026
2-3:30pm
Virtual
Use this link to join the conversation: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/kpc01001\
Panelists
Lauren Duncan, Smith College
Psychology (Collective Action)
Jeffrey Ogbar, UConn
History (Hip-Hop, Black Nationalism)
M.R. Sauter, UMD
History and Philosophy of Technology (Hacktivism)
Abigail Susik, Willamette U.
Art History (Surrealism & Resistance)
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Panelist Bios
Lauren E. Duncan is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology at Smith College, in Northampton, MA, USA. She obtained her Ph.D. in Personality Psychology and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She teaches courses in the Psychology of Women and Gender, Political Psychology, and the Psychology of Political Activism. Her research focuses on individual motivation for participation in collective action, particularly among women and LGBTQ+ individuals. She is currently working with students to understand performative activism and political development and is writing a book about Gloria Steinem’s development into a feminist.
Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar is Professor of History and the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music at the University of Connecticut. He is the author or editor of several books, scholarly journal articles, and book chapters. He recently released an edited book, Black Movement: African American Urban History Since 1970, with the University of North Carolina Press in April 2025. In 2023, Basic Books published his award-winning book, America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederate. Publishers Weekly named it one of the “Best Books of 2023.”
M.R. Sauter is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland College of Information. They are the author of The Coming Swarm: DDoS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet. They received their PhD from McGill University in 2020, and they hold a master’s degree in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. They have held research fellowships at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, and New America. Their research focuses on the history and philosophy of technology, with projects on the role of finance in high technology, the “innovation economy,” and the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
Abigail Susik is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Willamette University and Joint Series Editor of Bloomsbury’s Transnational Surrealism imprint. Dr. Susik has published numerous books, including: Surrealism and Animation (Bloomsbury,2025), Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues: Selected Writings by Franklin Rosemont (PM Press, 2025), Radical Dreams: Surrealism, Counterculture, Resistance (Penn State, 2022), Surrealist Sabotage and the War on Work (Manchester, 2021), and Surrealism and Film After 1945 (Manchester, 2021). She is Vice President of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism. Her new book on surrealism and anti-racism is forthcoming from Verso in 2027.
Fred's Story: A Documentary Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
5:00-6:30pm
Babbidge Library 2nd Floor, Video Theater 2 (2119A)
A film screening and discussion that sheds light on the perspective of those who were residents of Mansfield Training School.
Fred’s Story is a 27-minute documentary about Fred Calabrese, who spent 30 years at Mansfield Training School after family members had him committed. The documentary was made by Eric Neudel in 1996 and features conversations with Fred, who lived and worked in Willimantic in the years following his release from Mansfield Training School. The documentary also includes archival film produced in 1964 by the Connecticut Department of Health promoting the school’s policies and procedures.
Panelists
Kathryn Hanewicz MSW (Social Work)
- Director, Southbury Training School
Nadia Scott (History)
- Doctoral Student, UConn
Ashten Vassar-Cain (Human Rights)
- Graduate Student & MTS Memorial & Museum Contributor, UConn
Listen to Panel Audio
Click here to read the Panel Transcript.
Click here to watch Fred’s Story.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cannabis Studies
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
3:30-5:00pm
Virtual
Presenters:
Gerry Berkowitz, Ph.D.
(UConn): Experiential Learning
Geneva Brown, J.D., M.A.
(DePaul University): Equity
Bryan Connolly, Ph.D.
(ECSU): Plant Biology & Cultivation
Thomas Crouse, Pharm.D.
(Middlesex Community College): Industry
Mark S. Ferrara, Ph.D.
(SUNY Oneonta): Religious History
C. Michael White, Pharm.D.
(UConn): Therapeutic Uses
Click image to watch the event!