BROWN is hosting this month’s Ivy Alumni (Happy) Hours!

Come meet and network with fellow Brown alumni/ae

This will be our first in-person event since the pandemic.

Remember to wear a top or cap with a Brown logo

When: Thursday, September 15, 5-8 pm

Where: Von Ebert Brewing – Pearl District

131 NW 13th Avenue

Cost: Complimentary drinks for Brown Alumni/ae

Drop by any time

Japanese American Incarceration in CA & OR:

My Mother’s Experience with Toby Loftus ‘90

February 23, 2022  | 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. PST

February 19th marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 which led to the forced removal and incarceration, without charge or trial, of 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast. Toby Asai Loftus, '90 shares the story of his mother's family, forced from their home in Hood River, OR, into temporary and long-term concentration camps in CA and WY. His talk will include family photos, historical context, and video clips of his mother from talks she has given. He will focus on the experience of Japanese Americans in California and Oregon, the pre- and post-war racism and persecution they endured, and the lessons this dark chapter of history offers us today. Toby’s 89-year-old mother, Mitzi Asai Loftus, will join in for questions and answers.

Toby’s mother, Mitsuko (Mitzi) Asai, was a fourth grader in Hood River when she and her family were forced to leave their home and sent to guarded “relocation centers,” first in Tule Lake, CA and later in Heart Mountain, WY. The Asais, like more than 120,000 other Japanese people, were rounded up and incarcerated in the barbed wire-enclosed camps during World War II without charge, due process, or conviction for any crime. Their only “crime” was being of Japanese heritage. 

For more information and to view the presentation, visit Toby's website: https://tobyloftus.wordpress.com/

MACHINE READABLE: THE POWER AND LIMITS OF ALGORITHMS THAT ARE SHAPING SOCIETY

Thursday,  January 6, 2022

6 pm – 7:30 pm PST

Algorithms have infiltrated our society, imposing their own frame of reference on how we conduct ourselves, how we interact with others, and how we are judged. They’ve turbocharged inequality and biases. They’ve accelerated the balkanization of the landscape of ideas, making it easier and easier to live within suffocatingly homogeneous ideological and cultural bubbles.

Our obsession with technology has brought out the worst in us while trying to bring out the best. But it’s done a whole lot more. The story of the algorithmic society is not about how the widespread deployment of technology creates distortions in the world. It is about a particular mindset—an algorithmic lens—that has quietly reframed how we think about society itself.

In this talk, Professor Venkatasubramanian will describe the elements of this lens—precision, scale, homogeneity, and consistency. He’ll illustrate how many of the problems we encounter with technology come from the distorting effect of this lens. And he’ll also argue (perhaps surprisingly) that the lens still has much to offer, as long as we can understand where it is most effective and where it is not.

 Join us for a Special Evening with Fellow Alumn,
Peter Hatch '11 

It is hard to appreciate the historical, cultural, and ecological significance of a species that disappeared from Oregon’s coastal waters over a century ago. What has the loss of sea otters meant to Oregon’s indigenous peoples? What does their absence mean to the health of nearshore ecosystems? What might be gained from the return of sea otters to Oregon? Peter Hatch from the Elakha Alliance and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz will discuss the history and possible future of sea otters in Oregon.

Peter Hatch '11 is the Secretary for the Board at the Elakha Alliance. He is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Coos and Siuslaw descent, and works in the tribe’s Cultural Resources office. He’s been fishing, clamming, and crabbing on the Oregon Coast his entire life, and wants to ensure that his descendants can always do the same.

 The Brown Club of Orange County invites you to join Brown Professor Juliet Hooker in a discussion about the role black citizens have historically played in expanding and safeguarding US democracy.

Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Time: 5:00 - 6:00 pm Pacific Time

Zoom link will be emailed to registrants

Brown professor Juliet Hooker is the author of Theorizing Race in the Americas and Race and the Politics of Solidarity

Click HERE for more details and to register

As a PBS story aired February 16, 2021 attests, Brown has had a long and complicated relationship with slavery and its aftermath. Click HERE to view.

How does COVID-19 compare with the 1918 influenza that reportedly killed 50-100 million people?

What are we doing right and wrong during the current pandemic?

What lessons must we learn to avoid the same mistakes?

The Brown Club Oregon and the Brown Club of Orange County host a conversation with award-winning NY Times

best-selling Author John Barry ‘68

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021

6:00 PM PACIFIC TIME

Click HERE to register 

Zoom Link will be emailed to registrants prior to the event

Admission is free but limited, pre-registration is required

Audience participation is encouraged!

DATE:   WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020 

TIME:   6:00 - 7:00 PM Pacific Time

The Brown Club of Oregon hosted a Virtual Back to the Class with 

professor dov sax

Interim Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment & Society

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

He shared with us his insights the tremendous impact of the rise in global mean temperature on all species inhabiting planet Earth and solutions of how we can reverse course.  It is not too late if we begin to act now.

DATE:   TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2020 

TIME:   6:00 - 7:00 PM Pacific Time

Brown Club of Oregon, collaborating with Brown Clubs of  the Pacific, hosted a thought-provoking conversation with CNN Commentator

Jamie Metzl '90

on shared humanity in the Age of COVID-19.

Technology futurist, geopolitical expert, and Founder & Chair of OneShared.World, Jamie Metzl (A.B. History Brown ‘90, PhD Oxford, JD Harvard Law) recently published “Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.”

As noted by WBUR radio, Boston: “Futurist Jamie Metzl predicts we may emerge from Coronavirus better than before. The coronavirus pandemic has upended daily life around the world and prompted futurists to ponder what elements of this new world might be here to stay.”

DATE:   SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

TIME:   3:00 - 4:15 pm Pacific Time

Events featured virtual one-on-one networking receptions where attendees interactively explored other attendees and speakers and handpicked those they wanted to connect with face-to-face. These were opportunities to meet their next co-founder, advisor, partner, customer or employee, or investor.

The first event of the series spotlighted Eliot Horowitz ‘03, Co-Founder & CTO of MongoDB, the most popular database for modern apps, valued at upwards of $10 billion. Panelists included Allen Kramer ‘13, Co-Founder of Mobilize, an events management and volunteer recruitment platform and Ashwin Cheriyan ‘04, Co-Founder & CEO of Thistle, a modern, tech-enabled, organic food and nutrition company. The event was hosted by Brown University Entrepreneur in Residence and former Google X Product Manager, Laura Thompson ‘09.

SPEAKERS

Eliot Horowitz ‘03, Co-Founder & CTO, MongoDB

Prior to co-founding MongoDB, Eliot co-founded ShopWiki, where he developed the crawling and data extraction algorithm at the core of its technology, and was a software developer in the R&D group at DoubleClick (acquired by Google). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Brown.

Allen Kramer ‘13, Co-Founder, Mobilize

Prior to co-founding Mobilize, Allen worked on Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign, served as an associate consultant at Bain & Company, and worked at a startup named Assured Labor. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Brown.

Ashwin Cheriyan ‘04, Co-Founder & CEO, Thistle

Prior to co-founding Thistle, Ahswin spent 4 years in New York as a practicing attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he worked on public and private M&A transactions. He received his B.A. in Economics from Brown.

Host: Laura Thompson ‘09, Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), Brown University

Prior to beginning her role as an EIR at Brown, Laura worked at Google X, driving product strategy for a number of technologies including self driving cars and smart contact lenses. She also previously served as an investor at Google Ventures and was a co-founder of RUNA, a clean energy drink company. She received her B.A. in Public Policy and American Institutions from Brown.

DATE: September 13, 2020 

TIME: 2:00-3:30 pm Pacific Time

The Brown Club of Oregon in collaboration with the Brown Clubs in the Pacific Time Zone and Hawaii hosted a virtual "mixer " to welcome the newest members of the Brown community. More than 100 incoming students and 50 current students and recent alumni shared their Brown experiences and provided tips on how to navigate College Hill.  Kudos to volunteers Cynthia Bui '22, Nathaniel Nguyen '20, and Holly Lauridsen '11  for representing Oregon!

Third Thursday of each month

Von Ebert Brewing, 131 NW 13th Ave, Portland

For alumni of all vintages, Current students welcome, Bring friends and family

Informal, drop-by anytime

Third Thursday of each month

Von Ebert Brewing, 131 NW 13th Ave, Portland

For alumni of all vintages, Current students welcome, Bring friends and family

Informal, drop-by anytime

Alumni and current students welcome Oregon and Southwest Washington students accepted to Brown University Class of 2020

Appetizers: sponsored by individual Clubs of Oregon

Drinks: non-host