Provided

Cornell Cinema shows "A Space Program," created by artist Tom Sachs, April 13.

Learning from the data

Educational data expert Tim McKay will discuss the use of analytics for better understanding and shaping students’ learning experiences, April 8 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in 700 Clark Hall. Registration is required, and lunch is included.

The workshop, “Practical Learning Analytics: A Guide to Examining Student Data and Learning,” is free and open to all. It is the keynote event of the Deans’ Teaching and Learning Symposium, co-sponsored by colleges, schools and units across campus.

McKay leads an astrophysics lab at the University of Michigan and has led learning initiatives including efforts to increase the use of evidence-based methods in introductory STEM courses. He works to understand and improve postsecondary student learning outcomes, using digital data that can also help refine teaching practices and inform curriculum planning.

Film festival

Audience members will vote on a favorite among new works by regional student filmmakers at the third Centrally Isolated Film Festival, April 8-9 in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts’ Film Forum. Tickets are available at schwartztickets.com.

The festival gathers a wide range of submissions from Cornell, Ithaca College, Binghamton University, Colgate University, SUNY Cortland and other schools.

This year’s selection of films will be screened April 8 at 4:30 p.m., concluding with an audience choice award. On Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m., a panel of three judges will discuss the films, and awards will be given in experimental, narrative and documentary categories.

Birds and 'Space'

“The Messenger,” a new documentary about humans’ relationship with birds and the uncertain fate of songbirds amid man-made perils, will screen at Cornell Cinema April 8 at 7 p.m. (tickets $5.50-$8.50) and April 10 at 4:30 p.m. ($5.50 for all).

Two local scientists appearing in the film, Andrew Farnsworth of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bill Evans of the research nonprofit Old Bird Inc., will lead a discussion at the April 10 screening, followed by a reception sponsored by the Cayuga Bird Club.

Also at Cornell Cinema: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” April 9-10; “Transparent” writer-director and visiting film professor Silas Howard via Skype, April 12 at 7 p.m. (free); and installation artist Tom Sachs and his incredible handmade bricolage sets are featured in “A Space Program,” April 13 at 7 p.m., in which two female astronauts go to Mars in search of life.

Music of China

Wu Man joins The Shanghai Quartet to celebrate the music of China in a multimedia concert performance Sunday, April 10, at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall, as part of the Cornell Concert Series. Tickets are $25 to $35 for general admission, $18 for students and are available at www.cornellconcertseries.com.

Melding the sounds of ancient and new China with the Western string quartet, the concert features a new multimedia work by eminent Chinese composer Zhao Jiping, created in collaboration with his son, Zhao Lin. The work features music from some of Jiping’s famous scores for Chinese cinema, including “Raise the Red Lantern,” “To Live” and “Farewell My Concubine.”

Also on the program are a suite of traditional Chinese folk songs arranged by second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang, and solo pipa compositions by Wu Man, a Grammy-nominated virtuoso of the traditional lute-like instrument and a leading ambassador of Chinese music.

Interpreting politics

Fox News legal and political analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle will speak on campus April 12 at 6:15 p.m. in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and a question-and-answer session will follow the free public lecture, “A Fair and Balanced Approach to Politics.”

Guilfoyle is co-host of Fox News Channel’s “The Five,” and a contributor to “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity.” Formerly a legal analyst for CNN and ABC News, she also hosted “Both Sides” on Court TV. A prosecutor and deputy and assistant district attorney in San Francisco and Los Angeles from 1994 to 2004, she is the author of “Making the Case: How to Be Your Own Best Advocate.”

Her lecture will address interpreting politics and the news objectively, with an emphasis on news surrounding the 2016 presidential election campaign. The event is hosted by the Cornell University College Republicans.

Zink

Medieval songs

French literature scholar Michel Zink will lecture on “Women’s Songs/Men’s Songs in Medieval Europe,” April 13 at 4:30 p.m. in the A.D. White House Guerlac Room. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Zink holds the chair in Littératures de la France médiévale at the Collège de France in Paris. He received the International Balzan Prize in 2007, given in part “for his seminal initiatives that have brought the literature of the Middle Ages back into the cultural tradition of France and Europe.”

A professor of medieval French literature at the Sorbonne from 1968-72 and 1987-94, he has taught at the University of Tunis and the University of Toulouse, and as a visiting professor at the University of Constance, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Zink also meets with professor and acting chair of the Department of English Andrew Galloway and with graduate students in a seminar April 14. His visit is co-organized by the French Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Medieval Studies Program, the Department of Romance Studies and the Society for the Humanities.

For office professionals

The 28th annual Jennie T. Farley Office Professionals Celebration will be held Wednesday, April 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Barton Hall. To attend, register by April 13 at cornellofficeprofessionals.org or contact Traci Morse.

The featured speaker will be Mary Opperman, vice president and chief human resources officer at Cornell. The free event includes lunch, entertainment including The Hangovers, and door prizes.

One of the largest workplace observances at Cornell, the office professionals program pays tribute to the contributions of the university’s office staff. The event was first organized in 1988 as the Secretaries Day Symposium by Alice B. Cook and Jennie T. Farley, then faculty colleagues in the ILR School. Farley also was a champion of women’s rights, a member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees and co-founder of the Women’s Studies Program.