Looking Ahead to the 51st Nobel Conference

For fifty years, the Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College has hosted preeminent scientists, theologians, and ethicists to discuss deep questions at the intersection of science and society. The 51st Nobel Conference, which is titled “Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition,” will take place Oct. 6-7, 2015. Tickets for this year’s Nobel Conference are now on sale and can be purchased online at gustavustickets.com or by calling 507-933-7520.

The 51st Nobel Conference will bring together experts in medicine, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and philosophy to explore the science and experience of addiction.

“The definitions and descriptions of addiction are contentious. Some see it as a brain disease, some others as a psychological condition, some as a consequence of environmental factors, and others as a spiritual crisis. It may be all of these or some combination—no one knows for certain,” said Gustavus Professor of Philosophy Peg O’Connor. “What is certain is that the substances and behaviors to which a person can become addicted continues to grow as different experts argue the inclusion of food, sex, the internet, and exercise.”

The following individuals will speak at the 51st Nobel Conference:

• Owen Flanagan, James B. Duke Professor and Faculty Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University
• Anne M. Fletcher, author of Sober for Good and Inside Rehab: The Surprising Truth about Addiction Treatment and How to Get Help That Works.
• Carl Hart, associate professor of psychology at Columbia University; director of Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Labs at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
• Denise Kandel, professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health; research scientist and head of the Department of Epidemiology of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
• Eric Kandel, 2000 Nobel laureate in physiology/medicine; University Professor, Kavli Professor of Brain Science, and professor of biochemistry and celluar biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
• Marc Lewis, professor of developmental psychology at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; author of Memoir of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs.
• William Cope Moyers, vice president of public affairs and community relations at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation; author of Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption and Now What? An Insider’s Guide to Addiction and Recovery.
• Sheigla Murphy, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies, Institute for Scientific Analysis.
• Michael V. Pantalon, senior research scientist in emergency medicine and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine.
• Mark Willenbring, founder of Alltyr Clinic in St. Paul; former director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research of the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.

Reserved seating tickets are $120 apiece, while general admission tickets are $75 apiece. High school and college student delegation tickets can be purchased in groups of 10 for a total of $60. Tickets are also available for the buffet lunches at a cost of $12.50 per person. A separate ticket ($30) is needed for the closing banquet, which will feature presenter Marc Lewis on Wednesday evening. More information about the Nobel Conference, including the entire schedule for this year’s conference and archived video of previous conferences, is available online at gustavus.edu/nobel.

About The Nobel Conference

Following the dedication of the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science in 1963 at Gustavus, the Nobel Foundation granted approval for an annual science conference to be held at the College. For five decades, Gustavus has organized and hosted The Nobel Conference, which draws about 6,000 people to the college campus in St. Peter, Minn. The Conference links a general audience, including high school students and teachers, with the world’s foremost scholars and researchers in discussion centered on contemporary issues relating to the natural and social sciences. The Nobel Conference is the first ongoing educational conference of its kind in the United States. It is made possible through income generated by a Nobel Conference Endowment and the support of annual conference contributors.