Nancy R. Chandler Lecture Series
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The Nancy R. Chandler Lecture Series (CLS) of the COCC Foundation brings renowned speakers, lecturers and experts to the region to deliver broad-based programming on a diverse range of educational and topical subjects. The program was established in 1985 by the late Robert W. Chandler, Sr. to honor his wife Nancy.
For more information about the program or its upcoming events, or to be added to our
email list, please contact Charlotte Gilbride, coordinator of the Nancy R. Chandler
Lecture Series at cgilbride@cocc.edu or call
541-383-7257.
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Click here to learn about our coming 2026 Season for Nonviolence programs.
Building Belonging: The Science of Connecting
in a Lonely World
Scott Crabtree - Chief Happiness Officer at Happy Brain Science
Tuesday, April 14, 6-8 p.m., Wille Hall, Coats Campus Center, COCC Bend Campus
We are living in what the U.S. Surgeon General has called a “loneliness epidemic.” Social isolation doesn’t just feel bad—it affects our mental health, physical health, and sense of meaning and connection. In this engaging, science-based talk, Scott Crabtree explores what neuroscience and psychology tell us about belonging, why it matters so deeply to humans, and practical ways we can strengthen connection with others and ourselves in everyday life.
FREE and OPEN to the public. REGISTER HERE
This event is sponsored by St. Charles Health System with additional support from the Casey Family Fund of Oregon Community Foundation and the Associated Students of COCC.
As the Founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Happy Brain Science, Scott Crabtree empowers individuals and organizations to apply findings from cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology to boost productivity and happiness at work.
His repeat clients include DreamWorks, Nike, Kaiser-Permanente, Boeing, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and NBC. His insights have been quoted in First Round Review, Fast Company, Inc., InfoWorld, Fortune, and VentureBeat among other publications.
In his 25-year career, Scott has served as a leader in game development and software engineering. He’s founded startups and worked at a variety of technology companies large and small. In early 2012, he resigned his position as Tech Strategist at Intel to pursue his passion full time: helping people apply science to be happier and more successful.
Scott holds a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Vassar College.
When he is not immersed in scientific data or coaching executives, he loves spending time with his wife and two young daughters, especially in nature, and also enjoys playing with his band. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Stay Human: Author Your Mind in the AI Age
Helen Edwards and Dave Edwards - Co-founders, Artificiality Institute
Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 p.m. Wille Hall, Coats Campus Center, COCC Bend Campus
Most of us are using AI now. What most of us haven't noticed is how much it's changing us. Not all at once — gradually, in ways that are hard to see from the inside. The tasks we stop doing. The thinking we stop practicing. The conversations we start having with a machine instead of each other. Over three years, Helen and Dave Edwards of The Artificiality Institute studied thousands of people to understand what actually happens to humans when they collaborate closely with AI. What they found surprised them.
This talk shares the real stories: the teacher who lost her love of teaching, the artist who lost his reason to create, the people who expanded into something they couldn't have become alone, and Helen's own embarrassing failure when she mistook AI's thinking for her own. You'll leave understanding the three ways AI is already changing you, the patterns that separate people who thrive from people who drift, and — most importantly — what to do about it. This isn't a tech talk. It's a human one.
Tickets: Sliding Scale Pricing $0-$20* - in-person and access to the recorded version.
REGISTER HERE
This event is sponsored by Technology Association of Oregon with additional support from the Casey Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation and the Associated Students of COCC.
*Chandler Lecture Series believes that participation in our programs should not be a privilege but accessible to all who want to participate. Toward that core belief, we have a sliding scale ticket model. Sliding scale pricing allows individuals from diverse financial backgrounds to participate in our events. By providing a range of ticket prices, we acknowledge that everyone's financial situation is unique, and we aim to remove barriers that may prevent someone from attending. Please choose the ticket price that feels most comfortable to you.
Helen and Dave Edwards are co-founders of the Artificiality Institute, a nonprofit research organization that helps people stay human in the age of AI. They explore how AI changes the way we think, who we become, and what it means to be human. They believe AI shouldn't just be safe or efficient—it should be worth it. Through story-based research, education, and community, they help people choose the relationship they want with machines—so they remain the authors of their own minds.
For more than a decade, they’ve studied how working with AI changes people—not just productivity or outcomes, but cognition, identity, relationships, and agency. Their work centers on a simple but demanding question: when AI enters our thinking, are we choosing who we become, or drifting into it?
They describe the capacity to shape that relationship deliberately as Human Authorship—the ability to remain the author of your own mind while sharing cognitive space with a machine intelligence. This idea sits at the core of the Institute’s research, tools, and convenings.
Together, their work is grounded in a clear conviction: the central risk of AI is not replacement, but erosion through defaults. Staying human requires intention—and becoming more human is an active practice.
Helen and Dave are Visiting Researchers at the UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI, extending the Institute’s story-based research into academic and safety conversations. Helen also serves as a Commissioner on the State of Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
Before founding the Artificiality Institute, they co-founded Intelligentsia.ai, an AI-focused research firm acquired by Atlantic Media. Helen previously led large-scale technology and transformation efforts in critical infrastructure, including as CIO of New Zealand’s national grid and in executive roles at Pacific Gas & Electric and Fonterra. Dave spent years shaping creative tools at Apple and investing in emerging technologies as a venture capitalist at CRV and an equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley and ThinkEquity.
The Artificiality Institute helps people stay human in the age of AI. We explore how AI changes the way we think, who we become, and what it means to be human. We believe AI shouldn't just be safe or efficient—it should be worth it. Through story-based research, education, and community, we help people choose the relationship they want with machines—so they remain the authors of their own minds.The Artificiality Institute is a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Sponsors of The Nancy R. Chandler Lecture Series:
In advance of college events, persons needing accommodation or transportation because
of a physical or mobility disability should contact campus services at 541-383-7775.
For accommodation because of other disability such as hearing impairment, contact
student accessibility services at sas@cocc.edu or 541-383-7583.