The weather may be cooling down, but things are heating up at The Claremont Colleges.

If you’re looking for intellectual stimulation, look no further than our local schools of higher learning. This month they feature one or more fascinating lectures scheduled nearly every night of the week. Here are some COURIER recommendations covering October 14 through 26.

Muslims in Tibet

David Atwill, associate professor of history and Asian studies at Penn State, will present a talk titled “Islamic Shangri-La: Tibetan Muslims and the Formation of Modern Tibet” on Monday, October 14 from noon to 1 p.m. His discussion of Tibetan Muslims and their role in Tibetan society will take place in the Oldenborg Center at Pomona College, 350 N. College Way in Claremont.

Keeping the balance

Swami Sarvadevananda is a spiritual leader with the Vedanta Society of Southern California and a monk with the Ramikrishna Order in India. He will speak on Monday, October 14 from 6:45 to 8 p.m. on “Vedanta, Vivekananda and Human Excellence: Living a Balanced Life of Doing.” His presentation will be held in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College, 385 E. 8th St.

Arab Spring

A panel discussion, “The Maghreb After the Arab Spring: Hope, Change and Conflict,” will be held on Monday, October 14 at 7 p.m. in the Rose Hills Theater at Pomona College, 170 E. 6th St. Speakers will discuss changes that have swept across the Maghreb region (Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) in the past two years, and their implications for Europe and the United States.

I say tomato

On Tuesday, October 15, there will be a screening of the film Fair Tomatoes: A Story about Justice, Dignity and Sustainability at 7:30 p.m. in the Garrison Theater at Scripps College, 241 E. 10th St. The documentary explores the plight of farm workers in Immokalee, a small Florida town that is the tomato capital of the country, who face abuse, unjust labor conditions and sub-standard wages. Afterwards, there will be a Q & A with filmmaker Ernie Zahn of NPeaches.

A new generation of activists

On Thursday, October 17 at 4:15 p.m., San Francisco State University sociologist Adreana Clay will speak at the Hahn Building at Pomona College, 420 Harvard Ave. Her talk is titled, “We Can’t Stop: Young women of Color, Feminism and Social Movement Organizing.” Ms. Clay’s 2012 book, The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics, explores how young people of color organize and identify as activists in the post-civil rights era.

The birth of modern thought

On Wednesday, October 23 at 6:45 p.m., Stephen Greenblatt will discuss “Lucretius and the Toleration of Intolerable Ideas” at Claremont McKenna College’s Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, 385 E. 8th St. Mr. Greenblatt—the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University—is the author of the Pulitzer-prize winning 2011 book The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, which describes how an ancient Roman philosophical epic helped pave the way for modern thought.

On local citrus workers

On Thursday, October 24, Matthew Garcia, a professor of history and transborder studies at Arizona State University, will talk about “Race, Labor and Community” from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Humanities Auditorium at Scripps College, 1030 Columbia Ave. Mr. Garcia, who is director of comparative border studies at ASU, will speak about the history of race, labor and the community of citrus workers in the Claremont area.

Anatomy of fraud

Julie Zauzmer, who served as managing editor of the Harvard Crimson in 2012, is author of the book Conning Harvard: Adam Wheeler, the Con Artist Who Faked His Way into the Ivy League. In 2010, Mr. Wheeler pleaded guilty to 20 counts of fraud. His exploits included faking SAT scores, fabricating letters of recommendation, plagiarizing essays and counterfeiting high school and college transcripts. He is said to have ultimately duped Harvard out of more than $40,000 in grants and prizes. Ms. Zauzmer will speak on Thursday, October 24 at 6:45 p.m. at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College, 385 E. 8th St.

Exploring diversity

Kelly Mack, executive director of the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Project Kaleidoscope, will speak at Harvey Mudd College on Thursday, October 24 from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. Her talk, “That None Shall Perish,” is part of the 2013 Nelson Series exploring how diversity has and will continue to shape advances in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (STEM). Her talk will take place in HMC’s Shanahan Center, 320 E. Foothill Blvd. in Claremont.

Amassing images

A panel discussion featuring photo collectors, called “Focus on Photographs: Building a Collection,” will be held on Saturday, October 26 at 4 p.m. in the Humanities Auditorium of Scripps College 1030 Columbia Ave. in Claremont. This event is being held in conjunction with the opening of the “Focus on Photographs: Building a Collection” exhibition at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, held later in the evening from 7 to 9 p.m. and featuring music and light refreshments. The exhibition will showcase works by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Graciela Iturbide and Edward Weston, among others.

—Sarah Torribio

storribio@claremont-courier.com