Fall 2014

Best selling novelist Curtis Sittenfeld shared stories about her work for the Neureuther Library Lecture, held on November 12, 2014, in Simon Hall May Auditorium.

The 2014 Holocaust Memorial Lecturer, David Shneer, delivered a presentation called “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War and the Holocaust,” on November 4 in Wilson Hall Room 214. Shneer used photography as a new way of considering issues of Russian Jewish history, Yiddish culture, the diaspora, and the Holocaust.

In his October 27, 2014 lecture,”Talking About Race in 19th-century American Science: Louis Agassiz and His Contemporaries,“ Christoph Irmscher discussed the brilliant and controversial Swiss immigrant who became the most famous scientist of his time. Irmscher gave the annual Thomas Hall History of Science Lecture in Rebstock Hall Room 215.

In Stephen Prothero’s talk, “Why Liberals Win: America’s Culture Wars from the Election of 1800 to Same-Sex Marriage,” he asserts that religion lies at the heart of our American identity and, unless we become religiously literate, it will continue to divide us as a nation.

WU professor of social work Gautam Yadama gave a presentation based on his book, Fires, Fuel and the Fate of 3 Billion,” in Anheuser-Busch Hall, Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom. Joining him in the audience question/answer segment was the book’s photographer, Mark Katzman.

The James E. McLeod Memorial Lecturer, Roderick Ferguson, discussed “The University and the Combinations of Heart and Mind” on September 29, 2014, in Umrath Hall Lounge. The McLeod Lecture is presented annually by the Center for the Humanities and addresses topics concerning diversity and higher education.

Jack Devine’s talk,”The Importance and Ethics of National Intelligence,” held on September 16, 2014, served as the annual Elliot Stein Lecture. During his 30-year tenure as the CIA’s acting director of operations, Devine served as America’s top spymaster for eight presidents.

On October 10, 2014 Carl Hart, neuropsychopharamacologist at Columbia University, delivered the annual Chancellor’s Fellows Lecture on “Demystifying the Science of Drug Addiction: Neuroscience, Self-discovery, Race and U.S. Drug Policy.”

On October 28, 2014 at 5 p.m. in Graham Chapel, Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel talked about “The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain from Vienna 1900 to the Present.”

On November 7, 2014 internationally distinguished architect, Nasrine Seraji delivered the keynote address for the School of Architecture’s symposium on “Women in Architecture: 1974-2014.” The title of her talk was “As a Woman I Have No Country, as a Woman My Country is the World of Architecture.”

On September 30, 2014 scholar and author Patricia Williams gave a talk on “Love in the Time of Identity Wars: Anatomy of Short Lives.” This presentation was the first of three Williams delivered as the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities Lecture Series speaker.

On September 17, 2014 at 2 PM at the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall, Sherrilyn Ifill talked about the legacy of the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v the Board of Education and discussed how this relates to the still-present socioeconomic issues underpinning African-Americans’ anger and frustration that have surfaced in Ferguson, MO.

On September 8, 2014 Kenji Yoshino, Professor of Law at NYU talked about his new book – Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights. In his book Yoshino provides readers plenty to consider about the act of “covering,” why it’s done and how it harms people’s individuality.