La Russa bats leadoff for fall Assembly Series

The Assembly Series will have an unusual start to its fall schedule with a talk by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 in Graham Chapel.

The rest of the series will feature speakers on a wide range of topics such as politics, economics, writing, history, religion, medicine, literature, evolution, space exploration, social justice and the Holocaust.

Tony LaRussa
Tony LaRussa

Assembly Series lectures are held at 11 a.m. Wednesdays in Graham Chapel, unless otherwise noted. They are free and open to the public; however, due to the popularity of some speakers, there may be limited seating available for the public.

For the most current information, go online to assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 935-5285.

La Russa is one of baseball’s greatest managers, ranking third on the all-time Major League Baseball managerial wins list.

Now in his 10th season at the Cardinals’ helm, he has taken them to five postseason appearances, including last year’s World Series. He is the leader in career wins among active managers and ranks third all-time on the Cardinals’ managerial wins list.

In 2002, he was named National League Manager of the Year.

La Russa began his managing career in 1978 with Knoxville, Tenn., in the Class AA Southern League. He took his first major-league managing job in 1979 with the Chicago White Sox.

In 1983, he led Chicago to the American League West title and finished with the best record in the major leagues that year. He has also received honors from the Sporting News, The Associated Press and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

In 1986 he took over the Oakland Athletics, won the Manager of the Year award in 1988 and guided the A’s to the 1989 World Series title. In 1992, he earned another Manager of the Year award.

Considered by many to be the shrewdest mind in the game today, La Russa’s intellectual, strategically adept style of managing shines through in Buzz Bissinger’s current best-seller, Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager, which takes readers into the minds and hearts of La Russa and his team during a three-game series in 2003 between the Cards and the Cubs.

A book-signing will be held at 9:45 a.m. at the Campus Store in Mallinckrodt Student Center.

Before his managerial career, La Russa played as an infielder with the Kansas City Athletics in 1962, then with the Oakland A’s. He concluded his big-league playing career with stints with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs.

La Russa earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the University of South Florida and a law degree from Florida State University.

He is the founder and chair of Animal Rescue Foundation and is active in the Cardinals’ community foundation, Cardinals Care.

David Horowitz
David Horowitz

On Sept. 14, the Assembly Series will present political commentator and critic David Horowitz, who will give a talk on “Academic Freedom and the War on Terror.”

Author of the controversial Academic Bill of Rights, Horowitz is calling for colleges to voluntarily encourage a diversity of political and religious viewpoints. Among his books is Left Illusions: An Intellectual Odyssey, which charts his evolution from a liberal to a conservative.

On Monday, Sept. 19, the dedication ceremony for the Richard A. Gephardt Institute for Public Service will include a lecture by global economic guru Hernando de Soto at 4 p.m. in Graham Chapel.

De Soto’s ideas for creating wealth in developing countries have made him a favorite consultant to many struggling nations. He is the president of the world-renowned Institute for Liberty and Democracy.

Gephardt will open the program, and a reception will follow in Holmes Lounge.

Lorenzo Carcaterra
Lorenzo Carcaterra

Best-selling novelist Lorenzo Carcaterra has several crime thrillers under his belt; he also writes for television and the big screen.

In a Sept. 21 conversation with Jeff Smith, Ph.D., director of the Film and Media Studies Program in Arts & Sciences and associate professor, Carcaterra will talk about his craft and the difference between writing a novel like Sleepers and writing for the television series Law & Order.

Deeply embedded in American history is the question of religion and the role it has played and continues to play in our modern democracy.

Jon Butler
Jon Butler

Jon Butler is a distinguished professor of American studies, history and religion at Yale University. He has published several books, including Religion in American Life: A Short History, Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776 and Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People.

On Sept. 28, Butler will present a lecture on “The Miracle of Religion in Modern American Life.”

Pamela Nagami
Pamela Nagami

UCLA medical professor and internist Pamela Nagami, M.D., has seen the worst assaults on the human body by infections. In The Woman With a Worm in Her Head & Other True Stories of Infectious Disease and Maneater and Other True Stories of a Life in Infectious Disease, she brings readers into her world of deadly bites and stings.

Nagami’s talk, “Science Is Important but It Isn’t Everything,” will be Oct. 5.

Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes

Arguably the leading figure of contemporary Latin American literature, Carlos Fuentes has explored an entire continent through his novels and nonfiction. Fuentes’ more than 15 novels explore the identity of Latin America and especially Mexico, its internal conflicts with its complex heritage, and its contentious relationship with the United States.

On Oct. 12, Fuentes will give a talk on “Celebrating Cervantes and Don Quixote.”

Richard Burkhardt will deliver the Thomas Hall Lecture at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Rebstock Hall. Burkhardt specializes in the study of the history of biology, with an emphasis on evolutionary theory and the biological study of behavior.

The title of his talk is “Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen: The Science and Politics of the Founding of Ethology, 1930-1973.”

Mae Jemison made history when she boarded the space shuttle Endeavor in 1992, becoming the first female African-American astronaut in space. Her story is an inspiring one that underscores the importance of science education and the advancement of women and minorities in science and technology.

Jemison’s talk, “Exploring the Frontiers of Science and Human Potential,” will be Oct. 26.

Stephen Bright
Stephen Bright

As head of the Southern Center for Human Rights, Stephen Bright has dedicated his career to advocating for an end to the death penalty in America and to defending the poor and neglected on death row.

At 4 p.m. Nov. 2 in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, he will talk on “Crime, Prison and the Death Penalty: The Influence of Race and Poverty.”

Christopher Browning
Christopher Browning

Christopher Browning, considered by many to be the pre-eminent scholar on the Holocaust, will give this year’s Holocaust Memorial Lecture Nov. 9. His talk, “Holocaust Denial in the Courtroom: The Historian as Expert Witness,” will touch on his experiences as an expert witness in recent famous court cases involving Holocaust deniers.

After Browning’s address, the Assembly Series will resume Jan. 25.