Embarking on its 53rd season, the Assembly Series continues to bring a variety of distinguished voices to the University community. As always, the programs are free and open to the public. Some of the more popular speakers will have limited seating arrangements for the public to ensure that University students, faculty and staff have priority seating.
All lectures are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesdays in Graham Chapel except where noted.
Opening the Fall 2006 Assembly Series will be veteran investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh. His talk, “Chain of Command: From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and Beyond,” presented as the Elliot H. Stein Lecture on Ethics, will be held Sept. 6. From his first book, in 1970, My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath — for which he received a Pulitzer Prize and a host of other journalism awards — to his eighth book published in 2004, Chain of Command: The Road From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, Hersh has been considered one of the “hardest working muckrakers” in the country.
His work often draws readers into the dark, shadowy world of politics and the military-industrial complex. What separates him from other investigative reporters is his extensive insider contacts reputedly at the top of the political and military chains. Possibly no other story Hersh has exposed over the past three decades could serve as a better example of leadership run amok than the torture and abuse of detainees in Abu Ghraib.
In the fall of 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks, The New Yorker editor David Remnick told Hersh to get on the story and take it as far as he could. The fruits of that immersion are exposés about America’s involvement in the Iraq war and consequences of that action and the role of the United States in Middle East affairs.
A graduate of the University of Chicago, Hersh has enjoyed a long and varied journalism career. He began in 1959 by covering the police beat for Chicago’s city news bureau. Later, he was a correspondent for both Associated Press and United Press International, and reported for The New York Times in the early 1970s. Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy hired Hersh as his press secretary during the 1968 election campaign.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Hersh won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his book on Henry Kissinger.
An informal discussion with Hersh is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the School of Law, which is co-sponsoring the lecture.
Science guy Bill Nye
The second lecture in the series will be given Sept. 13 by Bill Nye. Many of today’s college students grew up enjoying the TV show, “Bill Nye, the Science Guy,” and learned a considerable amount of basic science in the process. The scientist-engineer-comedian-teacher-author is a man with a mission to make science fun. His new series, “The Eyes of Nye,” airing on Public Broadcasting Service stations, explores topics ranging from the science behind astrobiology to the causes of addictions. Nye, who studied under Carl Sagan and graduated in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University, is being brought to campus by the EnCouncil student organization.
Conductor Robertson
The Assembly Series will feature David Robertson at 4 p.m. Sept. 20. With Robertson as the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s new music director, the metropolitan community received someone with a rare combination of passion and intellect that draws the best musicians and inspires a broader audience. He is world-renowned as a conductor, and his freshman season highlighted his surprising breadth and depth. In addition to his role in St. Louis, he is also the principal guest conductor of London’s BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Professor Mark Rank
On Sept. 27, Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., will deliver a lecture on his recent book One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All.
A nationally recognized expert and the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare in WUSTL’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Rank has devoted much of his scholarship to studying the reasons for and effects of poverty.
His startling conclusions in his recent book show that the majority of Americans will experience poverty at some point in their lives. The book, which was chosen as the required reading for all incoming WUSTL freshmen, shows the high cost of poverty and how a re-examination of public policies can benefit everyone.
Author Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin will discuss “Boundaries of Humanity” on Oct. 4. Grandin has had to overcome a series of obstacles in her life, and she has done just that — in spades.
Diagnosed with autism, she has found ways to use her unique gifts, such as the ability to understand animals. She is the best-selling author of Animals in Translation and Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports From My Life With Autism.
Grandin also is professor of animal science at Colorado State University and a livestock handling equipment designer. A panel discussion expanding on the themes in Grandin’s talk will follow from 2-4 p.m. in the Women’s Building Lounge.
The speaker for the Association of Latin American Students’ Lecture scheduled for Oct. 11 will be announced at a later date.
Dancer Bonnie Homsey
At 4 pm. Oct. 19, Bonnie Oda Homsey will deliver “Re-imagining Motion: Martha Graham and Barbara Morgan” in the Women’s Building Lounge.
Joining Homsey in this multidisciplinary discussion about two pioneering female artists — the legendary modern dancer (Graham) and the innovative photographer (Morgan) — will be Barbara Baumgartner, Ph.D., associate director and lecturer in Women and Gender Studies, and Angela L. Miller, Ph.D., professor of art history and archaeology, both in Arts & Sciences; and Patrick Renschen, senior lecturer in photography in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Homsey is a former principal dancer with Graham and has reconstructed many dances in Graham’s repertoire.
Following the panel discussion, the formal opening of the Morgan photographic exhibition will take place in Olin Library’s Gingko Room. The Performing Arts Department is sponsoring Homsey’s presentation.
Actor B.D. Wong
Actor B.D. Wong will give a lecture, titled “All the World’s a Stage: From Exclusion to Inclusion,” at 4 p.m. Oct. 23. The stage, film and TV actor has won wide recognition and gained a large following with his moving portrayals.
Although currently best known as the forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Huang on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” much of Wong’s critical recognition was garnered for his 1988 role in Broadway’s “M. Butterfly,” for which he received all five major theater awards, including the Tony Award for best actor.
Wong will discuss his experiences as an Asian-American actor for the Asian Multicultural Council Lecture.
Graphic novelist Satrapi
On Oct. 25 author Marjane Satrapi will present a lecture.
The graphic novel form has come of age, and the remarkable and innovative style of Satrapi is a contributing factor.
Often compared to comics artist Art Spiegelman and praised by critics, Satrapi combined powerful words and images to recreate her childhood during the tumultuous Iranian Revolution, and her subsequent exile to Austria, in the memoir Persepolis.
She continues to advance this unique art form with her most recent publications, Embroideries and Chicken With Plums.
Mathematician Strogatz
Stephen Strogatz will discuss “Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order” at 4 p.m. Oct. 26 in Rebstock Hall, Room 215.
From the Cornell University mathematician’s research has come a fascinating theory: individual entities within complex systems can influence a spontaneous synchronic reaction affecting the entire group.
Applying the research to many diverse systems, from cancer cells to fireflies to traffic, Strogatz explains how synchronous behavior has a seemingly universal application and how the process occurs spontaneously. This is the annual Thomas Hall Lecture.
|
Fall Assembly Series Seymour Hersh |
Sept. 6 |
| Bill Nye* | Sept. 13 |
| David Robertson | Sept. 20 |
| Mark Rank | Sept. 27 |
| Temple Grandin | Oct. 4 |
| Bonnie Oda Homsey | Oct. 19 |
| B.D. Wong* | Oct. 23 |
| Marjane Satrapi | Oct. 25 |
| Stephen Strogatz | Oct. 26 |
| Richard Epstein | Oct. 31 |
| bell hooks | Nov. 1 |
| David Rieff | Nov. 8 |
|
* Denotes limited public seating |
Legal scholar Epstein
Richard Epstein will speak at 3 p.m. Oct. 31 at Anheuser-Busch Hall, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom.
The distinguished law professor at the University of Chicago is one of today’s most influential legal scholars in America.
The self-proclaimed maverick covers a broad range of subjects that demonstrate an extraordinary understanding of the law, and his often libertarian stance comes through in his body of writings, which includes Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism and Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty With the Common Good.
Epstein’s lecture is presented by the School of Law.
Social activist hooks
On Nov. 1, feminist writer bell hooks will present the keynote address for the Black Arts & Sciences Festival, which is sponsored by the Association of Black Students. The highly acclaimed African-American social activist and cultural critic enjoys a popular as well as an academic following.
Her books, numbering more than 20, identify and address the negative impact of institutional racism, classism and sexuality on society. These include Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom; Killing Rage: Ending Racism; All About Love; and The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love. More information on the festival’s programs will be forthcoming.
Essayist David Rieff
This year’s Holocaust speaker, David Rieff, will appear Nov. 8.
Author and essayist Rieff has experienced the ravages of war and the humanitarian relief that often follows. His conclusions regarding the effectiveness of this aid will shock many who believe that all humanitarian relief is inherently good.
In his most recent book, A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis, Rieff shows, through many painful examples, that the issues are much more complicated.
The most up-to-date information on the series can be found online at assemblyseries.wustl.edu or by calling 935-4620.