Year of the Humanities @ Furman

Past Humanities Events

Socrates Cafe, "Always Among Us: Poverty and Social Welfare:" Wednesday, May 10 1:00-2:00 p.m., Haynesworth Room, Furman Hall 217. Recent natural disasters and events have newly drawn our attention again to the plight of poor people. Dr. Timothy Fehler of the History Department will lead a discussion addressing some of the complex questions of charity, the poor, and civil society: What are the causes of poverty? What is the purpose of poor relief? To whom should it be directed? How do we measure the success of charity? Are there religious obligations to the poor? Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants.

The Plains of Abraham: Thursday, April 27, 6:30 p.m. CLP. This epic poem, composed in performance in iambic octameter by Canadian poet Jack Mitchell, is the account of a pivotal battle during the so-called French and Indian War, the North American theater of the Seven Years' War. Mitchell has done two tours across Canada, performing his poem at schools, museums, libraries, and community centers. These tours have been sponsored by the Dominion Institute for Canadian Culture, the Vancouver Museum, the Ottawa Public Library, Musée Bytown, the University of Saskatchewan, and Toronto Culture. This work has a website at http://www.plainsofabraham.ca. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Classics Department and the Humanities Development Fund.

Filmmaker Euzhan Palcy: Director, Writer, Producer: Wednesday, April 26, 7:30-9:00 p.m., Daniel Recital Hall. CLP. Internationally renowned filmmaker Euzhan Palcy will talk about her emergence as the most prominent black woman filmmaker and her experiences in making films in Martinique, Paris, and Hollywood. Palcy will also touch on the relevance of human rights issues in her films. A native of Martinique, Palcy was the first black woman to produce a movie in Hollywood. She is admired for her commitment to using film as a vehicle to draw attention to certain social issues, and has received numerous awards including the 2001 Cannes Film Festival Sojourner Truth Award, the Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite from French President François Mitterrand in 1994, the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1993 Milan Film Festival, the 1989 Orson Wells Special Achievement Award, and the Silver Lion Award at the 1983 Venice Film Festival. Palcy’s feature film debut was Sugar Cane Alley. She directed the 1989 anti-apartheid film, A Dry White Season, and in 1998, produced and directed the two-hour civil rights drama Ruby Bridges, which aired on ABC. Check the CLP schedule for accompanying showings of some of Palcy's films this month.

Isocrates on Rhetoric and Liberal Education: Thursday, April 20, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Garden Room, Daniel Chapel. CLP. Terry Papillon, Professor of Classics at Virginia Tech University, will speak on Isocrates, the earliest proponent of the type of education we now call the "liberal arts." Professor Papillon is a scholar of Greek literature, recently having published Rhetorical Studies in the Aristocratea of Demosthenes. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Communication Studies and Classics Departments and the Cicero Society.

Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Wednesday, April 19,
11:00 a.m.-noon (NOTE DIFFERENT TIME THIS MONTH), Haynesworth Room, Furman Hall 217. Come eat lunch and join in a faculty-led discussion of a wide range of topics relevant to the humanities: war and peace, Great (and not so Great) Books, current events, and more. Held monthly – check the schedule for upcoming dates and topics.
"My Favorite Book Was....": Dr. Seuss? Anne of Green Gables? Where the Wild Things Are? What was the book that grabbed you when you were a child? That you read over and over, that made you read more and more? Why do some books do that and not others? Children and teens are the pickiest reading audience; come discuss what makes a book truly great and how our early reading experiences affect us as educated adults. Bring your book for show and tell, if you like. Dr. Margaret Oakes of the English Department will lead the discussion. Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants.

Art and the Civil Rights Movement: Thursday, April 6, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Johns Hall 101. CLP. Professor Amy Kirschke, Professor of Art History at UNC Wilmington and author of Aaron Douglas: Art, Race, and the Harlem Renaissance, will speak on African American art as a form of protest. Drawing upon her latest study Art in Crisis: W. E. B. DuBois and the Art of the Crisis Magazine, Professor Kirschke will explain how art was used rhetorically in the early struggles for civil rights. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Communication Studies Department and Lambda Pi Eta.

The Writer and Responsibility in Nepal Today: Wednesday, April 5, 3:00-5:00 p.m., McEachern Lecture Hall, Furman Hall 214. CLP. Ms Manjushree Thapa will introduce the various kinds of issues being debated by writers and intellectuals in a country which has seen much political violence in recent years. The decade-old Maoist rebellion has only gotten stronger since the imposition of direct rule by the monarch. The talk will also enlighten the audience about the relationship between aesthetics and politics in contemporary times. Further info about the writer can be found at manjushreethapa.com.

Symposium on Race and the Book of Acts: April 4, 2006. Laura Nasrallah of Harvard Divinity School and Denise Buell of Williams College will conduct a symposium on "Race, Place, and the Book of Acts: Ethnic and Geographic Reasoning in Luke's Story of Christian Origins." 2:30-5:30, McEachern Lecture Room, Furman Hall 214. Co-sponsored with the Humanities Development Fund and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Why This New Race?: April 3, 2006. Denise Buell of Williams College will speak on "Why This New Race/ Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity." 4:00 p.m., McEachern Lecture Room, Furman Hall 214. Co-sponsored with the Humanities Development Fund and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The Great Grassy World from Both Sides: Poets as Editors, Editors as Poets. Sunday, April 2, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Regional poets including Thomas Johnson, Ryan Van Cleave, Phebe Davidson, Kwame Dawes, Sheila Tombe, Ron Moran, Warren Slesinger, and Susan Ludvigson. All the panelists have also edited small presses, literary magazines, and anthologies. Each panelist will read his or her own work and also read work by another poet whom he or she has selected for publication. The symposium will highlight the challenging role of evaluating colleagues' work and explore the writing and self-evaluative process in which each poet engages. A buffet lunch will be served between the two sessions, where audience members will be able to discuss with the panelists the ideas and themes raised in the first session. The buffet lunch is free for the first one hundred persons who make a reservation by March 24. For more information, contact Gilbert Allen, English Department, (294-3152).

Great (Free!) Food and Ideas:
Topic for March 29: Religion in the Academy: What Is Its Place and Purpose? Dr. Bryan Bibb of the Religion Department will lead a discussion of the study of religion, why and how. Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants.

Forgetting the Civil Rights Era: The Social Amnesia over Segregation. March 27, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Watkins Room, University Center. CLP. Speaker Diane McWhorter is the author of Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama—The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and was named by Time Magazine as one of the Best 10 Books of 2001.

Doug Berky: Masks and Mime in Performance: Saturday, March 25, 8:00 p.m., The Playhouse. Doug Berky, mask artist and mime performer in residence this week, demonstrated both of his crafts.

A New Diversity among Afro-Descendants in the United States: The Significance for African Diaspora Studies: Thursday, March 23, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Johns Hall 101. CLP. Scholar, novelist and playwright James de Jongh, Professor of English at The Grad Center/CUNY and The City College of New York, offered a lecture on the state of the field of African American Studies. His talk was followed by a reception in The English Department lounge.

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. March 7, 7:00 p.m., McAlister Auditorium. CLP. Described as a "Christian leader for social change," Jim Wallis seeks to encourage collaboration across diverse groups for the purposes of justice. His recent book, God's Politics, calls attention to significant values of the "prophetic religious tradition" as they come to bear on governmental policies and actions.

Poetry Slam sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta: February 16, 7:30, Burgiss Theater. CLP. Watch the showdown in a three-round competition between people reading their own poetry! Some contestants will be eliminated after each round and five random audience members will serve as judges. Tickets are $2.00 and proceeds will go to Greenville Literacy Association.

South Africa's Return to Humanism?: February 6, 5:00-6:15, McEachern Lecture Hall. Professor Gareth Cornwell, Associate Professor and Chair of English at Rhodes University in South Africa, spoke on current trends within English and the Humanities in South Africa through the lens of Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. He placed these trends within the context of black South African academics' recent calls for the “Africanisation” of South African universities. A way forward may lie in the embrace of a non-universalist, emancipationist humanism. Professor Cornwell is at Furman as a visiting professor under a recently initiated faculty exchange program between our two institutions.

QEI: Elizabeth the Great: January 26, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Furman Hall 214. CLP. Elizabethan historian Carole Levin from the University of Nebraska was on campus visiting English, history, and Humanities classes, and giving a public talk on the afternoon of January 26. Professor Levin is the leading American authority on the Elizabethan period; among her credits is that of being the lead historian for the Newberry Library's "Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend" exhibit. This exhibit eventually traveled to the Greenville Public Library, and was the the subject of research and presentations by Furman students. For more information about this exhibit, please visit the Newberry web page.

The Content of Our Character: January 23 & 24, 2006, McAlister Auditorium. CLP. A unique production commemorating African American culture and our university's celebration of the Humanities. Written and directed by sophomore Political Science major Christina Henderson, The Content of Our Character combines every element of fine arts framed around the poetic works of African American authors. The Content of Our Character is a production of the Furman Pauper Players, an independent student group, drawing students from all majors, dedicated to the staging of a wide range of quality theatrical productions.

Great (Free!) Food and Ideas:
Topic for January 25: Do you Read – or just Text Message? Come join in a discussion, led by Dr. Melinda Menzer of the English Department, of the pros and cons of the old technology (books) versus the new technology (computers). Coffee, cocoa, and cookies will be provided.

Copenhagen: Tuesday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m., Furman Hall 214. CLP. Reader's Theater performance of the play Copenhagen, about the fateful and puzzling meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941 which might have changed history. Dr. Doug Cummins of the Theatre Arts department, Dr. Kevin Treu of the Computer Science department, and Dr. Margaret Oakes of the English department read the parts of Bohr, Heisenberg, and Margrethe Bohr. This event was in conjunction with the Year of Physics celebration.

Great (Free!) Food and Ideas:
Topic for November 30: Dr. Erik Anderson will lead a discussion on death. Possible topics, determined by the participants, might be the following: is death something to be feared? What, if anything, is worth dying for? What, if anything, is worth killing for?
What's the next topic?

Tracking the Human Population: November 17, 5:00 p.m., Watkins Room, University Center. Budhendra Bhaduri, Ph.D. of the Geographic Information Science and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory spoke on "Tracking the Human Population in Time and Space." LandScan is a unique and innovative approach of combining the tools of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), remote sensing, and census data to track human populations at different times of the day and year, and in different places. A major multilane highway may have a very high “ambient” population during the evening rush hour but be in an “uninhabited” part of a city. In planning for disaster relief and national security, responders need to know the population centers at the time of the disaster or a potential threat. LandScan was recently utilized by relief agencies after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean to quickly identify populations who would have otherwise been cut off from communications. Dr. Budhendra Bhaduri discussed the creation and applications of LandScan — the source of the best available global population distribution data.

Earth & Environmental Studies Poster Display: November 16. Student posters from Dr. Suresh Muthukrishnan's EES 24 class were on display at the James B. Duke Library and from 1:00-4:00 p.m. the students were present to discuss them. Past topics for this project have covered a wide range of topics, including the mapping of state parks, crime in Greenville, and possible routes of Xerxes and the Persian army in Herodotus' Histories 7.26.

Nexus Laity Institute Workshop: November 13. Dr. Stanley Hauerwas spoke on "Christian Perspectives on War and Peace." Dr. Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School. Named "America's best theologian" by Time Magazine in 2001, he was also the first American in over forty years to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh's University of St. Andrews. Thanks to the Nexus Laity Institute for participating in the Year of the Humanities with this event. Reception: 6:45 PM in the Haynsworth Commons Room, Furman Hall 217; Lecture/ Dialogue: 7:15-9 PM in McEachern Lecture Hall, Furman Hall 214.

Mere Christianity Forum Lecture: Dr. Stanley Hauerwas spoke on "The Future of Christianity." November 14 8:30 p.m. in Daniel Chapel.

History of the Liberal Arts: November 8, 4:00-5:00 p.m., Garden Room in Daniel Chapel. Former Dean and Professor Emeritus A.V. Huff and Professor of English Judy Bainbridge presented a joint talk on the history of liberal arts education with comments on Furman's unique contribution over its 180 year history. Refreshments provided. CLP.

Great (Free!) Food and Ideas:
Topic for October 26: Should Furman students be more responsible for their own educational choices? The Curriculum Review Committee has proposed a core curriculum in which there is more student choice. What are the benefits of student choice versus a shared general education curriculum? Is course choice a welcome acknowledgement of intellectual responsibility or a burdensome dilemma fraught with risk?
What's the next topic?

Furman Hall Renewed: The Rededication. On October 22 at 10:00 a.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the refurbished Furman Hall. Dr. Christopher Blackwell, chair of the Classics Department, spoke, followed by a reception and displays of current projects by faculty and students of the humanities departments. Dr. Shi presided.

Krishna’s Temples: October 21, 2005 at 4:00 p.m., Roe Art Building lecture room. Reception following at 5:00 p.m. Professor Pika Ghosh spoke on "Dance, Desire, and Devotion: Krishna’s Temples of Seventeenth-Century Bengal." Dr. Ghosh’s research explores meanings embodied in terra cotta and architecture, and connections between imagery, ritual, space, and identity. She is associate professor of Art/Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as the Director of Graduate Studies. Dr. Ghosh’s most recent book is Temple to Love: Architecture and Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Bengal (Indiana University Press: 2005), and she has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Exhibition and Publication.

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Home Upcoming Events Furman National Endowment for the Humanities	Past Humanities Events Socrates Cafe, "Always Among Us: Poverty and Social Welfare:" Wednesday, May 10 1:00-2:00 p.m., Haynesworth Room, Furman Hall 217. Recent natural disasters and events have newly drawn our attention again to the plight of poor people. Dr. Timothy Fehler of the History Department will lead a discussion addressing some of the complex questions of charity, the poor, and civil society: What are the causes of poverty? What is the purpose of poor relief? To whom should it be directed? How do we measure the success of charity? Are there religious obligations to the poor? Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants. The Plains of Abraham: Thursday, April 27, 6:30 p.m. CLP. This epic poem, composed in performance in iambic octameter by Canadian poet Jack Mitchell, is the account of a pivotal battle during the so-called French and Indian War, the North American theater of the Seven Years' War. Mitchell has done two tours across Canada, performing his poem at schools, museums, libraries, and community centers. These tours have been sponsored by the Dominion Institute for Canadian Culture, the Vancouver Museum, the Ottawa Public Library, Musée Bytown, the University of Saskatchewan, and Toronto Culture. This work has a website at http://www.plainsofabraham.ca. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Classics Department and the Humanities Development Fund. Filmmaker Euzhan Palcy: Director, Writer, Producer: Wednesday, April 26, 7:30-9:00 p.m., Daniel Recital Hall. CLP. Internationally renowned filmmaker Euzhan Palcy will talk about her emergence as the most prominent black woman filmmaker and her experiences in making films in Martinique, Paris, and Hollywood. Palcy will also touch on the relevance of human rights issues in her films. A native of Martinique, Palcy was the first black woman to produce a movie in Hollywood. She is admired for her commitment to using film as a vehicle to draw attention to certain social issues, and has received numerous awards including the 2001 Cannes Film Festival Sojourner Truth Award, the Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite from French President François Mitterrand in 1994, the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1993 Milan Film Festival, the 1989 Orson Wells Special Achievement Award, and the Silver Lion Award at the 1983 Venice Film Festival. Palcy’s feature film debut was Sugar Cane Alley. She directed the 1989 anti-apartheid film, A Dry White Season, and in 1998, produced and directed the two-hour civil rights drama Ruby Bridges, which aired on ABC. Check the CLP schedule for accompanying showings of some of Palcy's films this month. Isocrates on Rhetoric and Liberal Education: Thursday, April 20, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Garden Room, Daniel Chapel. CLP. Terry Papillon, Professor of Classics at Virginia Tech University, will speak on Isocrates, the earliest proponent of the type of education we now call the "liberal arts." Professor Papillon is a scholar of Greek literature, recently having published Rhetorical Studies in the Aristocratea of Demosthenes. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Communication Studies and Classics Departments and the Cicero Society. Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Wednesday, April 19, 11:00 a.m.-noon (NOTE DIFFERENT TIME THIS MONTH), Haynesworth Room, Furman Hall 217. Come eat lunch and join in a faculty-led discussion of a wide range of topics relevant to the humanities: war and peace, Great (and not so Great) Books, current events, and more. Held monthly – check the schedule for upcoming dates and topics. "My Favorite Book Was....": Dr. Seuss? Anne of Green Gables? Where the Wild Things Are? What was the book that grabbed you when you were a child? That you read over and over, that made you read more and more? Why do some books do that and not others? Children and teens are the pickiest reading audience; come discuss what makes a book truly great and how our early reading experiences affect us as educated adults. Bring your book for show and tell, if you like. Dr. Margaret Oakes of the English Department will lead the discussion. Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants. Art and the Civil Rights Movement: Thursday, April 6, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Johns Hall 101. CLP. Professor Amy Kirschke, Professor of Art History at UNC Wilmington and author of Aaron Douglas: Art, Race, and the Harlem Renaissance, will speak on African American art as a form of protest. Drawing upon her latest study Art in Crisis: W. E. B. DuBois and the Art of the Crisis Magazine, Professor Kirschke will explain how art was used rhetorically in the early struggles for civil rights. This speaker is co-sponsored by the Communication Studies Department and Lambda Pi Eta. The Writer and Responsibility in Nepal Today: Wednesday, April 5, 3:00-5:00 p.m., McEachern Lecture Hall, Furman Hall 214. CLP. Ms Manjushree Thapa will introduce the various kinds of issues being debated by writers and intellectuals in a country which has seen much political violence in recent years. The decade-old Maoist rebellion has only gotten stronger since the imposition of direct rule by the monarch. The talk will also enlighten the audience about the relationship between aesthetics and politics in contemporary times. Further info about the writer can be found at manjushreethapa.com. Symposium on Race and the Book of Acts: April 4, 2006. Laura Nasrallah of Harvard Divinity School and Denise Buell of Williams College will conduct a symposium on "Race, Place, and the Book of Acts: Ethnic and Geographic Reasoning in Luke's Story of Christian Origins." 2:30-5:30, McEachern Lecture Room, Furman Hall 214. Co-sponsored with the Humanities Development Fund and the Center for Teaching and Learning. Why This New Race?: April 3, 2006. Denise Buell of Williams College will speak on "Why This New Race/ Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity." 4:00 p.m., McEachern Lecture Room, Furman Hall 214. Co-sponsored with the Humanities Development Fund and the Center for Teaching and Learning. The Great Grassy World from Both Sides: Poets as Editors, Editors as Poets. Sunday, April 2, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Regional poets including Thomas Johnson, Ryan Van Cleave, Phebe Davidson, Kwame Dawes, Sheila Tombe, Ron Moran, Warren Slesinger, and Susan Ludvigson. All the panelists have also edited small presses, literary magazines, and anthologies. Each panelist will read his or her own work and also read work by another poet whom he or she has selected for publication. The symposium will highlight the challenging role of evaluating colleagues' work and explore the writing and self-evaluative process in which each poet engages. A buffet lunch will be served between the two sessions, where audience members will be able to discuss with the panelists the ideas and themes raised in the first session. The buffet lunch is free for the first one hundred persons who make a reservation by March 24. For more information, contact Gilbert Allen, English Department, (294-3152). Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Topic for March 29: Religion in the Academy: What Is Its Place and Purpose? Dr. Bryan Bibb of the Religion Department will lead a discussion of the study of religion, why and how. Free lunches provided for the first 20 participants. Forgetting the Civil Rights Era: The Social Amnesia over Segregation. March 27, 7:00-8:00 p.m., Watkins Room, University Center. CLP. Speaker Diane McWhorter is the author of Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama—The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and was named by Time Magazine as one of the Best 10 Books of 2001. Doug Berky: Masks and Mime in Performance: Saturday, March 25, 8:00 p.m., The Playhouse. Doug Berky, mask artist and mime performer in residence this week, demonstrated both of his crafts. A New Diversity among Afro-Descendants in the United States: The Significance for African Diaspora Studies: Thursday, March 23, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Johns Hall 101. CLP. Scholar, novelist and playwright James de Jongh, Professor of English at The Grad Center/CUNY and The City College of New York, offered a lecture on the state of the field of African American Studies. His talk was followed by a reception in The English Department lounge. God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. March 7, 7:00 p.m., McAlister Auditorium. CLP. Described as a "Christian leader for social change," Jim Wallis seeks to encourage collaboration across diverse groups for the purposes of justice. His recent book, God's Politics, calls attention to significant values of the "prophetic religious tradition" as they come to bear on governmental policies and actions. Poetry Slam sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta: February 16, 7:30, Burgiss Theater. CLP. Watch the showdown in a three-round competition between people reading their own poetry! Some contestants will be eliminated after each round and five random audience members will serve as judges. Tickets are $2.00 and proceeds will go to Greenville Literacy Association. South Africa's Return to Humanism?: February 6, 5:00-6:15, McEachern Lecture Hall. Professor Gareth Cornwell, Associate Professor and Chair of English at Rhodes University in South Africa, spoke on current trends within English and the Humanities in South Africa through the lens of Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. He placed these trends within the context of black South African academics' recent calls for the “Africanisation” of South African universities. A way forward may lie in the embrace of a non-universalist, emancipationist humanism. Professor Cornwell is at Furman as a visiting professor under a recently initiated faculty exchange program between our two institutions. QEI: Elizabeth the Great: January 26, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Furman Hall 214. CLP. Elizabethan historian Carole Levin from the University of Nebraska was on campus visiting English, history, and Humanities classes, and giving a public talk on the afternoon of January 26. Professor Levin is the leading American authority on the Elizabethan period; among her credits is that of being the lead historian for the Newberry Library's "Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend" exhibit. This exhibit eventually traveled to the Greenville Public Library, and was the the subject of research and presentations by Furman students. For more information about this exhibit, please visit the Newberry web page. The Content of Our Character: January 23 & 24, 2006, McAlister Auditorium. CLP. A unique production commemorating African American culture and our university's celebration of the Humanities. Written and directed by sophomore Political Science major Christina Henderson, The Content of Our Character combines every element of fine arts framed around the poetic works of African American authors. The Content of Our Character is a production of the Furman Pauper Players, an independent student group, drawing students from all majors, dedicated to the staging of a wide range of quality theatrical productions. Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Topic for January 25: Do you Read – or just Text Message? Come join in a discussion, led by Dr. Melinda Menzer of the English Department, of the pros and cons of the old technology (books) versus the new technology (computers). Coffee, cocoa, and cookies will be provided. Copenhagen: Tuesday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m., Furman Hall 214. CLP. Reader's Theater performance of the play Copenhagen, about the fateful and puzzling meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941 which might have changed history. Dr. Doug Cummins of the Theatre Arts department, Dr. Kevin Treu of the Computer Science department, and Dr. Margaret Oakes of the English department read the parts of Bohr, Heisenberg, and Margrethe Bohr. This event was in conjunction with the Year of Physics celebration. Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Topic for November 30: Dr. Erik Anderson will lead a discussion on death. Possible topics, determined by the participants, might be the following: is death something to be feared? What, if anything, is worth dying for? What, if anything, is worth killing for? What's the next topic? Tracking the Human Population: November 17, 5:00 p.m., Watkins Room, University Center. Budhendra Bhaduri, Ph.D. of the Geographic Information Science and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory spoke on "Tracking the Human Population in Time and Space." LandScan is a unique and innovative approach of combining the tools of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), remote sensing, and census data to track human populations at different times of the day and year, and in different places. A major multilane highway may have a very high “ambient” population during the evening rush hour but be in an “uninhabited” part of a city. In planning for disaster relief and national security, responders need to know the population centers at the time of the disaster or a potential threat. LandScan was recently utilized by relief agencies after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean to quickly identify populations who would have otherwise been cut off from communications. Dr. Budhendra Bhaduri discussed the creation and applications of LandScan — the source of the best available global population distribution data. Earth & Environmental Studies Poster Display: November 16. Student posters from Dr. Suresh Muthukrishnan's EES 24 class were on display at the James B. Duke Library and from 1:00-4:00 p.m. the students were present to discuss them. Past topics for this project have covered a wide range of topics, including the mapping of state parks, crime in Greenville, and possible routes of Xerxes and the Persian army in Herodotus' Histories 7.26. Nexus Laity Institute Workshop: November 13. Dr. Stanley Hauerwas spoke on "Christian Perspectives on War and Peace." Dr. Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School. Named "America's best theologian" by Time Magazine in 2001, he was also the first American in over forty years to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh's University of St. Andrews. Thanks to the Nexus Laity Institute for participating in the Year of the Humanities with this event. Reception: 6:45 PM in the Haynsworth Commons Room, Furman Hall 217; Lecture/ Dialogue: 7:15-9 PM in McEachern Lecture Hall, Furman Hall 214. Mere Christianity Forum Lecture: Dr. Stanley Hauerwas spoke on "The Future of Christianity." November 14 8:30 p.m. in Daniel Chapel. History of the Liberal Arts: November 8, 4:00-5:00 p.m., Garden Room in Daniel Chapel. Former Dean and Professor Emeritus A.V. Huff and Professor of English Judy Bainbridge presented a joint talk on the history of liberal arts education with comments on Furman's unique contribution over its 180 year history. Refreshments provided. CLP. Great (Free!) Food and Ideas: Topic for October 26: Should Furman students be more responsible for their own educational choices? The Curriculum Review Committee has proposed a core curriculum in which there is more student choice. What are the benefits of student choice versus a shared general education curriculum? Is course choice a welcome acknowledgement of intellectual responsibility or a burdensome dilemma fraught with risk? What's the next topic? Furman Hall Renewed: The Rededication. On October 22 at 10:00 a.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the refurbished Furman Hall. Dr. Christopher Blackwell, chair of the Classics Department, spoke, followed by a reception and displays of current projects by faculty and students of the humanities departments. Dr. Shi presided. Krishna’s Temples: October 21, 2005 at 4:00 p.m., Roe Art Building lecture room. Reception following at 5:00 p.m. Professor Pika Ghosh spoke on "Dance, Desire, and Devotion: Krishna’s Temples of Seventeenth-Century Bengal." Dr. Ghosh’s research explores meanings embodied in terra cotta and architecture, and connections between imagery, ritual, space, and identity. She is associate professor of Art/Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as the Director of Graduate Studies. Dr. Ghosh’s most recent book is Temple to Love: Architecture and Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Bengal (Indiana University Press: 2005), and she has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Exhibition and Publication. back to top