The College of Arts and Sciences is grateful for the support received from its President's Advisory Council members for the following Distinguished Guest Lecturer Series events.
 
Fall 2009
 
Department of Africana Studies

• Maryse Condé, Ph.D., renowned author and professor emeritus of French at Columbia University.  Condé's continuous preoccupation with tropes of exile, migration, European imperialism, identity, African ancestry, notions of home and homelessness, corruption and disillusionment qualifies her as one of the leading and influential voices of the African Diaspora. Author of more than 18 novels, Condé has garnered numerous accolades for her invaluable contribution to the arts and humanities that include the Prix Yourcenar 1999 for excellence in French writing, the Prix de L'Academie Française (1988). Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 6-8:30 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge, Bishop Dougherty University Center. 
  
  

• "Comparing Languages, Similarities, Differences and Patterns" lecture by Mark Baker, Ph.D., Department of Linguistics of Rutgers University. Dr. Baker is an expert on African and native American languages and also a world renowned linguist.  He has published 5 books on linguistics:  The Syntax of Agreement (2008), The Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives (2003), The Atoms of Language (2001), The Polysynthesis Parameter (1996), and Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing (1988). He has also published numerous articles in prestigious journals of linguistics. Thursday, November 12, 2009, in the Beck Rooms, Walsh Library at 6:00 p.m.
  
  

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

• “Biorganometallic Chemistry of Mercury and the Impact of Coordination of Lewis Acids to Metal Centers” lecture by Gerard Parkin, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry at Columbia University. Professor Parkin has received numerous awards including the Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, the American Chemical Society Award in Organometallic Chemistry, and the Royal Society of Chemistry Corday Morgan Medal. Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 5:45 p.m. in the Science and Technology Center Atrium and Amphitheater.
  
  

Department of Philosophy - Philosophers Speak Series

• “Proportionality in Self-Defense and War” lecture by Jeff McMahan, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. Professor McMahan's lecture will focus on how Just war theory was developed within Catholic moral theology. This lecture will be of interest to students and faculty of the departments of Catholic Studies, Theology, Philosophy, and, in particular, to students and faculty from the School of Diplomacy and the Department of Political Science. Professor McMahan is an internationally renowned philosopher and writes extensively in the areas of ethics and applied ethics, social-political philosophy, and legal theory. His work includes Killing in War (2009), The Ethics of Killing (2002), and the Morality of Nationalism (1997) and over 75 published articles. Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 4 p.m. in the Science and Technology Amphitheater.
  
  

Department of Physics

• "Small Telescopes, Large Telescopes, and Scientific Literacy" lecture by Theodore B. Williams, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. His research interests include optical observations of extragalactic objects as well as instrument development.  This lecture is part of the dedication of the new telescope and the opening of the observatory in the Science and Technology Center. Tours of the observatory and a reception in the Patrick M. and Mary Ann P. Murray Atrium to follow. Monday, November 23, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the Science and Technology Center.
  
  

Department of Psychology

• Nora S. Newcombe, Ph.D. will be lecturing on the importance of spatial intelligence in education. She is a Professor of Psychology at Temple University and PI of the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC), headquartered at Temple and also involving Northwestern, the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania as primary partners. A nationally recognized expert on cognitive development, Dr. Newcombe's research has focused on spatial development and the development of episodic and autobiographical memory. Her work has been federally funded by NICHD and the National Science Foundation over 20 years. Friday, November 6, 2009 at 12 p.m. in Jubilee Hall.

Institute of Museum Ethics

• "The Body in the Museum: Ethical Issues and Historical Practices” lecture by Janet Berlo, Ph.D., Professor of Art History and Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. Professor Berlo will examine the history of bodily presence in the museum, ranging from 19th century living peoples and their body parts to recent critiques. She is a scholar of Native North American visual cultures, specializing in Plains Indians; graphic arts since 1850; Inuit arts; and women's representational practices.  She also studies American quilt history and nineteenth-century visual culture. Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 7 p.m.
  

Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology

• "Bidirectional interaction between the nervous and immune systems in health and disease" lecture by Thomas Molitor, Ph.D., College of Veterinary of the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Molitor is an internationally known immunologist and one of the leading scientists in the field of neuroimmune pharmacology.  His research has been funded by the National Institute of Health for over two decades.  Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in McNulty Hall Room 101.

Russian East European Studies Program

• "Connecting the Two Shores: the Rise of New Immigrant Fiction" lecture by Anya Ulinich award-winning writer, visual artist, and New York Times columnist.  Listed by the Washington Post as "one of the most interesting new authors to watch," Anya Ulinich has a keen interest in the intersection of immigrant experience and universal human values.  She is also the author of the best-selling novel Petropolis a story of a bi-racial Russian girl confused by her identity trying to find her way in life.  Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 6 p.m. in Fahy Hall 236.
  
  

Sister Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish Christian and Holocaust Studies

• Norman Conrad, director of the Lowell Milkin Center and the Life in a Jar Foundation as well as a social studies teacher from Fort Scott Kansas.   Mr. Conrad will speak about his unique educational approach that resulted in the world-recognized student produced drama, Life in a Jar--the story of Irena Sendler a social worker during World War II who devised and implemented a plan to save over 25000 young Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto.  Sunday, October 25, 2009, 11:30 a.m. in the Beck Rooms, Walsh Library.
  
  

Spring 2010

• Poto-Mitan:Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Community, co-producer and co-director Mark Schuller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Africana American Studies and Anthropology at York College, the City University of New York.  Following the viewing of the film, Dr. Schuller will give a mini lecture about his experiences and involvement in grassroots campaigns and organizations.  In addition to understanding contemporary Haiti, Dr. Schuller's research contributes to theories of globalization, NGOs, civil society, and development.  Wednesday, February, 17, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. in the Beck Rooms, Walsh Library.
   
  

• "Bringing Troy to Rome: The advent of the Magna Mater in Ovid, Fasti 4. 179-372" lecture by John Jacobs, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Department of Classics, Loyola College, Maryland.  Dr. Jacobs will be lecturing on how Romans imported the Magna Mater from Asian Minor during the Second Carthaginian War in 204 B.C.  Dr. Jacobs received his Ph.D. from Yale in 2009 as was an adjunct member of Seton Hall's Classical Studies Department in 2008-2009.  Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 2:30 p.m., location T.B.A.
  
  

Department of English

• Michael Bérubé, Ph.D., from Pennsylvania State University.  Dr. Bérubé's lecture will be based on his new book The Left At War.  He has written over a hundred fifty essays for academic journals and published six books.  He is also the editor of The Aesthetics of Cultural Studies (2004) and with Cary Nelson, of Higher Education Under Fire: Politics, Economics and the Crisis of the Humanities (1995).  His book Life As We Know It: A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child (1996) was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and chosen as one of the best books of the year by Maureen Corrigan of National Public Radio.  (Date: T.B.A.)
  
  

Department of History

• "Philip Vickers Fithian: the Rural Enlightenment, and the American Revolution in New Jersey" by John Fea, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University.  Dr. Fea has written extensively for both scholarly and popular audiences.  His book, The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in America, received awards from the New Jersey Council of Humanities and the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance.  His essays and reviews have appeared in a number of publications and journals.  He writes for the national syndicated History News Service and blogs daily at "The Way of Improvement Leads Home."  He has been a fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Lilly Fellows Program.  (Date T.B.A.)
  
  

Department of Philosophy - Philosophers Speak Series

• "Feminism and Capitalism" lecture by Nancy Fraser, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science at the New School in New York City.  Dr. Fraser is a world renowned feminist, political philosopher, and critical theorist, authoring such works as Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World (2008), Redistribution or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange (2003), Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the "Postsocialist" Condition (1997), Revaluing French Feminism (1994), and Unruly Practices: Power, Discourse, and Gender in Contemporary Social Theory (1989). The lecture should be of interest to philosophy, women's studies, political science, sociology, business, history, and diplomacy faculty and students and anyone concerned about social justice in a time of economic crisis.  Thursday, February 18th at 6:00 p.m. in the Science and Technology Amphitheatre.
  
  

• "The Silent Message of the Museum" by Fred Wilson , B.F.A.  Mr Wilson will explain how his projects remind the viewer that there are many stories contained within any single object not just the one described in the wall label or museum catalogue.  Mr. Wilson is internationally known for his museum installations in which he re-installs and re-labels objects for the purpose of creating new meanings and non-conventional narratives.  He has created such projects across the US and around the world in diverse venues such as the Seattle Art Museum, Museum of History and Ethnography and the National Gallery of Jamaica, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Dartmouth College, and the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden.  Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 7:00 p.m. in the Jubilee Auditorium.