The Visiting Scholar Lecture Series was established in 1955 for a two-fold purpose: to enrich the intellectual life of the University and to provide free public lectures for the Rockhurst and Kansas City communities. Guest scholars of national and international repute discuss timely and timeless subjects. Speakers have included Henry Kissinger, R. Buckminister Fuller, Edward Albee, John Kenneth Galbraith, Arthur Schlesinger, David Broder, Robert Frost, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, James Q. Wilson, the Rev. Raymond Brown, Clarence Page, Joseph Persico, Garry Wills, Bill Kurtis, Chris Hedges, Corey Flintoff, Sen. George Mitchell, Lt. Commander Charles Swift. The Visiting Lecture Series committee selects commencement speakers and nominated honorary degree recipients.
Craig Prentiss, Ph.D., director
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 7:30 PM
"Ethical Leadership: Challenges and Choices," Andrew Card
Convocation Center
Andrew H. Card, Jr., former White House Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, will deliver a talk for The Visiting Lecture Series as its season opener. Card will discuss how he leveraged strategy, execution and negotiation skills to orchestrate domestic, foreign, homeland security and anti-terrorism policies. Card will outline how these three skills can be applied to today's business challenges and will demonstrate with concrete examples how to forge necessary consensuses for an organization's vision or agenda.
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7:30 PM
"Mortality, Art, and Confession: Big Questions on the Big Screen," Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D.
Mabee Theater, Sedgwick Hall
This year's William Rossner Lecture in Philosophy is delivered by Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D., distinguished professor of ethics and culture and dean of the Honors College at Baylor University. Hibbs is the author of the acclaimed Art of Darkness: American Noir and the Quest for Redemption (Spence 2008) and Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture from the Exorcist to Seinfeld (Spence 2000). Hibbs' philosophical approach to film is both fresh and thought provoking and is sure to change the way you think about popular culture.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7:30 PM
Topic: Afghanistan and U.S. Foreign Policy, Jon Lee Anderson
Mabee Theater, Sedgwick Hall
As one of the world's most respected journalists, Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of such acclaimed books as the bestselling The Fall of Baghdad (Penguin 2005), The Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan (Grove 2003), and the monumental Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (Grove 1997), will deliver Rockhurst's Alpha Sigma Nu - Rev. Vincent Daues, S.J., Lecture.
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 7:30 PM
"Tattoos on the Heart: A Theology of Compassion and Kinship," The Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J.
Convocation Center
Founder of Homeboy Industries Inc. and nationally renowned for his work with street gangs in Los Angeles, California, the Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J., will deliver the William Rossner Lecture in Theology. His talk will focus on the experience of finding God in the very gangbangers whom some in society have deemed beyond reforming.
Thursday, March 25, 7:30
"Haunted by God: The Life of Dorothy Day" A One-Woman Performance, Lisa Wagner
Mabee Theater, Sedgwick Hall
Co-sponsored by Rockhurst's Thomas More Center for the Study of Catholic Thought and Culture, the Lecture Series concludes its season with a powerful change of pace. Lisa Wagner of Chicago's Still Point Theatre Collective will present a one-woman show bringing to life one of America's most famous Catholic activists, Dorothy Day. Day, who along with Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement, impacted a wide array of Catholic organizations aimed at peace and social justice. Wagner's highly acclaimed performance will educate and entertain.
For more information, call The Center for Arts and Letters (816) 501-4607 or e-mail cynthia.cartwright@rockhurst.edu. |
