Racial democracy, men’s role in feminism, cancer research and personal technology – Illinois State University’s 2013 Spring Speaker Series will run the gamut of compelling topics from national experts. All events are free and open to the public, and more information is available at IllinoisState.edu/President/Speaker-Series.
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone and noted historian Peter Kuznick will explore their book and documentary series The Untold History of the United States at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, in Braden Auditorium in the Bone Student Center.
A larger-than-life figure in American filmmaking, Stone is a director, producer and screenwriter who has won numerous Academy Awards for his work on such iconic films as Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, and Born on the Fourth of July. Kuznick is a professor of history and director of the award-winning Nuclear Studies Institute at American University as well as as distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians.
The event, which is sponsored by the Department of History, is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available for pick up at the Braden Box Office. There is a maximum of four tickets per person. Teachers wishing to acquire a block of tickets for their classroom can contact the Department of History at (309) 438-5641.
Author and scholar Preston Smith will discuss his newest book Racial Democracy and the Black Metropolis: Housing Policy in Postwar Chicago at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center. His talk will be in honor of Black History Month.
Smith is the director of African Studies at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. In his book, he argues class and factional conflicts among African Americans actually helped to reproduce stunning segregation along economic lines. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President and the Department of History.
Jonathan Holloway will present “Our Beloved Roots: Heritage Tourism, Museums of Horror, and the Commerce of Memory” at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center.
Heritage tourism has never been more popular, with landmark institutions like Colonial Williamsburg presenting a narrative of the nation’s past that speaks to millions of visitors a year. Holloway, Yale University’s Director of African Studies, will ask whose past is being narrated? Whose past is the “nation’s past?” The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the President and the Association of Black Academic Employees.
University alumni will be part of the Speaker Series this year, as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Alumni Association. U.S. Foods’ Stuart Schuette, a 1986 alumnus, will be the keynote speaker for Business Week at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 27, at Braden Auditorium of Bone Student Center.
As COO of U.S. Foods, Schuette oversees the operational and administrative functions of more than 70 divisions for one of America’s leading foodservice distributors to restaurants, healthcare and hospitality facilities, government operations and educational institutions. The event is sponsored by the College of Business.
A world leader among special events administrators, Kathy Miller will be a keynote speaker for Communication Week 2013 at 9:35 a.m., Tuesday, April 9, in Edwards Hall, room 235. Miller is president and chief creative officer of Total Event Resources, a Chicago-based, high-end event planning and management firm.
The founder of Total Event Resources, Miller is currently the president of the International Society of Special Events (ISES). A 30-year veteran of the event industry, she has been honored with an industry lifetime achievement award and a Tomorrow’s Leader Award by Meeting Professionals International.
Doris Ching, a leader in higher education in Hawaii and student affairs internationally, will present a talk titled “What Do Organizational Culture and Change Strategies Have to Do with Advancing A Diversity Agenda?” at 2 p.m., Tuesday, April 16, in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center.
Ching served the state of Hawaii for more than 40 years as an educator, and is the former vice president of Student Affairs at the University of Hawaii. She was the first Asian/Pacific Islander elected president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the NASPA Foundation. Ching currently is a commissioner on the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission. The event is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs.
Michael Kimmel is among the leading scholars on men and masculinity in the world today. He has spent most of his career looking critically at masculinity, the role men play in the feminist movement, and how men can benefit from that movement. Kimmel will deliver his lecture “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men” at 1 p.m. Friday, April 19, in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center.
Kimmel’s keynote lecture is part of the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Research Symposium. The talk is co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Diversity Advocacy, Department of History, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Sage Trust, Office of the President and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Alumna Jane Armer, an expert in breast cancer research, will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, at the Alumni Center as the keynote speaker for MCN Nursing Week.
A 1976 graduate of the Mennonite College of Nursing, Armer is the director of nursing research at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center and a professor at the University of Missouri. She is also the co-director of the Health Communication Research Center at the university’s Sinclair School of Nursing. Her program of research focuses on the more than 2 million women living with breast cancer. The event is co-sponsored by the Mennonite College of Nursing, a Marion McDowell Stafford Charitable Trust Grant and the Sage Foundation Fund.
David Pogue has written the book on Macs, Palm Pilots, and opera music. The prolific author and current New York Times personal-technology columnist will speak at Illinois State University at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at Braden Auditorium as part of Science and Technology Week.
Pogue writes for The New York Times as a personal-technology columnist with a print column, an online column, an online video and a popular daily blog, “Pogue’s Posts.” He has written several best-selling editions of the for Dummies series, including Macs for Dummies, PalmPilot for Dummies, Opera for Dummies and Classical Music for Dummies. The talk is sponsored by the College of Applied Science and Technology and the ISU Credit Union.
The Speaker Series of Illinois State University seeks to bring innovative and enlightening speakers to the campus with the aim of providing the community with a platform to foster dialogue, cultivate enriching ideas and continue an appreciation of learning as an active and lifelong process.
If you need special accommodations to fully participate in these programs/events, please contact Julie Barnhill, Presidential and Trustee Events, at (309) 438-8790. Please allow sufficient time to arrange accommodations.
