The College of Humanities and Science offers several exciting lecture series during the 2007-08 academic year that will enrich our community through the discussion of events of immediate relevance, historical significance and ageless contemplation.
The first series, sponsored by the Science, Technology and Society initiative, is committed to exploring science itself as a complex social system, embedded in a diverse array of cultural contexts, both nationally and internationally. This series would give prominence to the concepts of “Complexity” and “Whole-systems-thinking” – both important concepts embraced by recent scholarly and educational trends in the sciences, at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
The second series is ongoing each year. The M.F.A. program in Creative Writingat VCU invites a number of writers to campus for readings, discussion sessions, workshops, or a combination of these. This year’s series celebrates the 10th annual Levis awardin memory of Larry Levis, the distinguished poet and teacher who was our colleague until his untimely death in 1996. Later in the fall semester, the series will celebrate the sixth annual First Novelist award, made possible by the generosity of VCU alumnus and New York Times best-selling author, David Baldacci.
The Department of Philosophy and MCV are sponsoring, Our Long Strange Trip, a four-part lecture series addressing the drug culture. It covers a wide range of related topics such as the history of drugs, addiction and decriminalization. For more information on this series and others visit the College’s calendar page for details.
Other lectures of interest
Science, Technology and Society Initiative Spring 2008 speakers
Series title: “Race, Ethnicity, and Medicine”
Friday, Feb. 29 Title: “Colored Bodies: Henrietta Lacks and the Ethics of HeLa Cell Medicine”
Charlene Gilbert
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Student Commons Forum Room
Friday, March 28 Title: “The Desegregation of Southern Medical Education: Edith Irby Goes to Medical School”
Vanessa Northington Gamble
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Student Commons Forum Room
Thursday, April 10 Title: “A Post-Genomic Surprise: The Molecular Reinscription of Race in Clinical Medicine and Forensic Science”
Troy Duster
7 – 8:30 p.m.
Medical Sciences Building Auditorium (VCU Medical Campus)
