2000-2001
RCTC Visiting Scholar
Lecture Series
RCTC Visiting Scholar
Lecture Series
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2000-2001
RCTC Visiting Scholar Lecture Series |
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Check back for updates...
2001's Past Events:
The Sixth Annual University Center Rochester Visiting Scholar Series
Summaries
graciously provided by Judy Bird,
Director of Development Rochester Community & Technical College Foundation.
For more information about the Visiting Scholar Series, contact Judy
Bird at:
| 851 30th Ave. SE; Rochester, MN 55904 |
| phone: 507-281-7770 | fax: 507-280-2970 |email: judy.bird@roch.edu
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"The Crisis in Christianity at the Dawn of the 21st Century" -- 11:00 "Finding a way into the Post-Christian Religious Future" -- 7:00 pm John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop Emeritus of Newark, New Jersey and William Belden Noble Lecturer, Harvard University, 2000 Date: April 3rd and Place: Christ United Methodist Church John Shelby Spong retired as Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, in February 2000. Raised a fundamentalist in North Carolina at a time when the Bible was quoted to justify segregation, Bishop Spong came to believe that insistence on an inerrant, literal view of the Bible obscures truth and destroys faith. His subsequent challenges to the Church’s position on human sexuality, the virgin birth, and the physical nature of Christ's’ resurrection has made him the target of fundamentalist hostility and fear. At the same time, it has offered hope to countless others who yearn to believe in God but reject the premodern literalizations masquerading as faith. |
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Guest:
Maxine Hong Kingston The Woman Warrior, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Maxine Hong Kingston, author and Common Book guest lecturer Monday April 30, 2001 11:00 a.m. – UCR Hill Theater 7:00 p.m. – UCR Hill Theater Maxine Hong Kingston was born in Stockton, California, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her father was a scholar in China and her mother a trained mid-wife. In this country, they became field hands and laundry workers. In her book, The Woman Warrior, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Hong Kingston "blends myth, legend, history and autobiography into a genre of her own invention." (Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1980) Hong Kingston incorporates her inherited skill of "talk-stories" learned from her mother with memories of her own life and experiences. The book hovers along a hazy line of fiction and non-fiction. A National Book Critics Award winner, The Woman Warrior relates Hong Kingston’s efforts to bridge her Chinese culture and American upbringing. She explores ancient Chinese stories, including the tale of Da Mu Lan, recently Disneyfied as Mulan, by examining her literary inheritance to find relevance in her past and present. Maxine Hong Kingston currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of several books, both novels and poetry and is currently working on a fifth novel. For more information contact: Judy Bird, Director of Development Rochester Community & Technical College Foundation; 851 30th Ave SE; Rochester, MN 55904 (or contact Judy by phone: 507-281-7770 by fax: 507-280-2970 or email: judy.bird@roch.edu).
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Past Visiting Scholars:
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Author Robert Bly appeared at the University Center Rochester Hill Theater at 9:00 a.m. on February 23 and again at 7:00 p.m. at the Rochester Public Library. Marilyn Etbauer reports:
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Guest: Dr. William Pulleyblank |
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Dr. William
Pulleyblank, Director of Mathematical Science at IBM Research and Director
of the Deep Computing Institute, was featured in April 2000 as part of
the UCR Visiting Scholar Series.
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Goodnight Mr. Poe Written and Performed by Scott Keely of Avatar Productions September 27, 2000Noon – UCR - Hill Theater 7 p.m. – Rochester Public Library Auditorium On the morning of October 3, 1849, in a Baltimore tavern, a physician recognized Edgar Allan Poe, in a rapidly deteriorating and semiconscious condition. The writer was taken to a hospital, where he died delirious and raving five days later. No one disputes Poe’s life was ravaged by alcohol. This performance will examine whether POE’s early death was a result of his being a victim of "cooping". At the time of his death, municipal elections in Baltimore were in progress. A practice by some unscrupulous politicians was to round up transients and keep them docile with alcohol and drugs until the time to vote. These unfortunates were then trotted out to vote in as many districts as possible. The places in which they were kept were called "coops". The scene takes place in a Baltimore coop on the night of October 2, 1849. Since 1979, Avatar Productions has produced one-man shows, touring colleges, universities and arts organizations nationwide. Scott Keely, who writes and performs these works, is a professional actor with over twenty years of theatrical and commercial credits to his name.
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Polarized Politics and the Rise of the Independent Voter A discussion by Former Congressman Tim Penny October 12, 200011:00 a.m. – UCR Hill Theater Tim Penny is a senior fellow at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Last spring, on the brink of announcing his run for the U.S. Senate, Penny instead announced his intention not to run, citing his desire to put his family first. From 1976 until 1982, Penny was a member of the Minnesota State Senate, representing a legislative district in south-central Minnesota. From 1982 to 1994, Penny represented southeastern Minnesota’s First Congressional District in Congress. Widely respected for his moderate political views and practical approach to governance, Mr. Penny also holds the position of Senior Counselor to the Minnesota-based public relations firm, Himle-Horner. Penny is a board member and policy chair for the budget watchdog group, the Concord Coalition. He co-chairs the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government and is an advisory member for the clean campaign project, the Minnesota Compact. Among other activities, Penny serves on the Board of Trustees for Wells Fargo Funds. He is associated with two think-tanks, serving as a policy fellow with the Washington-based CATO institute and the Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment. A co-author of three books, his latest book is titled, The Fifteen Biggest Lies in Politics.
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American Diplomacy: A Global Perspective on the Past and to the Future A lecture by Former Ambassador Rozanne L. Ridgway November 15, 2000 Ambassador Rozanne L. Ridgway has been an American foreign policy leader since the Nixon administration. Her expertise as an international negotiator has been demonstrated in complex multilateral and bilateral agreements she negotiated on behalf of the United States. In the early 1970’s, Ridgway skillfully negotiated long-standing issues over fishing rights in Brazil, Peru and the Bahamas. During her tenure as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, she negotiated the 200-mile fishing rights treaty. Subsequent negotiations by Ridgway led to the return of property belonging to US citizens in Czechoslovakia, an arrangement that will provide the basis for similar negotiations with Cuba when relations are normalized. Her success dealing with these issues -- complicated mix of domestic politics, economics, foreign policy and international security issues – prepared her for substantial contributions at the highest level of government. As Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Negotiations and, subsequently, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Canada, she was the lead negotiator at all five Reagan/Gorbachev summits. These brought the first substantive reductions in nuclear weapons, signaled the beginning of the end of Communism and the Cold War, and established the fundamental realignment of global power as America prepared for the 21st century. Between Ridgway’s positions at the Department of State, she served as America’s Ambassador to Finland from 1977 to 1980 and as the Ambassador to the German Republic between 1983 and 1985. |
last updated: 8/17/2000
