Lectures and Symposia

Robert E. Jones, M.D. delivered the annual Spahr Lecture and his speech was entitled "He Aimed Well: A Portrait of Benjamin Rush"

As part of the 200th anniversary celebration Dickinson presented Science for Survival from March 7 to March 9.  The keynote speaker was Dr. John G. Kemeny, the President of Dartmouth College. The Joseph Priestley Award was also presented during the symposium.

Paul Warnke, the former chief negotiator at the second Strategic Arms Limitation Talks delivered the keynote address to open the 1984 Public Affairs Symposium on Sunday, February 12th, 1984. In his address, Warnke discussed the past, present, and future of strategic arms negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union. In describing the then present state of negotiations, Warnke described the current period as an "impasse" in negotiations that had not occurred since 1964.

On Thursday, November 10th, 1983, the Enligh department sponsored a lecture by distinguished Irish critic Denis Donoghue. Donoghue, who holds the Henry James Chair of English and American Letters at New York University, presented a lecture entitled "The Presence of the Past in the 18th Century."

Dr. Frank Drake, a world renowned pioneer in the search for extra-terrestrial life, received the 1983 Glover Medal on Thursday, October 6th after delivering a lecture in ATS. Drake, who created "The Drake equation" to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations that exist in our universe, spoke of his certainty that other forms of intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe, and that it is possible to contact them. Such civilizations, Drake says, are able to contact each other through the use of radio waves.

Dickinson College presented The Expanding Social Responsibility of Business as part of Dickinson's 200th anniversary celebration on February 2nd and 3rd.  Some of the speakers at this Symposium included Dan W. Lufkin, Robert G. Dunlop, and Alice Tepper and the keynote speaker was Dan W. Lufkin.

Maurice Sendak, an author, illustrator and stage designer best known for his "childrens'" book Where the Wild Things Are, spoke during "The Art and Craft of the Book - A Celebration." symposium in the Weiss centre on September 29th, 1983. During the symposium, Sendak described his avid love for books since childhood, when he was often bed-ridden with illness. He also discussed the genesis of his book, Where the Wild Things Are, saying that he originally "wanted the book to be Where the Wild Horses Are, but I couldn't draw horses.

Thomas Venclova, a Lithuanian nationalist, spoke in Memorial Hall about human rights and Lithuanian independence movement.

Dr. Thomas Green, a Syracuse University professor, was the last speaker of the 1977 Public Affairs Symposium.  The symposium was on "The Sisyphus Syndrome: Work, Leisure, and Vocation."  He talked about the importance of liberal arts education and the moral elements that are needed in government.

April 22, 1982, marked Dickinson's participation in Ground Zero Day, a nationwide event wherein 450 colleges and universities sponsored awareness of the potential threats and results of nuclear war. Ground Zero Week, which started Sunday, April 18th and led up to Ground Zero Day, was organized by Roger Molander, a former analyst for the National Security Council.

Charles Kuralt, a CBS news correspondent, spoke in Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium as part of the 1977 Public Affairs Symposium.  The symposium was on "The Sisyphus Syndrome: Work, Leisure, and Vocation."  He spoke about his 10 years of traveling around America and what he had gained and lost from his work.

Dr. Joanna Gillespie, a professor at Drew University, spoke in Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium as part of the 1977 Public Affairs Symposium.  The symposium was on "The Sisyphus Syndrome: Work, Leisure, and Vocation."  She spoke about Americans conception of family, leisure, and sex and compared American society to Sweden society.

Dr. John Coleman, President of Haverford College, was the keynote speaker of the 1977 Public Affairs Symposium.  The symposium was on "The Sisyphus Syndrome: Work, Leisure, and Vocation."  He discussed employment being important for both economic and psychological as well as his opinion that too many people are being pushed into college.

William Kunstler, a civil rights attorney, spoke at Dickinson's Dining Hall on January 27, 1977.  He was the keynote speaker of the Pre-Law Society's First Annual Law Symposium and spoke about injustice in the American legal system.

Gavin Eart, an English poet, read some of his own poems in Memorial Hall.  Some of the poems that Eart read included "The Wreck of the Deutschland", "The Statements", and "Fiction: The House Party."

Leonard Pitt, the artist in residence at Dickinson College, led a workshop about being a mime in Mathers Theater.

Dr. Barry Commoner gave the keynote speech at the Public Affairs Symposium entitled "Energy and War" in Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium.  Commoner's address largely focused on Afghanistan and humans reliance on nonrenewable fossil fuels.

Jorges Luis Borges was generally recognized as the greatest living poet, essayist, and short story writer in the spanish language. He visited Dickinson as part of a symposium entitled "Borges, the Poet." During the symposium, Borges discussed the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Hispanic literature, and English and North American literature.

Milton Lyons through the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellowship Program spent a week on campus. He lectured in various classes over the week. Lyons had spent more than thirty years in the theatrical field, and had produced over 125 musical productions. The purpose of his residency was to explain the connection between a liberal arts education and the career world.

The Music Department presented a lecture on Thu., Feb. 6 at 3:00pm and masterclass at 3:30pm on Fri., Feb. 7  titled "Care of the Singing and Speaking Voice" by Rosemary Ostrowski in the Rubendall Recital Hall.  

As part of the Metzger-Conway Program, Dr. Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie (Class of 1982) returned to deliver a lecture titled "Francesco Baglioni and the Creation of a Genre: How a Traveling Singer Changed the Course of Music History" at 7:30pm in Weiss 235.

Dickinson College presented "Arts in Society: Strategies for the 21st Century," a conference on changes in the field of the arts, from Thu., Sep. 10 to Sun., Sep. 13, 1998.  The conference featured a performance by the Turtle Island String Quartet.

Dr. Jacob Sargis, a fugitive from the Ottoman Empire, gave a lecture to students on the horrible atrocities being committed by the Ottomans against the Armenian population. Dr. Sargis was an American Methodist missionary. In what would later be known as the Armenian Genocide around 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman government. Dr. Sargis also lectured about the current global conflict. This was one of the first written acknowledgements of the First World War in the Dickinsonian.

Capt. James Gordon Steese (Class of 1902) spoke to Dickinson students about his time building the Panama Canal as well as explained why the canal was important for the United States and the world.