Horticulture!
Date: 24 August 2009
In a speech given to entering freshman at Convocation, History Professor Jim Tuten invoked the sardonic wit of Dorothy Parker to drop an astonishing metaphor onto the audience. In doing so, he challenged new students to adopt an active intellectual attitude toward learning and life. In a speech full of examples, he urged that they seek ways to engage college life, and their own education, beyond the classroom.
Tossing Out the Rules
Date: 15 September 2009
The economics correspondent for the Washington Bureau of the New York Times explains how the mortgage-based origins of the current financial crisis force us to rethink the wisdom of conventional economic policy.
Painting Politics and History in the North of Ireland
Date: 17 September 2009
In conjunction with a showing of Irish art, Fletcher talked about a phenomenon played out on Ulster walls, where political points of view have taken form as enormous mural paintings. From the time of greatest violence to the period following the peace agreement, the nature of the images has shifted to reflect changes in social and political conditions.
Founders Hall Dedication Speeches
Date: 23 October 2009
In their addresses, delivered at the re-opening and rededication of newly rebuilt Founders Hall, Juniata College President Tom Kepple, Juniata Trustee and Chair of the Founders Hall Campaign Linda McKonly '73, former Chair of the Juniata Board and member of the Classes of the 50s Reunion Committee Henry Gibbel ('57), Professor of History David Hsiung, and current student Sarah Davis celebrate the central role Founders Hall has played in the life and history of the College. They speak appreciatively of the Founders of the past and revel in the reemergence of this historic building as a central feature in the academic and architectural landscape of the College. They delight in the miraculous upgrade that this building has received, noting that once again this building will significantly touch the lives of each Juniata student.
Faces of Time
Date: 12 November 2009
An emeritus philosophy professor traces the beginning on his forty-year career as an art collector in Europe in the United States. He explains how he came to take faces and ideas of time as focus for his collecting.
The Argument and Evidence for Comics in the Classroom
Date: 18 November 2009
Having tested his comic book textbook Optical Allusions in four biology courses, Jay Hosler discusses the ability of comics to get students not majoring in Biology to read about science and, in the process, learn something about the subject.
Death, Artistic Tradition, and Aesthetic Knowledge in Jan Kochanowski’s Renaissance Laments
Date: 20 January 2010
Professor of Russian literature and language James Roney examines of the Laments poems by Polish writer Jan Kochanowski. The poem cycle used traditional poetic forms to explore the intellectual and faith implications of losing a beloved child.
Isotopic Insights: Show Me The Money
Date: 17 February 2010
Associate Professor of Geology Ryan Mathur explains the geochemical techniques he uses for two distinct ends. After detailing how he uses radiogenic isotopes to assist mining operations in locating gold and copper deposits in Africa and South America, Mathur discusses how his work on copper inspired a secondary project in which he uses trace metals to identify the origins of archeological artifacts.
My Life in the Very Real World: A Juniata Alum’s Life with Enron and Other Strange Events
Date: 31 October 2009
As a finance executive with some of the most powerful banking institutions in the world, Todd Kulp has seen some of the best and also some of the most unscrupulous behavior in the corporate world. He offers vignettes of corporate and individual irresponsibility and pointed advice to current students about the attitudes and actions that will allow them to weather hard times and survive even in unethical work environments.
United States Foreign Policy in Latin America: Promoting or Subverting Democracy?
Date: 9 November 2009
The National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice offers a pointed critique of US government efforts to shape electoral outcomes in Latin America. In the process he questions the US double-standard of behavior in being directly involved in elections around the world and questions the basic justness of such actions.
Lincoln: Warrior or Peacemaker
Date: 15 March 2010
Founder of the Lincoln Society Virginia, Phillip Stone, considers the case for remembering Lincoln as a peacemaker or a warrior and he concludes that the president had and relied on both qualities to guide the nation through the Civil War.
Making Policy in the Margins: The Federal Judiciary’s Role in Immigration Policy
Date: 16 March 2010
Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul, Anna O. Law notes that the battle over immigration policy is not limited to the legislative and executive branches. In fact, the federal judiciary plays an important role in determining immigration policy through its ability to interpret federal laws (which are inherently vague) and to determine whether legal standards have been met. Because few immigration cases reach the Supreme Court, it is the U.S. Courts of Appeals that ultimately determine operative immigration policy in the United States.
Twenty Years after the Iron Curtain: The Czech Republic in Transition
Date: 25 March 2010
On the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Zdeněk Janík, Assistant Professor at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, evaluates the extent to which the Czech Republic has successfully transitioned from communism to democracy. While Czech political institutions and the Czech economy have successfully democratized, Czech political culture and civil society have yet to fully embrace democratic principles.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Date: 7 April 2010
The author, an Associate Curator of Prints, Maps, and Paintings with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, explains how we can use the unique visual details in prints to understand daily life in eighteenth-century Britain.
The Oldest Rollercoaster In The World
The Telemarketer Basically Enjoys Talking with Goldbarth, Though It Ends Too Soon for Her Preference
Date: 29 April 2010
Widely published poet Gabe Welsch offers two poems and the back stories that explain the inspiration for each.
Honor, Mercy or Justice
Date: 4 May 2010
In an elegantly erudite talk, the professor of Russian explores the desire for honor, mercy and justice and concludes that human failings are such and our obsessions with honor and justice so narrow that mercy is both most needed and most lacking.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize – Hold On
Date: 15 May 2010
As a student at Juniata during the Civil Rights Movement, Harriet Michel inspired her peers to fight for racial and social equality. In Juniata College’s 132nd Commencement Address, Michel encourages the graduating class to compare the social problems in our country’s past to the present world and offers a series of choices that the graduates must make if they intend to contribute positively to the America of tomorrow.
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