Arts and Sciences Lecture Series was established by action of the College of Arts and Sciences Council on March 8, 1968. Its purpose is to honor Arts and Sciences faculty members who have made outstanding scholarly contributions to the University and to their disciplines. There are two lectures each year, a Fall Lecture and a Spring Lecture.
Arts and Sciences Distinguished Lecturer Guidelines
Dr. Christopher Mulligan,
Chemistry - "Pushing the Boundaries of Chemical Identification with Mass Spectrometry"
Dr. Cheri Simonds,
Communication - " Designing General Education Curriculum with Assesment in Mind"
Dr. Amy Wood,
History - "Sympathy for the Devil: The Origins of Modern Criminology"
Dr. Maura Toro-Morn,
Sociology & Anthropology - "Gendered Migrations in the Age of Global Disruption"
Dr. Lisa Szczepura,
Chemistry - "Precious Metal Clusters"
We have chosen to list all of The Arts and Sciences Lectures of the past, both in chronological order and by department. We do this to honor those who have earned this distinction and because the topics of the lectures give a good overview of the many dimensions of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Rajeev Goel,
Economics, Fall 2019
Alison Bailey,
Women and Gender Studies, Spring 2019
Daniel Liechty,
Social Work, Fall 2018
Laura Vogel,
Biological Sciences, Spring 2018
Maria Smith,
Sociology and Anthropology, Fall 2017
Alan Lessoff,
History, Spring 2017
David Malone,
Geography-Geology, Fall 2016
Dr. Tim Hunt,
English, Spring 2016
Dr. Ken Clements,
Mathematics, Fall 2015
Robert McLaughlin, English, Spring 2015
So Many Possibilities: Stephen Sondheim and the American Musical Theater
(view lecture)
Roger Thomas, Languages, Literatures, & Cultures, Fall 2014
"Word Spirit": Language Ideologies in Japan and Elsewhere
(listen to lecture)
Louis Perez, History, Spring 2014
In Search of the Beautiful Death: Japanese Samurai Aesthetics
Timothy D. Lash, Chemistry, Fall 2013
Porphyrins - Nature's Rainbow Coalition
(listen to lecture)
Mark Swerdlik, Psychology, Spring 2013
Securing the Yellow Ribbon: Caring for Our Veterans and Their Families During Phases of Deployment
(listen to lecture)
(view the PowerPoint presentation)
Wib Leonard, Sociology and Anthropology, Fall 2012
Symbolic Immortality in Sports
C. Andrew Weeks, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Spring 2012
German Anticlerical Culture in the Age of Faith
William Cupach, Communication, Fall 2011
The Dark Side of Relationship Pursuit: Stalking and Obsessive Relational Intrusion
Lane Crothers, Politics and Government, Spring 2011
Making Tea: The Rise of the American Tea Party
(listen to lecture)
Roberta Seelinger Trites, English, Fall 2010
The Pixar Maturity Formula: Sexism, Growth, and Social Responsibility in Children's Movies
(Part 1 of the lecture - MP4)
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Krzysztof Ostaszewski, Mathematics, Spring 2010
Modigliani, Miller, and Mortgages
(Part 1 of the lecture - MP4)
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James Stanlaw, Anthropology, Fall 2009
Culture, Cognition, and Contact: What the Meeting of Japanese and English Has to Say About Current Theories in Anthropology,
Linguistics and Cognitive Science
(listen to lecture - MP3 )
Lynn Worsham, English, Spring 2009
The Humanities in an Age of Catastrophe
(listen to lecture)
David Williams, Biological Sciences, Fall 2008
Not Neglecting Neglected Diseases: Efforts to Identify New Drugs for the Treatment of Schistosomiasis
(listen to lecture)
Ron Fortune, English, Spring 2008
'Scattered Impostures': Writing and the Work of Literary Forgery
Paul Garris, Biological Sciences, Fall 2007
The Chemistry-Biology Interface: Bridging rat and human to understand Parkinson's disease
(MP3)
Radheshyam K. Jayaswal, Biological Sciences, Spring 2007
Evolution of Super Bug Staphylococcus aureus: How far from the pre-antibiotic era?
Curtis White, English, Fall 2006
Contrition: a Performance and Reading from Requiem
Charles Su, Physics, Spring 2006
Enlightened by Lasers
Charles Thompson, Biological Sciences, Fall 2005
Life in Little Wooden Houses on the Prairie: What House Wrens Have Taught Us About the Evolution of Reproductive Tactics
Norma Presmeg, Mathematics, Spring 2005
Bridging the Arts and Sciences in Mathematics Education Research
Manfred Steger, Politics and Government, Fall 2004
From Market Globalism to Imperial Globalism: Ideology and U.S. Hegemony after 9/11
John Shields, English, Spring 2004
My Love of Learning and Desire for God
Susan Sprecher, Sociology, Fall 2003
Close Relationships: The Study of Attraction, Love, and Friendship
Rainer Grobe, Physics, Spring 2003
Atoms, Lasers and Computers
Thomas Simon, Philosophy, Fall 2002
Confessions of a Virtual Terrorist: "An Autobiography of Someone Else?"
Janice Neuleib, English, Spring 2002
Women Can't Do That: Writing Beyond the Rules
Paul Holsinger, History, Fall 2001
TALES FROM THE DARK CORNER: Kinfolks and Strangers in the Mountain South
A. Lee Beier, History, Spring 2001
Why Class? Why Gender? Why Race? The World Picture and its Dissolution in Renaissance England, 1500-1600
Steven Juliano, Biological Sciences, Fall 2000
Homage to St. Francis, St. Mark, & St. Genevieve: Mosquito ecology from behavior to communities
Douglas H. Lamb, Psychology, Spring 2000
Slippery Slopes: Sexual and Other Dual Relationships Between Psychologists and Their Clients, Supervisees, and Students
Robert Hunt, Politics and Government, Fall 1999
Resilient Communities for a New Era: Sustenance Without Magic?
Richard Martin, Physics, Spring 1999
Aurora, Chaos, and Undergraduate Education
Charles Orser, Anthropology, Fall 1998
An Archaeological Look at Race and Tradition in Pre-Famine Ireland
Sandra Metts, Communication, Spring 1998
The Pervasive Influence of Face and Facework in Social and Personal Relationships
Diane F. Urey, Foreign Languages, Fall 1997
Homer, Cervantes, and Galdós: Heroic Sieges in History
Raymond M. Bergner, Psychology, Spring 1997
Approaches to Problems of Meaninglessness
Willard Bohn, Foreign Languages, Fall 1996
Conceiving Concrete Poetry
Brian J. Wilkinson, Biological Sciences, Spring 1996
Staph Germs and Us: Flash Fire Invasions and Smoldering Border Disputes
Jamal R. Nassar, Politics and Government, Fall 1995
In Search of Destiny: The Middle East Between Peaceful Coexistence and Religious Revivalism
William Morgan, English, Spring 1995
Of Fiddles, Manuscripts, and Silences: Watching Thomas Hardy at Work
Laura E. Berk, Psychology, Fall 1994
Why Children Talk to Themselves
John Barron Pryor, Psychology, Spring 1994
The Social Psychology of Sexually Harassing Behavior
Mark Wyman, History, Fall 1993
America, Europe, and Immigrants Who Returned
Richard J. Payne, Politics and Government, Spring 1993
Culture and Force in American Foreign Policy
Lucia Cordell Getsi, English, Fall 1992
Matters of Life and Death: Poetry and the (Un)Making of Self
Glenn D. Reeder, Psychology, Spring 1992
Inferring the Traits that Others Possess
L. Moody Simms, History, Fall 1991
Why Popular Culture?
Elizabeth McMahan, English, Fall 1990
Edith Wharton, Summer, and Sexuality
Richard A. Stivers, Sociology, Spring 1990
The Deconstruction of the University
Carl J. Ekberg, History, Fall 1989
Stealing Women in French Illinois
Anthony E. Liberta, Biological Sciences, Spring 1989
The Influence of Surface Mining on the Survival of Symbiotic Soil Fungi
Earl Reitan, History, Fall 1988
The Glorious Revolution in England, 1688-89: A Tri-Centennial View
Carol Thomas Neely, English, Spring 1988
Reading Women and Madness in Shakespeare and His Culture
Alan Monroe, Politics and Government, Fall 1987
Does the U. S. Government Do What the People Want?
Gerlof D. Homan, History, Spring 1987
The Fall and Rise of France, 1940-1945
Ray Lewis White, English, Fall 1986
A Walking Tour of Winesburg, Ohio
Rodger L. Tarr, English, Spring 1986
The Victorian Lady Jane Welsh Carlyle and the Psycho-Feminist Myth
John B. Freed, History, Fall 1985
The Medieval Legacy of the Family
Roger C. Anderson, Biological Sciences, Spring 1985
The State of Prairies
John A. Dossey, Mathematics, Fall 1984
The Second International Mathematics Study: Who's on First and Why
Joel G. Verner, Politics and Government, Spring 1984
The Cuban Revolution and the International System
Cheryl R. Stevenson, Chemistry, Fall 1983
The Interface Between the Atom, Electron and Dasein (Consciousness)
John F. Cragan, Communication, Spring 1983
American Political Communication: An Orwellian View of Computer-based Campaign Speeches and Rallies
Jonathan E. Reyman, Anthropology, Fall 1982
Prehistoric Pueblos: Models for the Future
William Linneman, English, Spring 1982
Will Rogers and Art Buchwald: Fifty Years of Political Humor
John Guegen, Politics and Government, Fall 1981
Selfism and the Dark Night of the Intellect
Arlan Richardson, Chemistry, Spring 1981
Aging, Diet, and Cancer
F. James Davis, Sociology, Fall 1980
Who is Black?: The Societal Definition of Race
Charles B. Harris, English, Spring 1980
Humor and the Recent American Novel
Harvey G. Zeidenstein, Politics and Government, Fall 1979
Presidential Popularity and Presidential Support in Congress: Eisenhower to Carter
Mark A. Plummer, History, Spring 1979
Lincoln's Railsplitter: Richard J. Oglesby
Norton B. Crowell, English, Fall 1978
The Anti-Intellectual Legacy of Romanticism
Phares G. O'Daffer, Mathematics, Spring 1978
Mathematics in the Schools: Myths, Realities, and a Look into the Crystal Ball
Jack A. Ward, Biological Sciences, Fall 1977
Fish Tales and Facts - Food for Thought and the Impoverished
Bernard L. Ryder, Chemistry, Spring 1977
A Mural of Organic Chemistry for the Ivy'd Halls
Frederic N. Firestone, Economics, Fall 1976
Change in Economics: Darwin Meets Newton
Roger J. Champagne, History, Spring 1976
Political Leadership and the American Revolution
E. Joan Miller, Geography, Fall 1975
Nothing but Feet on the Ground: Folk Geography of the Ozarks
Robert K. Ritt, Mathematics, Spring 1975
Non-Deterministic Model of the Universe
Dale B. Vetter, English, Fall 1974
Likeness, Difference, and the Humanities
Herman E. Brockman, Biological Sciences, Spring 1974
Most Precious Heritage--Is it Endangered
Vernon C. Pohlmann, Sociology, Fall 1973
The Census Counts on You - Can You Count on the Census
Walter S. G. Kohn, Politics and Government, Spring 1973
Wine, Voters, and Song: An Essay on Austrian Politics
Edward L. Schapsmeier, History, Fall 1972
Paul H. Douglas From Pacifist to Soldier - Statesman
Edward B. Jelks, Anthropology, Spring 1972
Digging is My Bag
Wesley C. Calef, Geography, Fall 1971
The Public Lands: Perennial Problem
Stanley E. Grupp, Sociology, Spring 1971
The Marihuana Muddle
Stanley S. Marzolf, Psychology, Fall 1970
What Has a Clinical Psychologist Been Up to All These Years?
Alice L. Ebel, Politics and Government, Spring 1970
The Dilemma of Local Government
Edward L. Mockford, Biological Sciences, Fall 1969
Natural History of Bark Lice and Book Lice
Gary L. Cronkhite, Speech/Psychology, Spring 1969
Cultural Deprivation the Wasp Ghetto
Helen M. Cavanagh, History, Fall 1968
Illinois in Region and Nation, 1850-1861