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Pulitzer Prize Winner James Forman Jr. to Explore Causes of Mass Incarceration at Lawrence Talk

James Forman Jr., author of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, will deliver a talk that explores the rise of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. The talk will be followed by a signing of his book, which is hailed as “superb and shattering” by The New York Times.

James Forman Jr. headshot
Pulitzer Prize Winner James Forman, Jr. to speak at Lawrence University.

Forman explores how the war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers and seeks to understand why. His exploration began when Forman served as a public defender in Washington, D.C. After he failed to keep a 15-year-old out of a juvenile detention center, he wondered how the mayor, the judge, the prosecuting attorney, the arresting officer, even the bailiff—all of whom were black—could send so many of their own to a grim, incarcerated future.  

Forman, now a professor at Yale Law School, will explore the answers during a talk and signing at Lawrence University on Thursday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Wriston Hall Auditorium.  He will show how good intentions and pressing dangers of the last 40 years have shaped the get-tough approach in the culture at large and in black neighborhoods.

Forman’s visit is sponsored by the Erickson Fund for Public Policy, Center for Institutions and Innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Lawrence University’s Government Department and Office for Diversity and Inclusion. He is hosted by Lawrence University Associate Professor of Government Arnold Shober. “Wisconsin has some of the highest incarceration rates of African-Americans in the country, yet race, crime, and prison are one of the most complex—and heart-rending—policy issues in modern America,” Shober says.  “Forman’s talk will help us think carefully and compassionately about our way forward.”

This event is free and open to the public and no registration is required.

Lecture and Signing with Pulitzer-Winner James Forman, Jr.
Thursday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center Auditorium
Appleton, WI
Free and Open to the Public

Impending Change in Chinese Leadership Focus of Lawrence University International Lecture Series

Chinese scholar Mark Frazier examines China’s upcoming change in leadership and how politics is conducted in the world’s most populous country in the second installment of Lawrence University’s 2012 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies.

Chinese scholar Mark Frazier

Frazier, co-director of the India China Institute at The New School in New York City, presents “Who is Xi? Knowns and Unknowns in China’s Political Future,” Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Xi Jinping is expected to be named new party chief Nov. 8 at China’s 18th Party Congress. Much uncertainty, however, says Frazier, lies below the surface of this impending transition. He will discuss how the lack of information about Xi is symptomatic of larger problems on the horizon for how politics are conducted in China as well as for how China is perceived in the world.

Frazier spent six years as a member of the Lawrence government department before joining the University of Oklahoma in 2007 as the ConocoPhillips Professor of Chinese Politics and Associate Professor of International and Area Studies. Earlier this year, he was appointed to an endowed position in Chinese politics at The New School, where he also co-directs the India China Institute.

A scholar on the politics of labor and social policies in China, Frazier is the author of the books “Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China” and “The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace.”

The Povolny Lecture Series, named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, who passed away in August, promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Campus Memorial Service Planned for Professor Emeritus Mojmir Povolny

An on-campus celebration of the remarkable life of Mojmir Povolny, Lawrence University professor emeritus of government and the Henry M. Wriston Professor of Social Sciences who recently passed away, is planned for Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center Nathan Marsh Pusey Room.

Professor Emeritus Mojmir Povolny

Everyone is welcome to attend the memorial service as well as submit any memories or reflections celebrating Professor Povolny’s life and career. A selection of the submissions will be read at the service and all letters will be assembled and presented to the Povolny family.

Anyone interested in sharing a letter or memory can submit them electronically to Janice Staedt at janice.staedt@lawrence.edu or mail them to:

Lawrence University
Attn: Janice Staedt
711 E Boldt Way SPC 18
Appleton, WI  54911

All submissions need to be received by Friday, October 19.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold Named Lawrence University Scarff Professor

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will spend part of the Fall Term at Lawrence University as the college’s 2012-13 Stephen Edward Scarff Distinguished Visiting Professor.

The Scarff professorship was established in 1989 by Edward and Nancy Scarff in memory of their son, Stephen, a member of the Lawrence class of 1975, who died in an automobile accident in 1984. It brings civic leaders and scholars to Lawrence to provide broad perspectives on the central issues of the day.

Russ Feingold

Feingold received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Lawrence in 2011 and spoke as part of the college’s 1994-95 convocation series.

During his Scarff appointment, Feingold will present guest lectures for the courses “Introduction to International Relations,” “International Politics” and others. He also will deliver a public address and participate in a weekend retreat with students at Björklunden, Lawrence’s 425-acre northern campus in Door County.

“We are extremely pleased that Senator Feingold will be able to offer his insights and wisdom directly to Lawrence’s students,” said Provost and Dean of the Faculty David Burrows. “His experience in government will complement our programs that stress the theoretical analysis of political systems with actual examples of how our politics works in contemporary life. His commitment to improving the living conditions of our citizens is a fine example of civic engagement and will serve as a helpful model for students, faculty and staff.”

One of Wisconsin’s highest-profile elected officials, Feingold spent 28 years in public service as both a three-time state senator (1982-92) and U.S. Senator (1994-2010). During his 18 years in Congress, Feingold established himself as one of the U.S. Senate’s most independent voices. He was the lone senator to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, opposed President Obama’s decision to expand the war in Afghanistan, was the first senator to propose a timetable to exit Iraq and fought against NAFTA and other financial deregulation and trade agreements he considered unfair.

“I could not be more pleased to be working with the students at one of the great pillars of education in Wisconsin, one that has produced some of Wisconsin’s strongest civic leaders,” said Feingold.

In 2011, Feingold accepted a visiting professor appointment at Marquette University Law School to teach the courses “Current Legal Issues: The U.S. Senate” and “Jurisprudence.”

Feingold also was named the inaugural Mimi and Peter Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University during the winter quarter of 2012 and will return to Stanford Law School to teach in 2013.

He is the author of the New York Times’ best-selling book “While America Sleeps,” which examines the challenges America faces as a nation since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2011, Feingold founded Progressives United, a grassroots organization designed to counter corporate influence in politics.

A native of Janesville, Feingold graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and earned a law degree in 1977 from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He returned to the states and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979. Feingold practiced law in Madison from 1979-85.

Feingold is the 18th person named Lawrence’s Scarff Professor. Previous appointments include McGeorge Bundy, national security adviser to presidents Kennedy and Johnson; Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., former chaplain at Yale University, noted civil rights advocate and peace activist; and Takakazu Kuriyama, former Japanese Ambassador to the U.S.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

International Lecture Series Opens with Examination of Germany 20 Years After Fall of Berlin Wall

Jon Greenwald, a former U.S. foreign service officer and witness to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, opens Lawrence University’s annual Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies Thursday, Jan. 14 with the address “The Unification of Germany: A 20th Anniversary Retrospective.”

The presentation, at 7 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium, is free and open to the public.

Jon-Greenwald_web.jpgStill active in foreign affairs, Greenwald is vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Crisis Group, the world’s leading conflict prevention non-governmental organization. He served as head of the U.S. Embassy’s (East) Berlin political section throughout the tumultuous period of the fall of the Wall and Germany’s reunification. He is the author of the 1993 book “Berlin Witness: An American Diplomat’s Chronicle of East Germany’s Revolution.”

In his presentation, Greenwald will share an eyewitness perspective on how and why the Wall fell, explore what Germany is 20 years later and discuss what role it may play today on such issues of concern to the United States as the building of the European Union, the war in Afghanistan and the nuclear crisis with Iran.

The address brings Greenwald back to the Lawrence campus, where he held the college’s Scarff Professorship for the 1998-99 academic year.

During a distinguished diplomatic career Greenwald held embassy and consular posts in Belgrade, Budapest and Madrid in addition to East Berlin, where he supervised the incarceration of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess. In the early 1990s, he served in the Department of State’s Office of Counter-Terrorism, where he devised diplomatic strategies for dealing with Libya, negotiated U.N. sanctions against Mu’ammar Qadhafi for the Pam-Am 103 bombing and led a State Department/CIA/Special Forces response team on a classified counter-terrorism mission during the Gulf War.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.