Honors Convocation

Tag: Honors Convocation

Pianist Catherine Kautsky Closes 2013-14 Convocation Series

Lawrence University Professor of Music Catherine Kautsky explores the ways composers speak through their music in the college’s annual Honors Convocation.

Catherine-Kausky_newsblog
Professor of Music Catherine Kautsky

Kautsky presents “Whispered Doubts and Shouted Convictions: What are These Composers Saying?” Thursday, May 29 at 11:10 a.m in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel in the final address of the 2013-14 convocation series. The event is free and open to the public.

The convocation also will be live streamed.

Playing music ranging from John Phillip Sousa’s patriotic “Stars and Stripes Forever” to works filled with question marks, Kautsky will discuss what composers can tell us about their personal convictions, struggles and fallibilities and how they use keys, harmonies and rhythms to convey world views.

The Honors Convocation publicly recognizes students and faculty recipients of awards and prizes for excellence in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, languages and music as well as demonstrated excellence in athletics and service to others. Students elected to honor societies also will be recognized.

An accomplished pianist, Kautsky was chosen to speak as the recipient of Lawrence’s annual Faculty Convocation Award, which honors a faculty member for distinguished professional work. She is the fifth faculty member so honored.

Chair of Lawrence’s keyboard department, Kautsky has performed throughout the United States and abroad as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra and chamber musician, appearing in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York and Boston’s Jordan Hall to the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and the Cultural Center in Chicago.

She has traveled widely, performing frequently in France and England and recently has presented concerts and classes in China, Korea, Brazil and South Africa.

She has soloed with the St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; performed chamber music at the Aspen, Tanglewood and Grand Teton summer music festivals; and appeared frequently on the radio in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Madison.

Many of her recent performances have centered around social or literary themes, locating musical masterpieces in their historical moment. She has presented lecture-recitals on the music of the Holocaust, French music and World War I, and Schumann and the writings of ETA Hoffmann. Her repertoire runs the gamut from Bach to Rzewski and Crumb, with a special emphasis on French music and the music of the first Viennese school.

Kautsky, who taught in the Lawrence conservatory of music from 1987-2002 and then returned to the faculty in 2008, holds a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, a master’s degree from the Juilliard School and a doctoral degree in performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Honors Convocation Features Political Scientist Claudena Skran

Lawrence University political scientist Claudena Skran discusses two approaches for combining thought and action —the rocket ship and the catalyst models — in the final address in Lawrence’s 2012-13 convocation series.

Professor Claudena Skran

Skran, professor of government and Edwin and Ruth West Professors in Economics and Social Science, presents “Liberal Arts Education: A Catalyst for Thought into Action” Thursday, May 23 at 11:10 a.m in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel at the college’s annual Honors Convocation. She also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

Skran is the fourth recipient of Lawrence’s annual Faculty Convocation Award, which honors a faculty member for distinguished professional work.

According to Skran,the rocket ship approach provides a foundation for students to help them “blast off” into life in hopes they will fly high and achieve much. This model, which sees thought and action as separate stages of development, has worked for much of the last half century, but a lack of flexibility and entrepreneurism is threatening its future.

In the catalyst model, liberal arts colleges provide the necessary structure and special ingredients needed to accelerate reactions, which produce unexpected, sometimes unplanned, results that are largely student driven and bring “thought” and “action” closer together.

The annual Honors Convocation publicly recognizes students and faculty recipients of awards and prizes for excellence in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, languages and music as well as demonstrated excellence in athletics and service to others. Students elected to honor societies also will be recognized.

A specialist in international relations, with research interests in refugee issues, the United Nations and non-government organizations, Skran joined the Lawrence faculty in 1990.  She is the author of the book “Refugees in Interwar Europe:  The Emergence of a Regime.”

In 2005, Skran was awarded a Fulbright Scholars grant to study the role of NGOs in refugee resettlement in post-civil war Sierra Leone. She has subsequently made numerous return trips to Sierra Leone, often with Lawrence students for research projects. She is the founder of the NGO KidsGive, a scholarship program that supports nearly 500 students at three different schools in Sierra Leone.

A 1983 Rhodes Scholar, Skran earned a bachelor’s degree in social science from Michigan State University and her master’s and doctorate degrees in international relations at Oxford University.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

 

 

 

Annual Honors Convocation Features Historian Jerald Podair

Is the “life of the mind” obsolete and does a liberal arts education have any value today?

Lawrence University historian Jerald Podair examines those questions in the college’s annual Honors Convocation Thursday, May 31. Podair presents “The Only Life: Liberal Arts and the Life of the Mind at Lawrence” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. He also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Both events are free and open to the public.

The Honors Convocation also will be webcast live.  Watch it here.

Professor of History Jerald Podair

Podair, professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies, will examine the value of a liberal arts education and why the hallmarks of a Lawrence education — critical thinking, deep reading, analytical reasoning and effective writing — are essential for success in a 21st-century economy as well as for a rich intellectual, emotional and spiritual life.

He was selected for the series as the third recipient of Lawrence’s annual Faculty Convocation Award. Chosen by President Jill Beck from faculty nominations, recipients are selected on the basis of the high quality of their professional work.

The annual honors convocation publicly recognizes students and faculty recipients of awards and prizes for excellence in the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, languages and music as well as demonstrated excellence in athletics and service to others. Students elected to honor societies also will be recognized.  The students and faculty award winners will receive their awards May 30 at the Honors Dinner.

A specialist on 20th-century American history and race relations, Podair is the author of the books “The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis” and “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer,” a biography of the civil rights leader who planned the 1963 March on Washington.

His current scholarship includes the book “American Conversations,” a collection of transformative documents in American history scheduled for publication this fall and a baseball-themed book on the cultural implications of the Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles.

Podair joined the Lawrence faculty in 1998 as the winner of that year’s Allan Nevins Prize, an award conferred by the Society of American Historians for the best Ph. D. dissertation in history written in the country that year. He was named a fellow of the New York Academy of History in 2009 and was appointed by the governor to Wisconsin’s Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, on which he served from 2008 to 2009.

A native of New York City, Podair earned his bachelor’s degree at New York University, a law degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University

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 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries. Follow us on Facebook..

U.S. Jurist Shares his Perspective on American Justice in Lawrence Honors Convocation

Judge D. Michael Lynn of the United States Bankruptcy Court shares his insights on the state of justice in America, Thursday, May 25 in Lawrence University’s annual Honors Convocation. The address is the final installment in Lawrence’s 2005-06 convocation series.

Lynn presents “American Justice: Proud Promise or Oxymoron — How Does the Legal System Measure Up?” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton. Lynn also will conduct a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m. in Riverview Lounge in the Memorial Union. Both events are free and open to the public.

While the Pledge of Allegiance promises “justice for all” and the preamble of U.S. Constitution expresses the establishment of justice as one of its goals, Lynn will address the definition of justice itself and the many different perspectives from which justice can be viewed. He also will examine the question of whether the US. system of democratic governance is as just as it can be and discuss the importance of non-violent methods for resolving disputes in a civilized society’s promise of justice.

A 1965 graduate of Lawrence, Lynn was appointed judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in September, 2001 after a 29-year law career in which he specialized in corporate reorganization and bankruptcy in Dallas. In 2003, he presided over one of the nation’s largest-ever Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, the $11.4 billion debt filing by the energy company Mirant Corporation.

Lynn, 62, was a founding member of the John C. Ford American Inn of Court in Dallas, which received the AIC’s first Model of Excellence Award in 2004. He was individually cited by the Ford Inn of Court for his efforts in developing and implementing several programs sponsored by the Inn that were recognized with national awards. An American Inn of Court is an organization of judges, lawyers and occasionally law professors and law students who meet regularly to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar.

A native of Chicago, Lynn also serves as a visiting law professor on the faculty of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, where he teaches the course “Advanced Bankruptcy.” He has been honored by the State Bar of Texas for his faculty participation in numerous continuing legal education programs.

Lynn has written extensively on the field of law, including co-authoring 2005’s “Collier Handbook for Trustees and Debtors in Possession” and 1995’s “Creditors’ Rights Handbook.” In addition, he is a contributing author to the books “Collier on Bankruptcy,” and “Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide.”

After earning a degree in government at Lawrence, Lynn attended Columbia Law School, earning a J.D. degree in 1972.

Lawrence University Art Historian, American History Scholar and Jazz Director Named to Endowed Professorships

Lawrence University President Jill Beck announced the appointment of Carol Lawton, Jerald Podair and Fred Sturm to endowed professorships Thursday (5/26) at the college’s annual honors convocation.

Lawton, professor of art history, was named to the Ottilia Buerger Professorship in Classical Studies. Podair, associate professor of history, was named to the Robert S. French Professorship in American Studies. Sturm, professor of music, was named to the Kimberly-Clark Professorship in Music.

Appointments to endowed professorships recognize academic distinction through teaching excellence and scholarly achievement. Lawrence currently has 47 endowed chairs.

Lawton, a specialist in ancient Greek sculpture, joined the Lawrence art department in 1980 and serves as curator of Lawrence’s Ottilia Buerger Collection of ancient and Byzantine coins. She has made research trips to Greece each of the past 25 years. Working with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, she is studying Greek and Roman votive reliefs excavated from the Athenian Agora, the center of civic activity of ancient Athens.

She has received research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the J. Paul Getty Trust and is the author of the 1995 book “Attic Document Reliefs of the Classical and Hellenistic Periods” (Oxford University Press).

In 2004, Lawton was recognized with Lawrence’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, becoming the only faculty member to earn all three of the college’s major teaching awards. She was the recipient of the college’s Young Teacher Award in 1982 and the Freshman Studies Teaching Award in 1998. She earned her Ph.D. in art history from Princeton University.

The Buerger professorship was established in 2002 by a bequest from the estate of Ottilia Buerger, a 1938 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Lawrence with a degree in Latin. A native of Mayville, Buerger taught Latin and English for several years at high schools in Goodman, Wautoma and Beaver Dam.

Combining a life-long interest in history, classics and numismatics, Buerger began coin collecting as a hobby in the 1950s and wound up assembling a world-renowned collection of ancient Greek and Roman coins. Buerger’s collection of 352 coins was donated to Lawrence after her death in 2001 and is used extensively today as a teaching and research resource for students and faculty studying the ancient world.

Podair joined the Lawrence faculty in 1998. A one-time Wall Street lawyer, he turned his attention to 20th-century American history in the early 1990s, focusing his research interests on urban history and racial and ethnic relations. He was recognized in 1998 with the Allan Nevin Prize from the Society of American Historians, which honored him for the single most outstanding dissertation in American history that year. It was published as the book “The Strike That Changed New York” in 2003 by Yale University Press.

He served as a consulting scholar for the recent Joe McCarthy exhibition at the Outagamie County Museum and worked with documentary filmmaker Richard Broadman as a historical consultant on a film chronicling the history of Black-Jewish relations in modern New York City. He earned his doctorate at Princeton University.

The French Professorship was established in 2001 by a gift from William Zuendt in honor of his former high school counselor and long-time friend, Robert French, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence in 1948 with a self-designed major in American studies. The professorship is intended to embrace a broad array of subjects, including history, literature, political thought and artistic expression, in examining America’s past.

French, a devoted student and collector of items relating to Abraham Lincoln and his legacy, helped establish the Lincoln Reading Room in Lawrence’s Seeley G. Mudd Library. He donated a collection of more than 1,500 items related to Lincoln, among them books, artwork and published speeches.

Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music, is in his second stint as a faculty member in the Lawrence conservatory of music. A 1973 Lawrence graduate, he first directed jazz studies here from 1977-91, then returned in 2002 after spending 11 years as professor and chair of jazz studies and contemporary media at the Eastman School of Music in New York.

An award-winning composer, his jazz compositions and arrangements have been performed by Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis and Clark Terry, among others, and have been issued by numerous record labels, including Concord Jazz, RCA and Warner Brothers Records. Sturm received a Grammy Award nomination in 1988 and was named the 2003 recipient of the ASCAP/IAJE Commission In Honor of Quincy Jones, a prize granted annually to one established jazz composer of international prominence.

He concurrently serves as principal guest conductor of the Hessischer Rundfunk (German Public Radio for the State of Hessen) Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany and as visiting conductor of professional jazz ensembles and radio orchestras in Europe. During his nearly 30-year university teaching career, Sturm’s jazz ensembles have been cited by Downbeat Magazine as the finest in the United States and Canada eight times. He earned a master’s degree in music composition from Eastman School of Music.

The Kimberly-Clark Foundation established the Kimberly-Clark Professorship in Music in 1995 in recognition and support of the cultural contributions Lawrence makes to the quality of life in the community.

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger Discusses Critical Issues Facing Higher Education in Lawrence University Honors Convocation

Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University and a renowned legal scholar recognized for his expertise in free speech and the First Amendment, examines three controversial subjects facing American higher education in the final address of Lawrence University’s 2004-05 convocation series.

Bollinger presents “Three Issues for Colleges and Universities: Affirmative Action, Academic Freedom and Globalization” Thursday, May 26 at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The address is free and open to the public.

Bollinger began his tenure as Columbia’s 19th president June 1, 2002. A 1971 graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an articles editor of the Law Review, he previously served as president of the University of Michigan (1996-2001) and provost of Dartmouth College (1994-1996).

As president of Michigan, Bollinger was named the defendant in two affirmative action lawsuits — Gratz vs. Bollinger and Grutter vs. Bollinger — that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuits were filed by white applicants who charged they were unfairly denied admission to Michigan’s undergraduate program and to the university’s law school, respectively, while less-qualified blacks and Latinos were accepted.

In December, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can use race as a factor as a criteria for admissions, citing a broad social benefit gained from having diversity in the classroom. But the court also said that race cannot be an overriding factor in schools admissions programs, indicating such plans can lead to unconstitutional policies.

In two separate decisions, the Supreme Court struck down the University of Michigan’s “point system” that was used for undergraduate admissions, but approved a separate policy used by its law school that accords race a less prominent role in the admissions decision-making process.

More recently, Bollinger, 59, has found himself in the midst of a controversy over academic freedom involving faculty members of Columbia’s department of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures. Students taking classes in the department have voiced concerns of “feeling cowed” by professors for expressing their pro-Israel sentiments in the classroom.

The student allegations of faculty intimidation were detailed in a 40-minute documentary entitled “Columbia Unbecoming.” Produced by a post-9/11, Boston-based organization called the David Project, “Columbia Unbecoming” caused a furor at the New York city campus and left Bollinger tip-toeing a line between protecting students and defending scholarly discourse.

A former law clerk for U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, Bollinger began his academic career in 1973, joining the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School. He was promoted to dean of the law school in 1987, a position he held for seven years before leaving in 1994 to become provost and professor of government at Dartmouth College. Two years later Bollinger returned to Ann Arbor as the University of Michigan’s 12th president.

A noted advocate of affirmative action in higher education, Bollinger has written widely on free speech and First Amendment issues, including the books “Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in the Modern Era” (University of Chicago Press, 2001), “Images of a Free Press”(University of Chicago Press, 1991) and “The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech in America” (Oxford University Press, 1986).

His leadership in defending affirmative action in higher education has been recognized with numerous awards, among them the National Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice and the National Equal Justice Award from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

This past March, the University of California at Berkeley honored Bollinger for his commitment to freedom of speech and diversity, presenting him its Clark Kerr Award, which recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary and distinguished contribution to the advancement of higher education.

A native of Santa Rosa, Calif., Bollinger earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon in 1968. He was named a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992.