Mark Your Calendars for These Spring Semester Opportunities
Among the eminent speakers who will visit campus this spring are those who inspire their audiences through media as diverse as photography and text, comedy and public policy.
Their work offers a broad range of perspectives but all springs from common roots in humanitarian concerns. It demands a response and provokes meaningful dialogue about the human condition.
Humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine presents powerful images of modern-day slavery, creating a narrative that shares the humanity in each of her subjects, no matter how distant or isolated. Her images are not intended to shock, but rather to inspire the thought that we are all related as one people and all have beauty in ourselves. Kristine has been featured on CNN and
Saturday Night Live’s Sasheer Zamata will Skype in as part of the “Sasheer Awesomeness Video Fest” at the Cassandra Voss Center (CVC). The actor, writer
Stand-up comic Hari Kondabolu characterizes himself as a Brooklyn-based, Queens-raised political comedian. He has been featured on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” “Conan,” “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and NPR’s “Fresh Air.” His work revolves around social justice issues that include poverty, racism and a rejection of Indian stereotypes seen in media. Kondabolu and social justice scholar bell hooks appear in dialogue April 19. The conversation, sponsored by the Cassandra Voss Center, takes place during hooks’ weeklong residency at St. Norbert College.
Parker Palmer is the founder and senior partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal and focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is the author of nine books including his latest, “Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit,” which was chosen by Spirituality & Practice as one of the best books of 2011 on contemplation and social activism. Palmer and bell hooks appear in dialogue April 20.
Ramu Damodaran, chief of the United Nations Academic Impact initiative, wraps up the Great Decisions Lecture Series later in the semester. His work aligns institutions of higher learning and research with the objectives of the United Nations. Damodaran is also the secretary of the United Nations Committee on Information. He has served as executive assistant to the prime minister of India as well as in the diplomatic missions in Moscow and to the United Nations. Damodaran’s lecture, “The United Nations,” takes place on April 13.
Feb. 2, 2016