(Read an account of Dr. Roberts' visit to Augustana.) Dr. Roberts was one of the Little Rock Nine (the nine children who were the first to integrate the Little Rock Public Schools in 1957). In his presentation, Dr. Roberts guides participants through an exploration of the lessons to be learned from the chaotic episode at Central High School. He believes that there are still great strides to be made in terms of interactions across lines of demarcation. He endeavors to alleviate the confusion in all the various arenas of difference and diversity that characterize our nation. Little Rock offered dramatic examples of negative approaches to difference and the problem those approaches create. The major part of Dr. Roberts' presentations is devoted to identifying the lessons and urging the audience to commit to using this information.

Dr. Roberts holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Southern Illinois University and a MSW from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is licensed in California as both a psychologist and a social worker. He has served since 1975 as CEO of Terrence J. Roberts & Associates, a management consultant firm offering expertise in several areas, including managing racial and ethnic diversity and developing multicultural awareness. Since 1998, Dr. Roberts has been a desegregation consultant for the Little Rock School District. A published author, he also maintains a general psychology practice in Pasadena, Calif. He has received numerous awards and is a member of several boards, including Pacific Oaks College Board of Trustees and the Little Rock Nine Foundation. (Back to top)

September 11, 2008 - Keith Hampton:
"The Healing Power of Music"

Keith Hampton is currently the Director of Music Ministries and Organist at the Park Manor Christian Church, in Chicago. He is very active as a conductor, an organ soloist, and an accompanist and is in constant demand as a workshop clinician. Keith Hampton earned a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J.; a Master of Arts Degree from Marywood University, Scranton, Pa.; and a Doctor of Music Degree in Church Music from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. In addition, he has attended the Robert Shaw Workshop for Choral Conductors sponsored by Carnegie Hall in New York. In the summers of 2003 and 2004, Dr. Hampton was chosen as one of 14 conductors who participated in the Oregon Bach Festival Conducting Master classes. This festival was held at the University of Oregon under the direction of Helmuth Rilling and Thomas Somerville.

Dr. Hampton is the President of Dr. K. T. Productions, Inc. that provides music transcriptions of Black Gospel Music with the use of Finale by Coda Music. As a published composer, Keith Hampton's arrangements of Spirituals and Gospel Songs can be found at Augsburg Press, Earthsongs Publications and Hinshaw Music. In 1998, his composition, "Praise His Holy Name," was among the 10 most popular pieces to be performed by choirs. (Back to top)

September 25, 2008 - James Kunstler: "The Long Emergency"

James Howard Kunstler says he wrote "The Geography of Nowhere," "Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work."

"Home From Nowhere" was a continuation of that discussion with an emphasis on the remedies. A portion of it appeared as the cover story in the September 1996 Atlantic Monthly. His next book in the series, "The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition," is a look a wide-ranging look at cities here and abroad, an inquiry into what makes them great (or miserable), and in particular what America is going to do with its mutilated cities. His latest book, "The Long Emergency," is about the challenges posed by the coming permanent global oil crisis, climate change, and other "converging catastrophes of the 21st Century."

Mr. Kunstler is also the author of nine novels. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine and Op-Ed page, where he has written on environmental and economic issues. He graduated from the State University of New York, Brockport, worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of newspapers, and finally as a staff writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1975, he dropped out to write books on a full-time basis. He has no formal training in architecture or the related design fields. He has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, MIT, RPI, the University of Virginia and many other colleges, and he has appeared before many professional organizations such as the AIA , the APA., and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Back to top)

October 9, 2008 - Doug Glanville: "Culture of Sports:
Steroid Use in Professional Baseball"

The son of two academics, Doug Glanville always loved playing ball, but could not deny his love of learning. After he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1988, he played varsity baseball for three years. The summer after his sophomore year, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the top amateur league in the country, where he was named was named the Top Pro Prospect. The following year, 1991, he became a first-round draft pick by the Chicago Cubs. Even so, he returned to school to finish his degree in Systems Engineering from University of Pennsylvania.

Doug made his major league baseball debut on June 9, 1996, as an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs. At his retirement after nine seasons as a major league player, he had accumulated 1,100 hits and a 293-game errorless streak. In 1999 he was second in the National League with 204 hits, and eighth in the National League in hitting with a .325 batting average. A student of labor history, Doug also served on the Executive Subcommittee of the Major League Baseball Players Association and as a player representative.

As a guest Op-Ed writer for The New York Times, Mr. Glanville has a recent piece that speaks to the culture of sports, addressing the culture of performance that leads to some players abusing steroids, and how maybe a healthy amount of fear could be a solution. He speaks on "Doing It Afraid," a lesson he learned from reigning National League MVP Jimmy Rollins, back when Mr. Rollins was just a rookie and Mr. Glanville was the veteran player. In his talks, Mr. Glanville shows how a healthy amount of fear can lead to great results, to people pushing themselves to the brink of their capabilities and finding depths of strength and talent they never knew existed.

He has put his Penn engineering degree to good use by founding GK Alliance, LLC, a green-friendly real estate development company specializing in residential building in the western suburbs of Chicago. (Back to top)

October 16, 2008 - Robert Levey: "Campaign Coverage 2008:
Not the Media's Finest Hour"
(Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar)

Robert Levey's focus will be that when media get into the prognostication business, and out of the reporting business, we get the inaccurate mess that we've gotten so far in 2008. From 1981 to 2004, "Bob Levey's Washington" appeared five days a week in The Washington Post. During his 36-year career at the Post, Mr. Levey has covered presidential politics, Congress, local news, features, and sports. His column won major awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Journalism Review. He was named one of the top columnists in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine six times, and in 1999 the magazine named him "Washingtonian of the Year."

Mr. Levey also has had an extensive career in electronic media and has worked for seven radio stations, four TV stations, and one Internet site. "Levey Live," an hour-long chat that appeared twice each week on the Post's website, won consistently high ratings. He has been called "The Larry King of the Internet," although he does not wear suspenders. He has received the top rating as a speaker by the International Platform Association, the country's leading speakers' bureau, and he has served as an adjunct professor or lecturer in journalism at the University of Maryland and Duke University. He has recently been appointed to the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Managerial Journalism at the University of Memphis where he will teach courses in the newspaper/magazine concentration. (Back to top)

November 20, 2008 - LS Convocation: Ages through the AGES"

The second term of the liberal studies sequence (LSFY 102) deals with the past, more specifically with how explorations of the past can deepen our understanding of the human condition. Members of the LSFY faculty will prepare us to engage with this general issue by presenting ideas and issues drawn from the ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and early modern periods. We propose to place these ideas in temporal and cultural context by presenting them along with images and music drawn from these earlier periods. (Back to top)

December 4, 2008 - Barbara Gottschalk: "Out Beyond Ideas"
(Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar)

Barbara Gottschalk is Executive Vice President of Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings together young people from Israel, Palestine, and other troubled areas for experience in living together peacefully. The organization has a summer camp in the United States and a Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem. More than 2,000 participants have graduated from the camp in Maine and then returned to their regions for regular meetings and coexistence programs. Barbara Gottschalk also has directed social service agencies responsible for treatment of people with mental and physical disabilities. Topics: Community-building on a worldwide scale; learning to care about just about everyone on earth; social work methods put to work creatively; Seeds of Peace-how it works; and media literacy.(Back to top)

January 15, 2009 - Dr. Scott Robinson: "To Go Among the Saracens: St. Francis of Assisi, Islam, & Music"

Was Francis of Assisi's first Rule for his order rejected because, at a time when the Vatican was trying to raise money and support for the Fifth Crusade, Francis urged brothers who wish to go among the Saracens not to argue or dispute with them, but to be subject to every living creature for God's sake? Did Francis bring back Islamic devotional practices from the Middle East and Christianize them?

Scott Robinson, a Third Order Franciscan, shows how Francis was centuries ahead of his time in the area of interfaith relations. Scott Robinson, PhD, TSSF, founded Mandala - an offshoot of his Balkan folk band Gypsophilia - as a vehicle for his original Sufi-inspired Christian Devotional music. Drawing on a comprehensive musical education and a diverse background in multiple musical styles, the members of Mandala join to bring forth a joyous noise that at once is deeply personal and transcendently universal. Melodic and rhythmic influences from vastly different cultural and musical traditions are interwoven to form a whole cloth of pure ecstatic praise. Dr. Robinson teaches at Eastern University near Philadelphia. Though classically trained as a composer, he has spent much of his life in and around folk music of various kinds. He attends the Church of St. Martin in the Fields in Philadelphia. (Back to top)

January 29, 2009 - Ronald Thiemann: "The Future of Religion
in a Post-Secular Age" [Olin Auditorium]

Professor of Theology and Professor of Religion and Society, Ronald Thiemann has been at Harvard since 1986, first as Dean of the Divinity School (1986-1998) and then in his current professorial position. He also is a Faculty Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and serves on the steering committee of the center's Joint Program in Religion and Public Life. He is a faculty affiliate at the Kennedy School's Harvard Center for Public Leadership and has received a fellowship from the center in support of his current research project.

An ordained Lutheran and a specialist on the role of religion in public life, Professor Thiemann is the author of "Revelation and Theology: The Gospel as Narrated Promise," "Constructing a Public Theology: The Church in a Pluralistic Culture," and "Religion in Public Life: A Dilemma for Democracy;." He is also an editor of "Who Will Provide: The Changing Role of Religion in American Social Welfare." He is currently working on a book-length project entitled "Prisoners of Conscience: Public Intellectuals in a Time of Crisis," which examines the courageous stance of four public figures - Anna Akhmatova, Albert Camus, Langston Hughes, and George Orwell - during the tumultuous period of 1914-45. Before coming to Harvard, Dr. Thiemann taught for 10 years at Haverford College, where he also served as acting provost and acting president. (Back to top)

February 12, 2009 - Melissa Harris-Lacewell

Melissa Harris-Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University. She is the author of the award-winning book, "Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought" (Princeton 2004). She is currently at work on a new book: "For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough. "

Her academic research is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges facing contemporary black Americans and to better understand the multiple, creative ways that African Americans respond to these challenges. Her academic research has been published in scholarly journals and edited volumes and her interests include the study of African American political thought, black religious ideas and practice, and social and clinical psychology. Professor Harris-Lacewell's creative and dynamic teaching is also motivated by the practical political and racial issues of our time. For example, her course entitled "Disaster, Race and American Politics" explored the multiple political meanings of Hurricane Katrina. Professor Harris-Lacewell has taught students from grade school to graduate school and has been recognized for her commitment to the classroom as a site of democratic deliberation on race. In a 2007 article of the Princeton Weekly Bulletin Professor Harris-Lacewell's colleagues recognized her contributions to the academy.

"She has to be one of the most talented intellectuals of her generation," said Cornel West, the Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion. "She brings sophisticated quantitative skills, a sense of history and a synthetic imagination. That's rare among social scientists, and that's why I'm so thoroughly excited and inspired that she's here."

"What I like best is that she combines all this energy and cleverness with political passion, an eye for the big picture and a flair for communicating ideas," said Larry Bartels, the Donald E. Stokes Professor in Public and International Affairs.

Professor Harris-Lacewell's writings have been published in newspapers throughout the country. She has provided expert commentary on U.S. elections, racial issues, religious questions and gender issues for many television, radio and print sources both in the United States and around the world. She travels extensively and works on behalf of local and national efforts for justice. Professor Harris-Lacewell received her B.A. in English from Wake Forest University, her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is currently a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York. (Back to top)

March 12, 2009 - LSFY 103 Program: "Culture Wars"

Mark Anderson, Roger Butts and Talia Alvi will be discussing the culture war theory based on their faith (Pentecostal, Unitarian, and Muslim). The panel discussion will be moderated by faculty member Mariano Magalhaes.

March 26, 2009 - Gregg Levoy: "Don't Just Declare a Major,
Follow a Calling"

Gregg Levoy is the author of "Callings: Finding and Following An Authentic Life," a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Books, and One Spirit Book Club, as well as a text in various graduate programs in Management and Organizational Leadership; and "This Business of Writing." A former adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, and former columnist and reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today, he has written about the subject of callings for the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Omni, Psychology Today, Reader's Digest, and many others, as well as for corporate, promotional and television projects.

Mr. Levoy also will be doing a session entitled, "The True Material: Finding Your Calling as a Writer." (Back to top)

April 9, 2009 - Donald Kraybill: "Amish Grace:
How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy"

Nationally recognized for his scholarship on Anabaptist groups, Dr. Kraybill is the author or editor of more than 20 books and dozens of professional articles. His books have been translated into six different languages. His latest book, "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy" (co-authored by Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher) explores the Nickel Mine shootings that killed five Amish school children and how the Amish community responded to this horrific event. His research on Anabaptist groups has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and on radio and television programs across the United States and in many foreign countries. He has served as a consultant for various projects related to Amish and other Anabaptist groups. The National Endowment for the Humanities and various private foundations have supported his research projects.

Dr. Kraybill is the editor of the Johns Hopkins University Press series Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Temple University. He served as chair of the sociology and social work department at Elizabethtown College from 1979 to 1985 and directed the Young Center from 1989 to 1996. He was provost of Messiah College (Pa.) from 1996 to 2002, and then returned to Elizabethtown College in 2003. (Back to top)

April 23, 2009 - John Granger: "From Muggle Lead to Spiritual Gold: The Literary Alchemy of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels"

Joanne Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels, said that her study of alchemy set the "magical parameters" and "internal logic" of the books. Though English literature features a tradition of alchemical scaffolding and symbols in its poems, plays, and stories that stretches from Chaucer and Shakespeare to C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, few readers of the seven Hogwarts Adventures know more about literary alchemy than they do about how to create a Sorcerer's Stone. John Granger, the Hogwarts Professor, will explain what alchemy is, how it constitutes the story scaffolding of Ms. Rowling's novels, why it is important for understanding the meaning of her works and why they are the most popular books in publishing history. John Granger is considered a world authority on Mrs. Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter novels. His "Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of the Harry Potter Books" (Zossima Press, 2003) and "Finding God in Harry Potter" (Tyndale, 2004) have been praised by scholars from Oxford to Baylor and read with delight by thousands of readers worldwide. His books have received strong reviews in journals as diverse as The Chesterton Review (UK), The Wall street Journal, Orthodox Tradition, CSL; The Journal of the New York C. S. Lewis Society, and The National Review. Without being contentious or disrespectful, Mr. Granger puts the Harry Potter novels in proper Christian biblical perspective, while revealing that the reason they are so popular is just because they are implicitly Christian in style and substance.

His education includes honors degrees in Classical Languages from Phillips Exeter and the University of Chicago. He was in the Marine Corps as a triathlete, rifle expert, and marathon runner (fast enough that the Marines nominated him for Armed Forces Athlete of the Year). (Back to top)

May 7, 2009 - Robert Grant: "Sacrifice is a Green Virtue"

Robert Grant's talk will focus on environmental ethics. His interests include social justice and environmental issues, particularly in underprivileged areas such as India, Bangladesh, Africa and inner city Chicago. Rev. Grant has delivered papers on environmental ethical issues at a number of regional and national conferences.

He received a B.S. in Philosophy and History from St. Ambrose College, a Masters in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Iowa. Dr. Grant is an associate professor of Theology at St. Ambrose where he directs the general education program and coordinates the Interdisciplinary Minor in Environmental Studies. He is advisor to GREENLIFE, St. Ambrose's environmental club. He is the recipient of River Action's "Eddy Award" for environmental education and published "A Case Study in Thomistic Environmental Ethics: The Ecological Crisis in the Loess Hills of Iowa," Edwin Mellen Press, 2007. (Back to top)