Chautauqua Lecture Series: A World of Learning Just Around the Corner
By Sara F. Herrmann
The stunning vineyards, the leisurely pace, the genuine people…there are many reasons why Westfield is a great place to live. During the Chautauqua Season, there is yet another reason. Every weekday morning at 10:45 from late June through the end of August, the Amphitheater at the nearby Chautauqua Institution becomes a platform for some of the nation’s sharpest minds and distinguished speakers. They are experts from a broad range of disciplines (science, literature, education, politics, the arts and humanities, business, national and international affairs, the environment) and they come to Chautauqua to share their knowledge and perspective.
Where else but Westfield can you start your morning sipping coffee with friends at Jack’s Barcelona Drive-in and finish your morning posing questions about the ethics of leadership to New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks?
The Chautauqua Lecture Platform is a cornerstone of the Institution’s weekly themes and this year the series is shaping up to be an interesting and important one.
Week One Theme: Roger Rosenblatt and More Friends
Roger Rosenblatt returns for a conversation and celebration of the literary arts.
Featured lecturers include Jim Lehrer (June 28th), executive editor and anchor of the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS; actor, writer and director Alan Alda (June 30th); award-winning author, essayist, editor and teacher Anne Fadiman (July 1st); and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman (July 2nd).
Week Two Theme: The Ethics of Leadership
What constitutes leadership? When one is designated a “leader,” what are the particular obligations of leadership? In Chautauqua’s annual Applied Ethics exploration, they will examine leadership from the points of view of business and politics, education and sports, from those who make headlines and from those who lead by following.
Featured lecturers include: David Brooks (July 5th) op-ed columnist for The New York Times and senior editor at The Weekly Standard; Former Oklahoma Governor and U.S. senator David Boren (July 6th); and Charleston, S.C. Mayor Joseph Riley (July 9th).
Week Three Theme: From Asia to the Middle East: Energy, Capital and Conflict
Considering the geographic expanse from Asia to the Middle East, this week will examine the exchange and flow of capital, oil, and natural gas between India and China on one hand, and the Middle East as represented by the Arab gulf and Iran on the other.
Featured speakers include: Geoff Kemp (July 12th) Director of Regional Strategic Programs at the Nixon Center; Aaron David Miller (July 13th) advisor to six secretaries of state and Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and Senior Associate in the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Minxin Pei (July 16th).
Week Four Theme: Nuclear Power & Nuclear Weapons: The Right to Have & to Hold
Building on some of the primary components of Week Three, this week will investigate the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the increasing use of nuclear power as a source of energy.
Featured lecturers are: Former Georgia Senator and co-chairman and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative Sam Nunn (July 19th); and Graham Allison (July 20th), Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Week Five Theme: Picture This: Photography
In partnership with the George Eastman House of Rochester, this week will celebrate the history of photography, its contribution to and relationship with surrounding culture, its place in the art world, and its reflection of technological innovations that have reshaped the industry.
Featured speakers include: Steve McCurry (July 26th) recognized universally as one of today’s finest image-makers; Award-winning photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin (July 27th); digital photography pioneer and retired Eastman Kodak engineer Steve Sasson (July 28th); and Margaret Geller (July 29th), senior scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and a pioneer in mapping the nearby universe.
Week Six Theme: Excellence in Public Education
This week will examine current efforts that are dramatically improving the performance of public education in the United States and, specifically, the impact of talented and motivated superintendents, leadership training for principals, trends in teaching teachers, and innovations in curricula.
Noted lecturers are: Barbara Bowman (August 3rd) of the Erikson Institute; co-founder and chief executive of New Leaders for New Schools Jonathan Schnur (August 4th); and Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt (August 6th).
Week Seven Theme: Sacred Spaces
This week, (in partnership with the World Monuments Fund) Chautauqua will explore the confluence of religion, architecture, history, geography, and culture.
Featured lecturers include: Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (August 10th) [Burns will give the August 10th morning lecture on architecture, with an emphasis on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as a special August 11th evening presentation in the Amphitheater on battlefields, with emphasis on the Civil War]; and Bonnie Burnham (August 13th) president and chief executive of the World Monuments Fund.
Week Eight Theme: Powering the Future
As much of the world embraces the urgency for developing alternative sources of energy, and sources of fossil fuel become less reliable and more expensive, this week will explore the most promising new innovations and technologies currently in development for sustainable, affordable, and renewable power.
Featured speakers include: Ed Mazria (August 16th) internationally recognized architect, author, researcher and educator; Habib Dagher (August 17th) Bath Iron Works Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Maine; and law professor and founder of the Center for Climate Strategies Thomas Peterson (August 18th).
Week Nine Theme: The Supreme Court
This week will offer a historical analysis of the Supreme Court and its most notable Justices while examining the larger issues before the current court, including recent decisions, the agenda, and the process for appointments.
Featured lecturers are: Theodore Olson (August 25th) former solicitor general of the United States and one of the nation's premier appellate and Supreme Court advocates; and Barry Friedman (August 26th) Vice Dean and Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law at New York University School of Law.
Log on to the Chautauqua Institution website for additional lectures and more information.
Sara F. Herrmann is a freelance writer and editor of www.westfieldny.com. She lives in Westfield with her husband Alan.
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