Student Programs at Björklunden
Speakers and Other Campus Visitors
Convocations
Five all-college convocations are scheduled each year, beginning with the Matriculation
Convocation, at which the president speaks, and ending with an Honors Convocation
at which the academic and extracurricular achievements of students are given
special recognition.
The faculty Committee on Public Occasions invites individuals of high accomplishment
and profound insight to address members of the college and Fox Valley communities
on topics of broad interest.
Convocation visitors have included authors John Updike, Gwendolyn Brooks, Frank
McCourt, Maya Angelou, Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Hirsch, Isabel Allende, N.
Scott Momaday, and Salman Rushdie; journalists David Halberstam, Richard
Rodriguez, and
Fareed Zakaria; public intellectuals Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West;
historians Arthur Schlesinger, Michael Beschloss, James McPherson, and William
Cronon; activists Harry Wu, Fay Wattleson, Lech Walesa, and Joia Mukherjee;
public officials Richard Holbrooke, George Mitchell, and John Lewis; and scientists
Lisa Randall, Brian Greene, Steven Pinker, and Robert Ballard.
Convocations are held on Tuesdays or Thursdays at the 11:10 a.m. hour, which
is reserved for that purpose
.
Lecture series
Throughout the academic year, Lawrence offers a wide variety of lectures,
symposia, and colloquia.
The Main Hall Forum series sponsors a wide range of lectures by Lawrence
faculty and distinguished academic guests speaking on historical and contemporary
issues
and presenting recent scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.
Main Hall Forum topics have ranged
from an associate professor of history at Xavier University speaking on “African
Lessons for World History" to
an eminent professor of philosophy at New York University examining "How
Immaterial Souls Can Have Free Will."
The Science Hall Colloquium is a series of cross-disciplinary
lectures that address research developments in diverse areas of the natural
and physical
sciences. Typical offerings have included a professor from the Animal Population
Health Institute, Colorado State University speaking on “Epidemiology:
Where Medicine Meets Math,” a Lawrence alumna scientist describing “Eavesdropping
on Biomolecular Conversations,” and a University of Arizona University
Distinguished Professor and American Astronomical Society visiting lecturer
examining "Cosmic Evolution: From Big Bang to Biology."
The Recent Advances in Biology lecture series, sponsored by the biology department,
addresses issues and advances in biological research. Talks by Lawrence faculty
members and scientists from other universities and organizations expose students
to the latest discoveries in a wide range of biological disciplines. Recent
lectures have included “Topics in Cell and Molecular Biology,” “In
Quest of a Fauna: Spiders of the Great Lakes Region,” and “Active
Parental Care in Amphipods – Impacts of Water Quality and Predation.”
The Fine Arts Colloquium presents lectures that touch on topics related to
art, art history, and theatre — for example, a gallery talk by a prominent
photographer on his exhibition, “The War Years: Assemblages, Photographs,
Installations” on view at the Wriston Art Center Galleries.
Over the years, gifts from alumni and other friends of Lawrence have made
funds available to support events of special interest, such as the 2005-06
lecture
series “Pariah States and Policy Responses,” in
which a group of international scholars examined current security issues.
Sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship
in International Studies, which
promotes
discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimension, the series
brought to campus a scholar and former National Security Council staff member
from the Nixon Center, the deputy director of studies and senior fellow for
U.S. Foreign Policy and International Law at the Council on Foreign Relations,
and the president and founding director of the International Center on Nonviolent
Conflict.
Other speaking opportunities include the Marguerite Schumann, ’44,
Memorial Lectureship, which sponsors speakers on topics that were of special
interest
to Ms. Schumann, such as history, music, and writing; the Mia T. Paul, ’95,
Poetry Fund Lectures, which have brought to campus the acclaimed poet and
scholar Edward Hirsch, the then poet laureate of the United States, Billy
Collins,
and, most recently, poets Robert Creeley and William Fuller; the William
Chaney Lectureship in the Humanities; the Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series
in Biomedical Ethics; and the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society.
Visiting artists
Each year, musicians of international stature visit Lawrence to appear in
public concert or recital and to conduct master
classes for conservatory students.
Musical visitors have included Emanuel Ax, piano;
Joshua Bell, violin; the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble,
Charlie Haden, jazz bass; Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano; The King’s
Singers; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpet; Bobby McFerrin,
jazz vocalist;
John Scofield,
jazz guitarist; Benny Golson, saxophone; and Pinchas Zuckerman, violin, viola,
and conductor.
Gallery talks and experts’ lectures are an integral part of art
exhibitions presented in the Wriston Art Center Galleries. In 2005-06,
exhibitions in the three galleries of the art center included a showing of
Greek, Roman, and Etruscan pottery from the permanent collection; an exhibit
of paintings by Wisconsin artist Jeff Lipschultz; sculptures and public-installation
artworks by a member of the Lawrence studio art faculty; and the annual spring
show by senior art majors.
Guest directors, designers, and theatrical technicians are often brought
to campus to assist in productions of the Department
of Theatre Arts and
the Opera
Theatre, teaching by example the fine points of theatrical technique.
A five-member theatre troupe called Actors from the London Stage has made
one-week visits to Lawrence for nearly 20 years to perform for campus audiences
and
to work with students, delivering lectures and staging workshops ranging
from music education to advanced acting techniques. Each section of the Freshman
Studies course has a special session of readings and exercises with
one of the actors.
The director of the Milwaukee-based Wildspace Dance Company serves as artist
in residence and teaches courses in the theatre arts department on Movement
for Theatre, and the ensemble
offers an annual performance on campus.
The Stephen Edward Scarff Memorial Visiting Professorship
The Scarff professorial chair, typically
a one-year visiting appointment, allows the college to bring to campus
distinguished public servants, professional
leaders, and scholars to provide broad perspectives on the central issues
of
the day. Scarff professors teach courses, offer numerous public lectures,
and collaborate with students and faculty members in research and scholarship.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Scarff created the professorship in 1989, in memory
of their son, Stephen, a 1975 Lawrence graduate.
Scarff visiting professors have
included William Sloane Coffin, Jr., civil rights and peace activist; David
Swartz, first U.S. ambassador to the Republic
of Belarus in the former Soviet Union; G. Jonathan Greenwald, former United
States minister-counselor to the European Union; Takakazu Kuriyama, former
Japanese ambassador to the United States; Charles Ahlgren, a 30-year veteran
of the U.S. Foreign Service with a speciality in economic affairs; and
George Meyer, former secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The Career Center and Internships
Internships are carefully
supervised learning experiences in a work or service setting. Different than
short-term jobs or volunteer experiences, internships
are deliberately designed by the intern in order to explore his or her career
area of interest. Interns bring a carefully considered learning agenda with
intentional learning objectives to the internship
and reflect actively on their experience. Internships can be taken for credit
or not, and they can be paid or unpaid.
Recent internship projects have involved writing business plans for a growing
non-profit organization
in the Fox Valley, rehabilitating songbirds and raptors native to Wisconsin,
learning the ropes of an innovative musical theatre in downtown Chicago, and
researching art exhibitions and conducting tours for the Metropolitan Museum
of Art.
Other internship sites have included Wall Street financial-service firms, domestic
violence shelters, marine biology research laboratories, the Wisconsin State
Historical Society, the United States Senate, the Newberry Library, the Argonne
National Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Institution, among many others.
To assist students in their search for an internship, the Career
Center maintains
an active database of internship listings, books of national internship listings,
and directories for locating potential internship sites. Career Center staff
members are also available to assist students in identifying potential occupations
they would like to explore in an internship.
For a detailed description of academic internships, go here.
ArtsBridge America
ArtsBridge America, a program founded at the University of California, Irvine,
in 1996, works with K-12 schools throughout the nation to return the arts to
public education. ArtsBridge programs create university and K-12 school collaborations
by partnering university arts students (ArtsBridge scholars) with K-12 teachers
to introduce interdisciplinary arts instruction through ArtsBridge projects.
Over the course of a semester, Lawrence ArtsBridge scholars spend 2-3 hours a week in the classroom integrating art, dance, digital art, music, and theatre to create unique lessons in the arts linked to individual classroom curricular needs. Under the guidance of a Lawrence University faculty mentor, the scholar works collaboratively with the host teacher to integrate arts instruction with the core curriculum, so that the arts reinforce lessons in social studies, math, language and communication arts, or science.