Convocations
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, Fareed Zakaria, Susan Faludi, and Juliette Kayyem; 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 Robert Sopolsky, 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.
The Thomas A. Steitz Hall of Science Colloquium is a series of cross-disciplinary lectures that address research developments in diverse areas of the natural and physical sciences.
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.
The Fine Arts Colloquium presents lectures that touch on topics related to art, art history, and theatre.
Over the years, gifts from alumni and other friends of Lawrence have made funds available to support events of special interest, such as the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies, which promotes discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimension; 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; 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 Czech Nonet Chamber Ensemble; Charlie Haden, jazz bass; Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano; The King’s Singers; Susan Graham, vocalist; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpet; Jon Hendricks, jazz vocalist; John Scofield, jazz guitarist; Benny Golson, saxophone; Maria Schneider, jazz composer and conductor; 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 2006-07 exhibitions in the three galleries of the art center included the sculpture of Kristin Gudjonsdottir, the paintings of Jiwon Son, the photography of Julie Anand, works in a variety of genres and styles from the Lawrence Permanent Art Collection, 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 an 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, a 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 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; George Meyer, former secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; and Robert Suettinger, an intelligence analyst and China policy expert.
