Who’s spoken and who’ll speak in two signature series on the Mission campus
One of the appeals about the intellectual life on campus is the visitors SCU brings—for instance through the President’s Speaker Series and the Bannan Institute hosted by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. Readers of a quarterly magazine aren’t usually looking to the printed page for lists of events. Email, the Web, and social media play a bigger and better role there. But it is cool to capture the pulse of this place with a few snapshots, such as:
- Cornel West | Oct. 3 | “Black Prophetic Fire: Intersections of Leadership, Faith, and Social Justice,” as part of the 2014–15 Bannan Institute. West is a professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary and professor emeritus at Princeton University.
- Ronnie Lott | Oct. 9 | “What Makes a Champion?” as part of the President’s Speaker Series—and the 2014 Grand Reunion. A 10-time Pro Bowl selection and Hall of Famer, the former 49er—one of the fiercest tacklers in NFL history—looks at what makes an athlete courageous: staying in the game at all costs or sitting out when physical safety is at risk?
- Tom Lucas, S.J. | Oct. 21 | “A Jesuit Tragicomedy in Two Acts and an Interlude: The Suppression and Restoration Controversy,” as part of the Bannan Institute. On the 200th anniversary of the year that the Jesuit order was restored, the Seattle University scholar details the cultural, political, and religious context of some of the least understood and most controversial moments in Jesuit history, when the Society of Jesus was officially closed down by the papacy and reconstituted almost three decades later.
- Andy Ackerman ’78 | Feb. 9, 2015 | “An Evening with Andy Ackerman,” as part of the President’s Speaker Series. A conversation about directing and producing some of TV’s funniest and most beloved series, including Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
- Madeleine Albright | May 5, 2015 | “Economy and Security in the 21st Century” as part of the President’s Speaker Series. The former U.S. secretary of state—the first woman to serve in that role—asks how America can retain its leadership role amid rapid globalization. Is America truly the indispensable nation? (And as November 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, we’ll also note that Bohemia-born Albright’s most recent book is a vivid and compelling recounting of her childhood: Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948.)
PLUS: Ignatian Leadership Symposium | Feb. 21, 2015 | An epic part of the Bannan Institute, featuring three notable Santa Clara University alumnae:
Zoe Lofgren J.D. ’75 U.S. representative, California, 19th Congressional District “Leadership and Justice”
Sharon Kugler ’81 university chaplain, Yale University “Leadership and Faith”
Janet Napolitano ’79 president, University of California system; former governor of Arizona and secretary of Homeland Security “Leadership and the Intellectual Life”