Emmanuel Katongole to give Bishop Gerber Distinguished Lecture
The Gerber Institute is very happy to announce that the speaker for the inaugural Bishop Gerber Distinguished Lecture will be Emmanuel Katongole. The lecture will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center on the campus of Newman University. The title of Professor Katongole’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be “Reconciliation: A Fresh Gift and Vision of Hope in a Broken World.”
Born in the village of Malube, Uganda, and educated in the country, Fr. Katongole was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest by the Kampala Archdiocese in 1987. Since his ordination, he has served parishes in Africa, Belgium, and the United States.
Professor Katongole is a founding co-director and Senior Strategist of the Center for Reconciliation at the Duke Divinity School—a center whose mission is to inspire, form, and support leaders, communities, and congregations to think, feel, and live as ambassadors of reconciliation in a broken world. Katongole’s teaching and research interests cover a wide range of issues related to global Christianity, more specifically to the interconnections between Christianity, politics and violence in Africa. He examines the role of stories in the formation of political identity, the dynamics of social memory, and the nature and role of Christian imagination.
His published works include Beyond Universal Reason; The Relation Between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas (Notre Dame Press, 2000), African Theology Today (Scranton Press, 2002), A Future for Africa (University of Scranton Press, 2005), and more recently, The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theory for Africa (Eerdman’s, 2011).
“From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters”: Part 4 of “Lunch & Learn” Series on Land
For the fourth installment of its 2011-2012 “lunch and learn” series on the topic of land, the Gerber Institute welcomes Dr. Wes Jackson, founder and President of The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas. Dr. Jackson’s presentation will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6 in the Tarcisia Roths, ASC Alumni Center in the Dugan Library and Campus Center.
Wes Jackson (photo by RayNg.com)
Since this installment of our lunch & learn series is taking place late in the afternoon, we will not be providing lunch for participants; instead we will have an assortment of finger foods for guests to enjoy. Consequently no RSVP is required for this event.
Dr. Jackson will also be presenting a public lecture, entitled “The Prairie as a Measure for a Sustainable Agriculture,” later in the evening. For more information about the evening lecture, as well as a biography of the speaker, please click here: http://www.gerberinstitute.org/events/the-gerber-institute-presents-wes-jackson/.
The Gerber Institute presents Wes Jackson
Wes Jackson (photo by RayNg.com)
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies is very pleased to present Dr. Wes Jackson, founder and President of The Land Institute, at a public lecture Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center on the campus of Newman University. Dr. Jackson’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be entitled “The Prairie as a Measure for a Sustainable Agriculture.”
Dr. Jackson’s writings include both papers and books. His most recent works, Nature as Measure (2011) and Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture (2010), were both published by Counterpoint Press. The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge (2008) and Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place (1996), were co-edited with William Vitek. Becoming Native to This Place, 1994, sketches his vision for the resettlement of America’s rural communities. Altars of Unhewn Stone appeared in 1987 and Meeting the Expectations of the Land, edited with Wendell Berry and Bruce Colman, was published in 1984. New Roots for Agriculture, 1980, outlines the basis for the agricultural research at The Land Institute.
The work of The Land Institute has been featured extensively in the popular media including The Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, National Geographic, Time Magazine, The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” Life magazine named Wes Jackson as one of 18 individuals they predict will be among the 100 “important Americans of the 20th century.” In the November 2005 issue, Smithsonian named him one of “35 Who Made a Difference” and in March, 2009 Wes was included in Rolling Stone’s “100 Agents of Change.”
Wes Jackson is a recipient of the Pew Conservation Scholars award (1990), a MacArthur Fellowship (1992), Right Livelihood Award (Stockholm), known as “Alternative Nobel Prize” (2000), and the Louis Bromfield Award (2010). He has received four honorary doctorates. In 2007 he received theUniversityofKansas Distinguished Service Awardand was one of the 2011 recipients of the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ Distinguished Alumni Awards.
In addition to lecturing nationwide and abroad, Dr. Jackson is involved outside The Land Institute with a variety of projects including being a Post Carbon Institute Fellow, a Councillor with the World Future Council and a member of the Green Lands Blue Waters Steering Committee.
Lunch & Learn: “From California to the New York Island…”
On Tuesday, January 31, Newman University history professors Dr. Cheryl Golden and Dr. Kelly McFall will present “‘From California to the New York Island’: Reflections on Land and National Identity.” The presentation is the third in the Gerber Institute’s year-long Lunch and Learn series on the theme of land, which takes its inspiration from Woody Guthrie’s folk anthem “This Land Is Your Land.”
The presentation will take place from 12:00 to 12:50 p.m. in the Tarcisia Roths, ASC Alumni Center in the Dugan Library and Campus Center. A complimentary lunch will be provided for the first 30 individuals who RSVP to Julie Brin by 5:00 p.m. this Friday, January 27. RSVP by calling (316) 942-4291, ext. 2483, or e-mailing Julie at brinj@newmanu.edu.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
The Newman University Criminal Justice program, with the support of the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies, will present Darryl Hunt hosting a screening of the award-winning documentary about his life, “The Trials of Darryl Hunt,” at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 6 in the Performance Hall of the De Mattias Fine Arts Center on the Newman campus. The film documents a brutal rape/murder in the American South, and offers a deeply personal story of a wrongfully convicted man who spent twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Mr. Hunt will take questions from the audience immediately following the film. There will also be a brief reception and an opportunity to pre-order signed copies of Mr. Hunt’s forthcoming book “Life Interrupted: The Trials of Darryl Hunt.” The event is free and open to the public.
Mr. Hunt’s appearance is the result of a successful grant application made by Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Jill Fort to the Gerber Institute last year.
For more information about Darryl Hunt or the Gerber Institute, please visit www.gerberinstitute.org.
Dr. Kevin Godfrey to speak on reconciliation and Newman
Alvernia University Associate Professor of Theology Kevin Godfrey, Ph.D. will present the Cardinal Newman Lecture at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 in the Performance Hall of the De Mattias Fine Arts Center. Godfrey will speak on reconciliation in the life and thought of Blessed John Henry Newman.
The event is sponsored by The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University in celebration of Cardinal Newman Week, and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Godfrey has published articles and delivered scholarly papers at national and international conferences on a variety of topics in Historical Theology and Christian Spirituality. His most sustained areas of interest for research are the Franciscan Tradition and the theology of John Henry Cardinal Newman. He has served as convener and moderator of the Thought of John Henry Newman Group of the Catholic Theological Society of America for the last seven years. He is a member of the Editorial Board and also Book Review Editor for the Journal of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities.
Fr. Bill Morton to speak Nov. 2
Who: Fr. Bill Morton, SSC
What: Part 1 of Gerber Institute Visiting Speakers’ Series on Land
When: Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Where: De Mattias Performance Hall, Newman University
As part of its 2011-2012 programming on the topic of Land, the Gerber Institute will welcome Fr. Bill Morton, a Catholic priest from El Paso, Texas, for a lecture at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2011. Fr. Morton will talk about the ongoing dispute over land use and property rights in the Lomas del Poleo region of Mexico, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Fr. Morton has been actively and intimately involved in this dispute since 2003. In 2006, as a consequence of his involvement, he was fined and forced to leave Mexico; however, he has continued advocating for the Lomas residents from El Paso. To learn more about Lomas see www.pasodelsur.com and/or Google “Lomas del Poleo.”
Fr. Morton has a BA in Philosophy from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, an MDiv from Weston Jesuit in Cambridge, and an MA in Theological Studies from LaSalle University in Philadelphia. He is past president of the Board of Directors of the US Catholic Mission Association and serves on the Board of Directors of Annunciation House, Inc., a house of hospitality for the undocumented in El Paso.
The talk will take place in the of the De Mattias Performance Hall, located on the north side of the Newman University campus. Admission is free of charge and the public is invited.
Warren St. John to speak at Newman
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University presents author Warren St. John on Monday, September 19, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the DeMattias Performance Hall on the Newman campus. Mr. St. John is the author of the national bestseller Outcasts United, the “stunning real-life story of an inspiring group of refugees and a woman who, with tough love and fiery determination, changes an entire community for the better” (back cover). During the lecture, which is free and open to the public, Mr. St. John will recount the story of the Fugees soccer team and will take questions from the audience. A reception and book signing will follow the talk. For more information about this event or to reserve a free ticket guaranteeing your seat, please visit the Eventbrite page at http://bitly.com/stjohnspeaker.
Warren St. John to speak at Newman
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University presents author Warren St. John on Monday, September 19, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the DeMattias Performance Hall on the Newman campus. Mr. St. John is the author of the national bestseller Outcasts United, the “stunning real-life story of an inspiring group of refugees and a woman who, with tough love and fiery determination, changes an entire community for the better” (back cover). During the lecture, which is free and open to the public, Mr. St. John will recount the story of the Fugees soccer team and will take questions from the audience. A reception and book signing will follow the talk. For more information about this event or to reserve a free ticket guaranteeing your seat, please visit the Eventbrite page at https://www.eventbrite.com/event/1907077119/auto.
Warren St. James to speak at Newman
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University will present the writer Warren St. James on Monday, September 19, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the DeMattias Performance Hall on the Newman campus. Mr. St. James is the author of Outcasts United, the story of a youth soccer team from Georgia called The Fugees. During the lecture, which is free and open to the public, Mr. St. James will recount the story of the Fugees soccer team and will take questions from the audience. A reception and book signing will follow the talk. For more information about this event, please visit the Gerber Institute’s website at www.gerberinstitute.org.