Fall Assembly Series opened by Bollinger

The 14 events offered this fall under the auspices of the Assembly Series will feature speakers and topics chosen to reflect the scholarly pursuits of the faculty and students at the University.

Highlights include several prominent scientists and colloquia on the environment. Many lectures on the fall schedule are part of the University’s Sesquicentennial celebration.

All Assembly Series lectures are free and open to the public and are held at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel unless otherwise noted.

The series opens Sept. 10 with distinguished legal scholar and Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger, who will draw upon his expertise in free speech and First Amendment issues to deliver a talk on “The Foundations of the Principle of Academic Freedom.” His talk also is the School of Law Sesquicentennial Lecture.

A graduate of the University of Oregon and Columbia University Law School, Bollinger served as a law clerk for Judge Wilfred Feinberg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and also for Chief Justice Warren Burger on the U.S. Supreme Court.

His teaching career began at the University of Michigan Law School in 1973, and he assumed the deanship in 1987. Since then, he has held several top administrative posts, including provost at Dartmouth College and president at the University of Michigan.

In June 2002, Bollinger returned to Columbia University to become the 19th president.

Thomas Friedman will present “What Kind of International Borders Will Exist in the 21st Century?” Sept. 17 in the Athletic Complex. Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and renowned expert on Middle East issues.

At 2 p.m. that day, Friedman will kick off Arts & Sciences’ major Sesquicentennial project called “Conversations” when he joins other distinguished panelists in Graham Chapel. They will continue the “conversation” on international borders.

For information on this panel discussion and subsequent ones planned throughout the year, go online to artsci.wustl.edu/conversations.

Eminent economist and former Federal Reserve System chairman Paul Volcker will deliver the Olin School of Business Sesquicentennial Lecture Sept. 24. His career covers both public service and private practice and spans five decades and five presidents.

He was appointed Fed chairman by President Jimmy Carter and held the position for eight years. Volcker now heads the International Accounting Standards Board and has been widely sought by the media for his insights into the recent accounting scandals.

In 1998, social critic Barbara Ehrenreich decided to find out firsthand what it’s like to live on a minimum-wage salary. Two years and six unskilled jobs later, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America was published and became a best seller. Her talk, “Walking the Poverty Line,” will be Oct. 1 as the annual Olin Fellows Lecture.

One of the hallmarks of the University’s 150th commemoration is a multipronged initiative focusing in-depth on the role of research universities in addressing environmental issues. The Environmental Initiative will help shape the educational programs, research and operations of the institution and will be used to define environmentally related future programs.

The first of two colloquia is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 3. Two of the most widely respected former directors of the Environmental Protection Agency, Carol Browner and William Reilly, will consider and discuss the political, social and humanistic concerns regarding the environment.

Reilly was appointed EPA ad-ministrator in 1989 by President George Bush, overseeing, among other significant environmental concerns, the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup.

Browner succeeded Reilly as EPA chief in 1993 and served in this capacity throughout the Clinton administration. During her tenure, landmark legislation such as the Food Quality Protection Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act were passed.

Writer and essayist Richard Rodriguez will deliver the Association of Latin American Students’ annual lecture Oct. 8. His talk, “The Browning of America,” will be based on his most recent book, Brown: The Last Discovery of America, which explores his perspectives on the “Latinization” of American culture. In his first two books, Rodriguez details his life growing up in a Mexican-American family bent on total assimilation.

The second Environmental Initiative colloquium will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 9 and will feature two prominent scientists, Jane Lubchenco and Mario Molina.

Lubchenco is a professor of marine biology at Oregon State University and is engaged in a wide range of activities to help advance the frontiers of environmental sciences. She is the recipient of the 2002 Heinz Prize in the Environment and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

Molina is a professor of chemistry and a professor of earth, atmosphere and planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology. He received a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his work on polar ozone depletion.

It’s common knowledge that the Human Genome Sequencing Project has been completed, but what this new knowledge means to the average person is far from being understood. In his lecture, “Humanity’s Genes,” Sydney Brenner, a 2002 Nobel laureate, will consider the implications of this new knowledge.

Brenner is president and director of the Molecular Sciences Institute, and he is a distinguished research professor at The Salk Institute. His talk, the annual Arthur Holly Compton Lecture, will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 14.

The speaker for the Oct. 15 lecture will be announced at a later date, and there is no lecture Oct. 22.

Veteran comedian and activist Dick Gregory will be this year’s Black Arts & Sciences Festival keynote speaker Oct. 29.

The first African-American humorist to gain mainstream popularity, Gregory also is well known for his role in the Civil Rights movement, and he has been involved in many other human rights concerns. He continues today as a strong voice for a range of human rights issues.

Adam Hochschild will deliver the annual Holocaust Lecture Nov. 5. His talk is titled “The Holocaust in the Congo — Then and Today.”

In his most recent book, King Leopold’s Ghost, Hochschild gives a spellbinding account of the nearly forgotten genocidal crimes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in what was the Belgian Congo. The New York Times has honored his book as a Notable Book of the Year.

Stephen Wolfram, scientist and innovator in computing and software technology, will give a presentation at 4 p.m. Nov. 6. A prodigy who received a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology at age 20, he was also the youngest to win a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.

In 2002, Wolfram published A New Kind of Science, in which he challenges scientific orthodoxy, especially in the areas of complexity and computational processes. His invention, “Mathematica,” has been hailed as one of the most important pieces of scientific software ever written.

The annual Elliot Stein Memorial Lecture will be presented by Mark Malloch Brown Nov. 12.

In his capacity as chief administrator of the U.N. Development Programme, Malloch Brown oversees U.N. development efforts in 166 countries. He is leading the United Nations in its goal of reducing extreme poverty by half in the next 10-15 years.

The fall series concludes Nov. 13 with the annual Thomas Hall Lecture featuring Everett Mendelsohn, whose talk is titled “Dolly and the Historians: Science, Politics and Ethics of Cloning.” An eminent historian of science at Harvard University whose career spans four decades, his research interests focus on aspects of the social and sociological history of science and the relation of science and modern societies.

For more information on Assembly Series events, go online to wupa.wustl.edu/assembly, or call 935-5285.