Assembly series

Washington University in St. Louis will host a series of programs in early October featuring David J. Morris, a leading authority on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Morris will be joined by other local experts to examine the devastating effects of PTSD on society, as well as to discuss current therapies.

The Assembly Series, Washington University in St. Louis’ signature lecture series, will open its fall program Sept. 7 with an event that kick-starts a universitywide, yearlong initiative to inhabit the rich and complex world of the 200-year-old story of “Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.”

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will visit Washington University on Monday, Feb. 27. His visit is part of the School of Law’s 150th anniversary celebration, and it also includes an Assembly Series presentation at 3 p.m. in Graham Chapel.

The university’s signature lecture series, the Assembly Series, unveils its spring 2017 semester schedule Feb. 2 with a presentation by renowned behavioral economist and TED talk favorite Dan Ariely.

John Paul Stevens, who served as a Supreme Court associate justice from 1975 to 2010, will speak at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, in Graham Chapel. Afterward, he will take part in a panel discussion on the Second Amendment.

In 2014, in the wake of unrest following the death of a Ferguson, Mo., teenager, the Washington University Assembly Series and its campus partners tackled issues of race and social justice head on. This fall, the university’s signature lecture series — which has, since 1953, brought some of the most important voices in contemporary society to campus — reflects this continuing interest with five programs that delve into these issues and more. The series kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 16, with social scientist Melvin Oliver.


Author and veteran journalist Carla Power will deliver the Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman/Phi Beta Kappa Lecture for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in Umrath Lounge on the Danforth Campus.

At the forefront of ancient DNA research is evolutionary biologist and MacArthur Fellow Beth Shapiro, DPhil, who will deliver the annual Ferguson Science Lecture at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in Knight/Bauer Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. The program, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Woman’s Club of Washington University.

Topics both timely and thought-provoking will be covered in back-to-back Assembly Series lectures. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17,  eminent religious scholar and bestselling author Reza Aslan will address “Faith, Extremism, and Democracy: Examining the Parallels of Religious Fundamentalism at Home and Abroad.” At 7 p.m. the next evening, Feb. 18, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates will explore one of the most enduring and controversial issues of race in “The Case for Reparations.”

Three years before American troops liberated the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps, experiencing the true horror of Nazi brutality, a handful of Soviet-Jewish photographers bore witness to Nazi atrocities in their homeland. Seven decades later, historian and scholar David Shneer shares their story for the Washington University Assembly Series and annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture, “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust.” The free and open event will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in Wilson Hall Room 214.