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Hall Center for the Humanities announces speaker lineup for spring 2024
LAWRENCE – The Hall Center for the Humanities has released its featured speaking events for the spring 2024. Programming begins with a talk by University of Kansas alumnus Michael Holtz, a freelance journalist whose talk Feb. 6 will explore the controversies of expanding wind energy in Kansas and his work to report about it.
Award-winning author Ellen Oh to visit Lawrence for LitFest
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) and School of Education & Human Sciences will host author and activist Ellen Oh at the annual CEAS Literature Festival (LitFest) this month for events of interest to educators and public. Oh is the author of “Finding Junie Kim” and a founding member of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. She will give a public talk at 6 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Carnegie Building in downtown Lawrence.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Dan Oetting, Hall Center for the Humanities, [email protected], @KUHallCenter
Hall Center for the Humanities announces speaker lineup for spring 2024
LAWRENCE — The Hall Center for the Humanities has released its featured speaking events for the spring.
“These speakers broaden our intellectual horizons and enrich our lives,” said Giselle Anatol, interim director of the Hall Center for the Humanities. “Offering these programs allows the Hall Center to engage curious minds, providing rewarding opportunities to learn about and support the humanities.”
Michael Holtz, a KU alumnus who is now a freelance journalist, is the first speaker in the series. His talk Feb. 6 explores the controversies of expanding wind energy in Kansas and his work to report about it. Holtz is the Simons Public Humanities Fellow at the Hall Center this year. These fellows are individuals “of experience and accomplishment from outside the university” who conduct research while in residence.
Currently based in Topeka, Holtz reports on human rights, the environment and rural communities. His work has most recently appeared in The Atlantic and The New Yorker.
All of the Hall Center events listed below are free and open to the public.
Upcoming featured speakers
Michael Holtz: “Winds of Change: Rural Kansas and the Clean-Energy Transition”
7 p.m. Feb. 6
Hall Center Conference Hall (also available online via Crowdcast)
Lewis Gordon: “From Kitchens and Pubs to the World: Philosophy for Humanity Today and Beyond”
7 p.m. Feb. 22
Hall Center Conference Hall (also available online via Crowdcast)
Gordon, a philosopher, will address the importance of everyday philosophy and how, as we face the challenges to humanity in the 21st century, it allows us to live lives committed to equality, justice and freedom.
Meet KU Authors: Beth Bailey — “An Army Afire: How the U.S. Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era”
6:30 p.m. Feb. 26
Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St.
Bailey, a historian, traces a frustrating yet fascinating story: how the U.S. Army — a massive, conservative institution — creatively came to terms with demands for change during a racial crisis among its troops during the Vietnam War. This talk is part of Meet KU’s Authors, an ongoing partnership with the Lawrence Public Library, providing audiences an opportunity to hear researchers associated with KU discuss their work.
Humanities Book Club: Ada Ferrer — “Cuba: An American History”
4 p.m. Feb. 29
Hall Center Conference Hall
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Ferrer will explore the history of Cuba and its deeply intertwined relations with the United States in conversation with an interdisciplinary panel of KU faculty.
KU Common Book Speaker: N.K. Jemisin — “An Evening with N.K. Jemisin”
7:30 p.m. April 25
Online presentation via Crowdcast
Science fiction author Jemisin, three-time Hugo Award winner, will discuss her work and the significance of KU’s 2023-2024 Common Book, Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” In addition to the Hall Center, the Common Book Program is sponsored by KU Libraries and the Division of Academic Success. This year’s sponsors also include the Spencer Museum of Art, History of Black Writing, Department of English and Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction.
For further information about these talks and other Hall Center programming, subscribe to Hall Center social media channels and visit the Hall Center website.
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Contact: Mego Londeen, Center for East Asian Studies, [email protected]
Award-winning author Ellen Oh to visit Lawrence for LitFest
LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) and School of Education & Human Sciences will host author and activist Ellen Oh at the annual CEAS Literature Festival (LitFest) this month for events of interest to educators and public.
Oh is a former adjunct college instructor and lawyer with a curiosity for ancient Asian history. She won awards for several of her novels, including “Finding Junie Kim,” which is the featured book for LitFest. Oh is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing diversity in children’s literature.
The CEAS LitFest is an opportunity to promote East Asian content to K-12 educators. With the partnership of Project PEACE, the Feb. 7-8 festival expanded to include preservice educators for three events:
Schedule of events
An in-service workshop for K-12 educators in the Lawrence area will take place at 3 p.m. Feb. 7 at Cordley Elementary School, 1837 Vermont St.
A preservice educator workshop open to School of Education & Human Sciences students, staff and faculty will take place at 11 a.m. Feb. 8 in 100 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Oh will give a public talk for the Lawrence and surrounding communities at 6 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St.
Project PEACE (Promoting English Learners’ Academic Achievement and Cultivating Educational Equity) is one of the grants supporting these events. It is a federally funded project to support preservice and in-service teachers in Kansas in completing professional training and obtaining English as a second language endorsement to teach English learners.
English learners face a multitude of challenges in schools, one challenge being developing linguistic and cultural awareness to provide equitable education for English learners.
“Multicultural children’s literature can provide a meaningful venue for educators to explore perspectives from linguistically and culturally diverse students and their families,” said Kwangok Song, KU associate professor of curriculum & teaching. “Additionally, teachers can reflectively consider ways to incorporate multicultural literature representing their students’ diverse experiences. CEAS’ Literature Festival, centering on the theme of migration, is intended to reconfirm and strengthen preservice and in-service teachers’ understanding of the criticality of diversity, inclusion and equity in educational settings.
“Specifically, Ellen Oh’s book ‘Finding Junie Kim’ and her activism to support diverse books in classrooms and libraries can inspire teacher candidates, practicing teachers and administrators to continue their endeavor to create an inclusive environment for culturally and linguistically diverse students,” Song said.
Other support for the event comes a Department of Education Title VI grant that funds the Center for East Asian Studies. Founded in 1959, CEAS is a National Resource Center with a mission to disseminate knowledge about East Asian studies to the Great Plains region. It partners with the Kansas Consortium for Teaching About Asia (KCTA), which is funded through the Freeman Foundation.
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