University of Rochester faculty, the director of the Memorial Art Gallery, and a professor at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School will reveal their special interests in a series of five lectures starting Sunday, Oct. 24.
Sponsored by the River Campus Libraries, Tea Talks will be held on Oct. 24, Nov. 21, Jan. 16, Feb. 6, and March 20 in the Welles-Brown Room of Rush Rhees Library on the University’s River Campus. In a casual atmosphere with tea and biscuits, the Sunday programs are free and open to the public. They begin at 2 p.m.
On Oct. 24, William Scott Green, professor of religion and Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Judaic Studies, will describe the latest archaeological research in Arezzo, Italy, where teams of students from the College have been working. Their efforts since 2002 complement and expand previous digs in Yodefat, an early Roman site in Israel. Green, who is dean of the College, is educational director at both archaeological sites.
Another topic with Rochester ties will be presented by Grant Holcomb, director of the Memorial Art Gallery, when he discusses “From Rochester to the Rhine: The Journey of Billy Pilgrim” at 2 p.m. Nov. 21. He will examine the life of Brighton native Edward J. Crone, Jr., who died in a German prison camp in 1945. Crone was a friend of writer Kurt Vonnegut and was the inspiration for the character of Billy Pilgrim in Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
Recognized for excellence in both science and teaching, Alfred Clark, Jr., professor of mechanical engineering, mathematics, and biomedical engineering, will present an anecdotal saga of how the personal computational tool of engineers and scientists has changed dramatically in less than 50 years. He will speak at 2 p.m. Jan. 16 on “From Slide Rule to Laptop.” Clark also will give examples of technology now available in college classrooms to teach future scientists. Clark’s skill as a teacher has earned him recognition as the New York State professor of the year in 1994, and as a recipient of the Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Teaching at the College.
John H. Thomas, professor of mechanical and aerospace sciences and of astronomy, will delve into the subject of surface activity on the Sun at 2 p.m. Feb. 6. At a time of year when sunlight is sparse, Thomas will describe the magnetic workings of the Sun and other stars, including how sunspots form and how a star’s magnetic field develops and evolves. This fall, he is conducting research as a senior visiting fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, England.
The final speaker in the Tea Talks series will be Kenneth Cauthen, the John Price Crozer Griffith Professor Emeritus of Theology at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, at 2 p.m. March 20. He will talk about themes from his 2003 book, I Don’t Care What the Bible Says: An Interpretation of the South, with its examination of race, class, and culture and the complex relationships among them. Cauthen is the author of 18 books, including The Impact of American Religious Liberalism, which has been the standard text in the field.
For more information about Tea Talks, contact (585) 275-4461.