The Uses (and Misuses) of the University Today

The Poetics of Protest in Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam!”

In 1964, Nina Simone performed the protest song “Mississippi Goddam!” at Carnegie Hall in front of mostly white . . .

Love and Rockets and Alternative Comics

The 1980s comics movement offered an alternative to earlier mainstream superhero comics with groundbreaking works like . . .

The Science of Happiness

Amherst College professor Catherine Sanderson describes cutting-edge research from the field of positive psychology on . . .

Food Across Borders

Our production and consumption of food relies on a series of border crossings that we often take for granted. . . .

From Rembrandt to Van Gogh and Beyond

Vincent Van Gogh’s art was among the first that made visible the artist’s subjective feelings, an approach later . . .

The Story of Sandra Day O’Connor

Based on his bestselling biography, Evan Thomas examines the life and work of the first woman on the US Supreme Court, . . .

1st Wednesdays Presents: Reeve Lindbergh - Two Lives

Author of the book, Two Lives, Reeve Lindbergh, daughter of aviator-author Charles A. and Anne morrow Lindbergh, . . .

Churchill and Roosevelt: The Personal in the Partnership

UVM History Professor Emeritus Mark A. Stoler examines the important personal relationship between Britain’s prime . . .

1st Wednesdays – “There Is Nothing Either Good or Bad, But Thinking Makes It So

Catherine A. Sanderson, Amherst College professor and author of The Positive Shift, outlines the significant . . .

Amelia

The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937 often overshadows her accomplishments as a pilot and author. . . .

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson: Poet of New England with Huck Gutman. Recorded April 3, 2019.

Arguing About Civility

Middlebury political scientist Sarah Stroup asks: What topics are suitable for public discussion? And how can we . . .

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

UVM professor Emily Bernard discusses Ta-Nehisi Coates’s most recent reflections on race, the Obama presidency, and . . .

American Modernism

Referencing the works of Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and others, former Head of American Paintings at . . .

Daily Life in Prewar Nazi Germany

Focusing on the prewar experience of non-Jewish citizens, Keene State professor Paul Vincent examines how ideology and . . .

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

Producer Nicholas Ma discusses and shows clips from his recent film “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” a documentary about . . .

The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age

New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger describes America’s use of cyber warfare in its arsenal. . . .

Factory Girls: How Women First Came to the Workplace

St. Michael's College Professor Susan Ouellette leads a discussion about the subject matter behind the book "Bread and . . .

The Legacy of Rachel Carson

Silent Spring not only launched the environmental movement but also laid out the fundamental problems with our . . .

Love and Marriage in the 21st Century

Dr. Polly Young-Eisendrath looks at the transformation of marriage over the past century from a traditional contract . . .

Transatlantic Traumas: Endangering the West

"The West" has been challenged by President Trump's policies, Russian covert actions, and domestic nativist and . . .

Einstein in a Nutshell

Einstein’s most famous contribution to science—his theory of relativity—is based on an idea so simple it can be stated . . .

Video Games: Changing Stories and Changing Behaviors

Ann DeMarle, director of Champlain College’s Emergent Media Center, explores digital gaming, how designers and players . . .

Building Monticello

Thomas Jefferson never knew the Monticello of today—in perfect condition, impeccably furnished. Join us as Dartmouth . . .

Building for a Gilded Age

Middlebury College art and architecture professor emeritus Glenn Andres explores how the US asserted itself . . .

Conversations that Change How We Live and Die

Dartmouth professor and memoirist Irene Kacandes draws our attention to passages from great literature and nonfiction . . .

Walt Whitman and the Civil War

Whitman’s Civil War writings give us a dual portrait, first the war as “a strange, unloosen’d wondrous time,” and . . .

America in a New, More Dangerous World

Distinguished veteran diplomat George Jaeger discusses recent rapid changes in world power relationships and the key . . .

Teaching and Parenting in the Digital Age

Chip Donohue, PhD, will explore how technology can empower and engage children, parents, families, librarians, and . . .

Merton, Meditation, and More: Buddhism in the West

Buddhism is well-established in the US, among Buddhists and others, such as Catholic monk and author Thomas Merton, . . .

Gothic Magnificence

Part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesday Lecture Series, Dartmouth professor Cecilia Gaposchkin . . .

The Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service

In the Pulitzer Prize's centennial year, author Roy Harris tells stories of the coveted prize awarded annually to a . . .

Presidential Term Limits: The History of a Bad Idea

UVM professor emeritus Frank Bryan argues that America’s adoption of presidential term limits not only weakened the . . .

Not for an Age: Shakespeare’s 400-Year Career

Middlebury College professor Timothy Billings paints a picture of Shakespeare’s life, poetry, and stagecraft over the . . .

Roots of Latin Jazz

Using recordings and videos, world renowned recording artist, composer, and educator Ray Vega examines the . . .

Climate of Doubt

In 2008, the presidential candidates agreed that climate change demanded urgent attention. But that national call to . . .

The Legacy of Cesar Chavez

For many in the U.S., Cesar Chavez is considered a great leader, "arguably, the most important Latin leader in the . . .

The Costumes of Downton Abbey

Middlebury College artist-in-residence Jule Emerson discusses the fashions worn in the popular PBS series Downton Abbey.

Alfred Steiglitz & Camera Work

Photographer, gallerist, and magazine editor Alfred Stieglitz was a seminal figure in the history of twentieth-century . . .

Rumi, A Soul on Fire

Dartmouth professor Nancy Jay Crumbine reads and discusses Rumi, one of the greatest and most widely read of spiritual poets.

The Incandescent Mind: Virginia Woolf and Our Literary Foremothers

UVM lecturer Dr. Annika Ljung-Baruth traces the ways Woolf’s theoretical stance on women and writing is manifested in . . .

The Struggle for Democracy in the Arab World

Former Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mansour Farhang examines the cultural impediments to democratic pluralism in the . . .

Finding Higher Ground: Adaptation in the Age of Warming

Scientist and author Amy Seidl explains why the long-term nature of climate change forces us to redesign how we . . .

Muller - Falling Water

Retired Frank Lloyd Wright foundation ED H. Nicholas Muller shares the story and controversy involved in the famous . . .

Lake Champlain in Under an Hour

Lake Champlain has been a saltwater ocean, an Indian highway, an international battleground, a hub of commerce, and a . . .

Truth or Dare: Writing Historical Fiction

Jay Parini, author of novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, and Herman Melville, discusses how historical fiction . . .

Words, Creativity, and Spirituality

Drawing from Emily Dickinson and Annie Dillard, Dartmouth professor Nancy Jay Crumbine examines the interconnection . . .

What Will Follow the Arab Spring?

What can we hope for as the Middle East evolves? Former CIA Chief of Counterterrorism Haviland Smith considers whether . . .

From Chittenden County to Baton Rouge: Vermonters, the Civil War, and the Road to Emancipation

National Park superintendent emeritus and writer Rolf Diamant discusses how profoundly the Civil War transformed . . .

100 Years since Triangle: The Fire That Seared a Nation's Conscience

Dartmouth professor Annelise Orleck reflects on the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village, . . .

Once There Were Greek Tragedies, Then...: A Consideration of Performance in 5th century Athens

Once There Were Greek Tragedies, Then . . . UVM Classics Professor Emeritus Phillip Ambrose considers the performances . . .

Welfare Brat

Dr. Mary Childers’s childhood in the Bronx was marred by violence, alcoholism, and neglect. Referencing her own story, . . .

Religion and Identity in the Near East

Former president of Kenyon and Carleton Colleges and religion scholar Rob Oden considers how constructs from the . . .

What We Learn When We Learn About History

Henry Ford famously said, “History is more or less bunk.” Author, historian, and professor Woden Teachout discusses . . .

The Towering Inferno: Dante's Poem Discussed by Translator Michael Palma

The most frequently translated work in America today is Dante’s Inferno—a seven-hundred-year-old book-length poem. . . .

Did Karl Marx Predict the Cuban Revolution?

The causes of the Cuban Revolution—and revolutions in general—are widely debated. Amherst College professor Javier . . .

Courting Disaster: From the Vietnam War to 21st Century Terrorism

Retired NBC correspondent Robert Hager relates stories from 40 years on the front lines of network . . .

The Uses (and Misuses) of the University Today

University of Chicago President Emeritus Hanna Gray considers perceptions of higher education today and developments . . .

The Unseen Alistair Cooke

One of the preeminent journalists of the 20th century, Alistair Cooke reported extensively on the major events of his . . .

Remaking the Landscape, 1958-1978: Interstate Highways Come to Vermont

UVM Professor Paul Bierman shows photographs, taken over two decades, detailing the arrival of the interstate to the . . .

Rowing Against Wind and Tide: The Journals and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Author Reeve Lindbergh discusses collecting four decades of her mother's previously unpublished diaries and . . .

Remembering Samuel de Champlain: His Legacy After 400 Years

History professor Sylvie Beaudreau considers the legacy of Samuel de Champlain, Father of New France, during this, the . . .

Searching for Early America: Reconstructing the Early Years of the New Nation

UVM Professor Jacqueline Barbara Carr examines the Early Republic (c. 1789-1828)

Book Clubs, Tupperware and Oprah

In the nineteenth century, reading novels was deemed a feminine pursuit. Today, the persona of Oprah perpetuates this . . .

The Sounds of Spanglish

Used daily by millions of Americans, Spanglish - the intercourse of Spanish and English - is becoming a major cultural . . .

Our Bodies, Ourselves: After 35 Years of Women's Health Education and Advocacy, How Far We've Come

Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS) is a nonprofit, public interest organization based in Cambridge, Mass., that develops and . . .

Looking Back at Vermont: Farm Security Administration Photographs of Vermont, 1936 - 1942

This abundantly illustrated talk examines the impact of this famous government project in Vermont. Over seven years, . . .

The Great Camps of the Adirondacks

The Great Camps of the Adirondacks is an illustrated lecture by David Schutz, State Curator, State of Vermont. In . . .

Cracking the Da Vinci Code

Sometimes reading a book packed tight with erudition can feel like work, but Dan Brown's thriller presents a task that . . .

The End of Iraq

Former Ambassador to Croatia and long-time U.S. diplomat with particular expertise on Iraq, Peter Galbraith offers his . . .