The Garaventa Center and international student services will sponsor Prayers for Peace on Monday, November 11, at 2 p.m., at the Peace Garden in Buckley Center Courtyard. International students and members of the UP community will offer public calls for peace in their native language. All are welcome to attend this annual event, and refreshments will be provided. For ADA accomodations or any questions, contact international student services at iss@up.edu or 7367, or the Garaventa Center at powell@up.edu or 7702.
Garaventa Center
“Alkestis” Pre-Show Event
The Garaventa Center has pulled together an eclectic panel of scholars to provide insights into the current University main stage production, “Alkestis.” Prior to the performance on Saturday, November 16, audience members can gather in the Mago Hunt Recital Hall to listen to Alex Santana (Rumpakis Professor of Hellenic Studies), costume designer Gregory Pulver, and philosophy professor Jeff Gauthier as they illuminate aspects of the show from their unique perspectives, helping hone eyes and ears to perceive even more in this rarely-produced masterpiece. Wine and snacks are provided free of charge at this session; participants should procure their own ticket to the play itself.
The doors will open at 6:30 p.m., with the panel commencing at 6:45 and ending at 7:15, allowing plenty of time to be seated in the main theater. The Garaventa Center will partner with performing and fine arts again in spring for a similar event at a performance of “Cymbeline.” For more information, contact Karen Eifler, Garaventa Center, at eifler@up.edu.
Sen. Patrick Leahy Lecture, Nov. 8
United States Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont since 1974, will speak on faith and public service when he presents “How Faith Can Inform and Enhance Public Service” on Friday, November 8, at 3:30 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. Leahy is active on human rights issues, especially through his humanitarian work for victims of land mines. He led efforts in Congress to aid mine victims by creating the Leahy War Victims Fund, a special fund in the foreign aid budget which now provides up to $14 million of relief to these victims each year. He also wrote and enacted civilian war victims relief programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Leahy is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the senior-most member of the Appropriations Committee and the Agriculture Committee. He ranks first in seniority in the Senate and is the President Pro Tempore.
For more information contact the Garaventa Center at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
Hesburgh Lecture, Oct. 28
Notre Dame law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell will speak on “Deadly Drones” when she delivers the 2013 Hesburgh Lecture on Monday, October 28, at 7 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public. O’Connell’s lecture looks at the legal, moral, and strategic challenges of America’s use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to fire missiles and drop bombs in combat.
O’Connell is a research professor of international dispute resolution at the Notre Dame Kroc Institute. She is also the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law, a position she has held since 2005. O’Connell’s research focuses on international legal theory and international law on the use of force. She has authored and edited numerous books and articles, most recently What is War? An Investigation in the Wake of 9/11 (2012). She testified recently (on May 22, 2013) before the House Judiciary Committee’s Hearing on Protecting U.S. Citizens’ Constitutional Rights During the War on Terrorism to clarify the basic fundamental human right to life, liberty, and to a fair trial during the war on terror, especially since 9/11.
The Hesburgh Lecture is co-sponsored by Notre Dame Alumni Club, Portland Chapter and the Garaventa Center. For more information, contact Jamie Powell, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
Bringing Eyes of Faith to Film
The next Bringing Eyes of Faith to Film movie screening will featured “28 Days Later” on Tuesday, October 29, beginning at 7:15 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 319 (a change from room 301). Hosts Karen Eifler and Fr. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C., use this free Garaventa Center series to illuminate unexpected themes of grace and redemption in popular contemporary movies. In this 2002 film, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK. All are welcome to enjoy the conversation and thematic movie snacks. For more information contact Jamie Powell, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
Celebrate Thirst Fridays
The Garaventa Center celebrates its move to the Corrado Reading Room (330 Franz) by inviting all faculty and staff to join them for “Thirst Fridays” this autumn. Stop by any time from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, October 25 and Friday, December 6 to enjoy wine, sparkling waters, snacks, and sparkling, convivial conversation with people from all over campus. For more information, contact Garaventa Center co-director Karen Eifler at 8014 or eifler@up.edu.
Jud Newborn, Zahm Lecture
Renowned author and cultural anthropologist Jud Newborn will deliver the Zahm Lecture, the keynote address for the University of Portland’s academic year, on Thursday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. Newborn’s presentation, “Speaking Truth to Power,” is about heroes in the fight for human rights in the present day, and highlights the 70th anniversary of the student-led White Rose anti-Nazi resistance movement. His multimedia presentations, which include images, music, and dramatic readings, have been lauded by publications such as Lifestyles Magazine as having “dramatic power and a deeply felt passion that leaves his audiences both moved and exhilarated.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
The White Rose was the name of a group of students whose activities made up one of the few effective protest movements against Nazi Germany by German citizens. Newborn has written for both The New York Times and Jerusalem Post and helped build New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, serving as its founding historian and curator. He currently serves as Special Projects Curator for the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY.
The Zahm Lecture was established in 1999 to honor Rev. John Zahm, C.S.C., who, in his position as superior of the Holy Cross in America when the University was founded in 1901, contributed counsel, money, and Holy Cross men to the University. Previous Zahm lecturers include former Newsweek religion editor Ken Woodward, and science writer and Stonehill College professor emeritus of physics Chet Raymo. For more information contact Jamie Powell, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
New Garaventa Center Website
Faculty, staff, and students are welcome to visit the Garaventa Center’s website at http://wordpress.up.edu/garaventa/, according to Jamie Powell, Garaventa Center. A number of podcasts are available, including the weekly Fractio Verbi podcast. Visitors can link directly to the readings and obtain a written transcript of the spoken reflection. There is also an occasional podcast series called Theodeon, in which Karen Eifler and Fr. Charlie Gordon discuss themes of grace and transcendence they find thanks to their popular Bringing Eyes of Faith to Film series, which applies sacramental worldview to movies now showing in theaters. For more information contact Powell at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
Clarence Thomas, Red Mass
The University of Portland and the Garaventa Center will host U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the annual Red Mass on Thursday, September 19. Thomas will appear at 4 p.m. in the Chiles Center for “A Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,” and will answer questions from political science professors Gary Malecha and William Curtis.
The University’s Red Mass will follow at 5:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. Presiding at the Mass will be Portland archbishop Alexander Sample. Both events are free and open to the public. There will be general seating, and tickets are not required. Attendees are asked to arrive early to allow time to clear security, and large bags or backpacks will not be allowed. Following the public events, a private dinner for the law community will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Bauccio Commons. Tickets to the dinner and lecture are $100 per person or $1,000 for a table of ten. RSVPs for the dinner are requested by September 10, and can be made by calling Jamie Powell, Garaventa Center, at 7702 or powell@up.edu.
New Garaventa Center Location
The Garaventa Center is now located in the Corrado Room on the third floor of Franz Hall, according to program coordinator Jamie Powell. The larger space will be used for pre-event receptions, smaller talks or workshops, and to invite faculty and staff to “Thirst Fridays” each semester, meant to serve as joyful and festive events with a goal of encouraging camaraderie across departments and schools on campus. The Garaventa Center will build on relationships it has established on campus over the last eight years that engage students, faculty and staff in conversations in the Catholic intellectual tradition while forming new working relationships that continue to foster study, reflection and an ongoing exchange about faith and culture. For more information contact Powell at 7702 or powell@up.edu.