By Bill Robinson
Senior News Writer
RICHMOND —
Dr. Bruce MacLaren, who founded Eastern Kentucky University’s Chatauqua lecture series 11 years ago, will give a valedictory address Thursday evening as he turns the program over to his successor, Dr. Minh Nguyen.
The free program will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Ferrell Auditorium of the Combs Building. EKU President Doug Whitlock will pay tribute to MacLaren who will speak on “Why Chautauqua?”
The university’s Chautauqua series “is the success it is today because of Dr. MacLaren’s vision and hard work through the years,” Whitlock said Monday in a statement released by the university.
The Chautauqua series got its start, MacLaren said, as he listened to former EKU President Bob Kustra’s inaugural address.
“Dr. Kustra said after graduating from college, he remembered and was more stimulated by what speakers brought to campus had said more than what his professors had said,” MacLaren said. “I told Dr. Kustra that I’d had the same experience and suggested that we start a special lecture series at EKU.”
Later, the university provost told MacLaren to write a proposal and funding request.
“I asked for $200,000,” MacLaren said, “but got $20,000.”
With so little to pay speakers and travel expenses, the first Chautauqua series used a lot of local speakers. However, as the program grew in popularity and received more funding, nationally known teachers, writers and activists were brought to campus.
The series was called Chautauqua after the late 19th and early 20th century program begun in Chautauqua, N.Y., that sent speakers to cities across the nation, spreading ideas and sparking debate.
Each year, the EKU Chautauqua selects theme based on a current issue. The first year examined the idea of evolution, which has drawn adherents and detractors since Charles Darwin published his “On the Origin of Species” in 1859.
Among the more memorable EKU Chautauqua speakers, MacLaren said, was Angela Davis, the former 1960s black-power figure.
Civil Rights icons Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King both had died shortly before, and Davis opened her lecture by talking about them.
“She said Rosa Parks would not liked to have her casket placed along in the rotunda of the nation’s capitol,” MacLaren said. “There were so many others who had played a role, including the group of women who had brought Martin Luther King to Montgomery, and Mrs. Parks was not happy that so much attention was focused on her.”
MacLaren came to EKU in 1969 after attending graduate school at University of Wisconsin from which he earned a doctorate. He is semi-retired, teaching only half time this semester.
He is passing the Chautauqua series reins to Dr. Minh Nguyen, associate professor of philosophy, who received his doctorate from Columbia University.
The 2010-11 series’ 12 lectures will focus on “Nature’s Humans,” Nguyen said.
The lectures will explore the topic from a variety of perspectives and feature several internationally known lecturers. The series will include a musical performance and an art exhibit in addition to 10 lectures.
The programs will include:
• Sept. 9, Peter Singer, “Ethics and Animals: Extending Ethics Beyond Our Own Species”
• Sept. 23, Carol Kaesuk Yoon, “Naming Nature: The Clash between Instinct and Science”
• Oct. 7, Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore in concert
• Oct. 21, Ben Freed, “Primate Conservation and Extinction: Our Past, Present and Future”
• Nov. 4, Laura Newhart, “The Bonobo Mirror Project”
• Jan. 20, Robert Wright, “The Evolution of God and the Moral Animal”
• Jan. 24-Feb. 18, A juried exhibition on the theme in Giles Gallery of the Campbell Building
• Feb. 3, Michael Eric Dyson, “Pride and Humans”
• Feb. 17, Brian Greene, “Breakthrough Thinking: Challenging What We Know.
• March 17, Graciela Chichilnisky, “Avoiding Extinction”
• April 14, Sonia Shah, “The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years”
For more details about the Chautauqua series Nguyen at 622-8667 or e-mail: minh.nguyen@eku.edu.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
