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THE POLARIS LECTURES, named for the North Star on Alaska's flag, address a wide range of subjects in the liberal arts. The series began in the 1980s to commemorate the bicentenary of the American Constitution.
| | | Support Polaris THE POLARIS SOCIETY is open to students, faculty, staff, and community members who support the lecture program. Your annual contribution to the Polaris Lecture Fund is tax deductible and goes to a dedicated fund in the University of Alaska Foundation, used exclusively to support Polaris Lectures. To join, please visit the website www.uaa.alaska.edu/giving and specify that your contribution is to the "Polaris Lecture Fund.“ | |
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| 2008-2009 Season |  | | Thursday, February 13, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Cultivating a "Habit of Freedom of Thought": Abraham Lincoln and the Words of the Republic Lecturer: Peter Schramm, Professor of Political Science, Ashland University
Dr. Schramm has edited, co-edited, and contributed to a number of books on politics and government. He writes a regular column for On Principle and op-ed columns for The Columbus Dispatch, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other Ohio newspapers. |
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| | Thursday, March 6, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 "'Then Sing Him Home'" Shakespeare the Contemplative" Lecturer: David Whalen, Professor of English, Hillsdale College David Whalen, received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Kansas in 1992. He has published on English Renaissance literature, rhetorical epistemology, literature and politics, and the writings of John Henry Newman, Charles Dickens, and G.K. Chesterton. His teaching interests are equally diverse, ranging from courses in the great books, Shakespeare, and the English novel, to Restoration drama and the history of liberal education. Professor Whalen is recipient of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Richard M. Weaver Fellowship, the Heritage Foundation Salvatori Fellowship, and the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence. |
| | | Monday, March 31, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Teachers, Students, Leaders: Why You Should Take Alaska History Seriously Lecturer: Stephen W. Haycox, Professor of History, University of Alaska Anchorage |
| Thursday, April 3, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Abraham Lincoln and History: A Personal Journey Lecturer: Craig Symonds, Professor Emeritus of History, United States Naval Academy | | |
| | | Saturday, April 19, 7:30 PM, Fine Arts Building (ARTS), Room 150 Turkish Mystic Sufi Music, Poetry, and Images Latif Bolat, singer, composer, and scholar of Turkish music and folklore |
| Thursday, April 24, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Lecture Topic: "I Know He Was White Inside": Huck Finn on Equality Lecturer: David Foster, Associate Professor of Political Science, Ashland University | | |
Fall 2007 Lecture Series | Thursday, November 29, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Lecturer: Barry M. Gough, Professor Emeritus of History, Wilfrid Laurier University His latest book is Fortune’s a River: The Struggle of Empires in Northwest America (Harbour Publishing, 2007). | | | | Thursday, October 18, 7:30 PM, Auditorium, Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center
Alaska Day Lecture Lecturer: Roxanne Willis, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for the Environment, Harvard University. Dr. Willis earned her Ph.D. from Yale University. | | | | Thursday, October 11, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 Lincoln, God and Emancipation
Teaching American History Series How did Lincoln address the problem of American slavery as a constitutional and providential matter? He began with a commitment to prevent the spread of slavery, but eventually—through the wiles of war under the providence of God—his approach led to emancipation in Confederate-held areas of the Union. As the war closed, he undertook to explain the theodicy of American slavery in his Second Inaugural Address as a way to unite the warring sections of the country. Lecturer: Lucas E. Morel is an Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University, and author of Lincoln's Sacred Effort: Defining Religion's Role in American Self-Government (Lexington Books, 2000). | | | | Monday, September 17, 7:30 PM, Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 118 The Ring-bolt to the Chain': Frederick Douglass on the Constitution
Teaching American History Series Lecturer: Pamela K. Jensen, Professor of Political Science, Kenyon College
Pamela K. Jensen, has taught at Kenyon College since 1980. After receiving her doctorate from the University of Chicago, she published essays on modern political philosophy and on politics and literature. She is contributing editor of Finding a New Feminism: Rethinking the Woman Question for Liberal Democracy (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996). An active member of the American Political Science Association, Professor Jensen has served on its national council. She is past president of the Ohio Association of Scholars. | | | | Sunday, August 26, 7:30 PM, Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 118 Beyond a Clash of Civilization? The Case of Islam
Lecturers: William A. Graham, Dean of Harvard Divinity School,
Murray A. Albertson, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, and
John Lord Brian, Professor of Divinity At Harvard, Professor Graham has served as director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and chaired the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on the Study of Religion, the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies, and the Harvard College Core Curriculum Subcommittee on Foreign Cultures. He is author of Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion (1987, 1993) and Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam (1977), which won the History of Religions Prize of the Council of Learned Societies (1978). | | |
Spring 2007 Lectures
| | Thursday, February 1, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307 George Marshall and Unheroic Heroism
The role of General George C. Marshall as organizer of victory and head of the American army in World War II, focusing on his career before the Marshall Plan for the rescue of Europe. Lecturer: Gen. Josiah Bunting III, Chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board | | | Thursday, February 15, 7:30 PM, Social Science Building (SSB), Room 118
2nd Annual UAA Faculty Polaris Lecture Modern Lessons Through Ancient Alaskan Languages
Perspectives about the land and our relationship to it that we can learn from Alaska Native languages, with examples from the Dena'ina language of Cook Inlet. Lecturer: Alan Boraas, Professor of Anthropology, Kenai Peninsula College | | | Thursday, February 22, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307
Teaching American History Series America's Two Foundings
The relationship between American political principles and Christianity, as revealed in the two great founding moments of American life: the coming of the Pilgrims and the making of the American revolution.
Lecturer: Michael Zuckert, Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame | | | Friday, March 2, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307
Teaching American History Series Jefferson's Tombstone
The impact of Thomas Jefferson's three great accomplishments (the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, and the University of Virginia) on the founding of republican government in America. Lecturer: Charles Kesler, Professor of Government and Director of the Henry Salvatori Center at Claremont McKenna College | | |
Thursday, March 8, 7:30 PM, Rasmuson Hall, Room 101
2nd Annual Shakespeare Lecture
Sex, Chastity, Marriage, Justice, Mercy, Corruption: Is Measure for Measure a Comedy?
The tensions between justice and mercy and between lewdness and chastity lead scholars to interpret this play both darkly and comically. Lecturer: Daniel H. Lowenstein, Professor of Law, UCLA Law School
| | | Thursday, March 29, 7:30 PM, Consortium Library (LIB), Room 307
Teaching American History series
The Command of Our Own Fortunes: George Washington and the Challenge of Founding
What was it about Washington, the least educated and the most action-oriented of the Founding generation, that made him--and not Jefferson, not Madison, not Hamilton--the Father of his Country? Lecturer: Matthew Spalding, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies, the Heritage Foundation
| Fall 2006 Lectures Sunday, September 17
2nd Annual Constitution Day Polaris Lecture
Alaska’s Missing Constitution: The United States and Alaska Constitutions in Historical Contrast:John E. Havelock
Thursday, September 21, 7.30 p.m., Consortium Library, Room 307
Teaching American History Series
The Political Theory of the American Founding: Paul A. Rahe, Jay P. Walker Professor of History, University of Tulsa
Some see the political theory of Madison, Hamilton, and Jay in The Federalist as thoroughly modern—grounded in a mechanical conception of politics as the play of interests in an institutional structure. Others point to the high-mindedness of the American Founders, arguing that they rely on virtue both among the people and among those who represent them. The truth is in between.
Thursday, October 5, 7.30 p.m.,Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 118
Teaching American History Series
Benjamin Franklin as a Typical American: A Study of His Autobiography: Jerry Weinberger, Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University
Moral paragon, public servant, founding father; scoundrel, opportunist, womanizing phony—there are many Benjamin Franklins. But a close reading of his Autobiography and other writings shows that the real Franklin was more remarkable than anyone has seen before. Wednesday, October 18, 7.30 p.m.,Anchorage Museum of History and Art
2nd Annual Alaska Day Polaris Lecture
The Constitution and the Rule of Law: Hon. H. Russel Holland, United States District Court Judge
An examination of the law in Alaska’s history, and the role of the rule of law in society.
Thursday, November 2, 7.30 p.m.,Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 118
Teaching American History Series
The American Constitution and the Common Law: James R. Stoner, Professor of Political Science,Louisiana State University
The common law is important for the American founding, because we inherited legal and constitutional traditions from England, despite our break with the mother country. The common law affects judicial and political institutions which were present from the beginning and gained importance as America developed.
Friday, December 1, 7.30 p.m.,Social Sciences Building (SSB), Room 118
Polaris Lecture
Do We Still Need Lawrence of Arabia? Paul K. Alkon, Leo S. Bing Professor of English and American Literature,University of Southern California
A discussion of why the Lawrence of Arabia legend persists and remains useful and how visual images contributed to its creation and early transformation. The illustrated lecture includes examples of Lawrence's own camera work contrasted with images used by Lowell Thomas and his photographer Harry Chase to make "Lawrence of Arabia" into a super hero. |
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