2007-2008 CAS Lecture Series

Nov 15

"Wallpaper Patterns and Crystallographic Groups" (PDF)
Dr. Cynthia Woodburn, PSU Department of Mathematics

Dr. Woodburn’s lecture unites the mathematical theory of groups with art, biology, geology, solid state physics and chemistry. “Crystallographic groups played a role in the birth of modern mineralogy in the 20th century,” says Woodburn. “They were also connected with the discovery of the structure of DNA in the 1950s.”

Light refreshments will precede the lecture at 3:00 pm. The lecture itself will begin at 3:30 and is free and open to the public.

107 Grubbs Hall

Jan 24

“Interrupting the Conversation: A Poet Responds to Visual Art”
Laura Lee Washburn , PSU Department of English

Laura Lee Washburn of the Pittsburg State University Department of English has been slated as this year’s second speaker in the new College of Arts and Sciences Lecture Series on January 24 at 3:30 in room 107 of Grubbs Hall.

Ms Washburn will give a lecture entitled “Interrupting the Conversation: A Poet Responds to Visual Art.”
“If we,” Washburn says, “think of a field of visual art—whether it is painting, photography, or sculpture—as a conversation with an audience, it is too frequently just a conversation with an elite audience.  The audience is expected to understand history and theory and movements and so on."

“But I am another sort of artist, a poet, and I break in to that conversation amongst elites.”

Washburn came to Pittsburg State University in 1997, where she is the director of the creative writing program and the vice-director of the women's studies program.  Before coming to Pittsburg, she lived in Springfield, Missouri for five years where she taught at Missouri State.

Washburn is the author of This Good Warm Place, which will be re-released this year by March Street Press in an Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition, and also Watching the Contortionists for which she won the Palanquin Chapbook Prize.

Her poetry has appeared in various journals, including Midwest Quarterly, Carolina Quarterly, Quarterly West, The Sun, The Journal, and Clackamas Review.

“In my lecture,” Washburn said, “I will look at three or four ways of responding to art, including repetition or description, improvisation, argument, and reflection or meditation.”

The lecture will include slides of the artwork as well as examples of the poems that respond to it. 
   
Light refreshments will precede the lecture at 3:00 pm.  The lecture itself will begin at 3:30 and is free and open to the public.

107 Grubbs Hall

Feb 26

“Limit Cycles in Predator-Prey Systems” (PDF)
Yaping Liu, PSU Department of Mathematics

Dr. Yaping Liu, a professor in the PSU Department of Mathematics, is the third speaker for this year’s new lecture series. He will present “Limited Cycles in Predator-Prey Systems,” at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The lecture will be held in Grubbs Hall Room 109.

Predator-prey systems are mathematical models of how predators and their prey interact in nature. When predators eat prey, it reduces the food supply. If the number of prey is reduced too far, the predators will starve thereby reducing their numbers and allowing the number of prey to increase. Increasing prey, however, will allow for an increase in the predator population.

In his talk, Dr. Liu plans to discuss a few well-known theories such as Volterra's paradox, a phenomenon discovered in certain predator-prey models that exhibit cyclical behavior.

Though based in multi-species biological systems, these mathematical models have wide applications in various disciplines, including population theory, natural resources management, epidemiology, virus dynamics, pest control, and mechanics.

Light refreshments at 3 p.m. will precede the free lecture. The lecture itself will begin at 3:30 and is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Liu at 620-235-4402.

109 Grubbs Hall

Apr 3

”How Not to Be an Atheist: A Neoclassical Response to the New Atheism” (PDF)
Don Viney, PSU Department of Social Sciences

“In the aftermath of 9/11, a number of writers have embraced atheism as a partial solution to what ails the world,” explains Don Viney, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Social Sciences, Pittsburg State University. “They are more aggressive than those who preceded them in this belief as most of the so-called ‘new atheists’ are not satisfied with disbelief in God. They also claim that a commitment to science, reason, and morality is inconsistent with theism.”

Professor Viney intends to discuss this at 3:30 on Thursday, April 3 in room 109 Grubbs Hall, as he gives the fourth and final lecture of the year in the College of Arts and Sciences Lecture Series. 

His lecture is entitled ”How Not to Be an Atheist: A Neoclassical Response to the New Atheism.”

This lecture comes at a time when bestsellers by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens underscore the intellectual and moral shortcomings of religion and books promoting atheism by philosopher Daniel Dennett and physicist Victor Stenger also top the charts.

“They claim,” continues Viney, “that a commitment to science, reason, and morality is inconsistent with theism. Using as my point of departure the neoclassical philosophy of A. N. Whitehead, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Charles Hartshorne, I acknowledge that the new atheism is interesting as political activism but that it is intellectually anemic.”

Professor Viney’s lecture promises to be both intellectually challenging and of appeal to a large audience.

“I felt Don was the perfect person to bring this year’s series of lectures to a close,” said Bobby Winters, Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Pittsburg State University. “We’ve been blessed this year with a broad variety of presentations which have been intellectually challenging and frequently entertaining.  I scheduled Don last because I knew he would be able to do honor to those who had preceded him.”

The public is invited and light refreshments will be served at 3:00PM. 

109 Grubbs Hall