Smitty Lecture Series

Paul Smith’s College presents notable speakers to address topics of broad interest to the campus as well as the general public. Admission is free. Please contact Jill Susice at 518.327.6401 or jsusice@paulsmiths.edu for more information.

USING HER VOICE TO HELP OTHERS FIND THEIRS
Monday, September 16, 2019
Freer Auditorium, 7 pm

Koestner is an internationally recognized author, activist, and educator whose story of sexual assault catapulted a national conversation when she was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine in 1991. Join us as she shares her story of survival and the impact it had on her life and her activism.

Presenter: Katie Koestner, Director of Educational Services, Campus Outreach Services

RURAL RESILIENCY AND THE ARTS
Thursday, October 10, 2019
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Arts and Culture can play a vital role in the economic resiliency of rural communities. Traditional Arts and Fine Arts have the power to gather diverse rural communities around a common identity. The Arts also have the capacity to communicate that identity to enhance tourism and other forms of economic development. Professor McClure will share rural success stories of vibrant artistic communities that contribute to their civic wellness and leverage local arts for regional economic development.

Presenter: Glenn McClure, Lecturer, Department of Environment and Society, Paul Smith’s College

THE DISCIPLINE OF LISTENING AND ITS ROLE IN THE WORK OF RECONCILIATION
Monday, October 28, 2019
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Andrew’s work is a contribution to the collective project of learning how to live together with love, by listening– united by our diversity, empowered by sharing the unavoidable vulnerability of being human, and freed by opening ourselves to one another. Andrew will share stories about his year-long 4000 miles walk across America, and explore the practice and philosophy of walking to listen.

Presenter: Andrew Forsthoefel, Speaker, Peace Activist, and Author of the Book, Walking to Listen

AMERICAN GUNPOWER: RACE, SPACE, AND EXTRACTION
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Pine Room, 7 pm
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American debates over guns and gun control are characterized by intense partisanship and stark binary framings: pro-gun versus anti-gun, gun control versus gun rights, Democratic versus Republican. But these surface level polemics conceal America’s broad investment in a system of social reproduction and social control defined and sustained by guns: gunpower. In this event, Patrick Blanchfield will explain the concept of gunpower, and sketch out its history from the frontier violence of Colonial America to the War on Terror. Focusing in particular on questions of agriculture, land use, and hunting, Blanchfield will unpack the interrelated dynamics of race, territorial control, and resource extraction that have shaped how Americans debate, legislate, and live with guns, revealing surprising connections and pathways forward.

Presenter: Patrick Blanchfield, Henry R. Luce Initiative in Religion in International Affairs Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University, Center for Religion and Media

THE RENEWAL MOVEMENT: MERGING ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Pine Room, 7 pm
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Half a century ago, several “Big Ten” environmental organizations passed up an important opportunity to connect with social justice movements. As civil rights hero Cesar Chavez and his United Farmworkers (UFW) fought to ban DDT in California, environmental organizations such as the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club chose not to join the farmworkers’ struggle against the human rights and ecological dangers of pesticides. In that moment, environmentalist missed the chance to build coalitions across class and cultural boundaries. Now, as the United States quickly approaches the culturally wonderful moment of being a country with over 50% people of color by 2050, the American environmental movement can no longer afford the luxury of overlooking social justice and human rights issues. Today, how might we avoid the mistakes of earlier environmental movements who overlooked social justice connections? What common values merge wilderness and social justice movements?

Presenter: John Hausdoerffer, Dean, School of Environment & Sustainability, Professor, ENVS & Philosophy, Western Colorado University