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Tuesday, September 3
9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
Brock Commons
Joselyn Takacs, Ph.D.

The 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had devastating and far-reaching consequences. Joselyn Takacs discusses her activism and her interviews with Louisiana oyster farmers in the wake of that environmental disaster, along with a reading from Pearce Oysters (2024), her debut novel. This work of eco-fiction—inspired by the BP tragedy and Takacs’ interviews—follows the Pearce family, local oyster farmers whose business, family, and livelihood are on the brink of collapse.

Joselyn Takacs holds a Ph.D. in creative writing and literature from the University of Southern California and an MFA in fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Her fiction has appeared in Gulf Coast, Narrative, Harvard Review, The Rumpus, DIAGRAM, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, and elsewhere.

Sponsored in collaboration with a VWU Batten Honors College course on water and contemporary environmental issues.

Tuesday, September 17
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Robert Nusbaum Center, Clarke Hall #108

It is not a “Liberty Luncheon” or a “Feast of Freedoms,” but it is a quirky take on American history and an opportunity to learn more about the Constitution in ways that your mouth won’t forget. Come by the Robert Nusbaum Center office anytime between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to enjoy stew, nachos, and snacks and gain deeper insights into – and think differently about - four of the amendments.

Thursday, September 19
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Timothy G. O’Rourke, Ph.D.

Two-thirds of voters think the United States is on the “wrong track” (RealClear Polling). Only 28 percent think our democracy is working well (Gallup). Clear majorities of both Democrats and Republicans see the other party as a threat to America (Ipsos). A failed assassination led to calls to “lower the temperature of our politics,” but our divisions are more than rhetorical. Only one-fourth of voters have a great deal of trust in the federal government, down from three-fourths in 1958 (Pew Research). Over the past 25 years, the percentage of voters valuing patriotism, religion, hard work, voluntarism, and having children has sharply declined (Wall Street Journal). How can we bring Americans together and repair our fraying civic culture?

Timothy G. O’Rourke (Ph.D., Duke, Political Science) served as Vice President and Provost at VWU from 2007 to 2019. From Clemson to UVA, from St. Louis to Salisbury (MD) to Virginia Beach, he has been a teacher, scholar, and public servant who has led pioneering efforts designed to connect campus and community and to promote greater citizen engagement in the political process. He has published widely on state and local government and apportionment and has testified on voting rights before both U.S. House and Senate committees. From 1985 to 1992, he served as Executive Director of the Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.

Tuesday, September 24
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Patrick Giamario, Ph.D.

What might initially seem like a derisive, stilted nickname, “Laffin’ Kamala” reflects how the laughter of Black Americans has long been associated with intense white anxiety, police intervention, and democratic resistance. Ralph Ellison’s 1985 essay “An Extravagance of Laughter” explores how the distinctive sounds, styles, and tonalities of Black laughter are products of a history of racial oppression. White supremacy treats these differences in laughter as evidence of essential racial difference. How does laughter function politically? How does it shape and express one’s identity? And why do people find laughter threatening? Join Patrick Giamario as he discusses what Ellison’s work can tell us about this timely cultural and political phenomenon.

Patrick Giamario, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is a political theorist whose research and teaching focus on contemporary democratic theory, critical theory, and the history of political thought. His first book, Laughter as Politics: Critical Theory in an Age of Hilarity, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022.

Thursday, October 3
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Leslie Caughell, Ph.D.

How do Americans see themselves? How has that changed over the years? How does that affect how they get and receive political information? And how does this affect the quality of our democracy? Join us for an important conversation about issues of identity in America and why those issues matter so much today.

Leslie Caughell, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science at VWU. Having studied public opinion and political communication at the University of Illinois, she is the author of The Political Battle of the Sexes: Exploring the Gender Gaps in Policy Preferences (2016). Since 2012 she has taught courses ranging from American government, American political thought, and the presidency to political theory, gender studies, and politics in the media.

Thursday, October 10
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Repeated 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Tour begins in front of Monumental Chapel/Beazley Recital Hall

What did newly freed slaves have to do with the VWU campus? What is the intentionally secret message at the statue of John Wesley? Why did a grove of trees cause deep controversy on campus? Why is a peace pole at the center of campus? Why was AIDS seen as particularly important here? These and other questions will be addressed on a walking tour of VWU’s sacred spaces, conducted by Professors Kathy Stolley and Craig Wansink, former VWU professors Steve Mansfield and Larry Hultgren, and Nusbaum Center Associate Director Kelly Jackson.

A sacred space is more than just a physical location; it is a place imbued with significance, memory, and a sense of reverence. While some such spaces are obvious, (e.g., Yosemite National Park, the Lincoln Memorial, and the National Cathedral), VWU’s sacred spaces may not be as immediately recognizable. Join us as we visit and learn about sites on the VWU campus that serve as touchstones for reflection, remembrance, and inspiration.

Sponsored in partnership with Dr. Kathy Stolley’s Sociology courses “Social Justice and Health,” “Introduction to Sociology,” and “Visual Sociology.”

Thursday, October 17
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Clair Berube, Ph.D.

How did American public education begin? How has it been used or denied? Why does any of this matter in a democracy? This presentation highlights how public education was started and how it has changed in the United States, why some motives and strategies undermine public education, and why teachers today face challenges unlike anything they have experienced before. Desegregation, anti-intellectualism, unique religious forces, the Red Scare, and gun culture all have created challenges in public schools. Clair Berube believes that how we respond matters—a great deal.

A 1983 alumna of VWU, Clair Berube, Ph.D., studied psychology and was also captain of the softball team. She went on to finish her master’s and doctorate degrees in urban studies and education at Old Dominion University before coming to the VWU Department of Education as a professor in 2020.. She is co-author of The End of School Reform (2006), The Moral University (2010), and the recently published The Investments: An American Conspiracy (2020).

Thursday, October 17
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Brock Commons

*CANCELLED*

Increasingly, Americans find it difficult to engage in meaningful conversations across political divides. In an era where shouting past one another has become the norm, public deliberation offers a constructive alternative. By enhancing communication, public deliberation has been shown to improve mutual understanding of differing viewpoints.

With that in mind, many Americans have expressed concerns about the U.S. election system, albeit for different reasons. Is the process of voting too hard? Is the system too easy to manipulate? Do our rules make voting fair and accessible to all? Are we doing enough to ensure accuracy and credibility? Join us for a moderated discussion to explore options for addressing voting concerns, consider diverse viewpoints, and weigh the advantages, drawbacks, and trade-offs of different approaches. By participating in this important conversation, you can contribute to a deeper, more informed dialogue about our election system and help to shape a more inclusive and trustworthy democratic process.

Tuesday, October 22
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Blocker Hall Auditorium
Benjamin Haller, Ph.D.

In the course of their education, early Virginians like Thomas Jefferson encountered Greek and Latin texts, monuments, and constitutional ideas. So, it’s no surprise that those texts and ideas would end up shaping and influencing the cultural history of Virginia’s Tidewater region. Haller’s most recent book looks at how Jefferson’s readings in Greek and Roman texts led him to articulate ideals of religious freedom and a conviction that all human beings are created equal.Ìý Come learn how the rediscovery of a lost palimpsest may have inspired a plan for a planetarium—never completed—in the Rotunda at UVA, how a paint chip prised from a metope at UVA sheds light on Jefferson's engagement in the question of whether the Greeks painted their statues, and how a tiny inaccuracy in John Trumbull's famous painting of Independence Hall—which graces the $2 bill—shedsÌý light on Jefferson's ideas about Greek democracy.

Benjamin Haller, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Classics at VWU. His research interests include Homer, Archaic Greek poetry, Latin poetry, the Classical Tradition, and Classics in Popular Culture. He is currently working on a Latin textbook (Laetabere!) and several other projects on Homer and the Classical Tradition.

Thursday, October 24
7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Colin Rafferty

In the nearly 250 years of America's existence, only 45 men have held its highest office, a strange assortment of politicians, citizens, generals, businessmen, schemers, dreamers, heroes, and failures. Convinced he might find something new to say about the Chief Executives, essayist Colin Rafferty wrote short creative works that took on each president. In his book Execute the Office, George Washington's teeth dance the Virginia Reel while Ronald Reagan meets John Wayne in a film script. Franklin Pierce gets diagnosed, Rutherford B. Hayes sends postcards from home, George W. Bush watches the hurricane index rise, and we consider what the notion that anyone can become president really means to us.

Colin Rafferty was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but grew up on the Kansas side. He attended land grant universities and eventually got an MFA from the University of Alabama. He writes about monuments and memorials (Hallow This Ground, Break Away Books, published in 2016), presidents (Execute the Office, Baobab Press, published in 2021), andVietnam (in-process). He teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Mary Washington and lives in Richmond with his wife and their dogs.

The Cookson Lecture was established in honor of Catharine Cookson, Ph.D., J.D., who served as the first full-time director of the Robert Nusbaum Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom.

Thursday, October 31
Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Brock Commons
Eric Michael Mazur, Ph.D.

Buttons supporting William Jennings Bryan endorsed him—in Yiddish. Fans of Herbert Hoover, a Quaker, demanded “A Christian in the White House,” even though he was running against a Catholic. Bahais proudly declared their support for Barack Obama on their lapels, as did Buddhists, Catholics, Confucians, Druze, and many others. As former New York Mayor Ed Koch declared, “Buttons, stickers, and songs . . . are the sparkle and glitter of which our campaigns are made.”
Ìý
In this exploration of presidential campaign buttons, we examine the diversity of religious terms, images, and symbols and how they have been used to communicate both positive and negative messages to potential voters We also examine how religious political campaign buttons now have a more substantive impact as they reveal much about the people who design, circulate, and purchase them.

Eric Michael Mazur, Ph.D., is the Gloria and David Furman Professor of Judaic Studies at VWU and serves as the Fellow for Religion, Law, and Politics for the Robert Nusbaum Center.

 

Thursday, November 14
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Repeated Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk (Meet in Chrysler Lobby)
Craig Wansink, Ph.D.
*Registration required.

Both tours are full. No longer acceptingÌýreservations.

Lot’s daughters, the Pharaoh's daughter, Manoah's wife, Sarah, Hagar, Abigail, Rebekah, and Eve. Some of the most striking paintings in the Chrysler Museum’s collection focus on women in the Bible who were faced with dark and challenging situations that made them question their own identity. Join Nusbaum Center Director Craig Wansink as he leads a walking tour through the Chrysler Museum of Art and through the Bible, reflecting on women who faced crises that made them both question their own identity and make difficult decisions in the process.

Sunday, November 24
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk (Meet in Chrysler Lobby)
Craig Wansink, Ph.D.
*Registration required.

What does it mean to be a citizen? What does it mean to be an American? Is there a distinct American identity or civic soul?

This unique tour examines how the art of the Chrysler Museum gives us a lens to see our national diversity and values. We focus on distinctive works of art, including The Apotheosis of Washington, The Declaration of Independence, Angel on the Battlefield, Palimpsest: Hampton Roads, and Motives. These works are coupled with brief classic American texts, including Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” and selections from works including Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “The Slave’s Appeal” and Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Join us for a time that looks beyond politics and into our civic soul.

Craig Wansink, Ph.D., is Batten Professor of Religious Studies and Leadership and the Joan P. and Macon F. Brock, Jr. Director of the Robert Nusbaum Center at VWU. He has studied at universities in Japan, Jordan, Germany, and Israel. He also serves as Senior Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Norfolk.

Wednesday, December 4
1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The Lighthouse, Clarke Hall

Stress Relief, Creative Expression, Kindness, Community Building, Caring for Others.

Join us for a time of reflection on values relating to peace and community. Gather with Professors Kathy Stolley and Craig Wansink, and Nusbaum Center Associate Director Kelly Jackson for a session of rock painting, recognizing that the stones painted will become sources of inspiration in the University’s Peace Garden.

Located just outside the Robert Nusbaum Center at the center of campus, the Peace Garden honors a true peacemaker: the late Catharine Cookson, former director of the Center. Anchoring the garden is a Peace Pole, bearing the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in a different language on each of its four sides. The Peace Pole was given by the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia’s Peacemaking Ministry Team in honor of the legacy of longtime team member William “Bill” Granville Sale, Jr. It joins the more than 250,000 Peace Poles that are planted in nearly every country symbolizing the hopes and dreams of the entire human family.

Please join us to learn more about peace poles, create something meaningful, and relax.

Tools We Appreciate

The internet eases access to information but also spreads misinformation. Here are four websites to help view multiple perspectives and spot misinformation:

• (2012): Shows news from the political left, center, and right to expose media bias.
• (1994): Fact-checks urban legends, myths, rumors, and misinformation.
• (2015): Debunks trending misinformation and fake news, especially on social media.
• (2003): Provides political fact-checking and analysis.