WAUKESHA – Faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha volunteer to share their expertise in a noon time 50 Minutes Lecture series each semester, and the public is invited at no charge. All except the November 15 presentation will be held in the Commons, Room 101, on campus at 1500 N. University Dr., Waukesha.  Parking in all campus lots is free during these scheduled events.

For this semester the topics range from futuristic technology, to movies with food themes. Several take their direction from the campus’s common read program. This year, faculty and students are exploring George Orwell’s 1984.

The campus dean, Patrick Schmitt will speak on “TIA, TMI: Orwell Was a Piker” on Tuesday, October 16. He will discuss advances in technology, both occurring and projected, that go far beyond Orwell’s idea of the telescreen and lead to truly ubiquitous surveillance, which, he warns, may augur the disappearance of privacy. A member of the communications & theatre arts department on campus, Schmitt holds a Ph.D. in American 20^th Century theatre and drama and dramatic theory and criticism from UW-Madison. Since earning that degree in 1985, he has developed a personal interest in technology and did additional study at the University of South Florida.

On Wednesday, October 24, Salah Bassiouni, associate professor in the department of anthropology and sociology, will address “The Refugee Disaster Created by the US Invasion of Iraq in March 2003.” Bassiouni teaches sociology courses and holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Alexandria University, Egypt, and another in sociology from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

An assistant professor of English, Ellyn Lem has been pursuing a connection between literature and food. On Tuesday, November 13 – in the week preceding Thanksgiving – she will give a presentation on “Hungry for a Movie?: Exploring Food Films Good Enough to Eat.” Food in books and films received a popular nudge when Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate burst on the international scene as a best-selling book and critically acclaimed movie, she notes.  In this talk Lem will concentrate primarily on several classic food films that feature gastronomical scenes and themes. Some of the works she will discuss include: Babette’s Feast, Eat Drink Man Woman, Like Water for Chocolate, Tampopo, Soul Food, Tortilla Soup, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Mostly Martha, Woman on Top, Ratatouille, and No Reservations. She regularly reviews food studies books for various journals and is working on a book project for Manchester University Press on ethnicity and culinary texts. She holds a BA from UW-Madison, MA from Northeastern University, and Ph.D. from New York University in English and American literature.

On Thursday, November 15, assistant professor of philosophy Dean Kowalski’s lecture, “2 + 2 = 1984: Realism in Contemporary Society,” will place the campus’s common read, George Orwell’s 1984, under a contemporary spotlight. He will make his presentation at noon in Southview 123. Kowalski accepts the charge of philosopher Peter van Inwagen who views 1984 as “the greatest of all attacks on anti-realism . . . Anyone who is interested in realism and anti-realism should be steeped in the message of this book.” Kowalski will speak on the nature of objective truth and reality in the face of disagreement about the perceived world. Using 1984’s main characters Winston Smith and O’Brien as touchstones, he will explain in what way van Inwagen finds the compelling case for objectivity in the book and discuss the significance of this conclusion for contemporary society. Kowalski graduated from Ripon College and earned his MA and Ph.D. from UW-Madison.

Finally, Tim Booth from the art department will present a lecture on “Utopia and Dystopia in Western Art” on Thursday, December 6. He will begin with the new-found optimism in 15^th & 16^th Century Italian painting and city planning and end in the consumer-inspired movement of Pop Art in post-World War II America. In his review, he will examine the unique visual angst stimulated by the horrors of World War I and subsequent economic depression in early 20^th Century Germany. He also will revisit the Italian art scene 400 years after the Renaissance vis-à-vis the technologically inspired Futurist Manifesto of 1909.  Booth holds both BA and MA from UW-Milwaukee in art history.

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about UW-Waukesha admission, financial aid, programs, or policies, contact the Student Services office 888 2UW-WAUK (289-9285) or visit the Web at waukesha.uwc.edu.

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