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Feb. 3-March 7: German resistance is topic of exhibit, films, talks

Bust of Sophie Scholl
Bust of Sophie Scholl

They were college students with lives like WSU students might have today. Some studied medicine and did military service. One had a fiancé. One was a married father of three.

But for the unpardonable crime of speaking out, considered treason in Nazi Germany, the University of Munich students and a sympathetic professor were executed. Their story is the subject of a traveling exhibit, “Die Weisse Rose: The White Rose,” at WSU Libraries’ Terrell Atrium, Feb. 3-March 7, on the Pullman campus.

“Very normal people can undertake very major resistance,” said Rachel Halverson, associate professor of German and Marianna Merritt and Donald S. Matteson Distinguished Professor in Foreign Languages and Cultures. “It’s really ordinary people who can make change happen, believing in doing the right thing.”

Find out more about the White Rose movement educational events at WSU.

 

Driving spirit, fiery rhetoric: Top MLK speakers at WSU Jan. 22, 29

Two dynamic civil rights speakers will highlight WSU’s annual Martin Luther King celebration on Jan. 22 and 29. WSU faculty are invited to incorporate the presentations into spring semester class curricula.

King described speaker Diane Nash as the “driving spirit in the nonviolent assault on segregation at lunch counters.” She led that sit-in movement, coordinated the 1961 freedom ride from Birmingham, Ala., to Jackson, Miss., helped organize the 1963 march on Washington, and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to a national committee that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Speaker Michael Eric Dyson has been named one of the 150 most powerful African Americans by Ebony magazine. He has published two books about King, and his Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1994) was named one of the most important African American books of the 20th century. He “can rock the classroom and the chapel alike,” said a reporter in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

More about MLK events at WSU

Philosophy forum to explore free will Jan. 23-24

Alfred Mele
Alfred Mele

Recent discoveries in neuroscience are challenging long-held beliefs about conscious decision making, or “free will.” Alfred Mele, an expert in action theory, will examine this critical intersection of science and philosophy in two free, public events Jan. 23-24 at WSU Pullman.

On Thursday, Mele will deliver the 52nd Frank Fraser Potter Memorial Lecture in Philosophy, “Free Will and Neuroscience: What Do Old-School and New-Wave Studies Show?” at 7 p.m. in the Compton Union Building (CUB) Auditorium.

On Friday, he will present the Potter Talk, “The Power of Situations, People and Education,” at noon in Bryan Hall 308.

More about the Potter philosophy events

Innovative police safety app debuts at White House conference

Bryan Vila
Bryan Vila

A computer application to help reduce fatigue and improve police officer safety will be presented at a White House innovation conference Tuesday, Jan. 14, by Bryan Vila, professor of criminal justice and criminology, WSU Spokane.

Ten teams from White House “DataJam” safety innovation competitions nationwide were invited to present their projects at the White House Safety Datapalooza in Washington D.C. Vila and his team developed the BeSharp app to monitor objective assessments of police officers’ fatigue rather than depending on self-assessments, since performance can be seriously impaired by the time officers actually feel drowsy.

Read more about BeSharp

Jan. 27-31: Humanities Week looks at scholarship, influence

Three free, public presentations will highlight Humanities Week presented by the WSU Humanities Planning Group.

Guest speakers from Duke and Michigan State universities will join WSU faculty in covering a range of topics, including:

  • “Is a Little Pollution Good for You? How the Humanities Can Contribute to Science and Policy”
  • “Four Glimpses of Scholarship in the Humanities: A Roundtable”
  • “Cosmopolitan Humanities”
  • “Empathy and Religious Diversity”

Get more details and a list of events