Speakers on Campus, Spring 2008
Gregory Pence
"Why Not Enhance Humans?"
Ethics Series
February 11, 7:30 p.m., Presser Hall, Gaines Chapel, Free
Evolution has selected parents who want the best for their children. Liberal democracies also allow parents to make choices for and about their children that shape future traits. Despite fears of alarmists and religion, biological choices that enhance exist on the present continuum of choice and already operate in medicine. The challenge for ethics is to ensure choices are made in the best interest of the child.
Gregory Pence is course director for medical ethics at the University of Alabama Medical School. His research focuses on emerging ethical issues in medicine. Pence has written Re-Creating Medicine: Ethical Issues at the Frontiers of Medicine and Classic Cases in Medical Ethics and has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and Journal of Medical Ethics.
John W. Kuykendall
Founder's Day Address
February 20, 10:00 a.m., Rebekah Scott Hall, Katharine Woltz Reception Room
John W. Kuykendall, a distinguished professor of religion with deep Presbyterian roots, was president of Davidson College from 1984 to 1997 and in 2003 served as interim president of Louisville Seminary.
One of the hallmarks of Kuykendall's presidency was to reinforce "servanthood" within the college's culture and student body. He also recognized the importance of making higher education available and affordable to and worked to ensure opportunities to students from middle-and lower-income families.
Kuykendall has several ties to Agnes Scott: President Elizabeth Kiss is a 1983 Davidson graduate and the college's first female Rhodes scholar. Kuykendall's wife, Nancy "Missy" Moore Kuykendall is a 1961 Agnes Scott alumna and member of our Board of Trustees.
To attend this free event, R.S.V.P. by Feb. 13 by calling 404 471-6106.
Roberta Berry
"Should We Engineer the Genomes of Our Children?: Navigational Policymaking in the New Genetic Era"
Ethics Series
April 7, 7:30 p.m., Evans Hall, Terrace Level, Free
Would it be right to engineer the genomes of our future children--to influence the development of their temperament, their physical features and their abilities--if advances in bioscience and biotechnology make this possible? Roberta Berry explains why this question poses a difficult challenge for policymaking in modern, pluralistic, democratic societies and proposes how we might best respond to the challenge.
Berry is associate professor of public policy and director of the Law, Science & Technology Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has published a number of articles and book chapters on bioethics, health care and the legal, ethical and policy implications of bioscience research and biotechnologies.
Catherine V. Scott
"Imagining Terror in an Era of Globalization: Popular Constructions of Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy"
Joseph R. Gladden Jr. Public Lecture
February 26, 5:00 p.m., Presser Hall, Gaines Chapel
Catherine V. Scott's scholarly interests and research focus on U.S. foreign policy since the Vietnam War, particularly the interaction of culture, media and national identity. She teaches U.S. foreign policy, development theory, gender politics and feminist theory. Scott holds a B.A. from the University of Florida and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Emory University.
Named for Joseph R. Gladden Jr., chair of Agnes Scott's Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2002, this award is given yearly to one member of the Agnes Scott faculty whose scholarly activities are especially noteworthy.
Xiaobing Tang
"Woodblock Prints in China: Traditions, Innovations, Modernizations"
Grace Chao Lecture Series
April 16, 7:00 p.m., Evans Hall, Terrace Level
Woodblock prints form a vital part of modern and contemporary Chinese visual culture. This lecture will present a succinct history of the development of woodblock prints as an art form over many centuries and will investigate the new woodcut movement and its aftermath throughout the 20th century.
The Grace Chao Lecture Series at Agnes Scott has been established through the generosity of Grace Yao Ping Chao, an alumna from the class of 1958. Leading scholars will give lectures on cutting-edge scholarship on China, with emphasis on the developments, problems and prospects between China's past and future.