Great Decisions Lecture Series Examines the Prospects for a Democratic World

Six-part series to be held every Tuesday from Jan. 22 through Feb. 26 at The College of Wooster

WOOSTER, Ohio - As globalization continues to bring about political, economic, and social change, the Great Decisions program will take time to examine the prospects for a democratic world. A range of experts will address various aspects of the topic during the six-part lecture series, which is sponsored by The College of Wooster and The Wooster Daily Record.

Established in 1981, Great Decisions is part of a nationwide, non-partisan educational endeavor sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association to promote understanding of global issues. The series, which is also supported by businesses, service organizations, and individuals in the community, is held in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.). Each lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. and all six are free and open to the public.

The series begins on Tuesday, Jan. 22, with a special lecture in celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. The event, which is co-sponsored with the Office of Interfaith Campus Ministries and The Office of Multi-ethnic Student Affairs, will feature Judith Green, associate professor of philosophy and co-director of women's studies at Fordham University, who will address "Waging Peace, Deepening Democracy: The Transformative Potential of King's Prophetic Philosophy in Twenty-First Century Global Contexts." Green specializes in social and political philosophy, ethics and applied ethics, philosophy of economics, philosophy of religion, American philosophy, African American philosophy, Native American philosophy, critical theory, feminist theory, interdisciplinary women's studies, urban studies, and urban and regional planning. She is the author of Pragmatism and Social Hope: Deepening Democracy in Global Contexts and Deep Democracy: Community, Diversity, and Transformation. She earned undergraduate degrees in English and philosophy from Michigan State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Minnesota.

The following week (Jan. 29), James Sterba, professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss "Our Basic Human Right is a Right to Liberty, and It Leads to Equality." Sterba, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, has published 24 books, including the award-winning Justice for Here and Now, Three Challenges to Ethics, Terrorism and International Justice and The Triumph of Practice Over Theory in Ethics. His latest book features a debate with Warren Farrell, a well-known critic of feminism, titled Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men? Sterba is vice-president/president elect of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division. He is also past president of the North American Society for Social Philosophy as well as Concerned Philosophers for Peace, and the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (American Section).

On Feb. 5, Jorge Dominguez, professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics, and Vice Provost for International Affairs at Harvard University, will present "Free Market and Free Politics in Latin America, Past and Future." Dominguez also serves as vice provost for international affairs in the Office of the Provost, senior advisor for international studies to the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, and chairman of The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. In addition, he is a member of the executive committee of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and faculty associate of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. His research focuses on the domestic and international politics of Latin American countries. He received his B.A. from Yale and his M.A and Ph.D. from Harvard.

The following week (Feb. 12), David M. Lampton, Director of China Studies at The Nixon Center and Professor of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), will explore the question, "Where Does Democracy Fit in China's Grand National Strategy?" Before joining The Nixon Center and SAIS, Lampton was president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations in New York City. Prior to that, he was director of the China Policy Program at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and associate professor of political science at The Ohio State University. Lampton is the author of numerous books and articles on Chinese domestic and foreign affairs, including Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000. He has also shared his expertise though such national media outlets as ABC, NBC, PBS, and CNN. Lampton received his Ph.D. and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

On Feb. 19, Catharine Bond Hill, President and Professor of Economics at Vassar College, will examine "Democracy and Access to Higher Education." Hill co-authored "Access to the Most Selective Private Colleges by High-Ability, Low-Income Students: Are They Out There?" in College Access: Opportunity or Privilege? and "Affordability: Family Incomes and Net Prices at Highly Selective Private Colleges and Universities" in the Journal of Human Resources. She has been selected for a number of scholarly awards, grants, and fellowships from such organizations as the American Council of Learned Societies, the Brookings Institution, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. She graduated summa cum laude from Williams College, and also earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at Brasenose College, Oxford University, with first-class honors in politics, philosophy and economics. She completed her Ph.D. in economics at Yale University.

The series concludes on Feb. 26 when Charles Butterworth, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, will look at "Islamic Political Philosophy and its Significance Today." Butterworth specializes in medieval Arabic and Islamic political philosophy. His publications include critical editions of most of the Middle Commentaries written by Averroes on Aristotle's logic; translations of books and treatises by Averroes, Alfarabi, and Alrazi, as well as Maimonides; and studies of different aspects of the political teaching of these and other thinkers in the ancient, medieval, and modern tradition of philosophy. Butterworth has also written monograph analyses of the political thought of Frantz Fanon and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He received a B.A. from Michigan State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. He also received a doctorate from the University of Nancy in France.

Additional information about the Great Decisions lecture series is available by phone (330-263-2353) or e-mail (jrudisill@wooster.edu).