Lectures and concerts are free and open to the public

Santa Fe, NM [August 24, 2022] — St. John’s College has announced its fall Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series. Usually on Friday evenings, members of the St. John’s College community head to the Great Hall to hear a lecture or concert from visiting scholars, artists, poets or faculty. This is followed by an engaging discussion between the lecturer, students and faculty. This fall’s series will discuss topics such as the Supreme Court, bioethics, and Islamic philosophy, and will bring a nationally-renowned vocal group to the campus. Lecturers include the Sana Fe dean, members of the St. John’s College faculty (known as “tutors” at the college), and professors from notable universities across the country.

“We are proud to bring world-class thought-leaders and major musicians to Santa Fe,” said St. John’s College President Mark Roosevelt. “I welcome all members of the community to join us on campus for this fall’s lectures and performance.”

All lectures and concerts are held at St. John’s College, Great Hall, 1160 Camino de Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505. They are free and open to the public. Seating available on a first come, first served basis.

“While classes at St. John’s generally proceed through discussion among students, the lectures provide an opportunity for students, faculty, and members of the community to hear an extended argument from someone with greater learning and expertise,” says Dean of the College J. Walter Sterling. “The question period is an essential part of the event, where conversation can open up between the entire community.”

The 2022 lectures are:

• Friday, August 26, 8 p.m., Santa Fe Dean J. Walter Sterling, will present the Dean’s Annual Opening Lecture for the 2022–23 Academic Year.
• Friday, September 2, 7 p.m., “On Reading Homer,” a Tutor Panel with Chris Cohoon, Claudia Hauer, David McDonald, and Sarah Stickney, will be held as part of the Carol J. Worrell Annual Lecture Series on Literature.
• Friday, September 9, 7 p.m., “Freshman Laboratory and the Laboratory’s Place in the Liberal Arts,” a Tutor Panel with Judith Adam, Seth Appelbaum, Grant Franks, Eric Poppele, and Ahmed Siddiqi will be held.
• Friday, September 16, 7 p.m., Santa Fe tutor Martha Franks will present “What is Happening With the Supreme Court?”
• Friday, September 23, 7 p.m., Santa Fe tutor Richard McCombs will present “Pascal’s Conception of ‘Universal Men’”
• Wednesday, September 28, 3:15 p.m., Saiyad Nizamuddin Ahmad, honorary senior research fellow in the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at University of Exeter and faculty member of Mufid Academic Seminary, will deliver the lecture “Time and Eternity in Islamic Philosophy”
• Friday, September 30, 7 p.m., the New York Polyphony quartet featuring Geoffrey Williams (countertenor), Steven Caldicott Wilson (tenor), Andrew Fuchs (tenor), and Craig Phillips (bass) will perform. The Grammy-nominated New York Polyphony is one of the foremost vocal chamber ensembles active today.
• Friday, October 7, 7 p.m., O. Carter Snead of Notre Dame will present “What it Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics”
• Friday, October 21, 7 p.m., Elaine Scarry of Harvard University will present “Plato and the Poets.”
• Friday, October 28, 7 p.m., Grazia Menechella of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will lecture on recipes and stories.
• Friday, November 4, 7 p.m., Santa Fe tutor Janet Dougherty will present “Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: The Limits of Political Excellence.”
• Friday, November 11, 7 p.m., Hillel Fradkin of the Hudson Institute will present “The Epic Narrative of the Book of the Torah - The Story of Abraham: Its Literary Character and Teaching.”
• Friday, November 18, 7 p.m., Santa Fe tutor David McDonald, will present “Petrarch’s Climb and the Crisis of the New.”
• Friday, December 2, 7 p.m., Jill Leovy from the University of Southern California will present “War and Beefs: Gang Violence in The Iliad.”
• Friday, December 9, 7 p.m., Patrick Goodin, Howard University will lecture “On the Question of Whether Plato’s Phaedo Displays Philosophy in Two Registers: Bernardetean Reflections.”

Visit Dean’s Lecture and Concert Series on the Santa Fe Campus for more information. To learn about other events at St. John’s College, see the Events Calendar.

ABOUT ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE

St. John’s College is known as one of the country’s premier liberal arts colleges due to its distinctive Great Books curriculum. At St. John’s, undergraduate and graduate students read more than 200 of the greatest books ever written across dozens of subjects and discuss those books with faculty in small, seminar-style classes. Located on two campuses in two historic state capitals—Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico—St. John’s is the third oldest college in the United States and has been hailed as the “most contrarian college in America” by The New York Times, as the “most rigorous college in America” by Forbes, and as the “most forward-thinking, future-proof college in America” by Quartz.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Frank O’Mahony, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, frank.omahony(at)sjc.edu