Belmont University | FYI


March 13, 2009

BELMONT NEWS


Pulitzer Prize Winner David McCullough to Speak at Belmont
McCullough2.jpgPulitzer Prize-winning historian and New York Times’ best-selling author David McCullough will appear at Belmont University on March 30 as the official conclusion of the year-long campus celebration of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate. McCullough, the final keynote presenter in Belmont’s 2008-09 “Art of Being Free” lecture series, will speak on “Leadership and the History You Don’t Know” on Mon., March 30 at 7 p.m. in the Curb Event Center. The event is free and open to the public, though tickets are required.

Among his numerous accolades, McCullough was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in December 2006. He also received an honorary degree from his alma mater of Yale that noted, "As an historian, [McCullough] paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breathe, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement and moral character."

Belmont University Provost Dr. Dan McAlexander said, “David McCullough is a national treasure. A brilliant writer who brings his subjects to full life through vivid narrative and painstaking research, he has expanded our understanding of America’s history in all its rich complexity. We are honored to have him on the Belmont campus and thrilled to be able to share this experience with the Nashville community.”

Born in Pittsburgh, David McCullough received a bachelor’s in English literature from Yale University in 1955, and has since been awarded more than 40 honorary degrees. He has twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback. His other widely praised books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge and The Johnstown Flood. He has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In addition, McCullough has enjoyed a high television profile, hosting two PBS series: Smithsonian World and The American Experience. He has also narrated many acclaimed documentaries, including Ken Burns' The Civil War, Brooklyn Bridge and The Statue of Liberty.

Tickets for McCullough’s appearance are available now at the Curb Event Center box office, which is open Monday thru Friday from noon-4 p.m. and on Thursdays from noon-6 p.m. Tickets may also be ordered over the phone by calling 615/460-8500 during box office hours.

Belmont to Host Peter Kareiva
Scientist to Discuss Redirecting Conservation in the 21st Century

Nature_Conservancy.pngPeter Kareiva, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, will give a talk on “Conservation in a Human-Dominated World Experiencing Economic Crisis” at Belmont University, March 24, from 7-8 p.m. in the Neely Dining Hall of the Jack C. Massey Business Center. The talk is part of “The Art of Being Free,” a year-long series of programs organized around the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate which was hosted on Belmont’s campus in October. There is no charge to attend the lecture, and the public is invited.

A university scientist by training, Kareiva (pronounced Kuh-REEV-uh) has published and lectured widely on the need for 21st century conservation that goes beyond setting aside protected areas just for rare plants and animals. In a world challenged by exploding population and finite resources, Kareiva has argued for focusing on protecting ecosystems that are most vital to people’s health and their needs for survival. Unless conservation is better connected to people and their needs, he has argued, it will fail.

As Kareiva and colleague Michelle Marvier wrote in Scientific American in October 2007, “The public and some governments increasingly view efforts to preserve biological diversity as elevating the needs of plants and animals above those of humans. To reverse this trend — and to better serve humanity and threatened organisms — we and a growing number of conservationists argue that old ways of prioritizing conservation activities should be largely scrapped in favor of an approach that emphasizes saving ecosystems that have value to people. Our plan should save many species, while protecting human health and livelihoods.”

Kareiva is also a co-founder and director of a pioneering collaboration involving Stanford University, the World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy called the Natural Capital Project (naturalcapitalproject.org/about.html). The joint venture is developing ways to place credible monetary values on the “ecosystem services” that nature provides. That is, the Natural Capital Project is working to make clear that the benefits nature provides us, which we often take for granted — flood and disease control, water filtration, climate regulation, soil formation — are not actually free. There is a cost, and we can pay now or we will surely pay later.

There will be an opening reception for Kareiva at 5:30 p.m. in the Frist Lecture Hall on the fourth floor of the Gordon Inman Center, and the public is invited.


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