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October 9, 2001

Historian to present Curti lectures
The 26th annual Merle Curti Lectures will be presented by distinguished intellectual historian Francis Oakley Oct. 16-18.

The overall theme for Oakley’s free public lectures is “Natural Law, Laws of Nature, Natural Rights: Continuity and Discontinuity in the History of Ideas.” The specific lectures are:

  • Tuesday, Oct. 16, “Natural Law: Traditions of Discourse, Traditions of Thought,” 4 p.m., Lowell Hall. A reception will follow.
  • Wednesday, Oct. 17, “Laws of Nature: The Scientific Concept,” 4 p.m., Lowell Hall.
  • Thursday, Oct. 18, “Natural Law, Natural Rights: Moments of Transition,” 4 p.m. Pyle Center auditorium.

The History Department sponsors the events. Oakley is the Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas at Williams College.

“Women and Learning’ features three scholars
Women and Learning, sponsored by the Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries, begins today, Oct. 10, sampling women’s scholarship in literature, science and history. Information: 265-2505, friends@library.wisc.edu.

  • Today, Oct. 10, 4:30 p.m., Department of Special Collections, 976 Memorial Library: “Renée Lang: A “Little Lady’s’ Labor of Love,” will be given by Biruté Ciplijauskaité, Bascom Professor of Spanish emerita. Her talk features insight into the life and literary achievements of Renée Lang, professor emerita of Comparative Literature at Marquette University and first chair of Marquette University’s Women’s Studies program.
  • Thursday, Nov. 1, 4:30 p.m., 126 Memorial Library: Deborah Blum, a journalism and mass communication professor, will present “The Nature of Love.” Blum won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for her newspaper series on primate research that inspired her book “The Monkey Wars.” In 1997 she wrote “Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women.”
  • Wednesday, Nov. 14, 4:30 p.m., 976 Memorial Library: “Biography and Autobiography: Challenges and Contradictions,” will feature Gerda Lerner, the Robinson Edwards Professor of History emerita. Lerner developed a new discipline of academic study when she established the country’s first graduate program in women’s history at Sarah Lawrence College. She later founded the doctoral program at UW–Madison. Her autobiography, “Fireweed: A Political Autobiography,” will be published in 2002.