Lakeland College

Lakeland College Lecture Series

‘Girl in the Picture’ headlines 2007-08 Lecture Series

(AP Images)

Kim Phuc, the subject of one of the most haunting images from the Vietnam War, headlines the 2007-08 Lakeland College Lecture Series.

Phuc, who will speak at Lakeland on March 27 at 7:30 p.m., was just a young girl when she was photographed running naked down a road, her skin on fire from napalm. The photo won a Pulitzer Prize and changed the way the world looked at the Vietnam War.

Lakeland annually brings a variety of speakers to campus, giving students an opportunity to hear live and interact with experts on a variety of topics to compliment the education they are receiving in Lakeland’s classrooms. Lakeland students need to earn convocation credits as part of their graduation requirements, and each of these events counts as a convocation credit.

Clean air, post-traumatic stress disorder and the annual Great Lakes Writer’s Festival are also included in this year’s lineup. The public is welcome to attend any of these lectures free of charge. With the exception of Phuc’s lecture, they begin at 11 a.m. in the Bradley Fine Arts Building theatre.

This year’s lineup includes:

October 9th – John Anderson: "New World of Energy"

John Anderson, a Principal with Rocky Mountain Institute's Energy & Resources Team, has had a distinguished 25-year career in clean energy technology and markets. After receiving his MSME from the Solar Energy Lab at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he worked for the Solar Energy Research Institute, then its successor, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. As a researcher he worked on both energy technology and energy policy projects around the world. He contributed to or managed work on buildings, solar thermal power, solar chemistry and geothermal projects. Anderson left NREL in 1999 to found and manage the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), which was focused on making commercial-grade investments in the clean energy sector.

October 23rd – Jackie Spinner: "Tell Them I Didn’t Cry"

When Jackie Spinner returned from a wartime stint as The Washington Post’s Baghdad bureau chief, it continued her swift rise to prominence in journalism. But the author of "Tell Them I Didn’t Cry," a personal memoir about her experience in war-torn Iraq, continues to pay a price for her experience as she has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since returning to her job at the Post from Iraq. Spinner, who was nearly kidnapped in Iraq, will discuss her experience overseas and how she’s learned to do her job despite the trauma it’s meant for her. Spinner, who was Lakeland’s commencement speaker in 2006, is currently working on a second book about PTSD and art therapy.

November 1st – Great Lakes Writers Festival: Philip Dacey & Margaret Dawe

Margaret Dawe is the author of the novel "Nissequott," which was a New York Times New & Noteworthy Paperback. She was a journalist at The East Hampton Star, where her stories won New York State and Long Island press awards. Most recently her essay, "A killer’s trail, in hindsight," on living in Wichita during the time the serial killer BTK was caught was published in Newsday. In New York City, she studied with Allen Ginsberg and Grace Paley and in Charlottesville with John Casey and Peter Taylor. She chairs the English Department at Wichita State University, where she has taught in its MFA program since 1993.

Philip Dacey is the author of nine full-length books of poems, the latest "The New York Postcard Sonnets: A Midwesterner Moves to Manhattan." His eighth was "The Mystery of Max Schmitt: On the Life and Work of Thomas Eakins." The latest of more than a dozen chapbooks is "Three Shades of Green: Poems of Fatherhood." He has received three Pushcart Prizes, a Discovery Award from the New York YM-YWHA's Poetry Center, prizes from many magazines and various fellowships. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria (1963-65) and taught at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1966. The anthology he co-edited with David Jauss, "Strong Measures: Contemporary Poetry in Traditional Forms," remains in print and was influential in the development of the literary movement known as the New Formalism.

November 6th – Mission House Lecture: Rodney Clapp, "Christianity and Consumer Culture"

Whether talking about Elvis, the Eucharist, Christian hope, sex or reality TV, Rodney Clapp is insightful, funny, earthy, challenging and wise. He demonstrates through his writings and interaction with people why Christian spirituality must be centered in the life and practices of the Christian congregation. An author and editor, Clapp has written many books, including: "Peculiar People: the Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society," "Families at the Crossroads," "Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs" and his latest book, "Tortured Wonders: Christian Spirituality for People, Not Angels."

February 26th – Mary Lightfine, "Nurse Without Boundaries"

Can one person possibly make a difference in a world filled with chaos? Mary Lightfine thinks so. After working 16 years in emergency rooms throughout the United States, Lightfine, a nurse, pilot and a self-professed adrenaline junkie, packed her bags and moved from New Straitsville, Ohio, to Mogadishu, Somalia. This decision gave her a chance to feel what war, starvation and desperation was like from another completely different perspective that changed her life forever. Lightfine is a seasoned veteran of the Nobel Prize winning organization, Doctors Without Borders, and she is founder and president of Volunteers Without Boundaries. Through her compelling stories, Lightfine will show you how you can make a difference in your life and in the world around you.

March 27th – Kim Phuc, "The Girl in the Picture"

Every picture tells a story, but none like this one. This Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph remains one of the most unforgettable images of the Vietnam War and is credited with prompting support for hastening the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Today, Phuc is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and tells her story of recovery, forgiveness and courage, inspiring audiences around the globe.