West Virginia University - News and Information Services
WVU's Benedum lectures to be memorable
This year’s Benedum Lecture Series at West Virginia University is one people won’t want to forget.
Memory: Past and Future is the theme for the lecture series, which will be held in October. Four speakers from WVU and other institutions throughout the nation and world will talk about various aspects of memory and memory loss.
"This year’s lectures should be both compelling and enlightening," said C.B. Wilson, associate provost for academic personnel. "As society ages, there is a growing interest in issues related to memory, particularly memory loss resulting from Alzheimer’s disease. The speakers we have scheduled are amply qualified to address these issues."
All lectures will begin at 8 p.m. in Room G24 in Eiesland Hall. A reception will follow each lecture.
A list of the lecture dates, speakers and topics follows:
- Wednesday, Oct. 3 – Daniel Schacter, professor and chairman of psychology at Harvard University, The Seven Sins of Memory: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective
- Wednesday, Oct. 10 – Daniel L. Alkon, scientific director of WVU’s Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute and professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, Human Memory: Molecular Substrates in Health and Disease
- Wednesday, Oct. 17 – James E. Young, professor and chairman of the Judaic Studies Department and professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Memory, Counter-Memory and the End of the Holocaust Monument
- Wednesday, Oct. 31 – Douwe Draaisma, senior lecturer in the theory and history of psychology at Heymans Institute, Groningen, The Netherlands, On Autobiographical Memory: Why the Years Seem to Accelerate When You Get Older
For the second straight year, WVU will sponsor a student essay competition in conjunction with the lecture series. The contest, open to WVU undergraduate students on the Morgantown campus, will award prizes totaling $3,000. Essays should be related to the lecture series’ theme and be 1,500-2,500 words in length. They are due Wednesday, Nov. 28. Three copies should be sent to Benedum Essay Competition, 210 Stewart Hall, WVU, P.O. Box 6203, Morgantown, WV 26506-6203.
The Benedum Lecture Series is sponsored by the Claude Worthington Benedum Endowment and the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Distinguished and Chaired Professors of WVU. This year’s series is dedicated to the memory of the late Gabor Bela Fodor, a centennial professor of chemistry emeritus who was instrumental in founding the series in 1981.
Office: (304) 293-6997